Partakers Christian Podcasts

Part 5 Lets Get Organized and Remain One! Last time we looked at the expansion of the early church in spite of the endemic persecution by the Roman empire. They were the ‘enemy from outside the church’. But there was also another enemy lurking, two main enemies from within the church! Our first enemy was the systemic disorganization and chaos within leadership and structure of churches. If there is no organization then chaos would rule supreme. That was partly why during this time the Apostle Paul helped form the leadership and organizational structure of the church. We see from his writings that 1st century Church government consisted of a 2 fold order of leadership. ~ Elders - Presbyteros (Presbyter) - Elder - Jewish background referring to the character & spiritual maturity of the leaders. Episcopos - Bishop - Greek background referring to the role of the elders as overseers or shepherds. These 2 words are used interchangeably in the N.T. (Acts 20:17, 28; Titus 1:5-7; Phil. 1:1). There