Eldership and the Mission of God: Equipping Teams for Faithful Church Leadership

by J.R. Briggs, Bob Hyatt, Alan Hirsch (Foreword)

Every church needs leadership. But leadership should not reside in a single pastor. The biblical model for church leadership is found in teams of elders who together guide the community into God's mission. Church leaders J.R. Briggs and Bob Hyatt provide a comprehensive picture of elders as agents of mission for their communities. Healthy eldership structures a church for mission, as elder teams model the kind of community the local church is intended to be and steward the gospel in a local context. Looking at eldership through a missiological lens, Briggs and Hyatt unpack the role, character and posture of a mission-oriented elder. Elders oversee, shepherd, teach, equip and model for God's people what life with Jesus looks like in a particular context. Including a study guide that elder teams can work through together, the authors provide practical guidance for how elders are selected, work together, make decisions, protect the congregation and invest in the lives of others. Discover here a clear vision for what it means to be a faithful elder. May it help you and your church thrive in pursuing God's mission in the world.

Genres: Leadership, Church, Christianity, Theology, Nonfiction

216 pages, Paperback

First published February 27, 2015

Reviews

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am near the beginning of my first pastorate, discovering and pressing into what it means for me to lead faithfully. One of my tasks as pastor, is to help give shape to our elder team. So I have been on the look out for materials on leading elder boards, elder selection, and resources which help elders fulfill their calling as godly church leaders.

Eldership and the Mission of God is a resource which does all of the above and more. Authors J.R. Briggs (pastor of the Renew Community in great Philadelphia and author of Fail) and Bob Hyatt (founding pastor of the Evergreen Community in Portland, Oregon) are both leaders in the Ecclesia Network--a network of missional church communities. They are committed to raising up leaders and sustainable leadership that is rooted in God's mission. They see the role of elders as integral to a sustained Christian witness:

So why did we write a book about eldership--or more specifically, about eldership oriented around God's mission? Because it carries significant implications for becoming and remaining faithful witnesses in the world. If Paul spilled significant amounts of ink writing about mission-aligned leadership structures in the early formation of churches, why do we need more information about the role of elders today? Because few talk much about it, and it needs to be addressed (14, chapter one).

And so Briggs and Hyatt examine the role of elders from the perspective of mission, rooting their understanding of elders (and Christian leadership) in the biblical account. They also provide practical advice for shaping an elder team and elder meetings.  In the pages that follow they discuss:

the Characteristics of 'mission-alignment' (chapter two)
the roles and functions of an elder (chapter three)
the biblical qualifications of an elder (chapter four)
cultivating an ethos rooted in mission (chapter five)
selecting elders (chapter six)
the spiritual formation of an elder (chapter seven)
leading as a team (chapter eight)
decision-making (chapter nine)
difficult tasks (chapter ten)
the question of women elders (chapter eleven)
and other practical questions (chapter twelve)

Briggs and Hyatt's churches and leadership structures are not identical in every respect but they speak with one voice on what they feel are the essential elements of Church leadership which is 'on mission.'  If they are dogmatic on any one point, it is that a church leadership team should not be called an 'elder board.'  They write:

We discourage the use of "elder board." Further, we don't believe that the primary role of elders is making decisions for the church. Certainly, that is a part of the role, but not the most essential part. Elders are individuals called out from within the community for the good of and equipping of the commuity. To do this, they must first be invested in the position of elder, not seeing it as a once-or twice-a-month meeting, but as a role they are called to fulfill within the community. (114-15).

And so they advocate not meeting in anything that resembles a boardroom but in one-another's-homes (188). Their concept of Christian leadership is more relational and organic than Robert's Rule and a business meeting.

Briggs and Hyatt  give thoughtful consideration to elder selection (especially in reference to 1 Timothy, Titus and 1 Peter). They do not advocate choosing elders through a free-for-all vote (82). Instead they advise that the elder team sees their role as the guiding the process and recognizing that who by gifts and character is already functioning as an elder for the community (83,87), and inviting the congregation in to confirm that call. The attention to the biblical qualifications of elders allows for a more robust model of Christian leadership than just a board of decision makers.

Another aspect I really appreciated was their insights in spiritual formation of elders. Hyatt and Briggs advise elders to see our role as being responsible 'to the community' rather than 'for the community,' seeing the crucial role of personal disciplines in enabling us to lead others spiritually,  and the importance of us as leaders modeling belief in the good news of salvation in Christ (rather than frenetic attempts at self-salvation) (102-108). This ongoing attention to spiritual health of elders enables us to fulfill our calling in the church.

