Subjecting Local Congregations to Off-Site Control

In the New Testament, no one ever served as a spiritual leader for a congregation that he wasn't also feeding. God's Word prescribes no leading where there is no feeding. Every "elder" in the New Testament was required to faithfully teach the Word of God (2 Timothy 2:24), and to serve alongside the believers in that particular congregation. The word "elder" in the New Testament is interchanged with the words "overseer," "pastor," and "bishop."

Biblical church leaders must manage and lead not only in administrative tasks, but more importantly, in "prayer and the ministry of the Word." (Acts 6:4) Safe leaders in a church are those whose primary passion and calling is prayer, the proclamation of the Gospel, and the teaching of the Scriptures. The church is not a business, even though it has necessary financial matters to conduct. The church is a spiritual organism. You cannot lead a spiritual organism with people who are less than qualified spiritually....or who are as absent from the family as a "deadbeat dad." Whatever other abilities they may have, their spiritual qualifications are what determine whether or not they are safe to lead and fit to feed.

At one point in history, Christians began to experiment with "out-of-town" church officials who were given authority over congregations which they were not personally feeding. Bad idea. God's blueprint is the way to go. Congregational ministry needs to produce strong leaders from within who are fully capable of serving and supervising their own congregation. Every New Testament church had a plurality of on-site overseers; that is, a plurality of pastors or bishops or elders (whichever term you prefer) who were active disciples in that particular congregation. Read more