"Appoint elders in every town as I directed you." (Titus 1:5)

The word elder may not be familiar to many of you, but it is synonymous with the word pastor. Actually, elder (presbuteros) is used in the Bible more than the word pastor (poimēn). Yet, in the modern church, particularly as a Southern Baptist, we use the word pastor almost exclusively.  

I'm not writing this article to debate semantics, or try to make the case that we need to switch the words elder and pastor around. You will likely hear me use the word pastor more than elder in normal conversation. The reason I'm writing this is to explain my understanding of the biblical role of pastors in the church, and what the future of Kingdom Community Church will likely look like.

In the book Biblical Eldership, Alexander Strauch (I credit most of this material to this book) defines elders in this way:

"According to the New Testament, elders jointly pastor the church, teach the word, protect the church from false teachers, exhort and admonish believers in sound doctrine, pray with the sick, and judge doctrinal issues. In biblical terminology, elders shepherd, oversee, lead, manage, and care for the local church... [Eldership is] shared pastoral leadership by a team of scripturally qualified, Spirit-placed elders."

Biblical churches are to be led by qualified men (plural), not a qualified man (singular). Plurality of leadership is central to the governance of the New Testament church. In the modern era, many churches have taken on the structure of businesses, where the pastor runs the church as CEO, and his other pastors are the middle managers. This is not how the Bible lays out the role of elders. This is not how Kingdom Community Church will function. I will not be the sole decision maker.

If you want to do a deep dive into this at your own convenience, here are some passages to check out: Acts 11:30; 14:23; 15:1-29; 20:17; 21:17-26; Phil. 1:1; 1 These. 5:12; 1 Tim. 3:1-7; 5:17-25; Titus 1:5; Heb. 13:17; 1 Pet. 1:1; 5:1-5; James 5:14-15.

There are three key features of a biblical eldership: (1) pastoral leadership, (2) shared leadership (plurality), and (3) qualified leadership.

Biblical eldership is pastoral in nature. Another common word for pastor is overseer. In Acts 20:28, Paul says, "Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has appointed you as overseers, to shepherd the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood".

In his letter, Peter charged the churches to "shepherd the flock of God... exercising oversight" (1 Peter 5:1-2).

Pastors are responsible before God for the pastoral oversight of the individual flock God has appointed them to care for. Additionally, they are assisted in their work by a group of qualified deacons (this is another article for another time).

The nature of leadership envisioned by the apostles is not managerial leadership, but shepherd leadership. This includes teaching the Scriptures, protecting from false teachers, evangelizing, counseling, caring for the practical needs of the flock, and being a godly example of Christlike living.

This is what it means to be a pastor. And it cannot be accomplished by one man.

Jesus gave us shared leadership when he appointed 12 young men to lead his church. He did not train and appoint one man to be the head of the church (contrary to what the Roman Catholics believe). Instead, he gave a plurality of leadership as the model for church.

Just as Jesus set in place shared leadership among the apostles, the apostles set in place shared leadership among the churches they planted. At the beginning and end of Paul's ministry, we see his commitment to appointing a body of qualified elders to oversee the churches he helped start (Acts 14:23; Titus 1:5).

While elders may share the same title, they do not all serve the same purpose. The church is a body, with Christ as the head. He has appointed different body parts to function in different ways. Usually, there is a "leader among equals", and this man typically serves as the primary preacher of the church (this will be my role). Then, there are others who are gifted in administration, music, or evangelism, who serve different functions, but maintain the primary role and responsibility of elder. In addition to this, there may be lay elders (men who do not draw a pay check from the church, but help oversee the flock alongside the paid elders). The Bible creates a distinction among elders, without creaiting a formal hierarchy (1 Timothy 5:17-18). All of these roles are needed to effectively oversee the flock of God.

Being a pastor is more about who you are than what you do. There are biblical qualifications that a man must possess before even being considered for the role. And these qualifications must be maintained throughout the life of this man. Becoming a pastor is not some honorary thing you receive by people, a seminary degree, or life experience. A pastor is to be a godly man. This is necessary.

