So when they had appointed elders in every church, and prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed.
Acts 14:23

Though God ordains and works through elders in local churches, the Lord Himself is the Lord of the Church. The elders are not. As a scalpel can neither perform nor take credit for a successful surgery, the elders are merely instruments in the hands of the Lord.

This was true of the Apostolic church planters, Paul and Barnabas, and of the elders they appointed in the churches that God, through them, established.

That is why the task of spiritual leaders, whether elders or otherwise, is to “commend the people to the Lord in whom they had believed.” Spiritual leaders are like sign posts. They are not the destination, they merely point to the destination, which is the Lord Himself. They commend the people to the Lord by preaching and teaching and counseling from the Word of God. They commend the people to the Lord by praying for the people and giving Him all the glory for any spiritual growth and blessing they or the people experience.

Those who are spiritual leaders, or aspire to be, must bear these things in mind. And the people they lead do well to pray for their leaders, that God would use them as they commend the flock of God to the Lord.