Some church elders seem to be Walter Mitty characters - having exaggerated ideas of their own importance. They see themselves as the 'authorities' within the church/congregation. Their rule runs! They say what is done and what is not done. They determine who preaches in their pulpit, not the minister.
It never seems to appear to them that the only authority within the Christian and reformed church is the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, which are the alone supreme authority against which everything is to be judged. Of course, this is an utter irrelevance in many churches that have ruling elders. In my experience, many of them are not Christians, therefore do not know Christ or His Word. So it is pointless a minister trying to assess spiritual issues in the light of God's Word. Ignorant elders providing spiritual leadership - what a sick joke! Indeed, I spoke to an elder a few years ago who did not even know the Westminster Confession of Faith - the very document that he said was what he believed at the moment of his ordination to this biblical office, and to which he signed his name.
I have heard of a situation where an elder tried to blackmail his minister by refusing to provide an essential piece of equipment until he stopped condemning the practice of co-habitation. The minister refused, all credit to him. That elder obviously does not know the Scriptural teaching about marriage, or, if he does, has decided to ignore it. How such a man can be retained as an elder of as professing Christian church is utterly amazing; but there it is.
The days at college were not the most inspirational in my life; but I do remember an old professor telling us that the authority of the elders stops at the bottom of the pulpit steps. That meant that no elder, within the reformed churches at any rate, has the right to tell a minister what to preach on, or what version of the Bible to read from, or how he is to conduct his ministry. Of course, a wise and mature minster will listen to his elders, especially if they are mature Christian men, and consider what they are saying, in a bid to try to bring improvements, according to the teaching of the Scriptures, to the overall spiritual development of the congregation. But a good reformed minister will not allow himself to be told who will preach in his pulpit, and who will not! He has the right and the responsibility to refuse to follow those instructions. And given the fact that so many elders are not only unregenerate, but in some infamous cases, are ungodly men (and now women), the conscientious minister will oppose any move on the part of his elders who wish to push him down an unbiblical and unChristian road. It is one thing for a minister not to want certain ministers in his pulpit, it is an altogether different matter for any elder to demand that certain ministers are not to preach in his pulpit. If the preacher is a liberal and unbiblical ecumenist, then hooray for the elder who has the courage of his convictions. But if, as it most likely the case, the 'banned' minister is an evangelical, Gospel preacher, then that elder is way out of line and must be told so in no uncertain terms.
But these are indeed strange times we're living in. Of this day it can also be said, "The Word of God (is) rare in these days."
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