Quote:
Originally Posted by Evangelical
Here is another article from Christianity explaining how and why every church should have elders.
https://www.9marks.org/article/shoul...h-have-elders/
I quote..
But the best reason a church should have elders is because the New Testament says that it should. Throughout his epistles, and especially the pastoral epistles, Paul makes it plain that every New Testament church should have elders, that is men who “direct the affairs of the church” (1 Timothy 5:17-18). He commissioned Titus to make sure that all the churches in Crete had elders (Titus 1:5). And he took the time to outline for both Timothy and Titus what sort of men should be called to that office (1 Timothy 3:1-7; Titus 1:6-9), as well as the procedure that should be followed should a man need to be removed from the office (1 Timothy 5:19-20). So central were elders in Paul’s thinking that, though eager to reach Jerusalem by Pentecost, he took the time to call the Ephesian elders together and give them one last exhortation (Acts 20:16-38), the heart of which was that they be faithful as “shepherds of the church of God”.
So also if we consider that in addition to elders a church should have evangelists..prophets..pastors..teachers...the giftings to the church...it must be more than 3. Clearly 3 people are not enough.
Clearly ZNP does not know what he is talking about and everyone should be wary to accept his sad rambling monologue about church boundaries when he cannot even get right the most basic facts about the size of a church. |
So Evangelical has quoted verses from Timothy and Titus to prove that every church has to have elders in order to be a church. This raises the obvious question how did Paul write epistles to the churches in Thessalonia, Corinth, Rome, Ephesus, Colossae, Galatia, and Phillipi prior to this rule about appointing elders?
There is no doubt that as a church grows in size you will need some to take up the office of overseer. Once again, consider the example of Odessa. When they met in people's homes why would you need an overseer? But once we rented a meeting hall, now it becomes necessary. Someone has to be responsible to see that the bills are paid, the heat and air conditioning are working, make decisions about adding a bookroom, conferences, etc.
But there is no verse that suggests that appointing elders is necessary for a gathering of believers to be considered a "church".