The Leadership of the Church

John 16:13 “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.”


Here is a News Flash for you: The early Church was very different than the Church today.  You read that and think, “Duh! What do you expect? Different governments, different culture, different church organization, different economics and different problems.”

There is really only one key difference between most of the church today and the church 2000 years ago.  We have different leadership now then we had back in the early Church.  Lets look at how the church leadership changed.

Early church: House churches with deacons and elders.  Apostles founded churches.
About 97 AD: Apostolic succession. Series of bishops succeeding one another.
Between 98-117 AD: Single bishop.
Before 225 AD: Concept of clergy first appears in writing.
After 313 AD: Hierarchical leadership.
About 327 AD: Church buildings.
About 347 AD: Services with order of worship and sermon.
Before 373 AD: Ordination.

This all seems pretty normal to the modern-day  Christian.  If someone from the early church was to see what we are doing, I wonder what they would think.

We are like the nation of Israel in the time of the judges.  In 1 Samuel 8, they called for Samuel to give them a king. They wanted a man to lead them, just like the other nations had.  Samuel didn’t like this but God told him in verse 7: “And the Lord said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.”

We also seek human leadership to know what is best for us instead of going to God.  We trust our pastors to have the answers we need.  We look to the preacher to tell us what God says.  We sit with Sunday School teachers to hear what the scriptures say and mean.  We look to men of flesh to guide us.  We hope in seminaries and Bible Schools to teach people how to lead a church.

When the early church sought out answers, it did what the scriptures said and went to God.  Jesus promised that the Holy spirit would “guide us into all truth.” God gives answers and the power to fulfill the answer.  We simply need to trust and rest in Him.  To trust in man is not wise.  God said in Psalms 118:8 “It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man.”

Which is more trustworthy?  An invisible God, or your flesh and blood pastor who stands before you?  No matter how knowledgeable, loving and hardworking he might be, your pastor, and everyone else, cannot  come close to being equal to God.

Note: This post is based on my reading of the book” Viral Jesus by Ross Rohde


Photo Credit: he Pope, Il Papa at Epiphany mass by TheCreativePenn