Like most of my social media feed, I was glued to Netflix this week as I watched the 3-part docuseries The Death of A Pastor’s Wife.
But I just couldn’t believe it. I am born and bred Restoration Movement. My grandfather became a believer in an RM church; he helped plant an RM church and was a lifelong elder; I have 4 uncles who preached in RM churches, countless cousins and relatives. My dad is an elder, and I have been under the employ of an RM church for 16 years. By my count, I have lived under the authority of roughly 9 million elders.
So when I see a story like the one that unfolded at Solid Rock Church (seriously, watch the doc, it’s wild), I am just flabbergasted. I’ve had elders let me know what they think about the length of my hair, the length of my grass, and the length of my sermons. (All three were too long!) I cannot fathom a world where a minister can do what John Paul Miller did, and NO ONE would hold him to any sort of account, or even have a tough conversation with him.
“I cannot fathom a world where a minister can do what John Paul Miller did.”
And for all of my hand-wringing about elders, I couldn’t have imagined a better picture of WHY God designed the church to be overseen by a plurality of godly, wise shepherds than the story of Solid Rock Church. Briefly, if you’re not interested in spending 3 hours of your life staring at a TV: JP Miller starts a church; eventually he has an affair (really, probably grooming and assault, as she started when she was a minor) with his worship leader, and then marries her; then they separate and almost divorce, very publicly; then she accuses him publicly of abuse and all sorts of awful degradation; then she dies; and he is accused by her family of many, many awful things. All along the way, he continues to preach, lead, and run a church. After being at least thrice disqualified from ministry, no one, and nothing, stops him from standing in the pulpit with his gaudy shirts and gauche exegesis.
This is such a prescient reminder of why God calls the church to be led by a plurality of elders. Not by one dynamic personality.
When the apostle Paul is preparing to leave Ephesus, he gives a set of instructions to the Ephesian Elders. He has lovingly, painstakingly started this church, and he knows, the minute he leaves, the wolves are going to come in and pounce. So, he is begging the elders: Be the shepherds I know you can be. Keep the wolves at bay.
“This is such a prescient reminder of why God calls the church to be led by a plurality of elders.”
“Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.” (Acts 20:28-31, NIV)
He tells them to make sure they stay strong and that they do not let the church fall. (Side note: nothing about lawns or hairstyles here!) His main concern is that the elders protect the sheep from wolves. Wolves are after only one thing: satisfying their own appetite. The job of the shepherd is to make sure his sheep aren’t the ones who become the feed.
Jesus calls us sheep often. We may take offense, but it’s not any less true. The design of God’s church is to be run by a plurality of men, accountable to Scripture and holding to the standard God has set before us. Keeping doctrine and holiness at the front of the line in a quest to make disciples. The elders have a “high and holy task” of holding leaders accountable, caring for the sheep, and defending from wolves.
“This is such a prescient reminder of why God calls the church to be led by a plurality of elders.”
And we know something matters in the Bible when it’s repeated. Paul doesn’t just say it one time in that context because he knows the Ephesians can be squirrelly. Over and over again, Scripture makes it clear that the elders are essential. Titus, 1 Timothy, and 1 Peter all reinforce the importance of a plurality of elders to lead, shepherd, and guide the church. These are faithful men who are not interested in their own notoriety but committed to leading a church together as God has called them. 
Charisma, talent, and schmooze have long led many men in the pulpit to get their way and run a church as their own special little fiefdom. The power, notoriety, and admiration have brought many wolves to many congregations. But thoughtful doctrine, prayerful care, and dogged protection by elders have kept many more at bay.
That’s why Paul spends several paragraphs in his letter to Timothy ensuring that the men who serve as elders are men of high character and integrity. These verses are not meant as a rigorous biographical checkbox, but as an examination of the reality of the elders’ character and faithfulness. And a man who holds himself to the standards Paul sets certainly wouldn’t allow any other man helping lead his church to run wild.
And as many times as I ever had an elder ask me about the parsonage grass and every time one of my former elders would say “Well, people have been talking…,” I am reminded: they aren’t there by accident. They are here because God ordained them. The preacher isn’t the king and the elders his court, but together we’re a team of ranchers, farm hands, shepherds—guiding the flock, protecting the flock, caring for the flock.
“Together we’re a team of ranchers, farm hands, shepherds—guiding the flock, protecting the flock, caring for the flock.”
I am so thankful to serve with a team of elders who are not “yes” men. They challenge me, they push me, they serve with me. And when needed? They tell me “no.” Because power without plurality is dangerous, and a church where no one can tell the pastor no doesn’t have a shepherd; they’re just following a wolf who can use a microphone.
The reality of ministry is, most people don’t set out to build a cult. No one I went to Bible college with had on their vision board “get my way all the time…” These things happen slowly. The church grows, people listen, success happens, and then ego grows. Disagreement gets framed as disloyalty. Over time “God called me to serve” evolves into loyalty to the pastor as the litmus test for salvation.
That’s why even the best church leaders need great elders. Men who aren’t impressed with a turn of phrase or shiny smile. Men who criticize at the right time and encourage in the right time. Men who are temperate, men who are not lovers of money or quarrelsome. Men who are following Jesus and trying to help others do the same.
I don’t need elders because I expect to become a wolf. I need elders because I am a human being, and human beings with influence need accountability. The plurality of elders isn’t an obstacle to strong leadership. Done well, it is one of the things that makes strong leadership safe.
