Before there was an eldership, before anyone held an office, there was a room with a hundred and twenty people in it. “And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples” (Acts 1:15). He was not the chairman. Nobody had appointed him. He stood up because he was the one who went first.
Then watch what he does with it. He opens the Scriptures, sets the matter before them, and names what must happen — and then he stops. The body puts forward two men. They pray. The Lord discloses the choice (Acts 1:23–26). Peter initiates; the body acts; God decides. That is the whole pattern in one scene, and it is there before the church has a single title to argue about.
Going first is not a manner. It begins with a call. God gives the gift, lays the charge on a man, and the body recognises what the Lord has already given — elders are recognised, not invented. A man does not take this up because he is senior, or because no one else will; he takes it up because he has been called to it and has answered.
What he is called to is a function, not a rank. God is a God of order, and order is how a body works rather than how it is ranked: “all things should be done decently and in order” (1 Corinthians 14:40), and Titus was left to “set in order the things that are lacking, and appoint elders in every city” (Titus 1:5). The equipping gifts are given for the same reason — so the Saints are prepared for works of service and the body is built up (Ephesians 4:11–16). Order exists so the work gets done.
What going first carries
Within that order, the pastor goes first. Not above — first. That carries weight:
- He is responsible for what he was given. Hebrews 13:17 says leaders keep watch and will give an account. That account is given by a man, not diffused into a committee.
- He models the life before he asks for it. “Follow me as I follow Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1). Peter puts it to elders exactly so: not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock (1 Peter 5:3). The example is the leadership.
- He carries the word, and is honoured for that labour — “especially those who labour in preaching and teaching” (1 Timothy 5:17). His voice on Scripture is weighty, and it is meant to be.
- He helps others into their own calling. The point of equipping is that the Saints do the work (Ephesians 4:12). A pastor who goes first and leaves no one behind him has not led.
- He goes first into the cost — the hard conversation, the apology, the risk taken before anyone else is asked to take it.
- He says the true thing plainly, including when it is unwelcome, and does not withhold it for fear that speaking with weight will look like domination.
What going first does not confer
- No veto, and no casting vote by right.
- No authority over the other Elders, who are equal in office.
- No control of money, which sits with the Committee under the Eldership.
- No appointing or releasing of Elders alone; that is the Eldership’s work in council.
Equal in office, first in labour. No one above — but a man called, recognised, and answerable for going first.