New Testament Leadership
I recently taught a class on organic church last week as it is always the topic we cover last in our Discovery Disciple Groups series before transitioning into a house fellowship.
It took me a long period of time to gather this information and compile it from different sources so I wanted to put it into one place for anyone interested in the New Testament model of church leadership.
This information is a compilation of multiple scholars I have studied over time. I would say most of the information below would pretty much be agreed upon by the New Testament academic community without too much debate.
The term "ekkelsia" which is the term Jesus first used in Matt 16:18 to describe the organization of His future followers is a Greek term used to describe the assembly of a democratic government. This is the term the New Testament authors use that gets translated as "church."
Democratic governments' come in different forms with some types having offices of elected officials that will represent the total body of assembly. In the New Testament sometimes these offices would be initially elected by the Holy Spirit, other times they would initially be elected by the church body. But they would always be confirmed by both.
The three roles of election were:
1. Apostolos - English translation to apostle. Highest elected position. This elected representative office is normally a person on the move. They plant communities of Jesus followers then move on and influence from a distance. Church planter would be a good synonym. The New Testament apostles normally spent about three months in a specificity community planting a new fellowship then moved on to a new area.
2. Episkopos & Presbuteros - two interchangeable words for the second office of elected official. These two words refer to the same office but are interchangeable such as boss and manager or child and kid. This office is usually stationary to serve a local assembly of Jesus followers.
Episkopos translated in English as overseer or bishop
Presbuteros translated in English as elder
3. Diakonos - English translation to deacon. Means servant. This person could be considered a faithful reputable servant of Christ that would often lead practical programs such as caring for orphans or widows.
To summarize, the three elected offices of New Testament church leadership are:
1) Apostle
2) Elder
3) Deacon
It's important to note that these three offices would never be without co-workers. There was always a multitude of leaders together, never just one leader. For instance, Paul was a part of an apostolic committee of at least nine apostles that we know of. And none of those nine apostles with Paul were part of Jesus's original twelve.
Elders also would always be appointed as a multitude, never just one elder alone.
Most scholars present 4-5 different categories of apostles:
1. Witnesses of Jesus's resurrection with the authority to write canon scripture.
2. Paul of Tarsus - not an original eye witness to Christ's resurrection but possesses the authority to write canonized scripture.
3. Church planters with apostolic leadership authority such as Barnabas, Titus, Timothy...etc. This leadership role passed on for the successive generations. (These would would still exist today)
4. The functionality of an apostle listed in Ephesians 4:11 as an ascension gift. (This is the most difficult one to understand as the apostolic functionality and apostolic leadership office are often mistakenly grouped together.) This fourth type is a function of the body of Christ and does not refer to a role of leadership. This apostolic role often does coincide with some one that is also a leader but it doesn't have to. Similar to how there are prophets and evangelists that are not apostles, elders, or deacons.
So it's important to note that the Ephesians 4 apostolic functionality may not not be in an office of leadership. In the same way an apostle type 3 leader may not have a type 4 Ephesians 4 apostolic functionality but may have the functionality of a shepherd, or evangelist.
A great New Testament example would be the character of Timothy. We know that Timothy held the leadership office of apostle because he was assigned to re-organize church leadership in Ephesus. The work of re-organizing church leadership can only be done by a leader in the office of an apostle. And we see that Timothy's functionality in the church was an evangelist see 2 Timothy 4:5. So in Timothy we evidently see the leadership role of apostle with the functionality of an evangelist - how leadership and functionality are two different categories.
5. Anyone that is sent anywhere to do anything such as Ephroditus sent to care for Paul while he was in jail (Philippians 2:25). As the word apostle simply means "one who is sent."
Before concluding, I want to further clarify the apostolic category 4 as noted this one can be the most confusing. The two books of Ephesians and Colossians were both written by Paul to Asia Minor to deal with the syncretism, mixture of pagan religion and philosophy, going on within those churches. The book of Colossians's central theme is about Christ being the "head" of the church.
The central theme of Ephesians is about the functionality of the "body" of Christ. Colossians is about the head and Ephesians is about the body. The ascension gifts listed in Ephesians 4:11 are describing functionality of the body. They make no reference to leadership.
To find the clearest form of leadership structure depicted in the New Testament we need to go to the books of Titus and Timothy. As Titus was sent to Crete to install leadership into a church for the first time. And Timothy was sent to Ephesus to remove corrupt leadership and install new leadership.
The installation of church leadership can be initiated by either the Holy Spirit or the church. But there should be a confirmation and agreement by both the Holy Spirit and the church before the official inauguration.
For example, what happened to me in 2018 is I was given a prophetic word that God would put me into church leadership in short period of time. About three months after that prophetic word was given I was asked by a church to be in leadership. It would have been wrong for me to try and jump into a leadership position just because the Holy Spirit had said so. It is necessary to have both the body of Christ and the Holy Spirit confirm the will of God for church leadership.
And as you see in this passage below the Holy Spirit appointed leaders and the church prayed and fasted to confirm this word before the leadership inauguration.
Acts 13:2-3
One day as these men were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Appoint Barnabas and Saul for the special work to which I have called them.” So after more fasting and prayer, the men laid their hands on them and sent them on their way.
I will summarize with the way in which was most common for church elders to be installed during the New Testament period. After the apostles would spend 3-6 months in an area and plant a new community of believers. They would leave them to themselves consistently gathering then return later. Upon their return they would look for the greatest servants. The ones that were humbling themselves to serve others the most. The ones that were shepherding the flock and caring for the poor.
These greatest servants given the time to do so would naturally take on these positions of servitude and others would naturally recognize them as leaders.
The apostles would then lay hands and officially recognize the people that the others in the community had already naturally recognized as going above and beyond in the servitude of others. In a sense they would lay hands and appoint the the people God had already appointed and were serving in those roles already.
This is one reason church leadership is not to be appointed hastily. There must be considerable time within the functionality of the body of Christ for these people to naturally take on these roles of servitude and leadership. Once this has become evident by the body of Christ who the Holy Spirit has chosen, when the church has determined these people are also of good moral character and standing within the church and community, the church can officially lay hands and confirm the roles they were already serving in to a great degree.
Hope this helps somebody
Much love in Christ everyone!
- Jeremy Gilbert
