A Structure of Serving
By Thomas Ryan
The subject of church government is a concern of many of us
today.
Mr. Harold Smith and Mr. Norman Edwards have written long
articles on church government. There have been numerous articles
in the "In Transition" publication that have addressed
this subject. I must say that there have been some very good
articles.
I have made it a point to question various ideas in the
articles and prove them from scripture. What I will be giving
here is what I believe to be correct, after making my own
personal study on the subject.
Some of you will probably recognize some the material that I
have used from the articles that I mentioned earlier.
There were certain requirements for the original apostles: (1)
They had to be taught and trained by Christ, beginning from the
time Christ was baptized by John until the day he was taken from
them; (2) They had to be an eyewitness to the resurrection of
Jesus, (Acts 1:21-26; I Cor. 15:5-8). Matthias, who replaced
Judas, fulfilled these requirements. Also, the apostles were
given the power to perform signs, wonders and mighty deeds (II
Cor. 12:12). They were well known for their acts of healing.
Two other men were selected after the original apostles: Paul,
who was selected by Jesus Christ and was taught by Him for three
years in Arabia (Gal. 1:15-18), and Barnabas, who was selected by
the Holy Spirit for a special work with Paul (Acts 14:14;
13:1-3).
It is my opinion that the office of apostle was a special
one-time foundational ministry of the first century church and
there were no successors to the apostles, only disciples.
This makes me wonder about the self-proclaimed apostles today.
Mr. Ed Martell, in his sermonette on May 25, 1996, brought to our
attention the scripture in Rev. 2:2 about those that "...say
they are apostles, and are not, and have found them liars."
These sound like false apostles to me.
The apostles were of equal status, no one in authority over
the others. At the same period of time, each was doing his own
work. The twelve were going to the Jews, Paul and Barnabas to the
Gentiles. This does away with the fallacy of one man at a time in
charge of the work or church. The idea of God working through
just one man came later with the bishop of Rome, not from God.
The apostles were following the instructions of Jesus Christ. He
told them to go and make disciples of all nations (Matt. 28:19).
It's my opinion that Jesus Christ was in charge, then and now.
The seven churches listed in Revelation chapters 2 and 3
evidently were independent churches. Each church was evaluated
independently on their own good works. Then, they were told their
faults. Each was then encouraged to overcome their faults. When
we read Paul's epistles, we see that the church was a loose
confederation of congregations, not a hierarchical type of
organization.
After saying all this, I realize that any mention of order or
structure in the church causes automatic suspicion. Most think of
a "hierarchy". I am going to define hierarchy and show
that there is evidence of a "structure of serving" in
the first century churches.
What is a hierarchy? Webster's Dictionary defines hierarchy as
1) body of persons, ecclesiastics [clergymen], in whom authority
is vested and who are organized in successive ranks, 2) any group
arranged in ranks.
Christ's instructions to the apostles were different. Luke
22:24-26 states [KJV] "And there was also a strife among
them [the apostles], which of them should be accounted the
greatest. And He [Jesus] said unto them, The
kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that
exercise authority upon them are called benefactors. But
ye shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be
as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth
serve." Verse 27 says in paraphrased form "For which is
greater, he that sits at a meal, or he that serves the meal? Is
not he that sits at the meal? But I am among you as he that
serves." Serving is Christ's priority for leadership.
Some claim the apostle Paul established a hierarchical order
of apostle's evangelists, pastors, elders and deacons. I Cor.
12:28 and pH. 4:11 supposedly lists ministerial ranks in
descending order of authority.
Let's take a look at these scriptures. I Cor. 12:28 [Amplified
Bible] states, "So God has appointed some in the church (for
His own use): first apostles [special messengers]; second
prophets [inspired preachers and expounders]; third teachers,
then wonder-workers, then those with ability to heal the sick,
helpers, administrators, [speakers in] different [unknown]
tongues."
