Nathan's Meditations

Because of my non-violent/non-coercive beliefs, & supported by other thoughts on the “dorean principle,” Christian relationship to secular governments (as a completely separate kingdom), the importance of relationship over consumerism, I’ve been strongly drawn to what is commonly called the “house church” model. However, one of the main criticisms I hear is that people who start or join house churches are really trying to escape authority or accountability. Part of my response would be that this happens in normal church structures already & smaller, voluntary gatherings would give more opportunities for accountability in both directions.

But, I do agree that some form of leadership is necessary & called for by Scripture. So, I decided to go through the text to make observations & at least get closer to an answer.

Coming from Rhema/Word of Faith/Pentecostal church, I am very familiar with the idea of the “five-fold ministry,” which is based on a single verse from Paul’s letters (Ephesians 4:11). The idea is that there are five leadership positions within the church that are an extra or special calling on certain individuals over & above simply being a follower of Christ – these are 1) apostles, 2) prophets, 3) evangelists, 4) pastors, & 5) teachers. Based on the Greek, some will say that the last two are a sort of dual office (pastors are also called to be teachers).

This is all well & good, until you notice that it is not the only “church leadership list” Paul includes in his letters…

If read in chronological order, many would agree that two more lists came before the one in Ephesians – namely, 1 Corinthians 12:28 & Romans 12:6-8

1 Corinthians lists eight positions within the church: 1) apostles, 2) prophets, 3) teachers, 4) miracles, 5) gifts of healing, 6) helping, 7) administrating, & 8) various kinds of tongues.

Romans lists seven positions within the church: 1) faithful prophecy, 2) service, 3) teaching, 4) exhorting, 5) generous contributing, 6) zealous leading, & 7) cheerful acts of mercy.

^{*Ephesians 4:11 is the only place where the Greek ποιμήν (poimén) is translated as “pastor” (which comes from Latin) instead of “shepherd.”}

A few observations: in the letter to the Corinthians, the ordinal numbering is likely referring to chronology, not hierarchical position – if it were a hierarchy then we should see the same lists with the same “ranking” for each position or gift when writing to different churches. It’s also a theme when Paul writes to the Corinthians that he validates his message as coming from the original followers of Jesus who knew Him when He was alive & saw Him after He was risen (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:3-9; Chrysostom claims that the “apostles” were the seventy sent out in Luke 10.). I don’t deny that people can & do have visions of Christ to this day, or that He has “sent” all of His people to proclaim the gospel, but biblically & for the early church, an “apostle” was one who personally knew Jesus, & were thus worthy of respect & deference.

The positions or gifts of prophecy & teaching are present in all three lists, & prophecy is consistently at or near the top. Prophecy is also something that Paul wants everyone at the church gathering to do (cf. 1 Corinthians 14), not just a special subset of the congregation.

A last observation, which will lead into the next section: in Paul’s list in Romans, he puts “leadership” nearly at the bottom of the list, while “service” (διακονία [diakonia]) is near the top. In contrast with any* of these other positions or gifts, “service” actually does have historical precedence continuing in high church contexts.

^{*We will cover shepherd-teachers later.}

When Paul writes in his pastoral epistles, he appears to give three titles for local church members (common names in parenthesis): Overseers (bishops), Elders (presbyters), & Deacons. Every occurrence of these word groups is presented below so you can easily reference their usage.

Big-picture, one can visually see by quantity of usage that Scripture is more concerned with “service” than it is with being an “overseer.” In fact, this is how 1 Timothy 3:1 could be read – “desire” is ὀρέγεται, which can carry the connotation of lusting or coveting. The root of the word means “to stretch out,” & I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Paul directly before references the Garden of Eden narrative, where humanity “stretches out” their hand to take something that is good, but that they weren’t ready for, leading to destruction. This is why Paul lays out requirements for leadership positions – power is easily abused & tends to corrupt those who wield it.

Connecting back to “shepherd-teachers”, the verb “shepherd” or “tend/feed/guide/care for a flock” (ποιμαίνω) is tied to governors & other rulers (especially Jesus in Revelation), & to elders (such as Peter) as something they are called to do. So, it would appear that, “biblically,” gatherings of Jesus followers (a “flock”) should be led, cared for, & directed by an older believer who has demonstrated their qualification for that role.

To sum all of this up, I think our pattern could simply be drawn from Christ’s own words & example, rather than going to Paul’s words to specific communities (often with our own pre-conceived notions of what he means). Christ is our elder – the firstborn of Creation & firstborn from the dead, leading us through death into new life on the other side, & reflecting His & our Father, Who cares for all liberally & mercifully (cf. Matthew 5:43-48, 6:25-34, 7:7-11). Christ is our good shepherd & overseer, Who goes after every lost sheep (or goat) until it is found. Finally, Christ Himself told us that He did not come to be served, but to serve others, setting us an example to follow that un-twists our perception of what it means to be a leader. This message has come down to us first through His disciples & apostles, then through His prophets down to today – all of them being lead by His Spirit, who distributes gifts as His wisdom sees fit.

Finally, to apply all of this in a church context, my main takeaways are:
1) “Leaders” ought to see themselves as fathers caring for children or shepherds caring for a flock. Children fight with one another & disobey parents, but a father always works in his children’s best interest. A flock has tender, submissive sheep who can’t handle the heat of the day, & it also has goats who are headstrong, adventurous, playful, & more difficult to control. Metaphors have limits, though, as leaders in churches are themselves children of God & no one is permanently stuck as a sheep, goat, or wolf.
2) Paul calls for mutual submission among all believers, & Christ calls for all of us to be one, just as He & the Father are one. Effectively, this should eliminate formal hierarchy within our gatherings – it is wise for newer followers of Jesus to defer to elders, but this does not mean that elders are exempt from serving or submitting to younger followers; in fact, serving them is precisely how one leads them!
3) Tangentially related to this topic is the fact that the New Testament does not call for a subset of believers to act as “priests” who offer “sacrifices” at “altars” in a “temple.” All believers are priests interceding for one another & for the world, representing God within the cosmos. Christ offered a sacrifice that we participate in regularly to remind us of our peace with God & one another. All believers, collectively, form the “temple” that the Spirit of God dwells in – the closest we will get to experiencing God in this life is through our neighbor. As such, every Christian should seek to hear God speaking through others every time we gather, & these conversations should build up the whole church, while being regulated by the principle of love (cf. 1 Corinthians 12-14).