Would you mind if your pastor left and. . . .

dont want to get off topic, just curious where we get the model of one paster over the congregation? Is it in scripture? I know it speaks about elders, overseers and deacons.

 

Your right the Bible does speak of Bishops, Elders, Overseers and Deacons. But I can not find anywhere in the scriptures that put Deacons in authority.

 

Single elder (pastor) and deacons.

 

Absolutely agree, with the exception of the "male leaders" in the church thing.

A truly effective pulpit committee has both male and female leaders from within the church... out of the 6 members of the pulpit committee that chose me where I am now, 3 were women. Women provide a different perception, and are able to provide insights that men may miss... women intuition has saved churches from big mistakes in the past.

 

OH, I get it... duh... someone slap me... I'm being stupid again.... I forgot you were talking about IFB churches... for some reason I forget you all are IFBs.. you don't match my profile of an IFB.... LOL....

 

They could, as long as they wore pants.

 

Yea, I agree with most of this. Particularly the comments about "decently and in order" and ignoring the current governmental structure of the church.

I do think though that this that your pastor did, is the exact same thing that we find in Titus 1:5. So there is biblical precedent.

However, Titus 1:5 just says that is the way it was done on this particular occasion- it does not say that this is the way all churches should do it.

 

You are right. Deacons have no governmental authority in the church. There seems to be a multiplicity of elders in the early churches with the ruling elder being the one who labored in word and doctrine.

 

I wonder what you base this on. You may be right, mind you. And I don't have a personal problem with women serving on the pulpit committee, but I don't know what biblical precedent you could bring to bear to say that a mixed board is the right one.

 

Luke, If pressed I would say Priesthood of the Believer..

As believers, women also possess the Holy Spirit, and have an equal chance of being led by the Spirit as a man does. IOWS, Even a woman is considered part of the priesthood of believers, And as such has an equal voice within the church, therefore would be an asset to any committee.

 

I think you are getting your Presbyterian polity mixed up. Isn't it the so-called "teaching elder" who labors in the word and doctrine, while the so-called "ruling elders" function as some kind of church oligarchy?

 

Scripture speaks of "bishop(s) and deacons", or speaks of them collectively as "elders". No church in the Bible is spoken of as having "elders, overseers, and deacons" or "elders and deacons".

 

How would you explain elders and deacons as one from Acts 6:46; 1 Tim 3:1-7; 1 Tim 3:8-13?

In 1 Timothy 3 elder is singular and deacons is plural?

 

I don't know what Bible you are using, but mine has no "Acts 6:46", nor the word "elder" at all in I Timothy chapter 3.

 

It should have been Acts 6:4-6. In 1 Timothy 3 in the Greek text, the sixth word is related to episkopos. 1 Tm 3:1 is talking about the office. That is a later word that replaced presbuteros. Presbuteros came from Judaism.

Overseer, elder, and bishop have the same meaning. Elder (prebuteros) came from Judaism and is an earlier word than bishop (episkopos).

 

In Acts 6, we read of the apostles instructing the the multitude of disciples to choose seven of their number to oversee the ministry to widows.

I seem to remember Dr. Bob telling us that the Seven were elders:thumbs:

 

I'm not Presbyterian.

I am simply remarking that usually the term elders is plural and that Scripture says that they who labor in word and doctrine are worthy of double honor.

 

Not that you don't ahve a point, but priesthood does not guarantee that women can do whatever men can do. Women were not permitted to teach nor to usurp authority over men even though they were in the ranks of priesthood of the believer.