We have two elders on the payroll. Both are retired and work part-time. Neither is the preacher. Their service has been a great blessing to the work of the church.

My observation is that smaller churches often appoint the preacher because of his education and experience and the lack of enough other men who are qualified. When they do this, they create a conflict of interest which is hard to deal with for the same reasons that led to ordaining the man in the first place — an absence of qualified leadership other than the preacher. As a result, the preacher can come to dominate the church. (But this isn’t always the case. Some preacher/elders serve with humility and grace. You just have to be very, very careful whom you appoint.)

On the other hand — I know of countless churches where the preacher is not an elder but he is given the same power as a bishop over the elders. Again, it’s because the elders lack the training or Bible knowledge the preacher has (or seems to have). The greater problem, therefore, is a lack of leadership outside the pulpit adequate to create a true plurality of opinion and to allow the leaders to check one another.

One solution would be to get the other elders better trained (I’ve discussed this at http://oneinjesus.info/2007/04/06/on-the-training-of-elders/.) We have an institutional blind spot when it comes to elder training. It should be a well-established discipline — if you want to be an elder, you’ll attend lectureships, read books on church leadership, etc.

This is also one reason I feel so strongly we should have more church mergers. We need to pool our God-given talents so we have the best leaders leading the most people, the best teachers teaching, etc. Larger churches have no need to make the preacher an elder, and if they do ordain him, the other elders are more likely to have the knowledge and skills to bring balance to the eldership.

On balance, while it’s not sin to make the preacher an elder, it’s a practice fraught with danger and usually a bad idea. But not always. It depends on the man. Here’s a test — the more he wants the job, the less likely it is that he should have the job. Humility and a servant heart is always necessary for an elder — but they are all the more essential for an elder-preacher.

As far as the articles go on mission statements and merging of churches, you are insightful in your ideas. As you responded in your comment to Philip-your ideas can work if the church is in the right mindset.

Thanks,
dc