Training elders in history
Barry Gritters discusses the essential qualifications and ongoing development needed for elders in the Protestant Reformed Church, emphasizing three primary areas: knowledge of Scripture and confessions, understanding of church order and governance, and skill in providing counsel. The article stresses that effective eldership requires not only doctrinal and administrative competence but also intimate knowledge of church members, comparing an elder's pastoral care to a physician's diagnostic approach.
Training of elders is necessary. The well-being of the PRCA and other true churches depends on a qualified, well trained eldership. The training is not, for the most part, formal and specialized training. It comes chiefly through the extended and sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, who often uses a good Christian upbringing in a stable home, and who always works in answer to fervent prayer and by the regular means of grace. That was the subject of the first editorial on this topic in the...
Full article available on sb.rfpa.org