The Weight of Being an Elder

Leadership matters. At our moment in church culture we have had a myriad of examples of church leaders who lacked integrity and character. There is a long list of pastors with moral failures alongside those who bullied and used people. It is no wonder so many are leaving the church and rejecting any authority. On his way to Jerusalem, Paul stops to visit the Elders of the church in Ephesus. Earlier, Paul spent over three years serving this church and raising up the leaders and Elders who would continue the work when he left. Now he wants one last gathering to love on these men and challenge them as leaders of Christ's church. Not only is our text today one of the most heartfelt and beautiful moments in Acts, it also, more than any other, gives clarity to the call on the lives of men who serve as the elders or pastors of the church and the weight they must carry together. What we see in the Scriptures is a plurality of leaders serving as a band of brothers who give their lives for the church for the cause of the Gospel in a city.