The highest officer in the local church, outranked only by the minister. He or she is elected by the church for a term of one year, and may be reelected for additional terms. After the initial election, the elder must be ordained to the office by an ordained minister ( see Ordination ), but does not have to be reordained when accepting the same office in another church. The elder also may act as a deacon without ordination to that office.
In the absence of the pastor, the elder is responsible for the church services, either conducting them or arranging for them. The elder also may conduct the Communion service. While the pastor usually is chair of the church board, the local elder may act in that capacity if it seems advisable (see Church Manual [1990], pp. 57–61, 88).
The work of a local elder is confined to the church electing him or her, although the elder may serve more than one church if other churches elect him or her. By special arrangement with the president of the conference or mission the elder may conduct a baptismal service when an ordained minister is not available. The elder is not authorized to conduct the marriage ceremony.
It is the church elder’s duty to foster all the activities of the church, to cooperate with the conference, to see that the various officers carry out their responsibilities, and that delegates to conference sessions are elected. The elder is not a delegate ex officio to such sessions.
The earliest Seventh-day Adventist churches did not elect elders; the deacon appears to have been the only church officer. But as early as 1854 Joseph Bates in an article “Church Order” spoke of two kinds of elders in the New Testament church: those who rule and those who preach the Word ( Review and Herald 6:22, 23, Aug. 29, 1854). The next year J. B. Frisbie, a pioneer minister in Michigan, wrote, in a two-part article under the same title, of (1) the elders who had the spiritual oversight of all the churches—the “traveling elders”—and (2) the “local elders” who had the pastoral care of one church. These he distinguished from the deacons, who were to look after the temporal affairs of the church ( ibid. 6:155, Jan. 9, 1855). In the January 23 issue ( p. 164), in answer to a question by John Byington as to whether elders and deacons were to be appointed in every church, James White urged that the New Testament church order be adopted and that in “every church where the numbers, and talents, and graces of individuals are sufficient,” the officers of the church should be appointed. Further articles on “Church Order” by Frisbie appeared in June and July 1856. In the Oct. 15, 1861, issue of the Review and Herald , an address on church organization by J. N. Loughborough, Moses Hull, and M. E. Cornell appears. They state in the introduction (28:156): “The subject of organization having been referred to us by the late general conference, with the request that we hold a Bible class thereon, and address you through the Review , we have accordingly had the subject under investigation, and submit the following thoughts for your consideration.
“In the address the election and ordination of elders as well as deacons in the churches are clearly prescribed” ( ibid. , pp. 156, 157).
A series of articles in 1874 by G. I. Butler, entitled “Thoughts on Church Government,” further defined the office and work of church elders. While the office of elder was recognized as the principal one in the church, his powers were regarded as merely advisory, since the body of the church was the deciding authority ( ibid. 44:69, Aug. 18, 1874). However, “the work of correcting, admonishing, and overseeing in the church” belonged to the elder far more than to anyone else ( ibid. 44:92, Sept. 8, 1874), and the minister and the members were to support the elder against gossip and against idle complaints ( ibid. 44:101, Sept. 15, 1874).
In a later article by H. A. St. John, the chief duties of church elders were again delineated ( ibid. 46:165, Nov. 25, 1875). They should visit the members and seek the wandering, baptize, and conduct the ordinances in the absence of the evangelist, and call business meetings before the conference session, at the close of the year, and at other times when necessary. If the church had no deacon, the elder was to act in his place, look after the Sabbath school, and attend all meetings if possible. Elders should keep records of their work and the meetings.
By 1885 the work of the church elder was defined very much as it is at the present time. For example, in the report of the General Conference proceedings, beginning Nov. 18, 1885, at Battle Creek ( SDA Yearbook , 1886, p. 47), the rule was laid down that a local elder if reelected, or if properly elected as elder of another church, need not be reordained. Apparently this rule was not immediately followed universally, because as late as 1896 the following question and answer appeared in the Review and Herald: “If a local elder moves to another church and is there chosen elder, does he need to be reordained?” “Yes; we think he should be ordained again, because his ordinations are local” ( Review and Herald 73:121, Feb. 25, 1896).