Who Is the Elder?

Think fast: you are given the mission of leading a thousand people down a path nobody knows. You have to guarantee everyone's safety, solve whatever goes wrong along the way, and still teach the right direction to each one of them. Can you handle that alone?

Nobody can. And God knows that better than we do. That is why He never left the pastor of a church alone with a job of that size. Last week we saw who the pastor is. Today the question is about who stands beside him: Who Is the Elder?

In this lesson we will see four things: that the elder is the assistant God gave to the pastor, that God requires character before handing over a position, that the elder is responsible for teaching sound doctrine, and that his life is an example that deserves real honor.

I — The pastor's assistant

The base text of this lesson begins with praise, not with a demand: "This is a trustworthy saying: If anyone aspires to be an overseer, he desires a noble task." (1 Timothy 3:1). Notice the word: work. It does not say "an excellent position," it does not say "an excellent title." It says work — labor, service, something that takes sweat.

And what work is that? It is helping to shepherd the flock. The elder cares for the sheep of God's flock alongside the pastor, with duties very similar to his: he visits, counsels, teaches, organizes, and oversees. Peter, who was an apostle and introduces himself as a fellow elder along with the others (1 Peter 5:1), describes the conditions of this service in a single sentence: "Be shepherds of God’s flock that is among you, watching over them not out of compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not out of greed, but out of eagerness;" (1 Peter 5:2).

Read the two expressions Peter chose again. Willingly — no one forces anyone to be an elder; it is the service of someone who wants to serve. Eagerly — it is not meant to be done with a sour face, counting the minutes. In many churches, all of this is done without any pay at all, in the time left over from the week's job, purely out of love for the house of God.

And this is not a modern invention. Elders have existed since the beginning of the church. When Paul wanted to speak with the leadership of Ephesus, he sent for them: "From Miletus, Paul sent to Ephesus for the elders of the church." (Acts 20:17). Eleven verses later, he tells these same men that the Holy Spirit made them overseers to shepherd the church of God, which He purchased with His own blood (Acts 20:28). Elders, bishops, presbyters: in the New Testament, different names for the same men and the same work.

αβ In the original — Greek. Presbýteros is the elder: the mature, experienced, respected man. Epískopos is the overseer, the one who "looks over" to see if everything is in order. Poimén is the shepherd of sheep: the one who feeds, guides, and protects. Three words that describe different angles of the same service — maturity, oversight, and care.

There was a man in the New Testament whose job was precisely to train elders. Titus was trained by Paul and left on a whole island with this mission: "The reason I left you in Crete was that you would set in order what was unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you." (Titus 1:5). From town to town. In those days the churches met in the homes of the brothers and sisters, and someone needed to keep everything in good order so that the Word would be taught properly. That someone was the elder.

II — Character comes before position

Here is the part of the lesson that speaks most directly to our age. After saying that being an elder is an excellent work, Paul does not talk about a résumé, schooling, money, or talent with a microphone. He talks about character: "An overseer, then, must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not dependent on wine, not violent but gentle, peaceable, and free of the love of money." (1 Timothy 3:2-3).

Putting it in today's terms: a man with no scandal hanging over his name, faithful in marriage, level-headed, who welcomes people well, who knows how to explain the Bible, who does not go around picking fights, who is not controlled by addiction, and who does nothing for the sake of money. None of that shows up on a diploma. All of that shows up in daily life together.

And then comes the criterion the Bible places right after: "An overseer must manage his own household well and keep his children under control, with complete dignity." (1 Timothy 3:4) — "For if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how can he care for the church of God?" (1 Timothy 3:5). The logic is simple: someone who does not take good care of the small house will not take good care of the big house, which is the church.

Be careful not to read this the wrong way. This verse is not a test of your family — it is a requirement for someone who is going to take on the office. Nobody here is going to go home today grading mom and dad with a checklist in hand. But there is a principle in it that applies to you right now, and it stings: who you are when nobody from church is watching is who you really are.

It is possible to be the model Sunday School (EBD) student on Sunday and the worst sibling in the world on Monday. It is possible to sing praise with your eyes closed and then talk back to your mom on the way out. God does not look at the spotlight; He looks at your kitchen at home. And the training to serve the church without any position at all starts right there — in the small task nobody saw, done well.

