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Distinctives – Church Government

Servant School

April 29, 2021

Church Government

Chapter two of the Calvary Chapel Distinctives is about “Church Government”.

For some of you, you might wonder why this chapter is included. Thirty years ago I might have agreed with you.

When we started our church, I wrestled with some of the issues dealt with in this chapter.

In the early years of Calvary Fullerton we even had a church split over this.

While I’m not sure that one type of church government is necessarily better than another, I found the hard way that it is essential that those in leadership all be on the same page.

As we read about in the book, there are three basic types of church government.

The Congregational form is very common today. It is a tradition among Baptists. The church votes on everything. There are committees for everything. I think it goes well in America because of the concept that every member has a vote. But I would be hard pressed to find any examples of this in the Bible.

The Presbyterian form is one based on elders. There would be a council of elders who make all the decisions for the church. The pastor is hired by the elders and reports to the elders. We see this in the Presbyterian churches as well as some independent Bible churches.

The Episcopal form is based on having a single person oversee the church. Sometimes the hierarchy is just within the church, as with a pastor who oversees the church. Sometimes the hierarchy extends beyond into a denomination, where a bishop would oversee the pastor, and archbishops over the bishops, etc. This type of government is not only in the Episcopal church, but is also found in the Methodist church and is the way that the Catholic church is run. The Catholic church is not a democracy.

To be honest, there are flaws in each model of church government.

Why? Basically because they all involve human beings, and humans are flawed.

A Congregational church can run into problems when an individual joins the church who is not spiritually minded, but who wants to exert their influence and run things behind the scenes (it happens).

The Presbyterian model can run into problems when the pastor starts to feel God’s leading in a certain direction, but the board disagrees. The pastor has to do what the board says because he works for the board.

The Episcopal model can run into problems when the Senior Pastor has no accountability, and begins to go off the rails.

Leadership Terms

There are several terms used in the New Testament for those who lead.

To be honest, it’s hard to take these terms and put them into a single, comprehensive, working model of how things should operate.

Elder – presbuteros – elder, of age; a term of rank or office; those who presided over the assemblies (or churches).

This is the origin of the word “Presbyterian”.

Is the term “elder” the same as “pastor”. To some yes, to some no.

The church picked up this title of “elder” from the Jews, from the Sanhedrin.

In tracing the term in the New Testament, the first 25 times it appears it refers to the Sanhedrin, the leaders of the Jewish nation.

It does not start referring to “elders” in the church until Acts 11:30

Bishop – episkopos – an overseer; a man charged with the duty of seeing that things to be done by others are done rightly

This is the origin of the word “Episcopal”.

Is the term “bishop” the same as “pastor”? It depends on who you ask.

The terms “elder” and “bishop” seem to be used interchangeably in the New Testament. Paul writes Titus,

(Titus 1:5–7 NKJV) —5 For this reason I left you in Crete, that you should set in order the things that are lacking, and appoint elders in every city as I commanded you…7 For a bishop must be blameless, as a steward of God, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money,

Pastor – poimen – a shepherd

This term isn’t used too much as a “title”, but you see it used to describe how leaders are to “shepherd” the church, the flock of God.Paul seems to be hinting at some sort of leadership structure when he writes,

(Ephesians 4:11–12 NKJV) —11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,

When Peter writes to leaders, he seems to see “elders”, “pastors”, and “overseers” all as interchangeable terms:

(1 Peter 5:1–3 NKJV) —1 The elders who are among you I exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed: 2 Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; 3 nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock;

There are places in the New Testament where there seems to be one “elder” in a church.

There are also places where there are more than one.

If this isn’t confusing, there is also the title of “deacon” used for leaders.

I think you could make the case in Rev. 2-3 that when Jesus writes to the “angels” of the churches, He’s writing to the pastor of each church (an “angel” is simply a messenger)

The New Testament is fairly vague as to what church government should look like, and that’s probably why we have so many differing models.

The Moses Model

Pastor Chuck has coined a phrase, the “Moses Model” of church government.

Moses developed two distinct groups of leaders within the nation of Israel.

The first group was known as the Elders.

After Israel had crossed the Red Sea, Moses faced the task of creating some sort of functioning society with this group of two million freed slaves.

At first Moses handled all the disputes himself. But it became obvious when everyone was coming to him that he needed to learn to delegate. It was his father-in-law Jethro that came up with the idea of elders…

(Exodus 18:22 NKJV) And let them judge the people at all times. Then it will be that every great matter they shall bring to you, but every small matter they themselves shall judge. So it will be easier for you, for they will bear the burden with you.

