Why Every Team Needs a Leader Among Equals: Biblical Wisdom for Elder-Led Churches
By Steven L. Childers
Abstract:
This article explains how biblical, historical, and practical wisdom all affirm the need for both shared and personal leadership in the church. While Presbyterian polity emphasizes the equality of elders, it also recognizes the importance of a leader among equals—typically the pastor serving as moderator of the Session. Drawing from Scripture, church history, sociology, and examples from family, government, military, and business, the article shows that every healthy body, team, and organization requires clear leadership within shared authority. True church leadership, patterned after Christ, is not autocratic but servant-hearted—leading by serving for the unity and mission of God’s people. One of the most common misunderstandings about Presbyterian church government is that it opposes strong leadership. Some assume that if a church is governed by a plurality of elders, it must therefore reject any one person—especially the pastor—serving as a clear leader. But that’s not what the Bible, history, or even practical wisdom teaches. In fact, true elder-led leadership depends on having both shared authority and personal leadership—a leader among equals.
Biblical Foundations: Plurality and Leadership
The New Testament pattern for church leadership is unmistakably plural. Paul and Barnabas “appointed elders in every church” (Acts 14:23), and Paul instructed Titus to “appoint elders in every town” (Titus 1:5). The term elders (plural) shows that leadership in the church is never to be concentrated in one person.[1]
But within this plurality, we consistently see clear leadership. In Jerusalem, James was recognized as the leading voice among the elders (Acts 15:13–21). Among the apostles, Peter often acted as spokesman (Matt. 16:18; Acts 2:14). In the Old Testament, Moses led the seventy elders of Israel (Num. 11:16–17).[2] Leadership among equals is not a contradiction—it’s God’s design.
The Bible also uses the imagery of the body: “The head cannot say to the feet, ‘I have no need of you’” (1 Cor. 12:21). A body with two heads is a monster, not a living organism. God’s creation always shows both unity and diversity—one head, many members.[3] So too in the church: the elders share responsibility, but one must take initiative to lead.
Theological and Domestic Parallels: Order and Harmony
God’s design for leadership can also be seen in the home. Scripture affirms the full equality and dignity of husband and wife while also assigning leadership to the husband for the sake of harmony and mission (Eph. 5:22–33). The issue is not superiority but order.[4] When each part fulfills its role in humility and love, the result is peace and flourishing.
In the same way, when the teaching elder or pastor serves as moderator of the Session, he is not “the boss.” He is a servant-leader who helps the team function with clarity, direction, and unity. Presbyterian polity calls this person a leader among equals—a role rooted in biblical wisdom, not hierarchy.[5]
Historical Perspective: The Reformed Tradition
The Reformed churches have long recognized this balance. In Calvin’s Geneva, the Company of Pastors and the Consistory (elders) worked together, with Calvin serving as moderator—guiding discussion, ensuring unity, and pressing forward the mission of the church.[6] The Scottish Kirk adopted the same pattern: shared rule among elders with a pastor leading as moderator. This structure protects the church from autocratic rule while still ensuring decisive leadership for the sake of mission.[7]
Sociological and Organizational Realities
Sociologists and leadership theorists agree: every healthy organization requires clear leadership. Research on group dynamics—from Edwin Friedman’s A Failure of Nerve to Patrick Lencioni’s The Five Dysfunctions of a Team—shows that teams without defined leadership drift toward anxiety, indecision, and conflict.[8] “Leaderless” groups may sound democratic, but they rarely function effectively.
In the military, a platoon may consist of highly trained soldiers who share a common mission, but it still needs a commanding officer to lead. In business, even the most collaborative teams have a CEO or team leader responsible for clarity and accountability. In civic life, the United States is not a pure democracy but a constitutional representative republic.[9] Citizens share authority through elected representatives who lead on their behalf within agreed boundaries. Shared power with structured leadership—that’s how things get done.
The same principle holds true in the church. God is not the author of confusion but of peace (1 Cor. 14:33). The church thrives when elders lead together under Christ, but with one elder providing the coordination and guidance that help the whole body function as one.
The Pattern of Servant Leadership
Of course, leadership in Christ’s church must always mirror the character of Christ himself. Jesus said, “Whoever would be great among you must be your servant” (Mark 10:43). Leadership in the church is never about power—it’s about service. The moderator leads by serving the elders, just as Christ leads his church through humility and sacrifice.[10]
A strong leader among equals is not a threat to shared leadership—it’s the key to making shared leadership work. It is the difference between a committee that merely meets and a team that actually moves.
Conclusion
Presbyterian elder-led government wisely combines equality and order. Every elder shares equal authority, dignity, and accountability before Christ. Yet one—usually the pastor—serves as moderator, a leader among equals, ensuring that the elders govern with unity, clarity, and love.
This pattern reflects not only biblical truth but the wisdom of creation, family, history, and organizational life. God’s design is clear: leadership and equality are not enemies—they are partners in harmony when exercised in the spirit of Christlike service.
About the Author
Dr. Steve Childers is the founder and president of Pathway Learning with the mission to help underserved church leaders to plant and grow healthy churches that transform lives and communities around the world. For twenty-two years, he served as a resident professor of practical theology at Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, teaching evangelism, discipleship (spiritual formation), church planting, church renewal, missions, and leadership. Before being a professor, Steve planted and pastored two churches—urban and suburban—for fifteen years as an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church in America. He has helped train thousands of church leaders around the world by using his church leadership training curriculum, translated in several languages. He is a graduate of Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Chicago, and Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando. He has also studied global missions and leadership at Fuller Theological Seminary in Los Angeles. Steve and his wife, Becky, live in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and have three adult daughters and four grandchildren.
Footnotes:
[1] John Murray, Collected Writings of John Murray, Vol. 2 (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1977), 343–44.
[2] Edmund P. Clowney, The Church (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1995), 214–15.
[3] John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, ed. John T. McNeill, trans. Ford Lewis Battles (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1960), 4.3.8.
[4] Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, Vol. 3: Sin and Salvation in Christ, ed. John Bolt, trans. John Vriend (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2006), 508–09.
[5] Book of Church Order of the Presbyterian Church in America (Atlanta: Committee for Christian Education and Publications, 2023), 12-4.
[6] Alister E. McGrath, A Life of John Calvin (Oxford: Blackwell, 1990), 87–89.
[7] William Cunningham, Historical Theology (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1862), 1:486–88.
[8] Edwin H. Friedman, A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix (New York: Seabury, 1999), 17–18; Patrick Lencioni, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2002), 43–44.
[9] James Madison, Federalist No. 10, in The Federalist Papers (New York: Penguin, 1987), 56–63.
[10] John Stott, The Message of Acts (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1990), 273–74.