🏛 Curiosity — where this name comes from. The idea of a group of elders leading the people is very old: already in the wilderness, God commanded Moses to set apart seventy elders of Israel to share the burden of the people with him (Numbers 11:16-17). Later, the elders appeared sitting at the city gates, settling matters and giving counsel. When the church was born, it did not invent a new machine: it adopted the same principle, now under Christ — team leadership, with mature people, and not just one man carrying everything.

One last thing on this point, and it is worth writing in your notebook: a position does not make anyone holy. The Bible requires character before handing over the position precisely because the position does not fix the man. That is why the same Scripture that commands honoring a leader also commands him to lead by example, not lording it over those entrusted to him by God (1 Peter 5:3). Christian authority is service, never domination.

III — The one who teaches doctrine

Helping the pastor is not just carrying chairs. If it were, plenty of people here would already be hired. There is a task in the middle of the list that separates the elder from any willing volunteer: in the middle of the requirements of 1 Timothy 3:2 it is written that he must be able to teach.

That requirement has a history. Right at the very beginning of the church, in Acts 6, the number of believers grew so much that the apostles saw they could not take care of everything at the same time. People were being overlooked in the daily distribution, and solving that would take up their whole day. They did not pretend they could handle it all. They chose seven trustworthy men — Stephen and Philip were among them — to take on that part of the work, and they said plainly that it would not be right for them to neglect preaching the Word of God in order to wait on tables (Acts 6:2-4). In other words: someone held up one end so that prayer and teaching would not be pushed aside.

That is the principle behind the eldership to this day: nobody works alone in the work of God. God shares out the work because no single man can carry the whole flock alone.

And why is the teaching part taken so seriously? Because ever since the Early Church, people have always shown up teaching what is not in the Bible. Paul warned Timothy that deceitful doctrines would appear, designed to lead astray those who are just starting out (1 Timothy 4:1-5). A poorly taught flock is an easy flock to deceive. That is why God raises up men able to open Scripture and explain it properly — not to show off knowledge, but to protect people.

The advice Paul left for the young pastor Timothy still describes this work: preach the message and insist on it, when it is convenient and when nobody wants to listen; convince, rebuke, encourage, and teach — with all patience (2 Timothy 4:2). Notice the end of the sentence. With patience. Teaching the same thing as many times as needed, without losing tenderness, is much harder than speaking nicely once.

It was because they were men like this that the elders appeared side by side with the apostles when the church had to settle the most serious question in its history: whether or not a Christian needed to become a Jew to be saved. The meeting became known as the Council of Jerusalem, and the Bible records that the apostles and elders met to deal with the matter (Acts 15:2, 6). When doctrine is at stake, they are in the room.

🏛 Curiosity — the church fit inside a living room. In the first century there was no church building with a big structure, sound system, and projector. The churches met in the homes of the brothers and sisters: the living room became a sanctuary, the backyard became a classroom. That explains two things in the lesson. First: the leader's home was in plain sight of everyone — people could see how he treated his wife, his children, and his guests. Second: someone needed to keep good order in those meetings, or it would turn into a mess. That someone was the elder.

IV — An example to be followed

Now answer off the top of your head: do you know the names of the elders in your church? Do you know what they did this week? We see these church workers almost every day and almost never imagine the size of what they carry — often for free, in the time left over from work and family.

The Bible does not let this go unnoticed: "Elders who lead effectively are worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching. For the Scripture says, “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain,” and, “The worker is worthy of his wages.”" (1 Timothy 5:17-18).

Double honor is twofold recognition. It is not flattery, and it is not treating a man like a celebrity. It is valuing them for real: thanking them, listening to them, helping them, praying for them by name. And the same text reminds us that the church has a practical responsibility toward those who dedicate themselves to the work — God does not send anyone to work on an empty stomach.

Honoring also means obeying in what is biblical. Hebrews commands: "Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they watch over your souls as those who must give an account. To this end, allow them to lead with joy and not with grief, for that would be of no advantage to you." (Hebrews 13:17). Notice the reason: they keep watch — they stay awake for you — and they will give an account to God for it. That applies to the pastor and it applies to the elder.

And there is a way of honoring that is the highest of all: imitating. Paul told the church to follow him as he followed Christ (1 Corinthians 11:1), and Hebrews commands us to look at leaders like this: "Remember your leaders who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith." (Hebrews 13:7). Choose a faithful church worker in your church and pay attention to how he lives. Real faith is caught in daily life together.

