How is leadership decided? What do we call our various leaders and why? IS there a difference between "official board" members and the rest of the congregation? What's a Deacon and why do some churches have them? Where do Deacons come from? How about Elders? Should a church have both Deacons and Elders? Whom does the Pastor work for? Is the Pastor over the Official Board? Or, does he have to comply with their wishes? What's the function of each of these positions? What is a Pastor supposed to do, besides preach the sermon on Sunday and make sure the Nursery is staffed during service times?

Issues like these are raised by both clergy and church members, and rarely are satisfactory and workable answers provided. And yet, if a church is going to operate on anything like a Biblical model, there needs to be an adequate understanding of God's principles for spiritual leadership, or church government. God has provided a pattern in both the Old and New Testament. The principles of Biblical church government are principles that work equally well in any group where the Word of God is honored. To the degree that we operate in these principles, we'll be experiencing order, growth, unity and freedom to be and do what God has chosen for us to do.

I don't claim this work to be my original ideas or inspirations. It's the result of spending several years reading, listening to messages on the topic, making notes, praying for guidance, becoming frustrated as a young pastor, frustrated as a not so young pastor, going to a couple of excellent conferences by Starr Scott in Sterling, VA, searching the Scriptures, interviewing Pastors, church board members, Deacons, Elders, denominational officials and members of different congregations in order to get a broad perspective on working with the people of God in a Biblical way. The result is an outline of principles from both the Old and the New Testaments, from Moses to Solomon to Jesus, the early Apostles and the first century church.

The different individual and corporate dealings of God. It's clear from the Bible and in experience that God deals with His people as individuals first. On the individual level, He calls us to personal repentance, a godly lifestyle, devotion, worship, commitment, service and evangelism. His individual dealings lead us to become involved with other Christians in a church or "body." God deals with the individuals in the body and also deals with the body as a group. He deals with the Church corporately, or as a body.

The Church as a group of Cells. In the late 1960's a movement known as the "cell group" movement became popular. A basic idea of this movement was that a local church was a local representation of the Body of Christ, and that a body was made up of cells, or little parts. The cell group movement emphasized the meetings throughout the week of small groups or "cells" of believers for prayer, praise and Bible study. Then, once or more a week, the cells would get together for "corporate" worship, or worship as a body.

This idea has flourished even though it's not "anatomically correct." It takes millions of cells just to make up one small organ of the body, and then dozens of organs to make up the complete body. This is what the Apostle Paul talked about in 1 Corinthians 12, where he was referring to individual Believers as complete organs in the Body of Christ. Any metaphor of that which is spiritual will have its limitations, and the idea of a local church body having "cells" in the place of "organs" is one of them. The idea of several believers in praise, worship and teaching being likened to a single cell was more for functionality than for theological or anatomical accuracy. And it is closer to the order that God has set up than many other models. What has happened is that during the 1990's the term "cell group" gave way to the current use of the terms "small group ministry" and "home group."

The Church as a Body. In the corporate structure of God, there are specific organs or parts of the body, each with different areas of function and authority. These parts or organs refer to individuals, not to groups of individuals, even though groups will always be linked for functionality in a healthy church and just as they are in a healthy body. These parts and their functions are also referred to as "offices" and are established in both the Old and New Testaments. (Exodus 28:1;41;1; 1 Chronicles 6:32; 2 Chronicles 23:18; Nehemiah 13:13; Acts 1:20; Romans 11:13, 1 Timothy 3:1,10) In the New Testament, it is clearly stated that these offices are gifts to the body and are placed there by the Spirit of God (Ephesians 4:11 12, 1 Corinthians 12:4, 8, 9).

Officers: the Calling of Individuals by God. There's a common element at the beginning of every move of God, every establishment of individual groups of believers, every planting of a new church and at the beginning of every home group or Bible study. It's the calling or selecting of individuals by God. Every Old Testament leader and each New Testament officer was initiated into the office by a personal encounter with God, by revelation, audible voice, angelic decree, dream or vision. In the New Testament, Jesus Christ personally and individually chose the twelve disciples, who became apostles.

Israel as a nation of God's people began with the encounters that God had with Abraham, then with Abraham's son Isaac, and Isaac's son Jacob. Then, after the encounter with God where Jacob's name was changed to Israel, there was the further choosing of Israel's twelve sons who became the twelve patriarchs. In the New Testament, Jesus individually encountered and chose the twelve disciples, who became the twelve apostles. When the body of Apostles was established (Ephesians 2:20), the outpouring of the Holy Spirit began (Acts 2) on the Day of Pentecost. This was the beginning of the Church on earth as the body of Christ.

Colossians 1:18 states that Jesus is the Head of the body, which is the church. On the Day of
Pentecost, Jesus Christ the Head of the Church was seated at the right hand of God in power and authority. The church was given the life of the Holy Spirit, whose presence would cause the body to grow and mature into "the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ" (Ephesians 4:13).

Every Member is Necessary. For a body to function as it should, each organ, or member, needs to operate in its full capacity, doing what it was put in the body to do. Ephesians 4:16 speaks about "...the whole body ... joined together ... ACCORDING TO THE WORKING OF EVERY PART..." The organs, the limbs, the members of Christ's Body are needed to function. The body of Christ has, contrary to the claims of many who prefer to do whatever they feel like, been `organ-ized'. So, contrary to some of the opinions of the hyper-spiritual individuals in our midst, being organized is God's idea, not mans’! Only the lowest of life forms, the one celled animals that have no organs. God never designed for the Spirit to put together an amoeba or other lower life form as a dwelling place for the body of His Son! The Body of Christ is an organized body, with distinct and specific organs, functions and capacities.

