Transcript CHURCH ORGANIZATION - Add To Your Learning

CHURCH ORGANIZATION
Principles and Practice
By Rolan D. Monje
Lesson Outline
PRINCIPLES
• The ‘Big Picture’ of church organization
• Numerical growth in the NT
• The Work of the Holy Spirit
• Trends in the Work of the Spirit
PRACTICE
• The Mature Church
• Local church: Internal Organization
• The Role of Elders
• Local church: External Organization
• Lessons from Church History
• Conclusions
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PRINCIPLES
The Big Picture
• Church organization is NOT just about authority,
structures, or power sharing.
• Church organization is about GOD’s plan
• To glorify his name
• To help Christians to grow
• To call others to repentance
The Big Picture: God is a builder
We are his house, built on the foundation of the
apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone
is Christ Jesus himself.
We who believe are carefully joined together,
becoming a holy temple for the Lord. Through
him you Gentiles are also joined together as
part of this dwelling where God lives by his
Spirit. – Eph 2.20-22, NLT
The Big Picture: God uses us to build
What then shall we say, brothers? When
you come together, everyone has a hymn,
or a word of instruction, a revelation, a
tongue or an interpretation. All of these
must be done for the strengthening of the
church. – 1 Co 14.26 NIV
Early Christianity: numerical growth
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Lk 6  12 apostles
Ac 1  120 disciples
1 Co 15  500 brothers
Ac 2  3000 baptized
Ac 4  5000 men
God knew that Christianity would spread in an
unprecedented way. As the church grew in numbers, so
God shaped the organization of the church.
The Work of the Holy Spirit
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Acts 2: moved in Pentecost
Acts 4: led in evangelism
Acts 6: raised up Deacons
Acts 13: raised up missionaries, etc.
We see that the Spirit was constantly building up the
early church in order to meet growing needs
(mentioned more than 50x in Luke & Acts).
The Work of the Holy Spirit
• Today, the Holy Spirit works to mature the church
and empower Christians through gifts.
• God does not show us exactly which gifts are to
be used when, or what positions are to be
created for a particular juncture. Yet, the pattern
of the NT church gives us principles to work with.
Trends in the Work of the Spirit
• Spiritual leaders are raised up to meet the needs
of the church (Ac 6, 11, 14).
• The Spirit builds up and grants gifts to the whole
church, not just the leaders (1 Co 14 -16).
• As churches mature, they move towards plural
leadership (Ac 11, 14, 15).
• Oversight of churches moves from iterant
evangelists towards a group of elders (Ac 15, Ac
20, Titus 1). NT churches work towards this goal.
PRACTICE
The mature local church
CHARACTERISTICS
• Rom 14.17 – general ability to direct, counsel,
and give advice to each other
• Eph 4.11-12 – various gifts and abilities being
used
• Heb 13.7, 17 – healthy submission to leaders
• Acts 15.2,19-22 – unity and organization in
decision making
Local church: Internal Organization
• Structures developed with age of the church
• Dynamic (adjusting to situation), not static
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Acts 2: apostles
Acts 4,7: evangelists
Acts 6: deacons
Acts 11, 14, 15: elders
Acts 13: missionaries, prophets, teachers
Internal organization was based on the maturity,
size, and situation of the church.
Evolving leadership positions
• Apostles and prophets (no longer applicable today) – 1
Co 12.28, Ac 1.21-22
• Evangelists – Eph 4.11, 2 Tim 4.1-5
• Elders – Ac 20.17, 28; 1 Pe 5.1-4; Tit 1.5
• Teachers/pastor-teachers – Ac 13.1, Eph 4.11
• Deacons – Acts 6.1-6 (not by name, but by function)
• Various workers – Ro 16.6, 9, 12
• Many leadership positions – Heb 13.7, 17
Focus: The Role of Elders
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Oversight of the church (Tit 1.7, 1 Pe 5.1-4)
Leading/direction (1 Tim 5.17)
Decision-making (Acts 15.2, 22)
Stewardship (Ac 11.30)
Representation (Ac 20.17, 28)
Special care (Jam 5.13-15)
Teaching (1 Tim 3.2, Tit 1.9-11)
Preaching (1 Tim 5.17)
Protecting doctrine (Tit 1.9-11)
Elders qualities/qualifications
• Elders (and similarly deacons) play such
important roles in the church, that Paul takes
time to give qualifications for selection.
