“'Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,' which is translated, 'God with us.” Matthew 1:23

The Government Of The Church Is Episkopos

"And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church," (Ephesians 1:22)

At GOD WITH US we believe that God appoints the pastor to lead the Church and he is assisted in his leadership by a board of elders. This is called an "episkopos" form of church government. In I Timothy 3:1, Paul wrote, "This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop (episkopos), he desireth a good work." The word bishop refers to an overseer or one who rules and leads the church.

The church is not to be ruled by the congregation. The only biblical example of a congregational church government is a negative one. In Exodus 16:2, we read, "And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness." And the church is not to be ruled by a board of elders or by a board of deacons. When the church is ruled by a board the pastor becomes a hireling and he losses his God given ability to lead the church as God directs.

We believe that God's model is that the pastor is appointed and ruled over by the Lord and is recognized by the congregation as God's anointed instrument to lead the church with the board of elders guiding and assisting him. This form of government is seen in the early history of Israel. God called a man named Moses to lead the nation of Israel. Israel recognized Moses as God's appointed leader and Moses went to God for wisdom to lead the nation of Israel. To assist Moses in leading the nation of Israel God, appointed 70 elders and together they led the nation (Exodus 18:13-27, Numbers 11:25).

In the church, Jesus is the head and from Him the pastor receives direction for the church. He is assisted in his leadership by the elders. The board of elders is appointed by the pastor. In Acts 14:23, we are told, "So when they (Apostles) had appointed elders in every church and prayed with fasting they commended them to the Lord." Elders are not to be new converts (I Timothy 3:6) and they are not to be ordained too quickly (I Timothy 5:22). They are pastors sharing the spiritual over sight of the church.

Deacons are servants who exercise the ministry of helps in the church. They look after the facilities and the needs of the congregation and help the sick. Their ministry of helps enables the pastor and elders to lead and feed the congregation (Acts 6:3-4).