The New Testament provides us with several lists to guide us as we look for the qualities of a pastor. You can find these in 1 Timothy 3:1-7, Titus 1:6-9, and 1 Peter 5:1-5. Some things includes self-control, sober-minded, faithful husband and father, gentle, respectable, hospitable, and so on. Many of these characteristics should be exemplified by Christians in general. There is only one thing on these lists that is not reacquired of all Christians and that is the ability to teach.

Churches should not be eager to bring new pastors on. Appointing pastors is a serious thing. 1 Timothy 5:22 says that we should not lay hands (that means appoint) new leaders quickly. Leaders must be tested and tried for their character and competency to be fully shown.

Now that we have a biblical basis for pastors, what will leadership look like at Kingdom Community Church?

At the start of the church plant, I (Jesse) will be the initial pastor of preaching and vision. If you want a title you could call this the "lead pastor". Upon guidance from other churches, we have decided to bring on Scott Parkison, Lee Bailey, and Rick Lowhorn as temporary elders in our startup phase. They will serve as accountability and oversight for me and the church as we seek to establish new pastors, create a budget, make decisions, etc.

Once we have three pastors at KCC, Scott, Lee, and Rick will step out of their oversight role for the church. The new elders will then be accountable to one another, and to our congregation (you).

I will be writing about the role of members later, but the congregation is ultimately the people that affirm their elders. Over time I will identify, test, and appoint a role for a qualified man to be an elder. I will then bring them before the congregation for questioning and we will vote on affirming or rejecting the recommended position. This will happen for paid staff elder roles, and unpaid lay elder roles.

You may be wondering why lay elders matter. While Stevens Street does not have lay elders (although we do have a plurality of elders), many churches, small and large, do. It's especially important for church plants that cannot afford to pay multiple pastors. I am inspired by this article on the parish model of ministry. This church has a designated list of members that a pastor is responsible for. Part of every pastor's role, whether paid or not, will be to oversee their list of people. This looks like regular contact throughout the year, asking how he can pray for you, seeing if you have any needs, visiting you if you are in the hospital, appointing a deacon to serve you if you have a need, offering spiritual counsel if you need it, etc. This will ensure that every member is properly cared for, and nobody falls through the cracks.

There are many books written on these topics (I counted 17 on the book shelf behind me as I type this), and I could say a lot more about pastoring. Although this article was brief, I hope it was clarifying on the biblical role of pastors. My primary goal for Kingdom Community Church is to keep it simple and ensure our people are taken care of. That's what truly matters.

Church, I love you. And whoever our future pastors will be, they will love you too. We are here to serve you, and to walk alongside you, as we follow Jesus together.

One of the most asked questions I have received is "What are you going to do about kids?" As a parent, this is a fair question. I've given it much thought and I hope this article helps answer your question.

It seems like a simple question that should have a simple answer. But when I began thinking about family ministry for Kingdom Community Church, I never realized how many questions I would stumble in to. That one question requires a lot of questions to be answered. Questions like...

How?
- do we encourage parents to take spiritual responsibility for their children?
- do we recruit volunteers?
- do we train teachers?
- do we prevent burnout?
- do we keep everyone safe?
- do we know when a child is converted?
- do we provide for special needs?

When?
- do we offer programs?
- do we change what we offer?
- do we baptize children?

What?
- programs do we provide?
- curriculum do we use?
- ages do we provide classes/childcare for?
- what are expectations for teachers?
- do we do if there are more children than our space or volunteers can cater to?

Who?
- makes budget decisions?
- chooses curriculum?
- oversees teachers?
- finds volunteers?
- manages classroom needs?
- cares for teachers?
- decides on programs?
- handles difficult situations?

And this is just scratching the surface.

But these questions are worth asking and answering because family ministry matters.

My greatest desire is to build a gospel-based family ministry. The purpose is to equip families to disciple the next generation. Here is how we plan to accomplish that.

We prioritize children because Jesus did. Jesus cares about children's ministry.

