Our Purpose
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The apostles understood God’s purpose
for the Church. This is why the churches
they established in the first century
were glorious expressions of Christ’s
body on the earth. Today there is much
disagreement over how local assemblies
are to be structured. But we believe the
Bible spells out in clear and
unambiguous terms the structure of the
local assemblies established by the
apostles. We also believe that God is
now calling His people to recognize the
apostolic pattern and begin
transitioning the local assemblies into
it. For this to happen, however,
believers will have to understand
exactly what the biblical pattern is and
how to transition from where they are
today to that pattern. Our purpose
in establishing this website is to
provide those who sincerely want to
build according to the biblical pattern
with a centralized location for
obtaining material on the themes
discussed in our book The Glorious
Church. We also want to provide a forum
where people can ask questions, raise
issues, and engage in healthy discussion
on these themes. Our hope is that God’s
people will begin to study the biblical
pattern and pray about taking steps, as
God makes the way, toward transitioning
into a more biblical church structure.
We understand that this will require
humility, honesty, and great courage.
Our Vision
As localized expressions of the body
of Christ, every assembly is responsible
for submitting to Jesus as its Head and
allowing Him to direct the life of the
body. He is the builder of His Church.
But Jesus only builds according to His
plan. This is why His laborers must take
heed how they build, for “unless the
LORD builds the house, they labor in
vain who build it” (Psalms 127:1). This
gives rise to the question of church
polity; that is, what is the structure
of oversight and ministry within a local
apostolic assembly? Is there a specific
form of church structure God has
established and requires His people to
follow? Or do His people have latitude
in how a local assembly is structured?
While the New Testament does not present
church polity in a progression of
explicit instructions, it does reveal a
specific structure through a variety of
patterns and examples. We believe
that every assembly should be
continually examining its polity and
making whatever adjustments are
necessary to align itself with the
polity revealed in the New Testament.
This polity can be summarized by the
following principles:
- Jesus Christ is the Chief
Shepherd of every local assembly and
all the members are His sheep.
Within each assembly, and among all
assemblies, He is to be acknowledged
as the Head and given preeminence in
all things.
- Jesus Christ expresses Himself
in the earth through localized
assemblies of His people. Each local
assembly is a witness to their
community of the love and power of
Jesus, providing deliverance,
redemption, healing, restoration,
spiritual growth, and equipping for
ministry. Under the Headship of the
Lord Jesus, each local assembly has
autonomous governing authority and
is not subject to any outside
organizational authority. Local
assemblies are connected to one
another through mutual love, honor,
and service.
- Jesus Christ plants local
assemblies through teams of
believers led by apostles and
prophets. The founding apostolic
team is responsible overseeing each
assembly until such time as
qualified men can be appointed as
shepherding overseers. Once these
appointments have been made, the
apostolic team may continue to have
influence in the assembly, but no
longer has direct oversight
responsibilities.
- Jesus Christ provides
shepherding and oversight for each
mature local assembly through an
appointed team of colleagues
variously called overseers, elders,
or pastor teachers. These men have
equal decision-making authority but
differ in spiritual gifts,
capabilities, skills,
responsibilities, level of financial
support, and influence within the
assembly.
- Jesus Christ equips the people
of each local assembly for their
works of ministry through apostles,
prophets, evangelists, pastors, and
teachers. Some of these gifts may be
resident within the local assembly
and some may come from outside,
ministering temporarily on a
periodic basis.
- Jesus Christ provides intimate
shepherding to the people of each
local assembly through small groups
of believers meeting in private
homes under trained and accountable
leadership.
- Jesus Christ provides practical
service to the people of each local
assembly through a team of
biblically qualified and appointed
deacons.
- Jesus Christ reaches out to the
unsaved through His people. Each
local assembly is responsible for
evangelizing their community and
supporting the work of evangelizing
other communities wherever there is
no established assembly.
When a local assembly is built
according to the polity exemplified by
Paul and the other apostles, the
following statements become true and
operative:
Jesus Christ is the
pastor/shepherd of the local assembly.
He provides
oversight through the elders.
