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How Many Elders are Necessary?
Crunching Numbers
Staff and Non-Staff. It is wise to keep the congregation
minimally dependant on paid staff. Therefore, non-staff elders should outnumber
staff elders. Ideally then, the minimum number of elders in any local church
would be three - one paid pastor and two lay elders.
It is also wise to keep the elder body small enough so that
an executive, decision-making committee within the elder group is not necessary.
Avoiding executive committees within elder groups simplifies the authority
structure of the church and prevents unnecessary divisions.
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