Hyatt & Briggs do a good job of highlighting some of the practical considerations but where they are best is on calling us back to leadership structures that reflect our mission as a church, or better God's mission for our church.  If the church exists to 'image God' and to 'reflect the sending/sent heartbeat of the missioning God' (26) than elders are not their to choose the color of the carpet or to champion their theological hobbyhorses. They exist to enable us as a church to be a faithful presence to the community and to share their gifts to guide and give shape to communal life.

Reading a book like this was helpful to me as a young pastor. I see both ways that I need to sharpen my leadership of the elders and ways that I need to release them to share in leading the church. I also see how great a group God has called to the place I pastor.  I have a gifted, loving group of elders in my charge who care about God's mission to our city and world. I will be purchasing multiple copies of this book to share with my fellow elders. As with any book, I don't agree full sail with all their points, or think that their every suggestion is mappable on the polity of my church; nevertheless they are fruitful dialogue partners, practical and theologically astute. This book is tremendously helpful!  I give this book five stars!

Notice of material connection: I received this book from IVP in exchange for my honest review.

[Dick Wiedenheft · Rating 4 out of 5]

Briggs and Hyatt tackle a very important challenge -- as more churches seek to become missional, how do church leadership roles need to adapt to facilitate rather than hinder that process? They give a succinct and on-point description of what it means to be missional and then seek to unpack the ramifications for local church leaders (elders). I found what they had to say to be both biblical and wise (though not all readers will agree with their egalitarian perspective on women elders). This book contains much wisdom on handling conflicts, leading with both courage and compassion, selecting new elders, leading meetings, etc. I wish they had said more about how leadership teams/boards might be restructured with mission in mind. In summary, I think they took a very important step in applying the best wisdom on local church leadership (eldering) to the challenge of transitioning to a missional posture. However, there is more work to be done on this topic, particularly in the area of re-crafting local church leadership roles and structures with mission in mind.

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Several chapters were filled with good content, but the opening metaphor is left in the first chapter and the book lacks strong thematic unity. Finishing one chapter and beginning the next could be jarring at times. However, in addition to the good content found in several of the chapters, what I appreciated most about this book was the way eldership is interpreted through the lens of God's mission for churches and corporation and board meeting ideology is explicitly rejected. I also greatly appreciated the way the book is inclusive of the possibility of female leadership in the roles of pastors and elders--a perspective that is conspicuously absent in most books about elders.

[Joel Wentz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super clearly-written and engaging in style. This is a wonderful book to take leadership teams through together, which is exactly what I used it for. The overarching theme of "mission" is much stronger as a through-line, and the authors deploy it well, as compared to books that are focused merely on "strategy" or "tactics" for organizational leadership. I found it personally encouraging and inspiring, and know it has had that effect on others.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Appreciated the approach of this book. Practical with a focus on how elders can nurture a missional posture in the church. But still with a seriousness towards the role of elders or a leadership team. Worth a read for a pastor or leadership team, even someone interested in what elders do and how to pray for and support the leadership team in their church.

[Jordan Baker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Helpful book in giving a kingdom perspective to the role of eldership. Some chapters were helpful in framing the role of an elder. However, it left lacking with some of the more important practical aspects missing. Overall, it created a great vision of what eldership could look like in a local church.

[Kenneth Sowers · Rating 5 out of 5]

probably the best book on Elder - team leadership in the church I have read, and I have read LOTS. I plan to use it for all my leaders

[Colin · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is a lot of good in this book if you mine your way through it. While many books fixate on the lists of Elder requirements in 1 Timothy and Titus this book does a decent job of taking it a step further and diving into specific and even granular topics. Things like how to run an Elder meeting, how specifically to work through corrections in the church and even disfellowship are elaborated on with recommendations on strategies.

While the book tries to play it down the middle most of the time there are a few places that conservative Christian leaders might become uncomfortable. The most overt is the lengthy discussion in Chapter 11 in favor of female elders (a position that was telegraphed earlier in the book as well). However, the authors have also been influenced by current cultural movements at different times (I realized that when the authors mentioned "justice-oriented" ministries they weren't talking about prison ministries).

Still, despite obviously leaning towards the progressive side of the evangelical tree, there is enough in this book to edify even more conservative readers so long as they're willing to side-step the handful of areas of cultural infiltration and disagreement.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a useful book for its consideration of eldership in the context of a missional or mission focused church. In the book the authors present their understanding of certain issues, such as women is eldership, that, for some, remain points of dispute. They don't attempt; however, to prove their position biblically. This book is not that sort of book.