13 People were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. 14 When Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the little children come to me. Don’t stop them, because the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 15 Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” 16 After taking them in his arms, he laid his hands on them and blessed them. (Mark 10:13-16)

There are three primary views regarding family ministry that you can read about here. I subscribe to what is called family equipping ministry. I've read a ton of books in preparation for our future, and there are four that have influenced my family ministry philosophy the most: Family Ministry Field Guide, Trained in the Fear of God, Build on Jesus, and Shift. I think you can consolidate these books into the words feed, help, and equip.

FEED parents and children with God's Word.
HELP families to gather together with the church.
EQUIP parents to be better able to teach their children.

As I stated earlier, our main goal is to equip families to disciple the next generation. Parents need to know God's Word, learn how to teach it and model true worship for their children. 

Before I dive into the practicality of family ministry, it's important to recognize the people that we anticipate coming. If we start our first Sunday with 10% of Stevens Street members, we would have 150 people (adults and children). The breakdown would look like this:

Children and teenagers are expected to make up at least a third of our church, if not more. Family ministry is one of the most demanding things a church does. It truly takes the entire church to accomplish our goal of feeding, helping, and equipping. There are four groups that make family ministry happen.

Pastors lead and shepherd.
Family Ministry Directors organize and execute.
Members maintain children's ministry.
Parents build a robust partnership.

All of these areas work together to accomplish the goal of discipling the next generation. We must share the load to reach and teach our kids.

Before we look at the plan, here are some outcomes we want to see.

Keep Kids Safe.
We will have an efficient check-in system and ensure our staff and volunteers are properly vetted and trained.

Manage the Classroom.
We will provide robust guidelines, tools, and direction for all volunteers so that they don’t feel clueless on what to do.

Pursue Creative Excellence.
We want to create a fun, engaging, and welcoming environment. We will never compromise truth, but will seek to make learning fun and engaging.

Intentional Discipleship Plan.
The Bible is our foundation and the gospel is our story. It will be the focus of everything we do. We want to see children become mature followers of Jesus.

Here is what an ideal Sunday will look like.

My goal for Sunday morning is to connect what we are doing with what is going on in the home. One of the ways that I intend to do this is by utilizing a catechism. If you aren't familiar with a catechism it is a summary of Bible teaching in question and answer format. It's an extremely useful tool for the discipleship of your kids (and for yourself).

Our plan is to use the New City Catechism. I like this catechism because it comes in a 52 question/answer format. This helps us foster a helpful rhythm in our church and home life. It also comes with a free mobile app that includes a kid version, adult version, Scripture references, commentary, and a song for each question and answer. This is the primary way we intend to connect Sunday morning with the rest of the week. Go over the catechism at the dinner table, quiz each other, sing the song, and make it fun.

On Sunday mornings we will begin with kids coming together to hear the question, answer, Scripture, and song for that week. After this, the kids will go to their rooms to begin working through The Gospel Project. The Gospel Project is a three year cyclical curriculum, created by Lifeway, that walks you through the entire Bible, showing you how Jesus is the centerpiece of the story. It includes videos, lessons, crafts, activities, games, and everything a teacher would need to make learning the Bible fun and engaging.

During this time, adults will be participating in seminars. These seminars will consist of teaching and discussion centered around various topics such as theology, church history, parenting, marriage, apologetics, etc. These environments will be a place of fellowship, but the primary focus is to fill our minds and hearts with truth, so that we can be better equipped to teach others.

After Sunday School, families will come together to worship Jesus. Kindergarten and up will be in the service with their families. If you desire, we will have child care available for babies through five years old.

I have a lot of other plans as it relates to milestones such as parent/child dedication, baptism, purity, entering adulthood, etc. These things will come with time. Our first focus needs to be on nailing Sunday mornings. 

So, I return to the initial question, "What are you going to do about kids?" If you were one of the people that has asked me that, I hope this article was clarifying for you.

Recently, I visited an old pastor of mine to ask some questions about church planting. I told him that this is one of the most frequently asked questions I get. He told me that I need to flip it. Instead of being asked this question, I want to ask you the same.

What are you going to do about kids? Are you going to play a part in equipping families to disciple the next generation? This job is important. It will take all of us.