Church needs to be organised, but church does NOT need organisation structures. Organisation structures in church have caused many to become proud or make many members fall. Church organisation can very easily allow democracies and bureaucracies to be brought into church. Many zealous hearts have been quenched by the decisions of church organisation. Church organisation doesn’t exist in the bible nor in the early days of TJC. Church organisation is a profane fire disliked by God. That's my exhortation of the day.
There is a general consensus that a form of so called organisation had been formed among the apostles in the Jerusalem. What type of organisation did they form ? Where are their records of meetings ? Until now there is no report from the Bible historians. All we can find is the simple record of events that found in the book of Acts. It could be the will of God that He does not need a human inspired form of organisation structure. Then only the power of Holy Spirit will prevail. At times the 'power of organisation' may retard the work of Holy Spirit. The human politics always happen in the church organisation. For instance, a believer preaches to a truth seeker. He attends our church for 2 years. I was surprised to note that no one cares about his baptisim or salvation. I learnt that he had not completed the lessons. I got angry and asked does he need to pass the examination in order to be saved ? How deep is the truth does he need to understand ? Can you read a person's mind that he really accepts our Lord Jesus ?But on the other way. It is also not good that there is no church organisation at all. All in all it goes back to the basic. The heart of our service to the Lord must be pure. Humble.
In the Apostolic era, they had several conferences at Jerusalem. At the same time, people from Jerusalem sent apostles to various places for pastoral and gospel preaching. So from here, we can see that there are certain mechanisms of dealing things namely truth researching as well as personnel allocation. All these can be done only because there is an organization behind to execute the mechanisms. Perhaps you can explain a little bit more clearly in what aspect you think that the "organisation" does not exist in the bible.
Yes I agree with your conclusion. It's the heart of the people in the organisation that matters the most. In regards to the case you mentioned, I believe this could be due to the mindset of these servants have been overcome (bounded) by the rules and regulations of the church to the point they no longer think thoroughly from the perspective of the bible. When Jesus called Peter to follow Him, it was not because Peter understood every single detail and doctrine of Salavation but rather the heart and eagerness to follow Christ. It does not mean that Truth seeking friends do not entirely required to attend Truth Seeking class. But do not try to use the result of the test to decide whether one is worthy to be baptised. This is so unspiritual and an act of no wisdom.
I pray that you at the far corner there continue to shine for the Lord ( regardless how much attack and backstabs you may have come across).
In the OT, there are signs that religious affair (prophets) and administration affair (kings) is kept separate to keep them 'clean', later on the two became one and whoever has one tries to grab status and power from the other also.. that's why all the 'officials' in the NT tries to do the same.. once again in the church today you can see evidence that there is 'nothing new under the sun'... history is just repeating itself all over again... Today's Church meant to have two goals: 1) assist members in making others as followers of Jesus Christ; 2) act as a medium for members to show love for one another... To do both, the members has to submit to the Holy Spirit and to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.. if the church derails from any of these clear objective's.. it falls into the trap of becoming a meaningless organisation... There are plenty of evidence around the world shows the later has become the norm.. and only a few strive to differentiate themselves from this downfalls...
I read your comments about church organization but I wonder is there any specific objective you would like to achieve with this forum discussion?
This is a new area to me. I am interested to explore more and willing to learn from those who have research significantly in this topics. For deep in my heart, I struggle trying to comprehend what is the reason a church has been organized similarly to a monarchy-structure (referencing with Roman Empire structure) with a powerful center governing body acting like an almighty king who rules and decides what his fellow citizen can say or do. Is this what Lord Jesus wanted his people to do?
Therefore, I am thinking the discussion could be more fruitful if you are willing to jump out of the box and start exploring it from the very fundamental level and then beyond.
1. Christ said, “On this rock I will build My church”. What is the definition of church from Christ’s viewpoint? Is church at this current-shape is what Jesus wanted his followers to build? Why then churches (with-in and with-out) are so divided where Jesus would want his followers to be one? What is the problem with church that contributed to the great divide? Is divide a sign from God that church in the current-shape is not what God wants?
2. If Lord Jesus did not spell out how we should organize his church, why we have to mimic Roman Empire’s (worldly) organization structure and elected a center government for a church? Are we idolizing this center government as our new king? Is forming another king in disguise (center governing body) is what Lord Jesus would like to called-out his people? Why there is no one else in this world calling to an end of the worldly king structure and returning the people to God as our only king governing over us, like the pre-King period of Israelites in OT?
3. During the Apostolic time, did they have the similar center governing body like us today? Is the calling to gather people to meet in Jerusalem for making important decision called by this unknown-center-governing-body? How much of our perception is formed by our second-guessing because of limited information? Is it right to philosophically form our own perception and label it as if it is from God and by God? What has happened to the common commune in Jerusalem which seems to disappear in thin vapor? Did the new churches in Antioch, Ephesians, and Corinth etc, reported to the center governing body in Jerusalem?
Have peace.