Yet honoring has a clear limit, and it is biblical. No man — elder, pastor, nobody — owns your soul. Peter himself forbade a leader from lording it over God's heritage (1 Peter 5:3), and the Bible praised the Christians in Berea for examining the Scriptures every day to see if what they heard was really so (Acts 17:11). Checking the Bible to confirm what is taught is not distrust: it is taking teaching seriously.

❤ For your life. Policing a leader is not your job. Talking just to talk is gossip, and gossip destroys a church: if a gossip circle starts, you do not need to fight with anyone — just stay out of it and pray for the church worker instead of talking about him. But there is a situation that is the opposite of this, and you need to know the difference. If anyone — any person, in any position — hurts you, scares you, treats you in a way that you feel is wrong, or asks you to keep a secret about something like that, tell a trusted adult the very same day: your dad, your mom, a teacher, or another leader. That is neither gossip nor disrespect. The rule is this: you speak up; the adult handles it.

Christ in the Lesson

This whole lesson depends on one question: whose flock is it? The answer is in Acts 20:28 — it is the church of God, which He purchased with His own blood. The pastor is not the owner, and the elder is not the owner. Both take care of what cost the blood of Jesus.

And the One who chose this team was Jesus Himself. Paul writes: "And it was He who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers," (Ephesians 4:11), "to equip the saints for works of ministry and to build up the body of Christ," (Ephesians 4:12). Every church worker who serves in your church is a gift from Christ to you — including the elder who opens the gate and the one who corrects wrong doctrine.

There is something else. The character list in 1 Timothy 3 is too high for any of us in our own strength. There was only one truly blameless man, and He did not use that to be served — He used it to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45). Jesus shared the teaching with the disciples, and He shared the mission with the church, but there was one work He did not share with anyone: the cross. That part He carried alone, and He carried it for you.

That is why character is not the fruit of solitary effort. The Holy Spirit transforms whoever surrenders to Him — and we cooperate, choosing every day what to do with what He shows us. And the day of reckoning for every faithful church worker is already set: "And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away." (1 Peter 5:4).

Practical Application

At church. Find out the name of an elder or church worker in your church and pray for him by name this week. Then thank him in person. Most of this work is done without anyone seeing — and a word from you reaches deeper than you imagine.

At home. That is where character is tested first (1 Timothy 3:5). Do a small task well that nobody checks up on. Whoever is faithful in little is being trained for much.

In your Bible. Be a Berean (Acts 17:11): write down the reference of what you hear at church and read the whole chapter at home. Whoever checks it in the Word takes teaching seriously.

When the matter gets serious. You do not feed gossip. But something serious — someone hurting you, scaring you, or asking you to keep a secret — you tell a trusted adult the very same day. You speak up; the adult handles it.

Closing Prayer

Lord Jesus, thank You because You do not leave anyone carrying Your work alone. Thank You for the church workers in my church — for the elders who teach, visit, organize, and serve without anyone seeing. Bless their lives, their homes, and their health, and give them joy in their service. Teach me to honor without idolizing, to check what I hear in Your Word, and to speak with a trusted adult when something is serious. And work on my character, Holy Spirit: may I be the same person at church and inside my home, faithful in little, ready for whatever You call me to one day. In Jesus' name, amen.

Soli Deo Gloria — Scripture governs; everything else, on its knees.

Teacher's Guide

Essence of the class

God never left the pastor alone: He raises up helpers — and what He requires before the position is character, proven in small things and inside the home.

Map of the class

Time	Stage
0–4 min	Opening — a thousand people and just one leader
4–12 min	Point 1 — The pastor's assistant
12–20 min	Point 2 — Character comes before position
20–27 min	Class activity — The box you cannot pack alone
27–34 min	Point 3 — Who teaches doctrine and deserves honor
34–37 min	Christ in the Lesson + questions
37–40 min	Wrap-up + challenge + prayer

Start like this

Start without an introduction, putting the challenge right on the table: "You have received the mission of leading a thousand people down a path nobody knows. Everyone's safety, food, the problems that pop up along the way, and still teaching the right direction to each one. Can you do that alone?" You will hear "no," "no way," and maybe one brave student saying "I could pull it off." Then ask the second question: "So what would you do first?" Someone will say "call people to help." Hold on to that answer and say: "That is exactiy what God did for the church. Today's lesson is about whom He called."

