The church of the Lord is also used in the local sense. This is a congregation of Christians meeting in one village, town, or city. There was a congregation located at Jerusalem (Acts 2). Paul writes to the church at Rome, Corinth, Ephesus, Phillipi, and Colosse. Paul said, "The churches of Christ salute you" (Rom. 16:16). The New Testament speaks of the church in a local setting such as the church at Antioch, the church at Ephesus or the church at Corinth. Each of these congregations was independent of all others. There is no work or service of the church that is too large for the church to do, and any organization larger than the local church of our Lord is unscriptural and unnecessary. Therefore, only the local church is organized on earth. Today only the local congregation has officers and organization. All the Bible teaching on church government concerns only the local church. God’s plan for the local church was that every church be organized with a plurality of elders to direct and oversee the members and the work of the church (Acts 14:21-24). Paul said "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 thee" (Titus 1:5). Is it possible for a congregation to function without elders? YES! God planned for this situation. There are examples of congregations operating without elders for a period of time. According to Jim Massey there are only four ways in which a congregation can function: (1) Scripturally unorganized; (2) Scripturally organized; (3) Unscripturally unorganized; and (4) Unscripturally organized (Massey, p. 90-92). A scripturally organized congregation is one where there are elders and deacons serving who are qualified to serve. An unscripturally organized congregation is where there are men attempting to function as leaders, elders, who are not qualified to serve. A scripturally unorganized congregation is a congregation where there are no men qualified to serve as elders. An unscripturally unorganized congregation is one that has men qualified to serve, but for some reason they will not serve, or the congregation will not allow them to serve.

The local church is an organization. The Bible likens the organization of the church to a human body (1 Cor. 12:12; Rom. 12:4,5). The body has many parts and all these parts are necessary if the body is to function properly. The same is true of the local church all members must work together if it is to function properly. The local church is independent of all others concerning its management of local affairs. Every organization must have leaders, and followers. Leaders are needed to make decisions. Any organization without leaders may be compared to a flock of sheep without a shepherd. They simply wander in circles until they select a leader. Jesus had compassion upon the multitudes which followed Him because they were as sheep without a shepherd (Matt. 9:36). The local church is no exception to this general rule of every organization needing some form of government.

Today some liberals are advocating one man rule. This one man according to them is the preacher. This is usually advocated by liberal preachers. But this is not a new twist concerning the organization of the church. Ignatius taught that a congregation needed a single bishop to maintain the unity of the congregation (Schaff, p. 145-146). Ignatius lived in the early part of the second century. Those who favor one man rule by the preacher sometimes claim that whenever God had any great work to do, He never formed a committee–He always raised up one man to do the work. This has led some to advocate a leadership structure attempting to combine elders with leaders. Lynn Anderson, a staunch liberal himself, stated in an article in the Christian Chronicle:

Later in the same article Anderson stated

What those who are advocating one man leadership seem to forget is that God designed the pattern for the church to follow. That pattern includes elders. A movement toward one man rule or one man leadership is denominational. God has given elders responsibilities and God has given preachers responsibilities. The responsibilities of elders are to lead/rule the congregation (Heb. 13:17). Elders/presbyters are also called bishops and/or overseers, and pastors and/or shepherds. The terms elders and presbyters indicate spiritual age. The term bishop or overseer is translated from a word (epis’kopos) which means "an overseer, a man charged with the duty of seeing that things to be done by others are done rightly, a curator, guardian or superintendent" (Thayer, p. 243). Elders, bishops, overseers, pastors, and shepherds possess no legislative powers within the doctrinal realm, they must operate only in the framework authorized by the Chief Shepherd and Bishop of all souls, Jesus Christ (Heb. 3:1).

Larry Powers

continued next week