Who Is Obligated to Respect the Elders?
The expectation to respectfully follow our elders goes for everyone in the church: Individual elders must submit to the collective eldership. Some churches have difficulty building congregational cooperation with the elders because some individual elders (or their wives) provide a poor example of support and submission. When an individual elder speaks or behaves authoritatively without the permission of the entire group, or expresses disagreement with group decisions, he models disrespect for leaders. In a healthy church, an elder who behaves this way must change his approach or step aside. Deacons should model a submissive spirit with the elders. When our former church board formally evaluated our leadership structure, we began with a Bible study on leadership roles. Afterward, a longtime deacon said, “The elders should not ask permission of the deacons to do what God has already authorized them to do.” That remark was a scriptural bulls-eye, and encouraged a more biblical level of re
