In Acts 14:23 (narrative, descriptive) we read that it was the Apostle Paul's pattern to appoint Christian elders within churches early on in the lifecycle of a church (1):

Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord, in whom they had put their trust.

We've already read that Peter used the term "shepherd" when speaking of elders (1 Peter 5:2). Paul also included shepherding language when addressing the elders in Ephesus (Acts 20). The term "flock" is used to describe the church in relationship to the elders. This informs us of something of the nature of the relationship of the community of believers (the church) and Christian elders.

Today we will consider the first of the synonyms for Christian elders in the New Testament (there are more than this one, but in attempting to keep this a more digestible read I'm limiting today's discussion to one): Overseer. In future discussions we will examine other synonymous words and concepts for the elder (such as shepherd, and pastor). 

Today, our discussion moves from the mostly narrative driven accounts of the Gospel and Acts, to the letters written by various Apostles to individuals, and churches in the rest of the New Testament. I'll continue with the "survey" format, simply citing a passage and giving a brief statement.

To give us a starting point for learning about Christian elders I'm going to cite several passages below which speak about Christian elders in the New Testament. Some of these passages are descriptive (describing elders), some are narrative (stories that includes elders), some are prescriptive (instructions for elders).