Elders and Leaders

Rating:
Summary: Good start, Bad conclusions.
Review: 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.
However, ignoring that and concentrating on the good parts its an alright book. I feel however its in a market already served exceptionally well by Strauch's book but still should be useful companion.

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.

Rating:
Summary: Name please?
Review: I have not read Getz' book yet (I only filled in the star rating because I had to in order to post). No doubt it will be a nice addition to Strauch's work on biblical eldership--emphasis on biblical. In regard to the first review posted: A reviewer with a little backbone might include his name in the review.

Rating:
Summary: Update on Strauch
Review: 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.