Historically, the post-apostolic Christians adopted this pyramid rule into their lives by shifting toward the organizational patterns of their culture. Ignatius was the first figure instrumental toward this shift and toward the elevation of one elder (called “Bishop”) who had ultimate power like Jesus, while the others stood in the position of the apostles under…
Of course, if one’s view of the church is an organization like the Synagogues, then leadership is narrowly defined as being those individuals who oversee or superintend the organization, especially when they gather into one place. Interestingly, the Greek word archon is used to define Jewish rulers, imperial Rome (Romans 13:3), Christ’s rule (Romans 15:12)…
Today’s leadership is unquestionably linked to collective churches. You can rarely find a book on leadership without seeing the word “church” attached to it in the title or sub-title. Andrew Clarke explains, “Towards the end of the twentieth century, the designation ‘leadership’ became increasingly widespread in many churches as a collective term to describe…
The body of Christ, the called out (Greek, ekklesia) had its beginning in Jerusalem (Isaiah 2:2-3, Luke 24:47) because the gospel was first preached there. When one referenced “the called-out”, it was only the called-out living at Jerusalem for a time because that is where the seed of the kingdom had been sown. It was…
The presence of a church in any community is seen when individual saints are hard at work being the light and salt in a world lost in sin. When the world sees the consistent and harmonious pattern of Christians in their unity, love for one another, and their life-style of faith, they are seeing the…
In the absence of local church organizations, there is still a distinction between individual action and a plurality of other individual saints in the same community. The principle of autonomy, i.e., independent accountability, is biblically applied to the individuals that together make up the body, not to local church organizations. For the sake of illustration,…
1. The Effect of your teaching is Isolation From Brethen Someone may have the idea that this writing may lead to disjointed individuals who may or may not be joined together. This is a typical response of an institutionalized person. It is certain that no member of the human body can function if it is…
The church about which Luke records in Acts 20:28 and from which this phrase “blood-bought institution” arises, cannot be an institution because “blood-bought” refers to the collection of individuals saved by the blood. It does not refer to local church organizations. We are not added to the local church organization by the blood of Christ…
1. Institutional Staff (Continuation) In Catholicism, the clergy/laity is more pronounced than protestant churches. Yet, it exists in both. In Catholicism, the order of clergy is equated with the church institution to which people must come to enjoy blessings from God. In Protestant churches, the institution stays intact while the people with their clergy are…
One of the best ways to define anything is to describe its features or characteristics as we have described “the ekklesia.” The institutional concept of the church has the following marks of identity: Official Positions of Authority Invariably, someone will say to me, “You have to have a local church or nothing gets done.” Or,…