| THE AUTHORITY OF THE CHURCH The Five Fold Ministry: To follow a biblical model of the church that we find in the bible I would have to say that the members of the 5-fold ministry make up the authority of the church. This leadership is made up of the Apostle, the Prophet, the Evangelist, the Pastor and teacher. This is the main leadership of the church as found in the bible. There are other places in the New Testament where it sites the elder and the deacon, which these two words in the greek are one in the same. And then there is the bishop which is a term used for a Pastor. To follow the growth of a church in the New Testament under the management of an Apostle like Paul it would look something like this. The apostle goes in and preaches the gospel; people get healed, helped, served and saved. Then with the new converts, the apostle begins to teach them the ways of God, the plan of salvation, the walk of a Christian, holiness, sanctification, the governments and practices of a church. Then he would train people up in the ways of the Lord, and in the offices of the church. He would raise up Prophets to be watchmen over the local work of God, Evangelist to continue the work, Pastors to encourage, council, coach, and edify the local body, and the teacher to continue the education of the saints in the ways of God. The apostle himself would operate in each office so that he could replicate himself and fill that spot in the church. And those five offices would be the authority of the church, there would be other leaders, but these five would make the decisions and everything would come back to them. And from them all things would be delegated equally. If there were a head of the church save Jesus Christ himself, biblically it would be the Apostle. Currently the Pastor is the head of the protestant Church. I believe that Currently the church does not recognize and follow the authority pattern of the Five Fold ministry. The Apostle and the Prophet are rarely seen, but the pastor is believed to be the ultimate authority. But how is this biblical? I believe it should be that the apostle has the highest authority and the pastor is more of a shepherd instead of a president, or king, or manager. AS to say, the buck stops with him( the pastor) Inside the four walls: I do not believe that a member of a church should be pressured to attend every service. I believe that our �Christianity� is too based around our services. Why do we have to have services on Wednesday and Sunday, what if I have to work, or make a decision to work on a Sunday or a Wednesday? Am I out of the will of God, as a church leader or member, should leaders and members be present at every function? Or specialize in there own area and be faithful to there one or few Jobs. What if we had several meetings a week just to meet the needs of everyone�s diverse schedules in America? Having service on Wednesdays and Sundays may have been perfect when those times where first set up, but that was way before America even existed, we have changed quite a bit, would it not reason that the service times of the church should change with the times. Back then life was much more simple and the small communities were fine with those times and everyone could attend. But now people have to do the 40-hour workweek with a 1 wk paid vacation a year, only 3 sick days in a six-month period, no excused absences except a death in the family or a dire emergency. The American industry is strict, and hard to get by with. Some Christians get along with that schedule just fine and still get to church, but how many people don�t get to come to church because of work and they miss out on good fellowship times, and the word o God? Shouldn�t we the people of God change with the times and learn to accommodate the schedules of the believers instead of binding them to the un-official, unspoken truth that saints should go to church every Sunday and every Wednesday without fail or they truly are not lovers of God and not truly faithful to the church? Problems with the organization- What�s at stake???? |
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