When you've been doing something for six months, and everyone around you has only been doing it for five, that makes you the elder.
Gods help us all.
That was the situation back in the early days of Paganistan. At the time, most of us hadn't been doing this for very long, but the fact that we'd been doing it longer than anyone else made us the de facto elders of the community.
Incredibly enough, the community survived anyway. It not only survived, but flourished.
You learn fast when you have to. When people around you expect you to be wise, it's surprising how wise you can actually be.
Well, sometimes.
It may well be that you yourself are in this same position: a premature elder in a young community.