In Acts 11:30, we read of elders in the church for the first time.  When a famine hit all over the world, the brethren in Judea were especially devastated by it, and brethren determined to send relief to them.  They sent that relief to the elders of local churches (Acts 11:27-30).

While we have just a few examples of elders acting in local churches in the New Testament, we have more than enough information about them to know how local churches were organized.  For example, we know, if we follow the pattern, that churches that had elders always had a plurality of them.

Acts 14:23 (ESV)
²³ And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.  

Acts 15:4 (ESV)
⁴ When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they declared all that God had done with them.

Acts 20:17 (ESV)
¹⁷ Now from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church to come to him.

James 5:14 (ESV)
¹⁴ Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.

In all of these passages, the term “elders” is plural, and the term “church” is singular, showing us that in the first century, there was always a plurality of elders in a church.  Where is the passage that shows us a local church with one pastor?  There is no such passage.

There is something else missing in these passages that speak of the elders of the church, that is, a reference to a local church having a chief elder who had more authority than the others.   That arrangement is a man-made one and not seen in the Bible anywhere.  Paul reveals to us the simple organization of the church when he wrote to the church at Philippi.

Philippians 1:1 (ESV)
¹ Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons:

The word “overseers” comes from the Greek word “episkopos.”  The KJV uses the word “bishop.”  A bishop is nothing more than an elder.  Three words describe the same office in the New Testament—elder, pastor, and bishop.  These three terms describe different aspects of the office.  The term “elder” indicates a man old enough to have accumulated experience and wisdom.  The term “bishop” conveys the idea of a superintendent who has the charge or oversight of the local flock.  The term “pastor” denotes the work of shepherding and feeding the flock.  Since these terms all refer to the same office, we see how simple the organization of the church is.  Local churches are made up of elders, deacons, and saints and that is all.

Another thing to point out about elders that is important is that they only have authority over the church that appointed them to be elders.  Read what Peter wrote to elders.

1 Peter 5:2 (KJV 1900)
² Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind. 

This tells us that every local church was self-governing.  Elders only had authority over one church—the flock among them, and this is the way it must be today.

Any church that has a different organizational structure than the church we read about in the New Testament is a man-made church that you do not read about in the Bible.

As you wind down for the night, think about these things.