There is One Ministry with One Leadership, and Authority is in the Ministry of the Word

According to the New Testament, the authority of the apostles is spiritual and it is in their ministry of the word, and in the New Testament, there is one ministry with one leadership.

However, according to God’s concept, there is no permanent leader in the church, nor is there just one leading one – there’s plurality in the eldership and apostleship.

In the Old Testament, we see that there was one king at one time, and that king could do whatever he wanted to do; many times, this ended up in a situation that was not positive.

But in the New Testament, we see that the Lord Jesus is the unique Head of the Body, and there are many members in the Body.

When it comes to the matter of leadership, however, there is not just one leader, one pastor or one elder or one apostle, but there is a plurality.

The Lord Jesus called twelve disciples and sent them two by two to preach the gospel, and after His death there were twelve apostles.

In the beginning, it was Peter who took the lead, but then we see James taking the lead.

Similarly in the ministry of Paul and Barnabas, it was Barnabas who took the lead first, and then Paul’s capacity was manifested, so he took the lead.

Among us in the church life in the Lord’s recovery, we need to return to the divine revelation in the word of God concerning the proper leadership.

It is not only the leading ones who need to know what it means to be proper leaders, but we all as saints need to know what is proper leadership and how to properly follow those who are leading ones.

In both the Old and the New Testament, God’s people are likened to sheep; Psalm 23 in particular is famous for showing us that the Lord is our Shepherd and we are His sheep.

He is our Shepherd, and we are His sheep. As sheep of the dear Shepherd, we follow the Lord as our Shepherd and we follow the leading sheep.

In the physical realm, sheep follow other sheep, and there are many times a leading sheep, which other sheep follow.

And when a sheep strays from the flock, it will run toward the flock as soon as it realizes it is astray.

We need to be right in following others. We need to know what is proper leadership, realizing that leadership means slavery, and those who take the lead are the slaves of the saints.

And we need to learn to follow those who properly serve the Lord and serve the saints, following the patterns of the flock.

There is only one Leader – the Lord Jesus Christ, and He is the only Head of the Body.

Those who take the lead today are being manifested because of the need and due to their spiritual capacity.

Leaders in the church are not elected nor voted; they are manifested in the Body based on their larger spiritual capacity and according to the need in the church life.

The Authority of the Apostles is Spiritual – it is in their Ministry of the Word

May the Lord be merciful to us and enlighten us to see that in the church life in the Lord’s recovery, there is no organized leadership, and there’s no unifying organization.

Many times Christians or theologians try to figure us out, and they think that there must be a unifying organization or centre that directs all the actions and activities in the church life.

Many say that, just as in all the other churches or denominations, there must be some organization.

We do have fellowship and coordination in the church life, but there is no unifying organization.

With a clear conscience, we say that there is no such thing as a head church, there is no hierarchy, and there is no central command in the church life.

This is what you can see in Christianity today, especially in the Roman Catholic church.

However, though there’s no hierarchy or human organization, there is leadership.

Just as in a family with a mother and a father with two or three children, there is leadership.

When the father is not there, the mother is in charge, and when the parents are not there, the older sibling is in charge, or there is a babysitter.

There is always authority, and there is order; however, there is no organization.

The mark of the Lord’s testimony is life, but there is also order because where the Holy Spirit is and has authority, there is order.

Instead of organization, what we have is Christ as the Head giving orders to all the members directly, and there is one organism, the Body of Christ (Eph. 1:22-23).

According to the New Testament, the authority of the apostles is spiritual and it is in their ministry of the word (Acts 2:42; 2 Cor. 13:5-6; 1 Thes. 2:13).

In Acts 2:42 the believers in Jerusalem continued steadfastly in the teaching and the fellowship of the apostles.

They didn’t follow Peter and James and John; they continued in the teaching and fellowship of the apostles.

The apostles have no authority in a position to interfere with church affairs; however, the word ministered by them has authority (Col. 4:16; Heb. 13:7).

The New Testament shows that they raise up churches, but they don’t interfere with the activities of the churches.

Rather, they left and it was the local saints with their leading ones that decide things such as the meeting times, arrangements, etc.

But the apostles were not completely hands-off; rather, they spoke and wrote the word to the saints to correct certain things or address certain situations.

The word ministered by the apostles has authority.

If the churches and the saints go on according to the word, according to God’s oracle, the apostles don’t need to touch the churches.

But if a church goes astray or is misled, then the apostles have the obligation and responsibility to say something, to write something, so that they deal with the situation according to God’s word, which has authority.

Paul said in 1 Cor. 4:21, Should I come to you with a rod in love and a spirit of meekness?

Also, he said that he was present in spirit with the saints to deal with the sinful one and cast him out (5:3-5).

May we see that among God’s people today in God’s New Testament economy there is actually no leadership in the natural sense.

There’s no official, permanent, organizational leader among the apostles.

There is no leading elder among the elders; all elders are serving together. There is no unifying organization.

There is no better church nor a head church; all the churches are on the same level, and Christ is the unique Head.

We all respect and honour the headship of Christ.

The authority of the apostles is in their ministry of the word.

Paul did not direct the activity of the co-workers; he urged Apollos to come, but he didn’t want to come, and he sent Timothy to Ephesus to charge certain ones not to teach differently, which Timothy did.

When teachings came in, however, to cause the saints to swerve from the healthy teaching of God’s economy, Paul wrote the epistles and addressed the situation by speaking the truth.

