Introduction

As I write these words, we are still fighting in this country concerning the results of the presidential election in Washington. I see a great deal of passion from a portion of the church in the USA concerning fighting against possible fraud, fighting for Trump and an obvious fear of a Biden’s administration. However, we seem to have forgotten that we are not of this world (John 17:16) and, not only that, but have our own government to deal with in our own local churches. 

We seem to be passionate about fixing Washington when in reality we need to be passionate about fixing the mess that we have in some of our local churches and denominations. Why are we trying to change a world system that has no hope of ever changing? Our job is to minister the gospel; God’s job is to cause those seeds to grow and save people from from hell. God’s judgments start with us. In First Peter 4:17 the Bible tells us

For it is time for judgment to begin with God’s household; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God? (NIV)

As with about everything God has established, men always find creative ways and excuses to mess things up. Church government is one of those things.  Things such as Deacon Board running the church, Board of Directors above elders, women operating as apostles and elders and, even the title of Senior Pastor are nowhere to be found in Scripture. 

We also seem to confuse gifts and church government; these are two different things. The Holy Spirit has many spiritual gifts available for God’s people. Everybody in the Body of Christ has gifts… Everybody! Everybody in the world indeed has a gift or gifts. Everybody in church government has gifts also, however not everybody with gifts is in church government.  There are specific characteristics and requirements for those who God call to operate in the leadership of the church. Beloved, our mess starts with the lack of biblical government in our churches; lets focus on fixing that first.

In this article I will prove biblically that that the Church is run by the Holy Spirit and that, as it relates to church government, we only have two offices, Apostles and Elders. These two offices are clearly defined in Scripture.

To be continued…