Elders in Every City

In Elders in Every City, Roger Beckwith writes:

The basic tasks of the ordained bishop and presbytery are teaching (including evangelism) and pastoral care. The bishop is not primarily an administrator, and the presbyter is not primarily a celebrant of the sacraments (vital though the celebration of the sacraments is), but they are both primarily pastors and teachers. Being derived from the Jewish teaching presbyter and from the New Testament presbyter-bishop, it is natural that this should be so. Today we need to call bishops and presbyters back from too great a concentration on other things, to give their main energies to their main responsibilities, in their respective spheres (81).

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