If a church goes astray or is misled, the apostles have the obligation and responsibility to deal with the situation according to God’s word, which has authority (Acts 20:26-27; 2 Cor. 10:6; 2 Tim. 1:13; 4:2).

Lord Jesus, we take You as our unique Head. You are our unique Leader and Lord. Head us up in You. Head up our church life with all its activities. Keep us in the teaching and fellowship of the apostles, continuing with all the saints in fellowship and coordination. Bless all those who take the lead in the church life. Grant us to be faithful and proper in the truth in following those who lead us. May we heed the healthy teaching and pursue Christ with all the saints, continuing steadfastly in the teaching and the fellowship of the apostles. Amen, Lord Jesus, grant us to remain in the truth and be freed from any organization or hierarchy in the church life. We just want to follow You, our dear Shepherd and Head! Keep us coming to You and receiving our life and guidance from You!

In the New Testament, there is One Ministry with One Leadership for the Keeping of the Oneness of the Spirit

According to the revelation in the New Testament, there is only one ministry and only one leadership in the ministry.

This truth concerning the one ministry and the one leadership is there in the Bible, and the principle can be clearly seen in the practice of the early church.

However, the Lord Jesus did not “appoint” Peter or any other disciple to be the “official leader” after He was gone.

Rather, what we see is that there’s one ministry with one leadership (Acts 1:17, 25; 2 Cor. 4:1).

It is sad to see that the Catholic church teaches that Peter was the first pope, the assigned leader of the church.

Nowhere in the Bible do we see such an appointment by the Lord, but we do see that Peter took the lead at the beginning of Acts, and then James took the lead after a while.

Today’s Christianity, however, is divided because there are so many leaderships; there is this leadership and that leadership, and these don’t agree with each other, so there is division.

Because the ministry in the Bible is noe, there should not be more than one leadership.

There must be just one leadership since God, the Lord, and the Spirit are all one (Eph. 4:3-6).

The one leadership in the church life is for the keeping of the oneness of the Spirit for the Body of Christ.

Leadership is something spontaneous according to life, according to the real need, and according to the situation.

If there is a need and there are some who have a greater spiritual capacity, then leadership is manifested.

Leadership is shaped by the growth in life and is an issue of the need. Furthermore, leadership is one, since there’s one ministry, one Lord, and one Body of Christ.

Leadership is produced and strengthened by the apostles’ teaching; also, leadership is limited and restricted by the apostles’ teaching.

We see this in 1 Tim. 1:3-4, where Paul charged Timothy to remain in Ephesus to charge certain ones not to teach things different from the economy of God, which is in faith.

Timothy was a young co-worker of Paul, and he was to charge certain ones not to teach things differently from God’s economy in faith.

The only thing that we should teach in the church life is God’s New Testament economy to dispense the processed Triune God into His chosen and redeemed people so that Christ may gain His Body for His corporate expression and the Triune God might have a complete, eternal expression in the New Jerusalem.

This is the unique teaching, and all leaders among God’s people need to remain in the teaching and the fellowship of the apostles, teaching the unique teaching of God’s New Testament economy.

Any minister who preaches or teaches in the church life today must carry out such a ministry.

If the leading ones do not teach such a healthy teaching, the teaching of God’s New Testament economy, the apostle or apostles has the authority to charge them not to teach differently from God’s economy.

Because of the need for leadership when others teach different things, the leadership is manifested.

May the Lord bring us up-to-date with Him in the church life and save us from the pitiful history of division in Christianity because of different leaderships, and may we keep the oneness of the Spirit for the Body of Christ.

Praise the Lord, in the New Testament there is only one ministry with only one leadership! Hallelujah, Christ is our Head, and there are some who are manifested to be leaders according to their growth in life and spiritual capacity, to meet the need in the church life! Amen, Lord, we give ourselves to keep the oneness of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace. Save us from any division in the Body. Save us from having multiple leaderships in the church life. Keep us in oneness and in one accord under Christ as the one Head of the Body! Hallelujah, our God is one, our Lord is one, and the Spirit is one! Praise the Lord, we have one Head, one ministry, and one leadership for the keeping of the oneness of the Spirit for the Body of Christ!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by Ricky Acosta in the message for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1987, vol. 2, “The God-ordained Way to Practice the New Testament Economy,” pp. 451-452, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-study of 1 and 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther (2022 winter training), week 10, entitled, The Central and Crucial Point of the Recovery Books of Ezra and Nehemiah — the Proper and Adequate Leadership in the Lord’s Recovery.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – We give ourselves the flock’s steps to follow / Knowing the Shepherd’s care. / Now in the churches Jesus is leading / And He is speaking there. / We give ourselves to Thee, O Lord Jesus, / Never to turn aside; / Where’er the Lamb goes, there we would follow, / Follow whate’er betide. (Hymns #1246 stanzas 3-4)
  – In my knowledge and experience / I would not exalted be, / But submitting and accepting / Let the Body balance me; / Holding fast the Head, and growing / With His increase, in His way, / By the joints and bands supplying, / Knit together day by day. (Hymns #840 stanza 3)
  – Lord, help us ever strive to keep / This unity by taking / The Church’s ground of unity, / The Body-life partaking, / That all Thy heart’s profound desire / May fully be effected, / And God’s eternal purpose may / Completely be perfected. (Hymns #831 stanza 5)