Eldership: A Biblical Foundation for Church Planting

Abstract

Nearly all modern Evangelical missiologists agree that planting churches is central to fulfilling the Great Commission. That is, the missionary task is not merely about making converts but rather about making disciples—and disciples are not made in isolation, but in community with other believers. Jesus himself stated that he would build his “church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matt 16:18).[1] The apostle Paul dedicated is efforts to planting and nurturing of churches in Asia Minor and Greece. If the church is central to God’s mission in the world, then it is imperative that churches are planted with biblical leadership. The goal of this article, then, is to discuss how biblical eldership fits into God’s plan for his church. After defining what we mean by “biblical eldership,” we will then consider the importance of biblical eldership in the context of church planting.