One of the basic duties of an elder is to “manage” the church. The Greek word proistemi has a broad range including to place over, oversee, superintend, care for and give attention to. Management has become one of those blase disciplines studied by drones at university who have no soul to choose anything else.

This is far from Paul’s idea when he says an elder must “manage his household well” (1 Tim. 3:4). Such management isn’t primarily about ensuring the the bills are paid (although it includes that), but centers on nourishing and edifying so that children will be faithful, or “believing” (Titus 1:6) as the ESV translates it. So management, however the word has been warped by bureaucrats, ought to be recovered in the church. Any parent knows what an intense, sustained, complex and long-term task it is to manage a household, to attend to the spiritual, emotional, and physical needs of everyone in it. Of course managing doesn’t mean controlling, all-knowing, noseying or central planning like our current megalomaniacal government is attempting at the federal level, but it does require vigilance and prudence, and most of all, faith in the all-knowing provider. The sort of provision in mind is revealed in the parable of the good Samaritan where Jesus uses the same word translated “to take care of” which Paul uses: “If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of the church of God” (1 Tim. 3:5). The good Samaritan dressed the robbed and beaten man’s wounds, took him to the inn and took care of him. He paid the innkeeper to take care of him as well (Luke 10:34-35). This is the result of biblical care, true management.

How critical is faithful management in the church, the enormous and ever-growing family of God? Just as a family grows and the needs, desire and capabilities of its members change, so churches mature and change over time. Suddenly there are no little kids in the house and everyone has more free time. Then come grandkids and everyone changes diapers again. Churches see cycles when predominant generations age and change, creating new opportunities for service and new needs for discipleship. A large contingency of young families become Christians and join, or many people become elderly. The management of one church versus another can be a very different task even if the content of the gospel always remains the same, and the elders need to be continually learning what their people need and being ready to figure out how to care for the household of God.