Quote:
Originally Posted by Hope
I recently was referred to a line from a LSM book on the management of the elders or some title like that. It is said that the second sentence in the introduction is that the elders are the center of the church. There is no verse that refers to the church as the church of the elders or the church of the apostles or the church of the overseers. In Acts 20 we find the unique elders meeting called by Paul. He referred to the elders as having been made overseers by the Holy Spirit not by an apostle. Also the job of an overseer is to shepherd the church of God not to be "over" anyone.
Making the eldership model of Taipae the model to practice local oneness is a sham. They never had a single eldership in Taipae. The leading co-worker in each hall did his own thing and the elders in that hall were his middle management team. They did get together occasionally for a ministerial alliance type gathering and all submitted to the apostle, WL.
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Hope, you are right. The Bible speaks of the "church of God," the "church of Christ," and even the "church of the saints," but
never the church of "the elders," or the church of "the workers," or even the church of "the ministry." But that is exactly what they have become.
The LC program loved the duo verses of Acts 14.23 "appoint elders in every church," and Titus 1.5 "appoint elders in every city," because they supported the one city - one church - one eldership practices they so dearly espoused. They also were controlling verses. The leaders in every city - every church - were determined only by headquarters - where "the apostle" lived, who alone had the scriptural authority to appoint elders. Acts 20.28 "the Holy Spirit has placed you as overseers," was only a "rubber stamp" of that appointment.
One huge reason I finally left is that I grew so weary of being "of men." Those around me (from both sides) said they were only "taking a stand for the truth," but what that really meant was supporting either TC or "brother We."
Today, the role of elder has much less to do with shepherding, than it does with "working together with headquarters." One example is the aspect of counseling. Elders have gone to meetings for decades, yet have no clue how to shepherd or counsel troubled marriages. The results are so many broken homes. Some of the BB's have gone on record to say that any marital or family help we may seek is just "
chicken soup for the soul."