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Originally Posted by Koinonia
Evangelical, first--I do appreciate that you take the time to answer each post. Thank you.
Now, regarding this:
The very point I am raising is that "the ministry" does exercise jurisdiction over those churches. You may not realize this, but each of the coworkers is assigned regions of churches under their oversight so that they can serve as the channel of information and policy from the body of coworkers/LSM/DCP, etc., to the elders within their region. Elders and churches are tacitly expected to comply with the "direction" of the ministry, and everyone knows this. You know this too.
But this leads me to a larger question--you use the term "the ministry," and seem to suggest that it is okay for "the ministry" to be organizational. But what is "the ministry"? And, is it really okay that "the ministry" is organizational?
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Aren't the New Testament books of the bible written by Paul to the churches the same thing? These were Paul's writings to the churches he established and they were expected to follow his instructions. Even though each church was run by elders appointed by the Holy Spirit through Paul. Oversight of churches is the duty of an apostle.
Watchman Nee describes the difference between the church and the work (ministry) in his book Normal Christian Church Life.
We can see in Acts 18:3 that Paul was a tentmaker by trade to support himself and his work for the churches. No problem if he wanted to call that "Paul's Tentmaking Services" or whatever, or if he wanted to hire people, no problem.