Point 1 — The pastor's assistant

• In the quarterly: topic 1 ("The pastor's assistant"), sub-items a ("Voluntary workers") and b ("Trainers"), plus the introduction to "Knowing More About God," about the elders and bishops of the first century.
• What to teach: being an elder is a work, not a title (1 Timothy 3:1). He helps the pastor care for the flock — visiting, counseling, teaching, organizing — under conditions the Bible describes in two expressions: willingly and eagerly (1 Peter 5:2). It is not a new invention: in Acts 20 the elders of Ephesus were already the leadership of the church, and Titus was left in Crete to appoint elders from town to town (Titus 1:5). State clearly that, in many churches, all of this is done without pay.
• Anchor verse (BSB): "Be shepherds of God’s flock that is among you, watching over them not out of compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not out of greed, but out of eagerness;" (1 Peter 5:2)
• Key question: "What is the difference between helping because you were told to and helping because you wanted to?"
• Likely answers (+ going deeper): "when we're told to, we do it grudgingly"; "it's the same thing, the job gets done either way"; "someone who wants to does it better." Go deeper: "If the job gets done either way, why do you think the Bible made a point of writing that it must be done willingly and not by force?"
• If no one speaks: tell about a group project at school that only moved forward because someone stepped up without being asked — and ask who has ever been that person once.

Point 2 — Character comes before position

• In the quarterly: topic 1, sub-item a, in the section on requirements (upright, character transformed by the Holy Spirit, someone good with his family), tied to the base text of 1 Timothy 3:1-5.
• What to teach: Paul does not ask for a résumé, money, or talent with a microphone — he asks for character (1 Timothy 3:2-3). And he adds the household criterion: someone who does not know how to manage his own household will not take care of the church of God (1 Timothy 3:4-5). Handle this point carefully: the text is a requirement for someone taking on the office, not an evaluation of the students' families. Turn to the principle that applies to their age — who you are away from the spotlight is who you really are — and close with 1 Peter 5:3: Christian authority is example, never domination.
• Anchor verse (BSB): "For if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how can he care for the church of God?" (1 Timothy 3:5)
• Key question: "Are you the same person at church and at home on a Tuesday night?"
• Likely answers (+ going deeper): awkward silence; "more or less"; "at home I'm worse." Go deeper: "And which of the two is God seeing?" Do not ask for personal examples, do not ask for confession out loud, and do not let anyone tell family stories in front of the class.
• If no one speaks: give the answer for yourself, in one short sentence without drama ("the hardest part for me is patience at home"), and move on. Here the silence is already doing the work.

Point 3 — Who teaches doctrine and deserves honor

• In the quarterly: all of topic 2 ("The one who teaches doctrine," with Acts 6, the doctrinal threats, and the Council of Jerusalem) and topic 3 ("An example to be followed," with 1 Timothy 5:17 and the invitation of 1 Corinthians 11:1).
• What to teach: the elder must be able to teach (1 Timothy 3:2) because from the beginning people showed up teaching what was wrong (1 Timothy 4:1-5). In Acts 6 the apostles shared out the work so they would not set the Word aside (Acts 6:2-4) — nobody works alone in the work of God. That is why the Bible commands double honor for those who work in the Word and in doctrine (1 Timothy 5:17-18) and commands imitating the faith of leaders (Hebrews 13:7). Close with the limit: honoring is not idolizing (1 Peter 5:3) and checking the Bible is praised (Acts 17:11).
• Anchor verse (BSB): "Elders who lead effectively are worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching." (1 Timothy 5:17)
• Key question: "Do you know the names of the elders in our church and what they did this week?"
• Likely answers (+ going deeper): two or three scattered names; "I know their names, but I don't know what they do"; "I never noticed." Go deeper: "Why do you think we notice who is holding the microphone and don't notice who is working in the hallway?"
• If no one speaks: tell them the names yourself, with one concrete task for each of them, and ask how many of those jobs they imagined existed.

