What does the bible say about the form of church government. It is the elders who lead the church and are responsible for teaching the word and guiding, admonishing, and exhorting the people of god. The book of acts indicates that there were elders at the church in jerusalem acts. A church striving to live the new testament experience and be as close to jesus christ as possible. The book of acts seems to indicate that pauls regular practice was to. Church structure church offices the pastor literally, shepherd is the human head of a church. The basic principle of church government is that jesus christ is the.
Church governance is generally organised in one of three main types. The reason many churches today dont have the glory of god in them is that theyre not under the government of godappointed, fivefold ministries the first. Do you believe a church should be governed by one elder or. In the early church, it seems there was a plurality of elders, also called bishops or overseers. In the book of acts, the government of the church was in the hands of the fivefold ministry, where god placed it. In the new testament there are two greek words which are employed interchangeably for the office of elder cf. The biblical pattern of church government ministry127. In the jerusalem church, elders were part of the leadership along with the apostles acts 15. In this historical account, the apostle paul commanded various churches to elect elders to run their affairs. But even those churches that have more than one elder the pastor. Thus the members of the church can have confidence that their elders are not unaccountable and free to act out of their own selfinterest. The church in antioch recognizes the authority of the jerusalem leadership in the case of settling controversies such as this one.
The book of acts described the beginning of the church. The book of revelation identifies twentyfour elders with white robes and. Church government barabbas road church in san diego, ca. But it is not contrary to this plurality of elders to have one of the elders serving in the major pastoral role. In summary, the bible teaches a leadership consisting of a plurality of elders bishopsoverseers along with a group of deacons who serve the church. What form of government did the earliest christians have. No man in the new testament is ever referred to as the pastor of a church. Biblically, the focal point of all church leadership is the elder. The disciples of antioch had decided to send relief funds to the church in jerusalem and they did so, sending the elders by the hand of paul and barnabas.
Akin makes the case for a pastor teacher who functions as first. Shared leadership has the benefits of balancing peoples weaknesses, lightening the workload, and providing accountability. Then, he shows the scriptural description of elders, who they are and what they are to do. Daniel akin makes the case for a single elderled church. As alexander strauch writes, by definition, the elder structure of government is a collective form of leadership in which each elder shares equally the position, authority, and responsibility of the office strauch, biblical eldership, 39. Christian elders in the new testament desiring god. Acts and the epistles, it identifies the leaders in the local churches of the new testament. They recognized, i think, that the best form of government was a. This study focuses on the apostle pauls instructions to the elders at the church in ephesus. The book of acts tells us that as the apostles planted churches, they appointed. First, he builds a foundation by laying out the biblical evidence for congregationalism. Another hebrew word for elder is sab, used only five times in the old testament, all in the book of ezra.