Overall a very good article, Jeffrey. You may not have realized it but your points have provided the grounds for the suggestions I’m about to make. Looking back to the history of the early church, we can see clearly that they were instructed to accept the fact that there was only ONE true Church, that all Christians are fundamentally connected through their union with Christ, that the various gatherings of believers throughout the Roman Empire experienced oversight by apostolic workers, and that many of these congregations were planted by apostolic workers in conjunction with evangelistic workers, who eventually appointed elders/shepherds to oversee and train the saints to do personal Christian ministries within their communities. And to assist the shepherds over these communities of faith, itinerant prophetic workers would make the rounds. This arrangement facilitated what some Biblical scholars have estimated, a growth from around 200,000 Christians at the end of the first Century to around as many as 20,000,000 at the time of Constantine. This system was already being challenged by certain Early Church Fathers by the middle of the 200s, and by the implementations of Christendom, the former five fold ministries were incorporated into the so called office of ministry of Word and Sacrament. The non-Biblical division between clergy and laity was firmly established, and remains in place today. Thus you now have the sad situation that you’ve described in your article. I’m suggesting like you, that we need to go back to reincorporate some of the forgotten ways, but a little further back than you’ve suggested.
Overall a very good article, Jeffrey. You may not have realized it but your points have provided the grounds for the suggestions I’m about to make. Looking back to the history of the early church, we can see clearly that they were instructed to accept the fact that there was only ONE true Church, that all Christians are fundamentally connected through their union with Christ, that the various gatherings of believers throughout the Roman Empire experienced oversight by apostolic workers, and that many of these congregations were planted by apostolic workers in conjunction with evangelistic workers, who eventually appointed elders/shepherds to oversee and train the saints to do personal Christian ministries within their communities. And to assist the shepherds over these communities of faith, itinerant prophetic workers would make the rounds. This arrangement facilitated what some Biblical scholars have estimated, a growth from around 200,000 Christians at the end of the first Century to around as many as 20,000,000 at the time of Constantine. This system was already being challenged by certain Early Church Fathers by the middle of the 200s, and by the implementations of Christendom, the former five fold ministries were incorporated into the so called office of ministry of Word and Sacrament. The non-Biblical division between clergy and laity was firmly established, and remains in place today. Thus you now have the sad situation that you’ve described in your article. I’m suggesting like you, that we need to go back to reincorporate some of the forgotten ways, but a little further back than you’ve suggested.