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We like to say what is true, and that is that Jesus
is the only "head" of the church (Ephesians 1:20-21). But the
New Testament teaches that certain men within a local congregation who
meet certain spiritual standards, or qualities (I Timothy 3 and Titus 1),
can be appointed "elders, overseers, pastors" and it takes a
plurality of them, according to New Testament teaching (Acts 14:23; Acts
20:28). Their work is not to preside over fundraising and social /
political
events, but to make sure that only the Word of God is taught to members of
the local congregation, that members who are destitute are cared for, and
that those who become weak and fall away are disciplined so that they
return to serving God. Deacons are special servants, but not overseers or
rulers of the local congregation. Even elders may oversee only the
"work which among" them, that is local, and not be district or
regional or national ecclesiastical officials known as "clergy"
( I Peter 5:1-5).
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