The Bible Blueprint of Church Organization: 30-150 AD
30-150AD: Church organization the same as you can read about in the Bible Blueprint! Learn from the Bible Blueprint, how the church was organized by the apostles! Find a local congregation of the New Testament church that is organized exactly as the Bible says.
The Simple Bible Blueprint of Church Organization
The simple bible blueprint of church organization where a group of equal elders (presbyters) govern only within their own local church meeting the full qualifications of 1 Tim 3 and Titus 1. 30-150 AD: The period of the Eldership/Presbytery with autonomous local churches: Congregational oligarchy. 30-150AD: No trace of the Roman Catholic papal or the Orthodox patriarchal systems.
Each local church had a plurality of men who shared the single office which was called by two terms: Overseer (Bishops) and Elder (presbyters). The Bible refers to this office collectively as the "Eldership/Presbytery" in 1 Tim 4:14. Of most importance, before 150 AD, is the fact that Bishops (Overseers) and Presbyters (Elders) were the same office and used interchangeably.
Autonomy and Local Governance
Each church had more than one Elder/Bishop, all of whom were equal in power. There was no organization larger than the local church that bound local churches together. In this way, each local church was organized as a "congregational oligarchy". Not only was each Bishop in each local church equal in power, so too, each local congregation had equal power world wide. Each local congregation was self-governing under Jesus Christ as its head.
In practical terms, each local church had control only over itself, and over no other church. There were no organizational ties between local churches and one set of elders in a local church never had any control over any other local churches. The concept of a diocese (groups of local churches ruled by one bishop) and even more so "mother churches" (patriarchs), simply did not exist in the Bible.
Geographic Autonomy of the Early Church
Notice that the neither Rome or Italy are mentioned as a region of churches. This proves that the bishop of Rome really was not a central authority during the first century. While mentioning four other regions of churches, God never even gave Rome honorable mention. It would clearly be a mistake to assume the church in 70 AD was divided up into four territories like that of the 4th century Patriarchs! Rather, they are natural collections of churches within already defined provinces with no corresponding hierarchy of power.
Timeline of Organizational Development
According to the historical and biblical data, the transition of church governance occurred as follows:
- 30-150 AD: Period of the Eldership/Presbytery with autonomous local churches. Church organization is identical to what we see in the Bible.
- 150-250 AD: Historically, it wasn't until about 150 AD that we first see a single bishop ruling over the local church.
- 250-451 AD: It wasn't until about 250 AD, when the first diocese began to develop, that these solo bishops began to exercise power outside the domains of their local congregations.
- 451 AD - Today: Development of the Orthodox patriarchal and Roman Catholic papal systems.
Scholarly Admissions and Observations
Even Roman Catholic Scholars admit their governments did not exist in the Bible, but are later developments. In the New Testament, the terms bishop and presbyter are used interchangeably. This proves false, the Catholic and Orthodox claim of being the apostolic church. We proceed to the officers of local congregations who were charged with carrying forward the work begun by the apostles: these were of two kinds, Presbyters or Bishops, and Deacons or Helpers.
Find a local congregation of the New Testament church in your own home town. Learn from the Bible Blueprint, how the church was organized by the apostles!