A good and healthy church always has good and healthy qualified leaders. That goes without saying. And so the question might be, well, what is an elder? What is a man who's qualified to be an elder?

And I just said the key word. First of all, he's a man. He's a husband and one wife. But the qualifications of an elder are listed in 1 Timothy 3 and in Titus 1. There are many other places where we have more snippets of the qualifications as well. But those are the two big lists. But it's interesting to me that at the very top of that list, in 1 Timothy 3, Paul says that if a man aspires to the office of overseer or elder, it is a fine work he desires to do. And so the very first qualification has to be a desire. There's an inner desire and calling by God, a yearning to lead the people of God.

Then you have all the character qualities that are listed in those two chapters I listed. but the skill, the one skill set that is a must is that he must be able to teach. This doesn't speak so much of ability on a platform or behind a pulpit. Titus chapter one defines what it means. It means being able to teach that which is sound in doctrine and able to refute that which is not. In other words, knowing what's true and knowing what's not and being able to explain the difference. Those are elders that will bless the local church.