Class activity

• Goal: to feel in practice that a big task cannot be done alone — and that the helper is not decoration, but the one who makes the work happen.
• Materials: a cardboard box and about 15 lightweight objects of different sizes (thin books, empty plastic bottles, a pencil case, folded sheets of paper, pens). On each object, tape a slip of paper with a church task: teach the class, visit the sick, prepare the Lord's Supper, counsel a brother, organize the schedule, evangelize on the street, take care of the church office, welcome visitors. Also bring a stopwatch (the one on your phone works).
• Step by step: spread the objects across the table and read aloud some of the tasks taped to them. Say: "I'm going to try to pack everything into the box in 40 seconds, all by myself — like a pastor with no helper at all." You, the teacher, do this first round — never a student, so no one fails in front of the class. Rush, fumble, drop things, and stop when time is up with half the items still outside. Then call three or four volunteers and repeat it, all together: it will get done in much less time. Ask one of them to read aloud three tasks that were on the objects.
• Wrap-up (back to the text): "The task was the same in both rounds. What changed was who was there together. God never asked one man alone to carry the whole flock: He commands shepherding the flock of God willingly and not by force (1 Peter 5:2). The elder is the brother who picks up one of these labels and says, 'I'll take this one on' — for free, most of the time, and without anyone seeing."

If they ask you this

• "Is an elder a second-class pastor?" No. In the New Testament the names elder, bishop, and presbyter describe the same men — in Acts 20 Paul calls the leaders of Ephesus elders (v. 17) and says that the Holy Spirit made them overseers to shepherd the flock (v. 28). In today's church, the elder is the local pastor's assistant in care, teaching, and organization. It is not a lesser position: it is teamwork, and the Bible calls this an excellent work (1 Timothy 3:1).
• "Does 'double honor' mean getting paid double?" No. It is twofold recognition for work that almost nobody sees (1 Timothy 5:17). In many churches the elder serves without any pay at all. The same text reminds us that the church has a practical responsibility toward those who dedicate themselves to the work (1 Timothy 5:18), but that is the church's decision, with accountability — never a student's demand on anyone.
• "If the Bible commands us to obey, do I obey even when the leader is wrong?" Hebrews 13:17 commands obeying and submitting, and it is serious. But 1 Peter 5:3 forbids a leader from lording it over God's heritage, and Acts 17:11 praises those who checked the Scriptures even on what the apostle Paul preached. Biblical obedience walks with an open Bible. And make this clear in class: policing a leader is not a student's job; if something serious happens to you — if someone hurts you, scares you, or asks you to keep a secret — tell a trusted adult the very same day. You speak up; the adult handles it.
• "The Bible talks about the elder's household. Does that mean my family has to be perfect?" No. That verse is a requirement for someone who is going to take on the office (1 Timothy 3:4-5), not a grade given to anyone's family. No home is perfect, and God does not give up on any home. What the text teaches you today is something else: character begins to be trained at home, in what nobody sees.

Wrap-up + challenge of the week

• Wrap-up: "We started by asking whether you could lead a thousand people alone. You cannot — and God knew it. That is why He raises up elders: willing helpers who care and teach, for free most of the time, in a flock that is not theirs, because it was bought with the blood of Jesus (Acts 20:28). Honor these church workers: learn their names, pray for them, thank them. And remember that God looks at character before position — and character starts being trained right now, in what nobody sees."
• Challenge: this week, take on one chore at home that is not your responsibility — without anyone asking and without announcing it beforehand. Do it from start to finish, and do it well. On Sunday, come back with the story.

Teacher's kit

• Before: read the three topics in the quarterly and mark in your Bible 1 Timothy 3:1-5, 1 Timothy 5:17-18, Titus 1:5, 1 Peter 5:1-4, and Acts 20:17, 28. Memorize the key phrase: "character before position." Find out the names and one real task of two elders or church workers in your church to mention in class.
• Bring: a Bible, the cardboard box, the lightweight objects with the task labels already taped on, and a stopwatch.
• Pray beforehand: ask God for faithful church workers for your church, and pray that no student leaves class thinking that position matters more than character — or thinking they have to stay silent about something serious.

Homework

Your mission for the week

Take on one chore at home this week that is not your responsibility — without anyone asking and without announcing it beforehand. Pick something real: washing all the dinner dishes, cleaning up a mess that is not yours, folding the laundry from the machine, sweeping the porch or yard. Do it from start to finish and do it well.

Why

Because the elder is exactly that: a church worker who serves willingly and not by force (1 Peter 5:2), and because the Bible says that someone who does not take good care of his own household will not take good care of the church of God (1 Timothy 3:5). The character God requires before the position starts being trained in the home where you live.

How to know you did it

Nobody told you to do it, the chore got done, and you can say which one it was. If someone asked you to do it, it does not count — start over with another one.

On Sunday, come back with the story

Next week's class starts with whoever shares which chore they took on and what happened when people found out. Do not stay out of it.