Today, men and women are called to be church elders. Their age doesn't matter as much as their life experience, wisdom, and desire to serve God and the church's people.
In some Christian traditions (e.g., Eastern Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism, Anglicanism, Methodism) an elder is an ordained person who serves a local church or churches and who has been ordained to a ministry of word, sacrament and order, filling the preaching and pastoral offices.
The appointment is the congregation's recognition or affirmation that a prospective elder possesses the biblical qualifications found in 1 Tim. –7 and Titus –9. It is the acknowledgment, “This man is biblically qualified and evidently a gift of Christ to our church” (Eph. ).
Qualifications of Elders — I Timothy -7 Above Reproach (Paul begins with positive attributes) ... The Husband of One Wife. Temperate. Prudent. Respectable. Hospitable. Apt to Teach. Not a Drunkard (here he begins the negative attributes)
The lead pastor may be a woman and in larger churches, some of the pastors, executives, and elders will be women. When a missionary couple is invited onto the church stage to be prayed over the women might be a co-leader with her husband or the called leader who is being supported by her husband.
Title: Choosing Your Elders Pray. Pursue someone you feel led to ask. Ask. If they decline, you're done. If they agree, share their name with the elders. The elders meet with. Candidates put on ballot if no serious issues. Church votes; super majority of members who vote required.
Elders are essential to a church because their ministry includes an emphasis on protecting the people by using the word to refute those who would harm them. Again, this is something that all Christians can do, but Christ has seen to it that there's no question of who must do this.
Each circuit overseer visits the congregations in his jurisdiction twice each year. During his visit, local elders recommend members who may qualify for appointment as elders or ministerial servants (equivalent to deacons), and appointments are decided by the circuit overseer.
Ing to Scripture, church elders were expected to follow specific instructions. Some qualifications were being blameless, faithful, not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain.
1), elders should be appointed by the express consent of the congregation. How to balance these two principles is a matter of prudence. One way to recognize both biblical principles is (i) to have the elders nominate prospective elders and then (ii) to have the congregation vote to recognize them.