City Eldership: A Biblical Basis

Emerging  city eldership mutually recognizes each other and commits to each other.  Some people have an anointing for city ministry, either for the mega-city or for sectors of the city.  For others this is not their calling - their calling is purely to the local congregation.  There are four discernible groups of leaders in a city: the eldership in the secular sector, the pastoral eldership, women in citywide Leadership, and the apostolic Leadership team.  Significant diaconal Leadership or youth Leadership teams may also be major factors in  Leadership to the city.

 As the building blocks are developed it becomes apparent who the city leaders are. Some of these will emerge from an interim steering committee.  But the initial committee of activists may not be the long-term driving force or group in the city. They need to enter into such a partnership with an openness about relinquishing their role after the catalytic phase. The Lord raises up leaders for a season.  After a time in such God-given roles we may quietly return to our place, as the mantle of authority moves to another in the city.  The city leaders' task is to move the church from being a standing army into engagement in battle.  It is to bring unity, raise vision and mobilize into action. 

Reduction of the eldership role

Historically, most denominations have interpreted Paul's instructions on the appointment of elders in each city (Titus 1:5), as instructions on the appointment of a Leadership team in their local (denominational) church.  And each denomination has then defined the nature of eldership with certain cultural formulations, including elections, ceremonies, job descriptions.  I will go on using the term as referring to the leaders of both house churches and larger churches in a city, usually known as "pastors".  Many may find the term "city leaders" to be less threatening, and hence more effective in building unity. 

Eldership Based on Gifting

A major theological breakthrough around the world in the last decade has been  the concept of city eldership based on functional exercise and relationship of spiritual giftings mentioned in Ephesians 4.   The renewed emphasis on spiritual giftings has had time to gel and is now accepted by most denominations.  It has been coupled with a cultural shift whereby the transferal of ideas has become so rapid that doctrinal separations have receded rapidly.  This has been accelerated by a characteristic of post-modern culture grappling with diversity within an urbanized globe - high levels of toleration for differing ideas.  Today pastors with similar churches in a city often have more in common than they do with churches across the nation within their own denomination.

Shifts in the Locus of Decision-making

There is a shift in the locus of inter-congregational decision-making from the collapsing denominational centers (increasingly viewed with suspicion in a post-modern, anti-large corporation, fax-driven world), to the city eldership.  Not that the denominational centers become irrelevant - they remain usefully powerful and need affirmation.