[Linux4christians] I need some advice.

[Peter B. Steiger]

An interesting concept I have been hearing about is the suggestion that
"elders", "deacons", and "pastors" (bishops) are all used interchangeably in
the NT.  Here's an essay that gathers together all uses of the Greek terms
(presbuteros, episkopos, poimainen, diakonos) and shows how they were used
in context:
http://www.biblepages.web.surftown.se/ee01d.htm

I don't really have a horse in this fight; you can believe one or the other
about church structure and it doesn't affect your salvation.  Personally I
don't believe there is scriptural basis for a hierarchy; it just lists
various occupations without giving organizational structure to them ("And
forsooth, ye deacons needs must answer to thine elders, who art subject to
the bishops...") but maybe I'm just not reading the epistles carefully
enough to catch it.

Our small (maybe 100 families on the books, 50 attending at any given time)
has none of that.  We have one full-time pastor whose job is to lead the
worship services; the entire rest of the church body is expected to hold him
accountable, conduct small group studies as we are called by God to do so,
and maintain the physical needs of the church building.  Unlike churches
I've been to that do have formally appointed committees -- deacons, elders,
whatever -- there has never been a single argument about money, music,
carpet colors, or anything else that I am aware of.  And the church just
keeps growing... the first time I went there were maybe 20 people total in
the whole building.

Shalom,

*PBS*


On Thu, May 19, 2011 at 3:29 PM, <htgage3 at chartermi.net> wrote:

> I'm not saying that the one vote per person is in the bible, I'm saying
> that that is the way that we do it in our work.
>
> There are only two offices in the local, visible New Testament church:
> Pastor, also called bishop, elder, called by God; Deacon, approved,
> appointed, which ever way you want to use it, by the church. There are only
> two offices, and both are held by men only.
>
>
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