He equips the
believers through apostles, prophets,
evangelists, pastors, and teachers.
He provides
personal shepherding through the home
groups.
He provides
practical service through the deacons.
This is apostolic church polity.
There will be variations in the way
these principles are implemented on a
local level, but the principles remain
true irrespective of the circumstances.
By submitting to this polity, an
assembly positions itself to submit
fully to the Headship of Jesus Christ
and labor with Him in the building of
His Church.
The foundation of everything we have
said about oversight in a local assembly
is humble servant leadership. Christian
leaders are not to operate like leaders
in the world around us, who “lord it
over” and “exercise authority over”
(Mark 10:42). Jesus specifically
instructed, “Yet it shall not be so
among you” (V.43). This means that it is
possible for an assembly to be
structured in perfect accord with
biblical polity, yet fail because the
leaders are operating from a power and
control perspective rather than a
servant perspective. A group of men can
run a tyranny just as easily as an
individual. So in the end, the real
issue is not solely one of polity but of
heart. Elder/overseers must be men of
character, men of humility, and men of
sacrificial love.
The following statements provide an
overview of what we currently see as
God’s plan for the end-time Church and
the structural forms that facilitate
that plan.
- God desires to manifest Himself
mightily throughout the earth (in
what we sometimes call “revival” or
a “mighty move of God”). But for God
to do this, the Church must provide
Him with a properly constructed
dwelling place. (As types of the
Church, both the ark of Noah and the
tabernacle of Moses had to be built
in exact accord with the divine
pattern.)
- God dwells in the Church in two
ways: 1) in individual believers and
2) in local assemblies. Both must be
constructed according to the
patterns expressed in the Word of
God. We believe that most of what
God has accomplished to date has
been because of the correctness of
various individual believers. The
lack of proper structure in the
local assemblies has actually
restrained Him. Imagine what will
happen once we begin properly
structuring entire assemblies.
- Most local assemblies are not
structured according to the biblical
pattern, but have unwittingly
followed patterns which have been
brought out of denominational
Christianity and worldly
organizational systems. Today, the
majority of local churches are under
the controlling authority of either
a single leader (usually called the
pastor) or a church board. Many are
also under the authority of a
hierarchical denominational
organization. None of these
situations are biblical.
- The biblical polity for the
local assembly includes a foundation
of servant leadership, a properly
functioning team of biblically
qualified deacons, regular meetings
of small groups of believers in
private homes, and pastoral
oversight by a team of biblically
qualified elder-overseers.
- We believe that God is calling
for local assemblies to begin a
transitioning process away from the
traditional models and into the New
Testament model. This process should
proceed along the following general
course: 1) establish the principles
of servant-leadership and 100%
involvement in ministry; 2) begin
functioning through small groups
(teams) to solve problems and
accomplish missions of the assembly;
3) establish biblically qualified
deacons; 4) establish biblically
functioning home groups; 5)
establish biblically qualified
elder-overseers, at which point the
assembly will no longer be under the
pastoral care of a single
individual; 6) establish an ongoing
process to equip the saints for the
work of ministry until they all
begin functioning in unity as the
body of Christ in submission to the
Head, Jesus Christ.
Due to many variables, the precise
way in which an established assembly
transitions from its present polity to
the polity described on this website is
a difficult issue. To attempt it without
first establishing a firm foundation of
humble servant leadership would be a
serious mistake. And since a
well-functioning home group ministry
provides a place for future leaders to
experience group dynamics and prepare
for future service as deacons and
elders, home groups are a must. An
assembly must also establish a
deliberate process for developing those
with potential oversight gifts and
qualifying them according to the
biblical criteria. Such a transition
will take time and require much patience
and guidance of the Holy Spirit; but if
we want Jesus to build His church, we
must build according to His pattern.
Anyone interested in learning more about
the principles of church structure addressed
on this website are encouraged to post a
question and participate in our discussion
board. The authors may be contacted by phone
at (717) 249-2059; by mail at PO Box 337,
Carlisle,PA 17013; or by email (see front
page of this website).
May the love and peace
of Jesus be multiplied to all who read this.
David Huston and Jim
McKinley |
