June 12, 2005

IS AN INDIVIDUALLY SUPPORTED MISSIONARY SOCIETY AUTHORIZED IN SCRIPTURE?

By Bob Myhan

The English word, “church,” is used by most, if not all, modern versions of the Bible to translate the Greek word, “ecclesia,” in certain contexts. The word, “ecclesia,” has no peculiarly religious significance. Neither does it imply organizational structure. In Acts 19:24-41 it is used both of a “lawful assembly” and of a “disorderly gathering.” While “ecclesia” is not the word translated, “gathering,” in verse 40, it is the word translated, “assembly,” in verse 41, and both refer to the same thing—a collectivity of persons with no organizational framework.

The English word, “church,” translates the Greek word, “ecclesia,” only when the translators viewed the ecclesia under consideration to be an ecclesia “of or pertaining to the Lord” [kuriokos], whether it is “all saints everywhere” or “saints in a given locality.” No organizational framework is given in Scripture through which “all saints everywhere” may function collectively. Saints in a given locality, however, are authorized to organize as a collectively functioning unit. They are also expected to develop such qualities in a plurality of men that will qualify them to serve as elders (1 Tim. 3:1-7; Titus 1:5-11).

The universal church, again, is a collective unit but not a “collectively functioning” unit. There is specific authority for the collective functioning of the “local body” but there is no authority for the collective functioning of the “universal body.”

The difference between individual action and collective action is not whether individuals are acting but whether there is common oversight. By “common oversight,” is simply meant that each person is under the oversight of the same person or persons.

The Lord has certainly authorized “saints in a given locality” to function collectively under common oversight [a plurality of elders] in the areas of edification and evangelism, but has He given “all saints everywhere” that authority? If so, where is it? Where is the direct statement, approved apostolic example or implication that “all saints everywhere” may function collectively, that is under common oversight?

Organizing the universal body by putting “all saints everywhere” under common oversight is just as lacking in scriptural authority as organizing the universal body by putting “all congregations everywhere” under common oversight. If one claims generic authority for the former, this writer would like to know from what passage such generic authority is obtained.

The only scripturally authorized framework for Christians to function collectively in the areas of edification and evangelism is the local church with its elders, deacons and saints (Phil. 1:1). If, therefore, a given collectivity of Christians is engaged in edification and evangelism under common oversight, it is either a local church of Christ or it is unscriptural.