There are patterns in the New Testament but the leadership defined by conventional wisdom is surprisingly lacking in the New Testament. If leadership is defined as authority figures who make final decisions and delegate tasks to others, then we are very surprised by the lack of “leadership” among first-century saints. In Acts 15, we discover that the apostles, the elders, and the whole church decided to choose men to accompany Paul and Barnabas with letters to give Gentile saints. Where are the decision-makers? This describes a consensus among the apostles, elders, and the entire body of Christians.
Paul wrote to “all” (1:7) the saints in Rome and made no special mention of the elders. The letters to the Corinthians were addressed to all Christians living in Corinth (the ekklesia, 1 Corinthians 1:2, and 2 Corinthians 1:1). Again, there was no emphasis on the overseers. The greeting in Galatians 1:2 focuses on a plurality of “ekklesias” in Galatia as there were several cities in Galatia. The message was not sent to the elders to decide if it should be read by all. Further, the “saints in Ephesus” (1:1) were the recipients of that letter. Even though Philippians 1:1 mentions overseers and deacons, the letter was addressed to the saints who were accompanied by elders and deacons. The fact that they are mentioned doesn’t identify them as authority figures. They were given as gifts to God’s people and, therefore, we would expect to find them among the called out. In Colossians 1:2 the salutation went to “the holy and faithful brothers in Christ.” There was neither a mention of a special class of decision-makers, nor a clergy/laity distinction among them because there were no held offices of authority.
This lack of emphasis on the leadership is also seen in 1 Thessalonians 1:1; 2 Thessalonians 1:1; James 1:1; 1 Peter 1:1; 2 Peter 1:1; 1 John 2:1, 7, and Jude 1:1. Hebrews was written to a subgroup of believers and it was not until the very last chapter that the author asked them to “greet all your leaders” (13:24). He did not even greet the leaders directly, but tells the recipients of the writing to greet their leaders.
These examples accord with the same scenario in Acts 15 that describe brethren accompanied by elders and inspired apostles who could confirm the consistent revelation of heaven’s will regarding the treatment of Gentile brethren. Acts 15 was not the first church council convened to decide matters of church doctrine. Instead, it was a meeting to demonstrate the conformity of teaching from all inspired teachers concerning a decision already made by Almighty God regarding Gentile brethren. Granted, decisions were made regarding the composition of the letter, but the letter did not contain arbitrary decisions delegated by ruling authority figures. As Jesus taught his apostles, “whatever they would bind or loose on earth will have already been bound or loosed in heaven” (Matthew 18:18). The value of the letter carried the same authority from God as any other letter written by revelation. If the issue would ever be brought up again, all one needed to do is pull out a copy of the letter that represented God’s will, not man’s decisions. Using Acts 15 as a proof text for decision making in local church organizations is comparing apples to oranges.