Where the Bible discusses the matter of Christian leadership, it supports the strong leadership role of the pastor.  Three Greek words are used for this role, and they seem to be fairly interchangeable in the New Testament: shepherds or poimen, presbuteros, and episkopos.  Episkopos, translated  bishop, gives the idea of an overseer or a guardian.  Presbuteros, translated as elder, is respected due to the wisdom of age and is an example of a ruler.  Poimen indicates the relationship of a shepherd to his flock. It is a biblical metaphor used to describe God-ordained leadership.  A pastor by definition is to be the leader of his flock.

My thesis is that these three words describe the three leadership styles of the effective pastor. These three leadership styles encompass most of the situations in which the pastor will find himself. I have divided each of these main styles into two subordinate styles of leadership. The styles will be described in relationship to how each deals with the situation, the task and the people involved. See chart 1 for further explanation.

The apostle Peter, who was also an elder, admonished elders in their work to:

1 Peter 5:1–3 (NKJV)
5    The elders who are among you I exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed: 2 Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; 3 nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock;

From this passage we learn that elders are to serve as "overseers" for the "flock" among them. Therefore, elders are in an office with some authority to oversee the "flock", or local congregation, of which they are "among" and a member. Also, elders are limited to overseeing the flock "among them".
It was the apostles to whom Jesus gave the power to determine matters of faith through inspiration of the Holy Spirit (John 13:20; Matthew 16:19; 18:18).   Elders cannot override the commands of the apostles who spoke in Christ's stead - by virtue of the lack of the authority of their office and the fact that elders today are also uninspired.  This is probably the meaning of the statement from 1 Peter when he commanded them not to be "as being lords over those entrusted to you". Elders cannot make decisions of faith for their members without "lording over them" (Acts 5:29). But, in all other matters we find that members of the church are to:

Hebrews 13:17 (NKJV)
17 Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you.