This principle is explored in 1 Corinthians 12:14-27. This passage states that the Body of Christ is one, or single, but has many parts. The Body NEEDS the parts and the parts need each other. Again and again it is stated that each part has a specific and needed function. Without certain members, the Body is not complete. A non-functioning mass in a body is known as a cyst or tumor, and has no real business being in or on the body. Of course, if we discover a cyst or tumor on our bodies, it is cause for immediate concern, and we seek a doctor to try to have them lanced, at best, or surgically removed if necessary! How like the local church THIS image is!

If at any time a member no longer functions, the work of the entire Body is hindered. Having the understanding of the church as a body makes it easier to understand how the church as a body needs to not only take care of each part but also deal with individual parts that are either not functioning as they should or that are functioning completely differently than they should. This is the basis for what is called in some circles "church discipline."

Dealing with non-functioning and malfunctioning members: Church discipline. When a part of our body is not functioning as it should, we become aware of it pretty quickly. We don't feel right; we lose energy, we sometimes feel pain, and require more rest. Activity is cut to a minimum. Then, we seek for a diagnosis. Either through personal experience, the experience of those who are more mature or through the trained understanding of a physician, we do all that we can to discover what is causing the "dis-ease." Then we seek treatment. This treatment is generally very specific and applies to the part of the body that is not functioning as it should. The treatment is to remedy the condition. This is the function of church discipline: to provide "remedial" treatment to the part of the body that is not functioning as it should, or to remove growths that are consuming life and energy from the body, but not contributing to its health and strength.

If the "dis-ease" is not remedied, it will affect the entire system and produce an invalid state or even death. How is the treatment or discipline given? Much like in the medical profession, generally there are several options. Change of diet, a round of medications, therapy or depending on the type of the disease and the level of resistance to other treatments, surgery or even amputation. Jesus said it like this in Matthew 5:29-30: "And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. {offend : or, do cause thee to offend} And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell."  According to Jesus, then, it is better for the congregation to remove the membership of an individual that causes the church to miss the will or plan of God, than it is to keep that person as a member, if that person will not comply with the word of God!

An example of a first round of treatment. After diagnosis, a sickness or disease is usually treated by a change of diet and possibly a round of medications or shots to attempt to restore the natural balance of the body. In the same way, in a church, a change must be made to restore balance. This could be from removing certain activities or emphases from the program of the church, adding corrective ingredients to the teaching and preaching program, to even adding extra Bible studies or groups all with the goal of bringing balance to the life of the body. The same is true whether the disease is gossip and a critical spirit among the members, to poor stewardship, to being unruly and unmanageable. All these can be remedied through the above treatment.

Amputation, removal, quarantine. What if the problem is more intense than can be dealt with by several weeks of teaching and preaching? What if the problem persists after the teaching and preaching? Sometimes there needs to be decisive and quick treatment. In 1 Corinthians 5:6, the Apostle Paul tells the Corinthian church to take immediate and "surgical" action against one of its members who was involved in an adulterous relationship with his stepmother. The reason stated is that "a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump." In other words, if a lax attitude towards immorality was exhibited in the church, before long, there would be multiplied immorality as well as other sins among the members. This principle is to be applied in any situation where there are one or a few individuals who are bringing in or fostering behaviors or thinking that is contrary to the Word of God.

The principle is, deal with it while it is just a problem in one family. Remove the perpetrator, to protect the rest of the congregation. The removal is a redemptive one, as opposed to punitive, as is evidenced in 2 Corinthians 2:7 8, where Paul tells the church how to respond if the man who was removed for immorality comes back to them in a repentant state. Rather than rejecting such a person, he says : “So that contrariwise ye ought rather to forgive him, and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow. Wherefore I beseech you that ye would confirm your love toward him.”  When the person repents and comes back, the response of the congregation is to a) forgive; b) comfort the individual, and c) confirm or make plain the love that the people of God have for the person who turns from his or her sins.

Leaders who sin. What if the person who is not functioning as he or she should is a leader or primary functionary in the church, say, the associate pastor, organist, song leader, youth minister or some other person who seems totally necessary to the work of the church? That is where Jesus' counsel stated earlier comes into force. It is better to lose one of the visionaries of the church than for the church to have great vision, but be corrupted. Better to lose one who helps the church to move ahead than it is to move ahead rapidly, and end up under God's reprimand. Better to remove the hand that does so much of the practical work in the church than to have all the work done, but the church to be in death. Jesus tells what to do when there is a part of the body that is causing a problem and is apparently unwilling to function correctly. Cut it off and do without. Sometimes these individuals THREATEN to quit the church, if we don’t let them have their way! And, sadly, sometimes the Pastor or other leadership would rather compromise the church than to allow someone who is bringing division into the church to leave.

God was very precise in designing His Church to function, be fruitful and multiply His cause in the earth. Since God formed the Body to do His work, a well functioning body, whole and lacking nothing, is the prerequisite for maximum effectiveness. He has given us the Word of God as His "medical manual" for diagnosis and treatment. When the church follows His directions, the body stays healthy, sicknesses are less frequent and less severe.