Eph. 4:11-12 says "And His gifts were some to be apostles
[special messengers], some prophets [inspired preachers and
expounders], some evangelists [preachers of the gospel, traveling
missionaries] some pastors [shepherds of His flock], and
teachers." Notice the purpose of these spiritual gifts,
verse 12, "His intention was for the perfecting and the full
equipping of the saints [His consecrated people], (that they
should do) the work of ministering toward building up Christ's
body, [the church]."
Instead of these verses describing ministerial ranks in
descending order of authority, they describe what I call a
"structure of serving" established by Christ to supply
the needs of the church. With the rapid growth of the Jerusalem
churches, the needs of the church grew. A "structure of
serving" was created and grew out of the distribution of
spiritual gifts.
Webster's Dictionary defines structure as 1) something built
or constructed; building, etc., 2) the arrangement of all the
parts of a whole.
This describes what Christ did. Christ set or arranged the
members in the body of Christ and through the distribution of
spiritual gifts a "structure of serving" (I Cor.
12:18).
The subject of I Cor. chapter 12 and Ephesians chapter 4 is
spiritual gifts, (I Cor. 12:1,4; Eph. 4:7,8,11). These spiritual
gifts are listed, perhaps in order of need, importance or in the
order the gifts were bestowed upon individuals by Jesus Christ.
Jesus set the members in the body as it pleased Him and then
gave them various gifts that they should do the work of
ministering, serving, building up Christ's body, the church. One
might think of it as job descriptions and requirements for a
successful church (I Cor. 12:18,28).
In the first century church, the apostles and prophets were
the principle leaders of the congregations. The apostles were
charged with teaching doctrine, because they were personally
taught and trained by Christ. The apostles and prophets provided
the spiritual leadership, not the physical administration. I will
talk about this later.
Evangelist was not a ministerial rank. It described a
function. A man was an evangelist because he was one who
evangelized. Pastors were shepherds and teachers taught.
It is interesting to note the "elders" or
"bishops" are not listed as spiritual gifts that the
Holy Spirit grants. Men naturally grow older and become elders.
In Strong's Exhaustive Concordance, the word "elder"
in the New Testament, number 4245, is "presbuteros"
(pres-boo'-ter-os). It is where we get the word
"presbyter" which means "elder(est), old". So
when we see the word "elder" or "elders"
using in the New Testament, it is referring to an older person.
The words "elders" and "bishops" are used
interchangeably in the New Testament (Acts 20:17,28; Titus
1:5,7). From the elders in the congregation, one or more,
depending on the needs of the congregation, was appointed by the
ministry or selected by a show of hands by the congregation (Acts
14:23; II Cor. 8:19). (Note: "ordained" and
"chosen", #5500 in Strong's Concordance,
"cheirotoneo" from "teino" (to strech); to be
a hand-reacher or voter (by raising the hand); means to select or
appoint, choose, ordain.) They had to meet certain qualifications
to be considered. When a local congregation has older men with a
good knowledge of scripture and a reputation for fairness and
honesty and fulfills the qualifications in I Tim. 3:1-7 and Titus
1:5-9, and they wish to serve in the manner, appoint them to
serve if there is a need.
In the first century churches, the elders appointed were
primarily responsible for the administrative needs of the
congregation (I Pet. 5:2). They also taught the word in the
congregation. It's my opinion that elders selected to serve in
this manner would be considered to have the spiritual gift of an
administrator (I Cor.12:28 translated "governments" in
KJV).
The word "bishop" means "overseer". The
King James Bible translators tried to make the word
"bishop" appear to be a position of rank. It would have
been easier for us to understand if they had just used the word
"administrator" to describe the "elder" that
was appointed primarily to take care of the physical
administration of the congregation.
A hierarchy type of church government is a concern of many of
us today. We saw that type of government fail us when many of us
had to leave our former affiliation in order to obey God. After
studying this subject, we find that the hierarchical type church
government is of gentile origin designed to control by positions
of rank from the top down. This type of government is not from
God. His way is to server others, not rule over them.
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A Structure of Serving 