- Paperback: 368 pages
- Publisher: Moody Publishing (November 2008)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 080241057X
- ISBN-13: 978-0802410573
- Product Dimensions: 23 x 15.4 x 2.2 cm
- Shipping Weight: 590 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #296,189 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
Product Description
Strong leadership in the church is exactly what God had in mind. However, very few people, Getz believes, understand the biblical pattern for church leadership. He has written Elders and Leaders to unravel the mystery and alleviate the confusion surrounding this critical topic. In the first part of the book, Getz lays the historical and biblical groundwork for the position of elder. In the second part, he shares how he has applied or has seen these principles applied over the years.
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Most helpful customer reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Update on Strauch,
By Brad Smith (Dallas, TX USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: ELDERS AND LEADERS: God's Plan for Leading the Church- A Biblical, Historical and Cultur (Paperback)
I've noticed several previous reviewers compare 'Elders and Leaders' by Gene Getz to another book on church eldership called 'Biblical Eldership' by Alexander Strauch. After growing up in a small Plymouth Brethren church (Alexander Strauch's background as well) I've understood for years why Biblical Eldership was written and used as the key book for elders to study their biblical role. However, Strauch doesn't just present the biblical texts, but presents many personal conclusions as if they were the logical biblical conclusions. The problem is that Strauch doesn't identify or separate out his own cultural biases in reading the biblical texts on elders. His conclusions work perfectly in small PB churches, but create much confusion in larger churches and those with different elder structures. As a result, I've asked many elder boards over the years to read Strauch to study the biblical texts, but work hard to draw the line where he jumped in to his own cultural conclusions. It has been a hard task and often elder boards finish the book frustrated by the obvious bias placed on biblical texts. The key area of problem is that Strauch has made the Bible say things about leadership structures, the role of staff, and involvement of elders in various micro-tasks that are just not present in the biblical texts.As with Strauch, Getz also presents the biblical texts very well. He also includes writings of the early church fathers up to the 3rd century. What Getz does differently than Strauss is that he keeps the 'pure text' work to the front of the book so elders of all size and type churches can read this as 'pure' biblical exegesis. In the later section of the book, Getz draws his own conclusions which come from pastoring large, elder-led churches for over 3 decades. They are very different conclusions than Strauch but they are very consistent with larger and non-PB elders experiences. This book can be read by an elder board both as a biblical study alone (skip the last chapters) or as a biblical study plus application if your church is similar to Getz's. People with small Plymouth Brethren style church biases should continue to read Strauch. These churches often have strong opinions about elder leadership and this book is not meant for them. Larger and non PB elder-led churches will be very well served by Getz's work. Churches with presbytry, council or bishop systems will find this as a helpful 'first' book to read, but will need to read additional books that provide the background to their specific denominational system since Getz's book does not cover aspects of later church history where these systems were created.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good start, Bad conclusions.,
This review is from: ELDERS AND LEADERS: God's Plan for Leading the Church- A Biblical, Historical and Cultur (Paperback)
Getz's book is an interesting one. He is a very able writer, often using stories to get his point across, and for the most time I agree with his conclusions. I do believe that one of his major arguments that a "chief leader" should be inplace is not biblical, as the previous reviewer noted the book by Strauch is a good book, which has excellent section discussing the arguments that Getz's employed.[ interesting the previous reviewer gave the book 5 stars without even reading it ! ].The major premise that Getz's uses to support it, to use one of his examples, James is a prominent christian- that means I can be a chief pastor. Something which Strauch and other writers have shown to be a ridiculous argument to utilize and which Getz makes no effort to counter. Which shouldn't detract from the rest of the book if you ignore the chapters dealing with it, however Getz's comments leave a nasty taste in the readers mouth; Throughout the book his language polite and very easy reading, but goes on rampage refering to any system that does not include a chief leader as " Dysfunctional, seriously inefficent, flaw[ed]" which I found offensive and not in tone with the rest of the book and was quite a shocking switch, it made it worse that the insults he delivers goes to the apostles who show its implimention and God who instituted it, which will no doubt make some readers cringe and fill with anger at his comments. Also see Benjamin. Merkles' "Elder and the Overseer" which is an incredibly well written book, but a more specfic study dealing with who elders/bishops are and offices in the early Church.
1.0 out of 5 stars
Poor Study, Worse Language,
By A Customer
This review is from: ELDERS AND LEADERS: God's Plan for Leading the Church- A Biblical, Historical and Cultur (Paperback)
I found the language, from a Christian writer, that Gene uses to demean those who oppose [ and rightly do so] his views is shocking, his book does not give any other contribution to the studies of Strauch or Viola give, its obsolete in comparison. I would not recommend it to anyone.
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