Statement on Church Eldership Development

City Movement Church, as a new church plant, is in a season of intentionally developing leadership structures to serve and shepherd our congregation for years to come. While a formal eldership team has not yet been established, we are committed to prayerfully discerning and setting apart elders in the future as the Lord raises up qualified leaders from within our church family. We recognize the importance of taking this process carefully and not rushing, building a foundation that will sustain the church long-term.

The eldership team will be led by the Lead Pastor, providing spiritual guidance, oversight, and accountability for the life and mission of the church. This team will include both directional elders, who provide vision-focused leadership, and marketplace elders, who contribute insight and wisdom from the broader community. All elders will serve three-year terms, allowing for intentional cycles of development and renewal within the leadership team.

In keeping with the historic teaching of the Church and the polity of the Wesleyan tradition, elders will be spiritually mature who demonstrate Christlike character, faithful obedience, and a calling to shepherd God’s people. Their qualifications are rooted in Scripture, particularly 1 Timothy 3:1–7, Titus 1:5–9, and 1 Peter 5:1–4, which describe leaders who are above reproach, faithful in their households, spiritually discerning, and able to guide others in sound teaching and godly living.

This leadership is about stewarding God’s people, not exercising control, and is rooted in servanthood rather than personal gain. Elders exercise authority as shepherds and servants, following the example of Christ, who taught that true leadership is marked by service and sacrifice (Matthew 20:25–28).

City Movement Church is committed to discipleship and spiritual formation, cultivating a community from which future elders will naturally emerge. When the time is right, elders will be prayerfully discerned, affirmed by church leadership, and set apart to shepherd the congregation, uphold sound doctrine, and care for the spiritual well-being of the church.