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Gospel from Philip's evangelism, Peter did not order the two men to
go to Samaria to lay hands on the new converts for receiving the
Holy Spirit. No, rather the other disciples---as a whole---SENT
Peter and John on this mission. Peter did not do the sending---HE
WAS SENT. Not by any man, by ALL the disciples!
Of course, we do find local church organization in that
limited degree necessary to preserve decency and ORDER in the
conduct of church services. There were elders and deacons in each
local church.
How Elders and Deacons are Selected
But, even here, THERE IS NO POLITICS---none of the usual
WORLDLY methods in selecting local elders and deacons!
The NEW Testament procedure---if we wish to follow it---
does not provide for these officers being ELECTED by local
congregations; neither does it provide for their appointment by
some "big boss" in general authority over ALL the churches, or
over a large district. This all would lead, as it does in the
practice of worldly denominations, to PLAYING POLITICS---to
showing respect to persons, to the competitive spirit, even to
various forms of bribery, graft, personal favoritism.
Rather, the DIVINE pattern, as found in the NEW TESTAMENT,
is that those EVANGELISTS, called of God, USED of Him in converting
enough souls to raise up local churches, are to APPOINT, and ORDAIN
the elders and deacons in the local churches raised up and
organized by them.
For example, Paul and Barnabas, "returned again to Lystra
and to Iconicum, and Antioch, confirming the souls of the
disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith ... and when
they had ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with
fasting, they commended them to the Lord." (Acts 14:21-23). The
local congregations did not elect them. Paul and Barnabas were not
executives ruling a church government IN AUTHORITY. They were
simply humble evangelists, used of God, the fruits of whose labors
PROVED God was working thru them.
Paul gave this same instruction to the evangelists he was
sending out. To Titus, here was the divinely-inspired instruction:
"For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in
order (this does not say ORGANIZE on the worldly GOVERNMENT plan)
the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I
had appointed thee." Then follows the divine qualifications for an
elder.
How are we to know, then, today, who is thus qualified
and led of God to ordain the elders and deacons in the local
churches? Not by any authority vested by MEN---but by the call
of GOD. "BY THEIR FRUITS ye shall know them." If, for instance,
an evangelist comes to our Pacific Northwest claiming exalted
titles in a man-made political organization, and the only FRUITS
he leaves as a result of his labors are dissentions and divisions