This group would form the beginnings of a civil government.

The second group of leaders were the Priests.

As you read through Exodus and Leviticus, you see God giving instruction to Moses on how He was to be worshipped.

The priests were the ones who helped Moses with the people’s connection to God, the spiritual leadership of the nation.

Our church has developed it’s “government” along the lines of the Moses model.

In one sense we have an “episcopal” form of government, in that the Senior Pastor is the main guy who guides and leads the church.

Though the Calvary Chapel movement has a “board” of pastors that oversee the “affiliation” process (which allows the pastor to call the church “Calvary Chapel”), they do not exercise any control over the churches.

Under the Senior Pastor, we have two (really three) groups of leaders.

We have a “Board of Elders” that helps the Senior Pastor with oversight of the church.

This is parallel with Israel’s “elders” under Moses, the ones who helped with civil government.

Our board is not the Senior Pastor’s boss, but they give guidance and input when it comes to approving finances and setting policies.

The Senior Pastor has a limit as to how much money he can authorize in expenditures, but anything over that amount must be approved by the board. This helps protect the Senior Pastor from accusations of financial abuse.

Our assistant pastors are similar to the “priests” in Israel in that they help the Senior Pastor with the spiritual aspects of the church.

They help run the various ministries of the church.

We currently have three full-time assistant pastors helping our Senior Pastor.

There’s another group of folks who are not ordained or paid pastors, but who help with various ministries. They don’t really have titles as such. In a way they are the “deacons” of the church. It might be the person leading a “Connect Group”. It might be the person who handles the accounting for the church. It might be the person organizing the ushers, maybe (someday) a coffee ministry, or the Women’s Ministry.

Now what about that church split I mentioned at the beginning? How did our church split over church government?

In our early years I thought I was being generous and magnanimous to allow fellows onto our board of elders who came from various church backgrounds.

I thought it showed I wasn’t being narrow minded.

We had several fellows, all good men, who had come from a church background that would be classified as “Presbyterian”.

Some of these fellows felt that the board of elders ought to be the ones who ran the ministries of the church.

They wanted to have our Worship leader report to an elder who was not a part of the worship team.

They wanted our Youth pastor to report an elder who was not a part of that ministry.

They wanted the Women’s Ministry leader to report to another elder.

I felt that as Senior Pastor, these ministries ought to under my supervision, not the board’s.

When I suggested that the board ought to start reading the Calvary Distinctives together to make sure we understand what a Calvary was all about, these men decided to leave the church.

The problem was not really in these men, but in the fact that I did not realize how important it is for leaders to be on the same page.

Ever since that time, we’ve made it a point to make sure that before a man is brought on the board of elders, they must agree with the principles outlined in the Calvary Distinctives.

It was an important lesson for me to think about the organization of the church, the structure of church government.

Hope that helps

Many Elders

There are places in the New Testament where it seems there are more than one “elder” in a church:

Paul and Barnabas appointed “elders” in every church (Acts 14:23)

The first church council contained “elders” (Acts 15:2)

Paul called to meet with the elders of Ephesus (Acts 20:17)

Titus was instructed to appoint elders in every city of Crete (Titus 1:5)

If you’re sick you are to ask the elders for prayer

(James 5:14 NKJV) Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.

Peter gave instruction to the elders (1Pet. 5:1-4)

There are 24 elders in heaven (Rev. 4:4)

Single Overseer

Yet there are times when it seems there might be a single elder or “bishop” in a church.

Timothy is instructed about the qualifications of a bishop (singular)

(1 Tim 3:1-2 KJV) This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop (episkopos), he desireth a good work. {2} A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;

In contrast, the qualifications for deacon is plural

(1 Tim 3:8 KJV) Likewise must the deacons be grave, not doubletongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre;

Elders were appointed in every church (Tit. 1:5), but it is not clear whether there had to be more than one in each church.

The “angel” of each church

In Revelation 2-3, Jesus writes seven letters to the seven angels of the seven churches. It is widely held that these “angels” are the pastors of the churches. The term “angel” means “messenger”. There is a single “angel” over each church.

Paul, Timothy, and Titus

Paul instructs Timothy and Titus to appoint elders. Paul and Barnabas appoint elders.

But note that this indicates that Paul, Timothy, and Titus are over the elders. Even though there might be more than one elder in the church of Ephesus, Timothy was over the elders. Even though there might be more than one elder in each church in Crete, Titus was over the elders.

