God’s Plan for Church Leaders
Today, Pastor Michael’s subject is church leadership. The New Testament calls these leaders “elders”. Elders, shepherds, and overseers are our keywords today.
Elders lead by wisdom, love, stewardship, and trust. A shepherd is someone who shepherds or cares for God's flock. In our churches today, we typically call them pastors. The overseer directs and guides.
These categories are the qualities of church leaders. Today, Recreate Church recognizes three men as church elders, and the ceremony is contained here in the podcast.
(CSB Bible Notes) 5:1-4 Peter charged elders to be exemplary, responsible servants. The term elders refers to the office of pastoral leaders in the church. The word appears to be used interchangeably here with shepherds/pastors and elsewhere with overseers (Ti 1:5,7). Peter’s appeal was based on the fact that he was a fellow elder and witness to Christ’s sufferings. This helped him identify fully with the elders he was addressing and gave added support for his plea. He commanded them to be shepherds of God’s flock. In other words, they were to nurture, lead, and protect God’s people without lording it over them. Elders who have served faithfully, despite suffering while on earth, will receive glory in heaven from Christ, the chief Shepherd.
Verses can be found in 1 Peter 5: 1-5.
Scripture quotations marked CSB have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.