Elders Or Bishops
The wickedness of Samuel's sons, who were judges in Israel, did not void or cancel God's way of governing Israel (I Sam. 8.) There are many ill-prepared and bad elders, I think. But if every elder in every congregation on earth were unqualified and wicked, that would not cancel out God's instructions concerning elders or bishops in the churches.
If one would know what the New Testament says, and therefore teaches, about elders, he could go to the following passages: Acts 14:23 20:17-35; I Tim. 3:1-16; 5:17,18; Titus 1:5-11; Hebrews 13:7 and 17; I Peter 5:1-5, etc. It doesn't matter how long a list of elders' misdeeds and mismanagement one can make, that doesn't blot out a single Scripture that the Holy Spirit has given to us about elders. I would advise your reading the foregoing Scriptures in as many different translations as you can. Elders or bishops are overseers, and they must "rule well," if they are to receive the crown from the Chief Shepherd, when He comes.
Rt. 2, Dora, Alabama