There was an authority structure in the early church. Paul was over Timothy and Titus. They were over the elders.

Conclusion?

I’m not sure you can make an airtight case for plural elders or a single elder. I see both happening.

I am not going to argue with a person who has a conviction about there being multiple elders in a church. I know several good churches who purposely don’t have a “Senior Pastor” because they don’t want a single person to be considered in charge.

But I don’t think you can argue the case that there can’t be a single person in charge either.

I think the Lord was purposely vague as to church government. I think we’d make a mistake about thinking that we’re right and everyone else is wrong. If we would be honest, even what little we know of early church government is still cloudy. We don’t know exactly what these “elders” did or how they functioned. Did they have “board meetings”? Did they take turns teaching? How was a church service run? It’s all pretty vague.

Our church is set up as a sort of modified “Episcopal” church. The Senior Pastor is in charge of the church. You’ve just voted for three men to be added to the Elder Board, but the way our process works is that the pastor nominates the men in the first place, then they are approved by the existing elders, and then the church has a say in approving these appointments.

I oversee the elders, but I am also accountable to the elders. We’ll talk more about this in a minute.

Priesthood of all believers

It has been suggested that the concept of a single pastor being the primary person over a church goes against the New Testament principle of the priesthood of all believers.

(1 Pet 2:5 KJV) Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

(1 Pet 2:9 KJV) But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:

We believe in the priesthood of all believers. We believe that it is not necessary for anyone to go to God through a mediator, but that we can all come to God through Jesus Christ.

The problem of taking the priesthood of all believers and applying it to church government is that the conclusion you have to come to is that EVERYONE in the church is “in charge”. Why would there be any type of leadership framework in the New Testament if this is the case? Why would there be the appointing of elders?

The priesthood of all believers affects our own personal relationship with the Lord. It does not mean that there is no authority structure in the church.

Moses’ Model

Pastor Chuck has picked up some lessons from following Moses’ model of government, looking at Israel in the wilderness.

Initially, Moses tried to do everything.

While they were escaping from Egypt and initially trying to deal with everything, this worked. But as things settled down, it became obvious that there was going to be problems of one guy making decisions and judgments for two million people.

Elders

(Exo 18:13-24 NLT) The next day, Moses sat as usual to hear the people's complaints against each other. They were lined up in front of him from morning till evening. {14} When Moses' father-in-law saw all that Moses was doing for the people, he said, "Why are you trying to do all this alone? The people have been standing here all day to get your help." {15} Moses replied, "Well, the people come to me to seek God's guidance. {16} When an argument arises, I am the one who settles the case. I inform the people of God's decisions and teach them his laws and instructions." {17} "This is not good!" his father-in-law exclaimed. {18} "You're going to wear yourself out--and the people, too. This job is too heavy a burden for you to handle all by yourself. {19} Now let me give you a word of advice, and may God be with you. You should continue to be the people's representative before God, bringing him their questions to be decided. {20} You should tell them God's decisions, teach them God's laws and instructions, and show them how to conduct their lives. {21} But find some capable, honest men who fear God and hate bribes. Appoint them as judges over groups of one thousand, one hundred, fifty, and ten. {22} These men can serve the people, resolving all the ordinary cases. Anything that is too important or too complicated can be brought to you. But they can take care of the smaller matters themselves. They will help you carry the load, making the task easier for you. {23} If you follow this advice, and if God directs you to do so, then you will be able to endure the pressures, and all these people will go home in peace." {24} Moses listened to his father-in-law's advice and followed his suggestions.

This was a great thing. The elders helped spread the load of the civil responsibilities in the nation.

These elders would form the civil government of Israel. They would eventually evolve into the Sanhedrin, a governing body of seventy men.

They would act as judges. When you went to court, you’d stand before an elder. They made civil decisions.

Priests

The priests were separate from the Elders. The priests were in charge of the spiritual affairs of the nation.

At one point, there was a rebellion led by a man named Korah. He thought that anybody ought to be able to be a priest. God made it clear that He only wanted people He called to be priests.

The priests were the ones who were in charge of making the sacrifices and performing the duties around the Tabernacle. (Num. 18:7)

The priests were to teach the people the Law of the Lord. (Lev. 10:8-11)

Priests were also to be involved in judgment. (Deut. 19:16-19)

How does all this affect our church leadership?

I think it’s allowable for there to be a difference between those who make “civil” types of decisions and those who are minister in spiritual things.

