There are a lot of sweet, Christ-honoring churches in the world filled with precious men and women doing their best to obey Jesus—no matter the personal cost. And there are toxic churches in the world—harboring abuses and abusers of all kinds. Our news feeds are full of the devastating stories.
With all the potential for abuses and false teachings out there, how do we know if a church is safe? I’ve been asked this question several times recently, and truth is, there is no 100% guarantee any church will forever and always remain safe and healthy.
Many churches start with the best of intentions and solid direction … but slowly over time begin to slip into some form of doctrinal or behavioral error. This is one reason I highly encourage everyone to be more than a Sunday Christian—to study the Bible and always remember: we do not follow Jesus because of the programs a church offers or how great the music is but because of what He did and who He is. When churches or pastors fail us, we must keep our eyes set on the One who never will!
Another important thing to remember is … there are no perfect churches. And if one exists, the moment I walk through the doors, that claim to fame is lost! Even so, I do believe there are simple questions we are biblically supported to ask that can help us make a more informed decision on where to invest our time, treasure, and talent.
Here are a few questions I believe we should all ask of our churches or any we are considering:
What do the elders do?
Elders are the overseers of the church. In the New Testament, the term elder is used interchangeably with overseer and pastor. In Titus 1:5–9, Paul gives the qualifications of elders:
This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you—if anyone is above reproach, the husband of one wife, and his children are believers and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination. For an overseer, as God's steward, must be above reproach. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain, but hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined. He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.
In 1 Timothy 3:1–7, Paul gives the qualifications for overseers, (basically the same as for elders):
The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God's church? He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil.
In 1 Peter 5:1–4, Peter tells the elders to shepherd (also translated pastor) the flock of God.
So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.
From Scripture we see that anyone overseeing the church (top leadership) is considered an elder—all overseers are held to the exact same high standards. We also see that elders would lead as teams. From what I’ve studied, I find no New Testament model for a single pastor at the top who bears the ultimate responsibility for and full weight of the spiritual direction and health of a local church family. There is a Moses Model of church leadership—similar to that of Israel under a theocratic government (governed by God) with Moses as a mediator between God and all the people. That was, however, a unique period of biblical history. In the New Testament, our mediator is not a single pastor, but Jesus.[i] Some Moses model churches might function well, but frequently this structure produces over-taxed, authoritarian leaders and gross abuses of power. Massive humility and solid accountability structures are a must in churches with this leadership model.
When elders are biblically qualified and fulfilling their biblical role of teaching, leading, and protecting; we can trust that we are in good hands. It’s so important for us to remember that elders aren’t called to be perfect, and the standards set by God are accompanied by His grace and power. Elders can blow it just like anyone and should be lovingly supported and held accountable.
With scripture as our guide, we can feel justified in wanting to know who our elders are and what exactly they do in the church. We should be able to ask questions about their character, qualifications, and role and easily gain answers. Here are a few specific things we are biblically supported in asking:
What theological training do the elders have and how is this vetted? In order to be equipped to teach sound doctrine they will likely need more than a lay-level education. While not all elders will have a gift of teaching or have a teaching or pulpit role, they must be able to teach sound (accurate) doctrine. This training equips them to spot false doctrine and protect the flock from it.
How often do the elders meet? In order to truly lead a church and watch over it, a team of elders will need to meet often. When elders meet once every other month or less, their role becomes more reactionary than directional, and this is not the biblical model.
How many of the elders are also church staff? This is not addressed directly in the verses above but seems an obvious best practice for most of the elders to be independent from church payroll.
Are the elders truly protecting and shepherding the flock? In a biblical church, the elders will have the best interest of the church body foremost in mind in their decision making. This can include firing unrepentant pastors or church staff who are not fulfilling their biblical qualifications. When elders see themselves as protectors of a senior pastor or church staff rather than the flock, we should be very concerned. This can create a leadership-against-congregation culture that leaves vulnerable or wounded sheep with little to know recourse or support. [ii]
Do the elders conduct exit interviews when church leaders and staff leave? This is one great indicator of church health. Healthy church leaders want to know why people are leaving. If a church has a long line of broken relationships with former leaders/members, and the elders don’t conduct fair exit interviews, there is great cause for concern. Abuses are easily covered up or minimized without this type of intentional investigation.
