Christians follow the organization of exactly what God already revealed in the Bible. If God wanted a Patriarchal system, it would be revealed in the Bible and Set up on the Day of Pentecost. If God wanted Rome to be the all time world headquarters of the church, the first century Christians knew nothing about it and God failed to mention such in the Bible. Christians must do Bible things in Bible ways, call Bible things by Bible names and view the Bible as a complete inspired blueprint revealed once for all time. Christians should view the Bible as the only roadmap and reject all creeds and councils as of human origin. The foundationalproblem forRoman Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants is their acceptance of the Nicene council as authoritative. As soon as you accept the Nicene council, you leave the barn door open for wild apostasy. All human creeds are to be rejected, even if they are correct, because they compete with the authority of the Bible. If you think this is not true, take note that both the Catholic and Orthodox churches reject "Sola Scriptura" and openly admit that the Bible is not enough and that we actually need human creeds. How sad and how blasphemous! In the Bible, there was no organization larger than the local church. Individual local churches, functioned independent and autonomous of each other, with no ties between them, is the pattern we see. Within each local church, the pattern is that of a plurality of men who meet the qualifications of 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1, with total control over the congregation. Under them are deacons, who serve as servants of the elders to assist, as instructed, to govern the local church. Pulpit preachers have no more authority than common members, unless they are also one of the elders. Let us get back to the simple organization that God ordained in scripture!
Bro Goose; Good post and I agree with the principle and ideas presented, but where do we go back to in order to find the starting point? Do we except church buildings as we have today, seeing there was no mention of them in scripture? Or do we go to the Jewish synagogue as was mentioned in Acts and keep the hour of prayer, ect? Do we go to Jerusalem and keep the feast as Paul did? If we returned to the 2nd chapter of Acts and patterned our church exactly as we find reference in the scripture, how and what would we be able, or be required to do and keep? I am not arguing, just asking.
I have know churches where they all gathered, with nothing planned, and were lead by the Spirit ans they called it. When one felt lead to sing, they sang. When another was lead to speak, he spoke. When one was lead leave, they all went home.
How would we operate if we returned to the Acts example?
The church we read about in the Bible was organized in a very simple way. A general pattern was to have 2 or more qualified men overseeing each local congregation or church. These men could be referred to as the "eldership". Each man must meet several high qualifications which the Bible lists in two passages. Elders are the spiritual leaders of a congregation. They also watch out for the souls of the members like a shepherd.
[ol][*]Christ is the head of every local church. There is no human head of the church.[*]The Bible is the only written creed for each local church, rather than a man-made written creed.[*]Each local church is autonomous and self-governing. No outside interference from others.[*]No organizational tie between local churches.[*]No organization larger than local churches.[*]The Bible uses Elder, Presbyter, Overseer, Bishop, Shepherd, Pastor interchangeably and they all refer to a single office in the church.[*]Local churches appoint their own plurality of elders using 1 Timothy 3, and Titus 1 as guidelines for the qualifications.[*]Elders have authority only over the members of the local church, not members from outside congregations.[/ol]
Trae
The church we read about in the Bible was organized in a very simple way. A general pattern was to have 2 or more qualified men overseeing each local congregation or church. These men could be referred to as the "eldership". Each man must meet several high qualifications which the Bible lists in two passages. Elders are the spiritual leaders of a congregation. They also watch out for the souls of the members like a shepherd.
[ol][*]Christ is the head of every local church. There is no human head of the church. [*]The Bible is the only written creed for each local church, rather than a man-made written creed.[*]Each local church is autonomous and self-governing. No outside interference from others.[*]No organizational tie between local churches.[*]No organization larger than local churches.[*]The Bible uses Elder, Presbyter, Overseer, Bishop, Shepherd, Pastor interchangeably and they all refer to a single office in the church.[*]Local churches appoint their own plurality of elders using 1 Timothy 3, and Titus 1 as guidelines for the qualifications.[*]Elders have authority only over the members of the local church, not members from outside congregations.[/ol]
Trae
I'm with you Trae, on alot of this.... but I know that there's alot of General Council of the various Denominations, that would disagree with the "no human head" .. I tried that... Preachers have been taught that they should be nearly Bowed-to,in Reverance....PAAAAAAAleeeeze.... not by this man, ain't happenin'.....
We have different ways of knowing what is and is not acceptable. For instance, we are told some thing specifically--we know it's wrong to use a dill pickle and Coke for the Lord's Supper, because it's specified exactly what we are to use.
We have examples given--the apostles came together on the first day of the week to partake of the Lord's Supper.
Then we have common sense. We aren't told exactly what to wear, but we know it should be modest.
Leadership of the Church is one of the things that is specified. We are told specifically that elders and deacons were appointed to individual groups, and that Christ is the head of the Church, period. There is no earthly head.
God knows us much better than we know ourselves, and I think He used, for lack of a better term, a common sense approach to the leadership. He knows that we are easily corrupted, especially where power is concerned. Put one human or group of humans in a position of power over every congregation, it's just asking for trouble.
I'll pick on the Southern Baptist Association, simply because this is a case I know about. They meet and make decisions on what is supposed to be acceptable for every member of the SBA. Not too many years ago, a difficult decision was brought before them--whether or not to kick Bill Clinton out of the SBA. Obviously politics were a concern here, and a lot of powerful people could be affected, or at least offended one way or the other. The SBA decided they would not vote on it and it was up to his "home" congregation to make the final decision. Ironically, the national lawyers association (don't remember the official name of it) voted to dis-bar Clinton for some of the same reasons it was brought before the SBA.
That, in my opinion, is one of the reasons we are not given any authority for any type of earthly leader in the Church other than the elders.
I've also seen places that treated the preacher as if he were special, that he had more authority, that his opinion was more important than anyone else's, etc. To the best of my knowledge, that is somethng that is not found in the Bible either. I respect a man for dedicating his life to studying and spreading God's word, but that doesn't mean he is infallible or is authorized to take charge of a congregation.
Chad
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A wise man's heart is at his right hand; but a fool's heart at his left. Ecclesiasties 10:2
The last four letters in American..........I Can
The last four letters in Republican........I Can
The last four letters in Democrats.........Rats
I've also seen places that treated the preacher as if he were special, that he had more authority, that his opinion was more important than anyone else's, etc. To the best of my knowledge, that is somethng that is not found in the Bible either. I respect a man for dedicating his life to studying and spreading God's word, but that doesn't mean he is infallible or is authorized to take charge of a congregation.
I've also seen places that treated the preacher as if he were special, that he had more authority, that his opinion was more important than anyone else's, etc. To the best of my knowledge, that is somethng that is not found in the Bible either. I respect a man for dedicating his life to studying and spreading God's word, but that doesn't mean he is infallible or is authorized to take charge of a congregation.
Chad AMEN! Our pastor is always reminding us of this!
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Church Organization?????
