Biblical Eldership Church Leadership

CHAPTER 6 Bible-Based Leadership Structure

“Set in order what remains, and appoint elders in every city as 1 direct you.” Titus 1:5b

to as church polity, church structure, church organization, church order, or the ministry) is as irrelevant an issue as the color of the church pews. Indeed, for many people the color of the church pews inspires greater interest! To these people, the organizational structure of the church really doesn’t matter. The average church member’s dis interest in how the church is governed needs to be challenged, how ever. Church government is an extremely practical and theologically significant issue. So I ask those of you who have not thought much about this subject, or have assumed that it is unimportant, to consider the following points. Some of the worst havoc wrought to the Christian faith has been a direct result of unscriptural forms of church structure. Only a few cen turies after the apostles’ death, for example, Christian churches began to assimilate both Roman and Jewish concepts of status, power, and priesthood. As a result, church government was clericalized and sacralized. Under Christ’s name an elaborately structured institution emerged that corrupted the simple, family structure of the apostolic churches, robbed God’s people of their lofty position and ministry in Christ, and exchanged Christ’s supremacy over His people for the su premacy of the institutional church. For many people, the issue of church government (also referred

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