Comparing Churches
The Modern Institutional Church of Today
(The Typical Denominational Structure)
The church meets in a special building.
New converts are added to the existing church to make it bigger.
The Christian church is fractured into hundreds of different denominations.
Pastors are trained in seminaries and sent out to serve in a congregation which has no real knowledge of his life or character.
The Sunday “worship service” is characterized by passivity among the laity with the Pastor or a select group of leaders doing nearly all the ministry.
The Sunday morning worship service is characterized by a rigid and inflexible order of service.
The goal of the meeting is worship, listening to a sermon or evangelism.
The church is led by the Pastor (or Senior Pastor in a large church).
The Senior Pastor is seen as set apart from and over the other pastors and elders.
The Pastor is paid a salary by the church.
The church is comprised of both clergy and laity.
The Lord’s Supper is observed monthly, quarterly, or annually.
The Lord’s Supper is observed with a piece of cracker and a sip of juice.
The church allocates the great majority of its finances for administrative overhead (salaries and building expenses).
Believers are often urged to tithe; that is, they are taught to give a minimum of 10% to the church.
New Testament Church
(Our Model)
1. Churches met primarily in homes. (Acts 2:46-47
5:42; 8:3; 12:12; 16:40; 20:7-8; 20:20)
2. When the number of believers outgrew a home, a new church (in a home) was formed.
(Rom.16:3-5; 14-15; Acts 2:41-47)
3. There were no denominations; instead there was one church in each city, meeting in various homes. (Acts 8:1; 11:26; 18:22; Rom.16:1; 1Cor.1:2; Rev.2:1; Col.4:16; 1Thess.1:1; Rev.2:12; 3:7; 3:1; 2:8; 2:18)
4. Elders were local brothers who arose from within a local church where their life and character were known. (Acts 14:23; Titus 1:5)
5. Church meetings were participatory and interactive – every member had a function and contribution to make. (1Cor.12:4-27; 14:26; Eph.4:15-16; Rom.12:3-8; 1Pet.4:10-11; Heb.10:23-25; Rom.12:15; 1Cor.12:26)
6. Church meetings were characterized by informality, flexibility, and spontaneity. (Acts 20:7-12; 1Cor.14:26-31)
7. A goal of the meeting was mutual edification.
(1Cor.14:3,4,5,12,17,26; Eph.4:11-12,16; Heb.10:24-25)
8. The church was led by a plurality of co-equal Elders which included the episcopate and others. (The Five-fold Ministry)
(Acts 14:23; 20:28; Phil.1:1; 1Tim.4:17; Heb.10:17; James 5:14; 1Pet.5:1-2)
9. The church was cared for by a team of pastors who were accountable to each other and the church; they were also known as elders. No one elder functioned as the head of the church. (Acts 20:28; Titus 1:5-7; 1Pet.5:1-2)
10. While some elders might be financially supported, some were bi-vocational. (1Tim.5:17-18; Acts 20:33-35)
11. There was no clergy/laity “distinction” in the church – the episcopate was selected specifically to service, protect and preserve the church and all the members comprised a fully functioning mutually pastoral priesthood. (Heb.13:15-16; 1Pet.2:5,9; Rev.1:6)
12. The Lord’s Supper was observed as often as the church regularly gathered and was the stated purpose for their meetings. (Acts 20:7; 1Cor.11:18-20,33)
13. The Lord’s Supper was observed with glad and sincere hearts as the church not only reflected on Christ’s death, but also on the future marriage supper of the Lamb which it depicted. The believer’s horizontal relationship with other believers was emphasized. (Acts 2:46; Luke 22:15-18,30; 1Cor.11:26; Acts 2:42; 1Cor.10:16)
14. Various brothers taught the church, and allowed the congregation the opportunity to question them and/or add their own insights. (Acts 20:7; 1Cor.14:29-35)
15. The church gave primarily to relieve the poor and assist Christian workers, often beyond their means; they had very little if any administrative expenses. (Acts 2:44-45; Gal.6:9-10; 1Jn.3:17; 1Tim.5:17-18; 1Cor.9:6-14; 2Cor.8:3; Phil.4:15-18; Lk.12:33-34; Eph.4:28; James 1:27)
16. Believers gave voluntarily as God had blessed them and they had purposed in their heart; tithing was not carried over into the NT church. (2Cor.8:3-4; 9:7)
The New Testament Church that the Apostles built according to Christ’s directions was one church with Jesus Christ as the head. It was one family with a relationship founded on the Love of Christ. It was intimate and aware of each member’s needs, gifts, strengths and weaknesses. It was a Church unfettered by having to support expensive “temples”, for they were the living Temple of Christ. It was a Church that was able to ignite the world with the Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ and His saving grace. It was a Church made up of believers who held their faith as a way of life in unity, not purely a social activity and not an obligation.
We are doing our best to hold to these principles in our modern world. We realize that while it is not always practical to follow exactly the early church practices, we vigorously endeavor to carry forward the perspectives and principles that made them so effective.