FIVE SMOOTH STONES - The Five Ascension Gifts in the Heavenly Shepherds Bag

FIVE SMOOTH STONES — The Five Ascension Gifts in the Heavenly Shepherd’s Bag

Chapter Seven

BIBLICAL ELDERSHIP

A s we will see, the Church in Ephesus was called a Church for the first time in the same scripture that notes there were elders present (Acts 20:17). As we will also see, it is not possible to have a true biblical Church without recognized or ordained leaders, which the Bible calls elders or bishops or overseers. You may find it impossible to locate a copy of the New Testament which has the word pastor in it. Each of the common versions of the New Testament has one use of the plural word pastors in it, and only in one significant verse, which has been reviewed. Let’s now look at the form of government found in the early Churches of the New Testament. These Churches existed in Jerusalem, Antioch, Ephesus, and other cities where the Church of Jesus Christ was established. There was a form of local rulership under leaders called “elders” or “bishops” who were in relationship with apostles and came together to direct the Church on major issues, and at specific times. The early Church met mostly in homes, but very early on also met in the temple and in synagogues, and, in at least one case in Ephesus, at a school. As the Messianic Jewish and Gentile Christians began to meet separately from the other Jews, it is reasonable to assume that they continued a form of government similar to what was already in use in the synagogues. At any rate, as the early Church met more and more in private homes, there were leaders who directed each one of the various Churches, which we can identify as congregations for clarity, always in close relationship with the leaders of other congre- gations. Some of these leaders may have emerged on their own or out of necessity, as in Antioch (Acts 11:20), but the clearer pattern is that they were chosen by apostles and set in place. Titus 1:5 “ For this reason I left you in Crete, that you should set in order the things that are lacking,

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