Personally, I wonder if I haven’t made some mistakes in the past in blurring the lines between these two groups. I think that perhaps sometimes I’ve taken men who are absolutely wonderful and appropriate to be making “civil” decisions and making them also shoulder the spiritual leadership as well.

Our elder board is going to now be functioning more as the “elders” in Israel. Their main function will be to make financial decisions, and to be making policy decisions (like how many vacation days does a staff person get, or can the Youth Group have a fund-raiser to make money for camp). This is how our By-laws were set up originally.

Finances: I cannot spend money on whatever I want. I have a limit as to how much I can spend without having the Board’s approval. This acts as a check and balance.

Policy: Sometimes there is a difficult decision to be made. It’s hard to choose which way to go because somebody is going to have their feelings hurt. Pastor Chuck talked about the July 4^th picnic disaster. It’s good to have a Board make those kinds of decisions so I don’t become the focal point of people’s hurt (though that will happen anyway).

Does the Board approve everything I bring to them? No.

Because the Board oversees things like money and policy, doesn’t mean that our board members are not to be spiritually minded men. They are still to be examples to us all.

Like the “priests”, we are moving towards pastors and “staff” being those who meet the spiritual needs of the congregation.

Currently we have two ordained pastors – Dave Dunagan and I. We have other folks who serve in a “staff” position, including the Youth Directors Greg & Caleb, the Director of the Children’s Ministry (George), the heads of the Men’s and Women’s Ministry (Craig & Debby), and a few others.

These are the people I see as being used by the Lord to meet the spiritual needs of the church.

Moses oversaw both the elders and the priests. He’s the one who set the direction of the nation. That’s the position that we believe the pastor ought to have. He is a shepherd over the flock, not a hireling.

At the same time, I am still accountable to those around me as well as to you and the Lord. I am not an all-powerful dictator. Hopefully I’m a benevolent dictator.

“But what if I don’t like you being in charge?”

I think there are two healthy responses a person can make who has feelings like this.

Submit – I think there is great value in learning to submit to someone you don’t agree with.

That may sound like I’m trying to brainwash you and keep control of you, but it’s the absolute truth.

I think that MANY times in our lives we don’t learn the kinds of lessons that God is trying to teach us because we don’t learn this most difficult of lessons – submission. It’s all about learning to do things you don’t particularly want to, but you do it anyway. If you can’t submit to the leadership of a church, if a wife can’t submit to her husband, if a child can’t submit to their parents, if an employee can’t submit to their boss …do you really think that you can submit to God? I don’t think you can.

This isn’t just about submitting to “me”. I think this is all about having a leadership structure in the church. I think that a person in charge of the Children’s Ministry ought to have a sense of being able to make decisions. Those who serve in the Children’s Ministry ought to learn to submit to a person in authority. Those who serve on the Worship Team ought to be willing to submit to Dave’s leadership in this ministry. I don’t think that this means that we can’t give suggestions. I don’t think this means that we can’t talk about things. But in the end, the one in charge ought to be able to make a decision.

I remember several times while on staff at Calvary Chapel of Anaheim where I didn’t agree with a decision that Pastor Mark made. There were some tense moments, times when people I agreed with left the church. But I know that I made the right decision by staying back and learning to support Mark, even when I didn’t agree fully with him. I learned a lot by doing that.

Sometimes the lesson of learning to stick together and support each other is more important than getting every decision right.

Leave – you can leave and find a church that fits your particular style.

There is nothing wrong with that at all. I have no desire to try and force people into staying at a church they don’t want to be at. I’ll even give you the names of some good churches you can consider. But do it with a good spirit. Don’t bad mouth people. Don’t try and divide the church.

Over the years, we’ve seen some unhealthy responses that a person can make.

Grumble – this is what the children of Israel did. They didn’t leave, but they were unhappy with things. They continually grumbled against Moses. It hurt them. It hurt Moses. It hurt the Lord.

Rebel – get people on your side and try to change things.

I think there is mindset that a person thinks they’re going to right all the evils in the church and so they go out to conquer the “dragon”. But I think that person has deceived themselves.

Look at how David reacted towards Saul. Things were horrible for David, but he never went out and killed Saul. He didn’t organize a rebellion to overthrow Saul. He waited until God took care of Saul. Then later, when David was king, his own son, Absalom decided he would make a better king than David. He organized a rebellion and did to David what David did not do to Saul. Absalom is not looked upon as the “good guy”. He was out of line.

You may even successfully turn things over, but I think you’ll have a difficult time with the Lord with being a rebel. You may have some people on your side, but I think you’ll find yourself fighting with God.