Can Elders Oversee Works Other Than the Local Work They Oversee?

By: Brian A. Yeager

Since many denominations and sects have what they call elders that oversee foreign mission works, the subject question is frequently asked as it should be.Many today believe that elders can oversee works they never attend, never see, and the only way they know anything about those works is through letters or phone calls.Let us clarify what is going to be discussed in this article by some examples:

The man supported here is Ira Rice also known well as the former editor of "Contending for the Faith".

"He has been a missionary to the Far East under the oversight of the elders of the Bellview Church of Christ, Pensacola, Florida, since 1978."

"We help support and oversee a mission effort in the city of Sumy, Ukraine, just a few miles from the Russian border... Grady Bryan went there to do mission work under our sponsorship and oversight... The church there continues to grow, and we give God the glory and praise. More and more people are learning about Jesus through this work. Our local minister/elder, Larry Branum, visited with Grady and the congregation in April of 1994 and was impressed with the quality of work there..."http://www.pscc.org/mission2.html - Pleasant Church of Christ, Springdale, Arkansas.

A congregation known for the "Annual Denton Lectures" the Pearl Street Church of Christ in Denton, Texas oversees a preacher who is1061 miles away (James Gravelle of Tazewell, VA).http://www.pearlstreet.org/WORKS/index.htm

Chuck and Judy Northrop are overseen by elders of the church in Duluth, GA while doing work inKiev, Ukraine.http://www.kc-cofc.org/39th/northrop.htm

Jim and Judy O'Connor "overseen" by the 39th Street church of Christ.

"Jim and Judy do extensive work in such places as India, Philippines, Estonia, Romania, Costa Rica and more. While in the United States they are involved with the local congregation in Oak Grove, Missouri and also do a great deal of correpondence course work as well as other work with the International Bible Studies work. Our evangelistic work is overseen by the elders of the39th Street Church of Christ in Independence, Missouri."http://www.kc-cofc.org/39th/WorksSupported.htm

The above are just a short list of those who are "overseen" from far away elders.This article will not even deal with the financial support factor and how that is done, although that is a subject of need as well. This article will deal with the question of how elders could oversee a work that they are not working with locally.

Defining the Terms

An elder is defined with Strong's number 4245 using Thayer's Greek Lexicon as: "of age; advanced in life... those who presided over the assemblies or churches..."An elder is an also known as abishop, pastor, shepherd, or presbyter. 

Overseer is defined using Strong's number 1985 as: "A man charged with the duty of seeing that things to be done by others are done rightly".- Thayer's Greek Lexicon.

An elder would have to meet the Biblical qualifications set for in the New Testament.Those qualifications were given to Timothy and Titus (I Timothy 3:1-7) "This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach; Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous; One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity; (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?)Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil.Moreover he must have a good report of them which are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil."(Titus 1:5-9) "For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee: If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly.For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not selfwilled, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre; But a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate; Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers."

Does the Bible teach that elders cannot oversee works other than their local work?

The Bible clearly states that elders ONLY have oversight on the local congregation they are laboring with.(I Peter 5:1-2) "The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind."Notice the terms "among you".This passage would clearly show the truth on the subject if it were the only passage, but it is not.There is more to this truth.The elders in Acts chapter twenty and the twenty-eighth verse were told to feed the flock "...over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers...".They were not told to feed other flocks, they were not told to oversee other flocks, just their local work which was the church of Christ in Ephesus (Acts 20:17).With elders also being termed "shepherds" as they tend to the flock, can you imagine a shepherd tending a flock from 1,000 miles away?Those sheep would be in some big trouble.How can elders who are not present rule over a congregation?How will they notice error creeping in?Christ tells us that we can know false teachers by their fruits (Matthew 7:15-20).If the elders are not there to see what is produced how can they monitor, protect, and feed the flock?

The true problem with this arrangement is the lack of biblical authority it has.We must do all things through the authority of Christ (Colossians 3:17 and John 12:48).We cannot just make up the rules as we go.One brother in Christ made this statement to me: "churches of Christ have been doing it for years".The church of Christ is the church of the Bible (Romans 16:16, I Corinthians 12:27, and Ephesians 1:22-23).Yet, if the church of Christ practices something that does not make that practice an inspired truth.The church is not the authority, the word of God is (II Timothy 3:16-17 and II Peter 1:3).By using the church as the authority we ignore the head which is Christ (Colossians 1:18).By making the church the authority we make ourselves practice portions of the Romans Catholic doctrine of church authority instead of Bible authority.An old Christian I loved so dearly use to say "if it ain't in there, it just ain't in there, and we can't do it"!While the grammar in that statement is not all "in there" the statement is still all true.If God did not authorize it, we cannot practice it!The question should not be where does the Bible say it is wrong, the question needs to be focused to where does the Bible teach it is right.It is clear by definition and by passages that the elders are to oversee the flock "among them".

A Blatant Contradiction

As was noted in the documentation section of this article the 39th Street church of Christ has the "oversight" of Jim and Judy O'Conner in their foreign mission fields.Yet, read what was written in the 2000 Lectureship book produced by the same congregation relative to the authority of elders.

"Let it also be understood that the authority of the elders is limited to one congregation. While there are to be elders in every congregation, they have the oversight of the “flock which is among you” (1 Peter 5:3). The elders of congregation “A” do not oversee congregation “B” or any other congregation but congregation “A” only. The Bible teaches that there is no larger organization of the church than the local church, and elders have the oversight of the local church, and their authority is limited to it only." Source: Lesson on the authority of elders - http://www.kc-cofc.org/39th/Lectures/Manuscripts/E-Book%20-%20Ready%20To%20Give%20An%20Answer.PDF

The Greatest Problem

Elders today seem to lack knowledge as to their responsibilities.Maybe they do not realize that they will answer for those they oversee.(Hebrews 13:17) "Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you."Elders today seem to be overly concerned with politics in the church and they are not studying enough to keep the knowledge they must have to lead, protect, and feed.Elders need to realize that feeding the church is not sending a pizza to the members homes occasionally.They are to feed spiritual food (Matthew 4:4) so that the church they are overseeing can grow spiritually.Elders need to be elders who commit to the Bible and the Bible alone!I have always wondered if some elders thought that the word "oversee" was spelled "overseas" meaning that they thought they need works from overseas to oversee.Or, maybe they think that "oversee" means to "overlook".Whatever the case, brethren need to assure that the leaders of the body of Christ lead the body down the right path (Matthew 7:13-14 and Psalms 119:105)!If the Bible does not teach it, then do not practice it.The problem with the church of our Lord as it seems to this author today is that church autonomy is broken much too often.True Christians will stand against congregations that are in error on this issue.True Christians should teach those congregations under the oversight of another congregation that this practice is not scriptural.The excuse always seems to be "but... we will loose our financial support".What ever happened to faith in God (Romans 8:28)?When eternity is in the balance, who wants to worry about the meaningless things?Those who practice such traditions need to question the reason behind the practice.Elders in one congregation cannot oversee any part of the work for another congregation, this practice is not biblical.