by David Gibson<\/p>\n
God always does it right the first time. Take, for example, church leadership.<\/p>\n
What many people do not realize is that in the New Testament, there are at least three terms used synonymously: 1) pastors, 2) overseers (also called bishops), and 3) elders.<\/p>\n
Commenting on Acts 20:17, 28, Bible scholar F. F. Bruce wrote, “There was in apostolic times no distinction between elders (presbyters) and bishops such as we find from the second century onwards: the leaders of the Ephesian church are indiscriminately described as elders, bishops (i.e., superintendents) and shepherds (or pastors)” (Commentary on the Book of Acts, p. 415). See also Titus 1:5-7 and I Peter 5:1-4.<\/p>\nOver the centuries, these terms have morphed into something different. A bishop has come to mean a superintendent over a diocese (district) of churches. And “pastor” is commonly used for a preacher. In the New Testament, each congregation was autonomous (self-governing) under the oversight of its own elders. Peter exhorts elders to “shepherd the flock of God that is among you<\/strong><\/em>” (I Peter 5:2). There was no central headquarters as many denominations have today.<\/p>\n One major advantage of autonomy is that doctrinal error (false teaching) is far less likely to spread because no headquarters directs the churches under them what to believe or practice.<\/p>\n In my nearly fifteen years serving as an elder, I have seen God’s wisdom at work. Each elder has his own talents, perspective, and experience, resulting in a synergism that makes for greater wisdom in leadership and decision-making.<\/p>\n If we simply follow the pattern for church government in the New Testament, we will do well. God knew what was best when He organized the church as He did.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by David Gibson God always does it right the first time. Take, for example, church leadership. What church leaders are called in the New Testament What many people do not realize is that in the New Testament, there are at least three terms used synonymously: 1) pastors, 2) overseers (also called bishops), and 3) elders.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[123,667,1511],"class_list":["post-83691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-elders","tag-organization-of-the-church","tag-preachers"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":57396,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-beginning-of-apostasy\/","url_meta":{"origin":83691,"position":0},"title":"The Beginning of Apostasy","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 29, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Andy Sochor via Unmasking Sophistry, January-March 2023 As we noticed in \"Early Persecution,\" the early Christians openly faced severe persecution for the cause of Christ. While many abandoned their faith in order to avoid these persecutions, there were others who remained faithful even to the point of death. Because\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":62667,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-are-elders-missing-in-so-many-churches\/","url_meta":{"origin":83691,"position":1},"title":"Why Are Elders Missing in So Many Churches?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 14, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"by Roger D. Campbell We read about \"the elders of the church\" in the New Testament (James 5:14). In the Bible, \"the elders of the church\" refers to those brothers who serve as the overseers of a local flock of God (Acts 20:17, 28). They also are identified as shepherds\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":18360,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/pastors-and-preachers\/","url_meta":{"origin":83691,"position":2},"title":"Pastors and Preachers","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 14, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by James R. Cope via The Preceptor, Vol. 1, No. 3, Jan. 1952. The word \"pastors\" occurs only one time in our English version of the New Testament. 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Moses experienced murmuring throughout the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28411,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-did-the-presbyterians-and-the-episcopals-come-by-their-names\/","url_meta":{"origin":83691,"position":4},"title":"How did the Presbyterians and the Episcopals come by their names?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 9, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Recently we studied the qualifications of elders and I mentioned the Greek words, Presbuterous (elder, presbyter) and Episkopos (bishop, overseer), and one of the members here asked if this is how the Presbyterian and Episcopal churches came up with their names for identifying their churches. I did some research\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":47886,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-a-pastor\/","url_meta":{"origin":83691,"position":5},"title":"What Is a Pastor?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 18, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jefferson David Tant The term \"pastor\" is a familiar term to people in most denominations. It is usually applied to the men or women who stand before the congregation and deliver a message from the Word of God as the preacher. 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\nHowever, in the New Testament, “pastor” and “preacher” have distinctly different roles. A preacher could also serve as a pastor (elder) if he qualifies and is appointed to serve along with (but not over) his fellow elders. Then, he would be a pastor in the biblical sense, but he would only be a<\/strong> pastor, not the<\/strong> pastor.\nThe autonomy of each congregation<\/h2>\n
A plurality of elders in each congregation<\/h2>\n
\n