The Elders, serving under Christ, are the church’s governing body. The Elders, alongside Pastor Craig, submit to our Lord and Saviour Jesus, and operate under Christ’s delegated authority. Together they seek His Spirit’s guidance to manage His church according to His Word. This structure reflects biblical passages such as Acts 14:23, where Paul and Barnabas "appointed elders in every church," and Titus 1:5, which instructs the appointment of elders to oversee the spiritual life of the congregation. Elders are responsible for shepherding the church, teaching sound doctrine, equipping the saints for works of service (Eph 4:11-16) maintaining discipline, and providing spiritual care (1 Peter 5:1-3).

We trust that this structure of leadership is not only biblical, but beneficial. This model increases diligence in shared responsibility, wider wisdom in decision-making, and greater safeguards of accountability. This system aligns with 1 Timothy 5:17 which acknowledges that it is “elders” (plural) who serve as leaders to "direct the affairs of the church.” Notably the passage mentions that some have the specific gift of preaching and teaching (hence, the role of the Pastor). Together, Elders function as spiritual overseers (Hebrews 13:17) who protect the church from false teaching (Titus 1:9). Jesus informed His disciples that it wasn’t the responsibility of leadership to ‘lord it over’ the church (Matthew 20:25-28), but rather to serve in a humility of the same thread as Jesus. Notably, at the time of this being written, every one of the elders and their wives are on the church cleaning roster, such is the genuine humble servant-heartedness of our Church Council!

Also sitting on Council are our Deacons. Their role is distinct (though complementary) to that of elders and pastors. Acts 6:1-6 reveals just one facet of the blessing it is to have deacons: the apostles appoint seven men to handle the daily distribution to widows, allowing the apostles to focus on prayer and ministry of the Word. Deacons serve as ministers of mercy within the church. While it is not the sole duty of the Deacon to address the practical needs of the congregation and community, the Deacon is the point person to ensure that this is being done. Deacons are called to oversee charitable work, care for needs, and ensure that the churches ministry resources are distributed fairly, and thus this role calls for wisdom and godliness. The qualifications for deacons are outlined in 1 Timothy 3:8-13, emphasizing qualities like dignity, integrity, and faithfulness in service. Thus, while deacons do not have the position of leadership and authority in the same way as Elders, they are nevertheless recognised and heeded as wise and godly brothers around the Council table.

Deacons must manage their households well, showing that they can faithfully steward the wider church family. In essence, deacons embody Christ’s compassion (Mark 10:45) and are vital in reflecting God’s love through acts of service, making them a bridge between spiritual and practical care.

According to the Ephesians 4 principle of church leadership ‘equipping the saints for works of service,’ the Gateway Church Council is committed to allocating suitably gifted individuals into roles of ministry leadership. There is a certain amount of delegated ‘authority’ that comes with these ministry positions. ‘Authority’ is a term that may leave an odd taste in our mouth, but it really ought not to! A Ministry Leader's authority in a particular area of ministry simply means that they have agreed to carry the delegated responsibility of seeing that ministry done well. The authority of a ministry position is limited to that ministry area. These Ministry Leaders serve under the authority of the Elders who seek not to micromanage these ministry areas, but instead free the Ministry Leaders to use their God given gifts to serve the Church (Romans 12:3-8). The elders have the aim to encourage these ministry leaders and encourage their further equipping or training as necessary.

We encourage the Church to honour how selflessly these members make themselves available to serve our Gateway family, and to honour their positions by using each of our time and talents to make their task as smooth as possible. Currently, we have Ministry Leaders in the following areas:

• Youth Pastor, who oversees all ministries related to Kids and Youth.
• Kids Church Leader, who oversees Sunday Kids Church.
• Music Leader, who oversees Sunday service worship, musician auditions and training.
• AV Leader, who oversees our audio/visual technology.
• Admin, who oversees our church newsletter editions and rostering schedules.