Is the Bible being taught?
The answer to this question isn’t quite as no-brainer as it might seem. This is because often we aren’t aware of the difference between someone teaching the Bible and someone using the Bible to support a point they are trying to make.
The first type is often referred to as expository preaching, and the second as topical preaching. Expository teaching in simple terms is reading through a portion of Scripture (usually an entire book), digging into it for what it means, and interpreting how it applies to our lives. This will include diving into the original context, literary genre, and other interpretive factors. With topical sermons, on the other hand, a teacher starts with a point or subject and then uses biblical texts to support the point.
Both types of teaching can be good (or bad) depending upon the quality of a teacher’s study and the soundness of the application of the text, and I personally like to hear both. I do feel concern, however, when all we hear are topical teachings. Not only are we apt to miss out on large sections of Scripture—especially the more difficult passages—but topical sermons can be agenda driven and have a huge impact on a church’s culture and spiritual direction over time.
When the Bible is taught well, we learn how to be better students of the Word—and we need to learn this. The Bible itself teaches us that we must learn how to read it:
Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2:15)
The Word of Truth is the Gospel of Jesus—the truth He taught in His words and actions—which is recorded and revealed to us in all of Scripture. If we are commanded to handle the word rightly, that infers there’s a wrong way to handle it, which we obviously want to avoid!
A solid sermon will model for us how to read the Bible well. The teacher will share such things as the original reason for the text, things known about the original recipients, and what was going on in their world. This helps us know how to study better on our own. A good teaching will also help us identify the timeless truth or theme that can be applied to our contemporary situations.
No matter the type of sermon, we must be students of the word ourselves to make sure any verses being used as support are being used correctly. Just because a teacher quotes multiple verses from all over the Bible doesn’t mean he or she is teaching the Bible well. I used to believe the more verses a teacher quoted, the better the message, but that’s not necessarily the case if the verses are all taken out of context and applied incorrectly. Sadly, it’s easy to support even totally unbiblical points using random verses taken out of context.
Since the Bible is the authority by which we seek to live our lives as Christ-followers, we should feel justified in wanting our churches to teach the Bible—how to read it and apply it to our lives.
Is the leadership accessible and approachable?
We all have different personalities, and that includes church overseers. Some of us are energized in a crowd, and others need an hour of solitude for every hour of social time to refuel. But … when we call ourselves Christ-followers, we can’t use our personality type as an excuse for being rude or intimidating. We are here to reflect Jesus to a hurting world that needs Him, and that goes for our church leaders even more. The Bible tells us our church overseers are held to the strictest behavior standards of all![iii]
In the biblical qualifications cited above, we learn that church leaders are not to be arrogant or quick to anger. Any leader habitually characterized by these is biblically disqualified from overseeing and should be lovingly dealt with by the other overseers (exactly why we need a plurality). We also know that as Christ followers, we should see evidence of the Fruit of the Holy Spirit in our lives which includes kindness and patience. While we absolutely must give our leaders the same mercy and grace we all need when having a bad day, pastors and elders should not habitually display character that would cause someone to feel intimated or even afraid to approach them. Jesus is described as approachable to everyone. Children felt safe. The rejected and outcast were welcomed by Him. People could boldly bring their questions to Him. People could even betray Him … and yet, He died for them with forgiveness on His lips! That is the opposite of arrogant and scary.
None of us will reflect Jesus perfectly this side of heaven. We all need forgiveness and grace. But a church whose top leaders are notoriously untouchable, easily offended, defensive, hard (if not impossible) to reach, and even scary is likely to have a toxic, fear-based culture that will trickle down. We should feel comfortable to humbly disagree with our leaders. Healthy leaders will not only receive all sorts of questions, disagreements, and feedback … but will humbly and actively seek those things because they know they have blind spots and truly want to be held accountable.
[i] For more on the Moses Model, see: https://www.gotquestions.org/Moses-model.html
[ii] For more thoughts on this, see my blog on Rubber Stamping Elders: http://www.teasicannon.com/blog/2019/1/5/open-letter-to-rubber-stamping-church-overseers
[iii] For a great explanation of this see https://www.gotquestions.org/teachers-judged-more-strictly.html
