“The quality of your elder plurality determines the health of your church.”

So argues Dave Harvey in his book The Plurality Principle: How to Build and Maintain a Thriving Church Leadership Team. Several years ago when Dave and I began working on this book, I couldn’t imagine why anyone wouldn’t want a plurality of elders. More help in shepherding and teaching and deliberation? Why not? We all have blind spots. We all need help from other perspectives. We all need more shoulders on the plow.

Fast forward to publication in 2021 from Crossway and The Gospel Coalition, and The Plurality Principle looks at least a little less plausible. Sure, maybe it’s nice to share the blame for hard decisions on pandemic policies. But what if your elders don’t agree with each other? What if they no longer trust each other? Wouldn’t a single decision-maker make more sense?

This week on Gospelbound, I checked back in with Dave Harvey, president of Great Commission Collective. Dave brings more than 30 years of pastoral ministry to this conversation, and I sought his counsel for pastors and other church leaders hoping to build thriving leadership teams. Hopefully this conversation will help you contribute to a healthier church, even if you’re not a pastor or elder. 

ALSO: Thank you for helping Gospelbound cross 3 million lifetime downloads! As always, I appreciate you rating and reviewing the podcast to help others join the conversation. I look forward to sharing interviews this season with Jon Tyson, Gavin Ortlund, Mark Sayers, Sandra McCracken, George Yancey, Jake Meador, and many others.