The church in the New Testament and in early church history appears outwardly to have had what we might call an “episcopal” type structure. “Congregational” churches arose to some prominence much, much, much later. “Congregational churches,” as most today understand them, are totally foreign to the mindsets of Biblical writers. The concept of administrating the business of the local assembly by a majority congregational vote is from hell!!! “Doth not nature” even teach us that an animal with more than one head is a freak and a mutant? Dr. Bob Yandian noted so profoundly, “It is not democracy that makes the church work. It is the church (rightly functioning, of course…jkt) that makes democracy work!”

However (and this is a BIG “however”), authority is not merely to be imparted by some ecclesiastical position, but can only genuinely be released through relationship! I was ordained for years in a major Pentecostal denomination that generally functioned with an “episcopal” polity. In such groups with episcopal structure, some far off person that you do not know appoints some other person that you do not know to be “over you” in the Lord. Then you must relate the best you know how to that person based on the structure that you are a part of. In other words, STRUCTURE defines RELATIONSHIP. In the Kingdom pattern, we find in contrast, that it is RELATIONSHIP that defines STRUCTURE! No matter the “ministry office” that I may function in, I can only speak into the lives of those who receive and release me to be able to do so. And I can only speak into someone’s life to the degree that they receive me. Authority in the New Testament pattern is NOT coerced. Nor is it maintained (as some contemporary “apostles” try to do) through intimidation or manipulation. Biblical authority flows through authentic relationship on a river of Divine Love! We MUST embrace being “servants of all.”

No matter the “ministry office” that I or others might function in, when I go into a local assembly, I minister in submission to the “set-person” in that house. Where there is close intimate relationship with that “set-person,” I am able to speak and preach (and even declare over the region) with greater authority. But still, there is no higher authority in that local house than the local “set-person,” even if that “set-person” has been entrusted to me in close intimate familial relationship. This is true even if, because of that intimate relationship, I am able to speak candidly, and even with correction, to that “set-person” in private. “Dad” is there to SERVE, and NOT to “dictate” local policy or micro-manage the affairs of the assembly.Years ago, I began to get glimpses and “inklings” of the calling that God has placed upon my life. Yet, like Moses of old, I mistakenly tried to cram this new emerging understanding into the old “wineskin” of mentality paradigms from the past. And like Moses, my well intentioned efforts did not ultimately turn out positively but rather negatively. As we move into this “new wine in new wineskins” season, none of us can approach God’s Purpose solely from the platform of “Yeah, I know how to do that.” We will make a mess if we do. Trust me on this!

(The principle of not merely relying on past experience to take us forward, trying to do things in the same way we think we already “know how” to do them, was preached recently and profoundly by a pastor in another state whom I love dearly, in a meeting where I was in attendance. I was honored to be in that service and to hear that message. It struck me like a brick!)

Past experience should inform us, but it cannot dictate to us. Where we are going will NOT look like where we have been!!!!! We have never passed this way before! And if we are going to go where we’ve never gone, we’re going to have to be willing to think like we’ve never thought, and do what we’ve never done!

Yes, there is “governmental authority” associated with Apostolic function. But it is not so that anyone might dominate, control, or “rule over” someone else. Similarly, there is “governmental authority” accessible to the EKKLESIA (which only a few have yet begun to tap in to) that will be more far reaching than authority exercised by any individual believer. And when Apostolic authority combines with that of the EKKLESIA in Divinely orchestrated symphony, cities, regions and even nations will begin to be impacted by the transforming Power of God! Be Blessed!