The text of our heading reads, “For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed you.”
Here, we find Paul leaving Titus in Crete to set in order things lacking and ordain elders in every city. Titus selected elders in every city so that disciples living in the cities had proper guidance and care. From apostle to evangelist to elders, God’s people had no lack of teaching. You will notice that Paul speaks of elders being ordained in each city while Acts 14 has apostles appointing elders in every ekklesia (a group of “called out” ones). Each of these passages provides a commentary on the other. Whether we speak of “every city” or “every ekklesia,” we are addressing the same subject. For example, the “called out” in Ephesus was the brethren living in that city. Therefore, the elders living among the called out in Ephesus were the elders living in that city. Therefore, they were identified by the city in which they lived rather than the congregation of which they were members.
It is, also, noteworthy that each time the translators speak of a “church,”[1] it was always in the singular. The “church” at Corinth and the church at (in) Jerusalem were saints living in that city. Even though there may have been several groups of individuals meeting in homes, as in the case of Corinth, they were still the called-out (singular) in that city made up of “men and women” who had obeyed the gospel. The plural only applied to regions like Galatia or Judea as they are made up of many cities. Rather than envisioning this to be city-wide elderships overseeing local church organizations, it is simply city-wide shepherds overseeing the souls in a city. There is absolutely nothing in the statement “church at Philippi with its elders and deacons” (Phil 1:1) that necessitates the view that Christians formed themselves into a local church organization to which every saint joined, financially supported, and all convened under one roof and over which an eldership ruled. We have conditioned ourselves to see it this way and press scripture into a mold of our own making.
[1] We have supported the view elsewhere that the word, translated “church” is one of the most damaging mistranslations known to man.