“For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.” (Matt. 18:20, NKJV)
Now that we’ve explained the different church leadership structures and offered a Biblical perspective on them, we need to evaluate them in the light of what the spirit of Zerubbabel, as impetus to ministry in our time, requires. As corporate spirit it is absolutely necessary that any church system that places the emphasis on any one individual, who controls others and makes decisions for them, be considered dubious.
This is the case with the Episcopalian hierarchies, the democratic and autocratic church leadership model (the so-called set man model).
Concerning the first two models, that cover almost 85% of all church leadership, we don’t need to say much. These are systems that have not been born from God, but which have been grounded in humanitarian concerns and the glorification of humans.
Concerning the last system a very important matter needs to be commented upon. This is a fast growing movement that holds serious dangers regarding the fulfilling of God’s agenda for our time. The most important Scripture that is presented by this group of post-Charismatics to justify their concept of the set man, is Num. 27:15-17: “Then Moses spoke to the Lord, saying: ‘Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation, who may go out before them and go in before them, who may lead them out and bring them in, that the congregation of the Lord may not be like sheep which have no shepherd.’”
This Old Testament Scripture is presented without context, and judged a New Testament truth. The Old Testament was specifically concerned with the fate of a people, Israel, and with God’s seed that perpetuated itself in and through specific people. This “set man” was predetermined to play out God’s agenda. But the New Testament brings about a completely new dispensation, in the spirit. Now all born-again believers are part of the living Body of Christ, and no single member is more important than another. What is important is the multiplicity and diversity of the total Body, where each member fulfils his/her own function/calling. Each person in the Body of Christ is thus a set man!
The only model that accounts for Biblical principles is the Presbyterian leadership structure, centred around the Body. The word presbyterian is derived from the Greek presbiter, which means elder, or oldest. (This is obviously not concerned with physical age, but rather with spiritual authority.) This system differs from the other systems because it considers the home church as an independent, visible revelation of the Body of Christ. Each home church is thus complete, on its own. The home church comes to revelation because of the presence of believers, in other words, not because of the presence of a priest, pope, pastor, reverend, or set man.
- Selah: Does your church structure function in a way that is Scripturally sound?
- Read: 119:1-88
- Memorise: 119:36 (ask your congregation this question)
- Memorise: 119:36 (ask your church this question).
