The Role of the Elder: Rooted, Grafted, and Growing

There’s this image that came to me when At an event recently. I think about what it means to be an elder in today’s world. It’s the vine. The vine and its branches. Jesus said it best: “I am the vine, you are the branches.” But what we learn from people who actually know how vines grow how they’re cultivated, grafted, pruned you realize there’s a deeper wisdom there. Something we’ve overlooked when it comes to leadership, especially spiritual leadership.

See, in viticulture, which is just a fancy word for grape-growing, there’s grafting. It’s when you take a new, young vine a tender shoot and attach it to a strong, older rootstock. That older vine has seen some seasons. It’s survived storms, pests, drought. Its roots go deep. And because of that, it’s strong enough to carry something new. That grafting process is delicate. It takes time. But if it’s done right, the young vine doesn’t just survive it thrives. It matures faster. It produces better fruit. And maybe most importantly, it avoids diseases that the older vine already fought off.

Now that right there? That seems to be the role of an elder to me.

Rootstock That Holds

An elder is not just someone who’s been around a while. Being old doesn’t automatically make you wise. You can live a long time and never become rooted. But true elders, those who have done the deep work of reflection, of repentance, of learning and unlearning these folk become good rootstock. They’ve weathered hardship without becoming hardened. They’ve been broken but not bitter. They’ve learned how to hold space, not just power.

We’ve got too many people chasing platform and too few who are willing to hold ground. Elders do the quiet work of grounding community. They become stable enough for others to graft into. Their role is not to overshadow young leaders but to undergird them. That’s the kind of elder I want to be.

Paul: An Elder Who Knew the Assignment

Let’s talk about Paul. Was Paul an elder? Absolutely. But not because of age alone. Paul had power, privilege, position and he laid it down. He leveraged all of that to raise up younger leaders. Timothy. Titus. Priscilla and Aquila. Lydia. He was constantly on the lookout for where God was moving in the next generation, and his role was to set them up not slow them down.

Paul also understood the grafting process. He didn’t expect new believers or young leaders to have it all figured out. He reminded them again and again: you’ve been grafted into something bigger than yourself. He didn’t shame the process of growing he intentionally nurtured it.

That’s the call for elders. We don’t need to be the center. We need to be the connector. That’s a key question I’ve been asking myself , Can the elder’s role be that of a connector? The answer is yes. And in fact, it must be.

Elders as Connectors, Not Gatekeepers

For too long, elders especially in faith communities have been seen and act as gatekeepers. Holding the keys. Deciding who’s in and who’s out. But if we go back to the vine, to the rootstock, that’s not what it does. It doesn’t withhold life from the young vine. It shares it. It connects it to everything it needs nutrients, water, stability.

We need elders who aren’t afraid to get close to younger leaders. Not to control them. But to connect them. To pour into them. To be transparent about their own mistakes and failures so others don’t have to repeat them. That’s what it means to pass on the faith not just information, but transformation.

Grapes Without the Disease

Now, let’s talk about that phrase grapes you want without the disease. See, every vine carries something. It might carry sweetness, complexity, richness. Or it might carry rot and spread disease and toxicity.

When I talk about elders being good rootstock, i’m not just saying  stick with the old.  We’re saying: be mindful of what you’re grafting into because if that older vine never did its healing work, if it never dealt with its bitterness, its racism, its pride, then that disease gets passed on too.

We’ve seen this in churches. In politics. In organizations. Charisma without character, leadership passed down without repentance, and power without humility. That’s diseased fruit. and it might look good at first, but it never lasts.

Elders are responsible for doing their work to heal their wounds and owning their shadow. This is what makes them safe to be grafted into to and what produces the grapes we actually want things like abundant, life-giving, sustainable fruit.

More Potential Than a First-Year Vine

Here’s what I think is  beautiful about the grafting process: a young vine grafted into a mature rootstock produces fruit faster and better than if it grew on its own. That’s not just a poetic idea it’s agricultural fact. The rootstock doesn’t make the young vine lazy it makes it fruitful. When elders get this right, they become multipliers. They don’t just grow one leader they grow generations of leaders. They don’t just build one church or one business or one movement they lay foundations that others can build on.

This is especially important when we think about the realities of race, power, and privilege in leadership. Too many older  privileged leaders have used their position to protect themselves instead of to set up others. The elder who follows Jesus uses their privilege like Paul did to build bridges, and to lift up young leaders, to open doors, and to get out of the way.

A Faster Maturity, A Deeper Trust

I’ve seen and experienced this firsthand. When young leaders are mentored by elders who are rooted, who are honest, who are connectors and not gatekeepers they grow fast. They don’t grow in a way that rushes them, but in a way that strengthens them. They don’t have to start from scratch. They don’t have to prove themselves in systems that weren’t built for them. They get to grow on solid ground.

That’s the kind of elder I want to be. That’s the kind of elder I want around me, and that’s the kind of elder the world needs right now.

This generation has vision. They’ve have energy. They’re not afraid to ask hard questions or imagine a better world. What they need and I believe they want are roots. Roots that go deep. Roots that can hold them through the storms. Roots that remind them who they are and whose they are.

Final Word

Elders, this is our time not to dominate, not to demand, but to dig deep, to heal, to become good rootstock.  A rootstock that connects, nurtures. blesses, and listens.  Elders who create safe fertile ground for new life to emerge.

Let’s not pass on the disease, but pass on good fruit. Let’s be the vine that holds the root that nourishes stories that strengthen. Let’s be elders who make room for the future not fear it.