• These mature attributes are listed in 1 Tim 3.1-5
and Tit 1.4-9, and are to be aspired for by
everyone, not just those desiring eldership.
• The idea for lifting up these qualities seems to
be: As Elders are to be, all Christians are to be.
Elders as overseers and directors of
the mature NT church
• The main role of evangelists is to preach the word and
plant new churches. In Acts, they are presented more
as itinerant preachers than church managers.
• Paul and Barnabas made sure that elders were
appointed in churches (Ac 14.23, see also Tit 1.5).
• Even early on in Acts, the ones placed in charge of
monetary donations were elders (Ac 11.30).
• When missionaries reported to churches, they
approached elders, not evangelists or teachers. When
apostles wanted to resolve issues, they did so by
meeting elders (Ac 15.2, 4; 21.18)
• When Paul needed to speak with the leadership of
Ephesus, he called for the elders. (Ac 20.20-28)
Local church: External Organization
• In the NT church, local congregations had a healthy
interdependence—not complete dependence, not
complete independence.
• This interdependence resulted in a ‘family setting’
among churches, a healthy cooperation among brethren.
• At various times, the NT churches emphasized the
importance of Jerusalem, Antioch, or Rome. But these
churches were never seen as ‘over’ other churches.
• Neither Peter nor Paul sought to have a single overarching system of authority over churches. Instead they
sought to align churches based on needs (e.g. Antioch
church, helping Jerusalem church in Acts 11; reported to
Rome in Rom 15)
Hierarchy in church history
• In the NT church, local congregations had equal
concern and a healthy interdependence.
• What served to destroy this pattern was the
emergence of bishops ‘ruling’ over other
bishops. What evolved in the late first century
was a setup where one bishop ruled a plurality of
congregations, the opposite of the NT pattern
where a plurality of bishops led a single
congregation.
Hierarchy in church history
• Leadership then became a matter of control. Bishops
from various cities fought for control over other cities
(Rome, Constantinople, Antioch, Alexandria, etc).
• This jostling for position and power led to the corruption
of the Roman church, and led to terms such as Country
Bishop, Cardinal Bishop, and Universal Bishop.
• Church history is peppered with names of men who
sought to rule the entire Roman church: John the faster,
Gregory the Great, Boniface III, etc.
Lessons from history
• Eventually, departure from the NT pattern led to
apostasy and spiritual decay.
• We need to learn our lessons from church
history, especially with respect to authority and
its abuse. History relates departures from the
NT pattern. These serve to warn us today.
Denominational organization
• Denominations have evolved several kinds of church
organization. All churches tend to lean towards one
kind.
• Some have adapted an episcopalian form of
organization: each local congregation is under the
oversight of a bishop, and several local congregations
are under one bishop.
• Some have adapted a presbyterian form in which local
congregations are under the oversight of a group of
leaders selected by the congregation.
CONCLUSIONS
• God loves His church so much and He is deeply
concerned about her growth.
• The Spirit moves powerfully to mature the church:
individually and collectively.
• Leadership structures dynamically develop and adjust
according to the needs of the NT church.
• Mature churches are led by a plurality of elders, with
other leadership roles being fulfilled by qualified and
willing men.
• The details of church organization are worked out when
we have a godly leadership composed of elders,
evangelist, teachers, deacons, and other servants,
working together for God and his church!
Let us strive to be the New Testament
church that God has called us to be,
and glorify his name!