Today we find these “gifts in men” serving as elders and ministerial servants. These men realize that they are not ‘rulers’ or “masters” of the congregation, nor are they fathers, but are brothers, “fellow workers.” (1 Cor. 4:8; 2 Cor. 1:24) They are to ‘take the lead’ in doing what is right, preaching the word of God, reproving, exhorting and teaching, but not ruling or imposing their consciences on others. (Heb. 13:7; 2 Tim. 4:2) Their work is to slave for their brothers, “in order that we [in the congregation] should no longer be babes, tossed about as by waves and carried hither and thither by every wind of teaching by means of the trickery of men, by means of cunning in contriving error.”​—Eph. 4:14; Gal. 5:13.

HARMONY AS A BODY

So the elders in the congregations of Jehovah’s witnesses recognize that they, along with every other member of the congregation, are like ‘joints’ or members of a body, as the apostle says: “Let us by love grow up in all things into him who is the head, Christ. From him all the body, by being harmoniously joined together and being made to cooperate through every joint that gives what is needed, according to the functioning of each respective member in due measure, makes for the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.”​—Eph. 4:15, 16.

A joint or a member of the body relies also on the other joints and other members for sustenance and useful operation. Thus, all the members of the body, including elders and ministerial servants, are dependent on one another. They realize that God’s spirit, not their own ability, accomplishes God’s will, through the wholehearted spirit of the brothers. The elders’ work is to encourage that wholehearted spirit. Also, they see that it is not primarily through organizational efficiency, but “by being harmoniously joined together” in the uniting bond of love by the operation of Jehovah’s spirit, that spiritual growth, smooth functioning and increase come.​—Col. 3:14.

Elders and ministerial servants should therefore work for the joy and happiness of all the members of the congregation. They should avoid making themselves feared by the brothers. Neither should they consider themselves as “benefactors” to whom the brothers are somehow indebted, for they are not to be like the rulers of this world’s system of things. (Luke 22:25, 26) Christ is the Benefactor to whom all are indebted. He administers the affairs of the congregation for our happiness. His ‘yoke is kindly and his load is light.’​—Matt. 11:30; 1 Tim. 6:15.