In Presbyterian churches the elder is the governing office, and the entire system of church government takes its name from it.
Government by elders
The word presbyterian derives from the elder, the presbyter, and it describes a church governed not by bishops nor by the congregation as a whole but by elders, who are elected by the members and who together form the councils that rule the church at each level. Two kinds are distinguished: the teaching elder, the ordained minister who preaches and administers the sacraments, and the ruling elders, elected from among the members to share in the government, teaching and discipline of the congregation, so that oversight is collegial rather than vested in one person.
Elected and ordained
A ruling elder enters the office by election by the congregation followed by ordination to it, and holds a genuine share in the spiritual government of the church, sitting in the session that governs the local congregation and being sent to the higher assemblies. This diffusion of authority among elected elders is the Reformed answer to the concentration of authority in the episcopal office, and it embodies a conviction that the government of the church should be shared and representative. The office looks back to the elders of the New Testament church, and it is the structural heart of the Presbyterian and Reformed tradition.