Part 4 of 9 of the theme 'Leadership of elders ' by Gijs van den Brink

Last time we ended with the question: in which church are elders appointed. In the house church? Or over a group of house churches in a particular city or region? Or in the universal church?

The first mention of responsible elders in the Christian church is in Acts 11:29-30: "The disciples decided that the brethren in Judea should be supported. They each contributed according to their ability and had their gift brought to the elders by Barnabas and Saul. There is mention here of the presence of (Christian) "elders" in Jerusalem.

It is noteworthy that it no longer speaks only of the apostles (cf. 4:34,37), but also of "the elders. On the one hand, of course, the apostles also belong to "the elders. Peter, for example, calls himself "fellow elder" (1 Pet. 5:1) and the apostle John also calls himself "elder" (2 John 1). On the other hand, Acts 15:2,4,6,22,23; 16:4 shows that there were elders in addition to the apostles, of whom James, Jesus' brother, was the first (cf. 15:13; 21:18; Gal. 2:9).

Luke does not tell us about the appointment of these elders. Why this does not happen becomes clearer when we realize that the congregation in Jerusalem is not a congregation meeting in one place (a meeting at home or in a hall), but the city congregation in the sense of all believers in Jerusalem.

Network of daily meetings

Here we need to say something about the structure and nature of the church in Jerusalem. It was a network of small communities with daily meetings. In Acts 2:46 we read, "Every day they [the believers] met faithfully and in unison in the temple, broke bread at one another's homes, and used their meals in a spirit of simplicity and full of joy" (see also Acts 1:13; 4:32-35; 5:42; 12:12).

The believers in Jerusalem met daily in their homes. What they did then we read in verse 42: "They remained faithful to the apostles' teaching, formed fellowship with one another, broke bread and devoted themselves to prayer.

Based on archaeological research, we may assume that an average of 30 people per house could gather. In that case, therefore, at least 165 houses are involved, because there were 5,000 believers in Jerusalem and the surrounding area (Acts 4:4).

So when we read in the book of Acts about "elders" in Jerusalem, who are mentioned together with the apostles, it refers to the responsible elders of a city congregation, or of all believers in Jerusalem and its surroundings. They are not talking about elders of one local (house) church.

Against the background of elders in the Jewish community, we need not doubt that also in the Christian community of Jerusalem, the elders mentioned here are the most respected elder brothers from various house churches.

In the following blogs we will discuss the situation in Antioch, Crete and Ephesus.

Author: Gijs van den Brink
From: Study Bible Magazine

This is part 4 of 9 concise blog on the topic "Leadership of elders" from Study Bible Magazine, Some of which we will be posting online in the near future. We hope this will help you understand the Bible better!