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by David Cox
In these days of confusion in the ministry, where everybody has a great idea, and does what they want to do, we seem to remember a time in the Bible when this also happened.
KJV
Judges 17:6 In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes.The situation was that there was no king, no single directed effort by a single authority, and the result was chaos. Everybody did what was right in their own eyes, what they thought was good and right, according to their own judgment and not according to the Word of God. We today have a refusal of God's people to submit to the authority of God in how and what they do as "ministry". There is no priority as God has set it, and there is no direction and following of the guidelines and forms that God has set down for us.
THE LOCAL CHURCH IS THE FORM AND METHOD OF DOING THE MINISTRY THAT GOD HAS GIVEN US
Simply put, the only valid ministry that anybody can show us from Scriptures is one that is centered in and around the local church. Quite frankly, God has put His seal and stamp of approval on the local church, and within the biblical structure of how a church is to work and function, we see the genius of God. This is in contrast to disasters that abound in other religious organizational structures.
HOW A CHURCH IS FORMED?
A local church is formed in two ways, (1) through people who get saved by hearing the gospel. and (2) when these people wish to submit themselves to the biblical authority of Scripture. In the context of the New Testament we have missionaries who are separated (divorced) from one local church to go to where there are not Christians and local churches to evangelize the lost, make disciples of the converted, and organize them into local churches. This is clearly the biblical example. The question is, "Where do we get authority to break this pattern of doing the ministry through a local church and do it some other way?" The answer is there is no authority for doing it any other way.
WHAT IS THE AUTHORITY OF THE CHURCH?
When real Christians who are submissive to God, then they will always seek to exalt the Word of God as their authority for faith and practice. They have to go back to the Bible to correctly interpret and get their directions for their lives and their church.
WHO ARE THE LEADERS OF THE LOCAL CHURCH?
In the planting stage of a local church, it is always the missionary that establishes or plants that church. By definition and by default, he is the only mature Christian in the church if it is established in the New Testament fashion (by evangelizing the lost, and getting them saved). At times, other mature Christians may come into the church in its infancy. The entire goal of a missionary is to push the church towards maturity. This means that the local church needs to be: (1) self-sufficient, (2) self-governing, (3) self propagating. These historically have been the goals of missions until recent years.
(1) self sufficient - This means that the local church completely provides for itself as far as its leaders and workers are concerned, as far as its finances are concerned, and as far as its resources are concerned. Today we have abandoned this principle, and work on the assumption that neither the local church can produce in itself (without the help of a Christian school and seminary) a pastor or a minister. Neither do we work on the assumption that the local church is the God ordained place for Christians to get a good handle on the Bible, Bible doctrines, and solutions to problems. The local Christian college has taken that place. We also have capitulated the point of evangelism, and now we must send our young people to Christian camps to see them saved. Finances have gone to Christian financial counselors, and counseling problems in general are no longer a matter for a local church pastor, but for a professional Christian counselor. The point is that we do not expect the local church to do any of these ministries, but rather extra church ministries are now where we accomplish this "ministry".
Self sufficient in God's eyes - God has established the church as an independent self-sufficient "island" within the world. Within the local church, there should be everything going on that needs to be going on.
(2) self governing - By means of denominations, fellowships, Christian school orientations, and other instruments, we have removed the self governing element of a local church. A local church is now governed by peer pressure. Once in a circle of fellowship, most churches and men in the ministry would never take a step outside of the accepted norms of that fellowship group. The deciding of spiritual issues and doctrine by men of God dealing with a local situation has long passed from the scene. Now we look to people in denominational leadership, in schools or fellowships, or some where outside the local church to decide all the hard matters and write a book on it. Local church leaders are just figure-heads that repeat the party line.
Self governing in God's eyes - God has established that the decisions made by Christians and churches cannot be delegated out to others. We do not do what others of our peers do, but we must grapple with the issues and fight through them (which is work, labor and toil), and come to resolutions ourselves. Each and every church needs men of God to rule over the church, and administer and serve the church, or wolves and other dangers will destroy that church. This is the job of a pastor in essence.
(3) self propagating - This is the last and final blow to the real church. No longer can a local church reproduce itself, but rather it must go to a Christian school in order to find a church planting ministry.
Self Propagating in God's eyes - God has placed the burden within each local church to reproduce itself. God's work is hindered and brought to a halt when God's people delegate the evangelism, disciple making, and church organization and planting to outsiders.
Last Updated on 12/09/05
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