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When speaking about the plurality of Christ's church, Paul refers to them
as the churches of Christ in Romans 16:16.
According to the book of Acts we soon learn that these independent, locally autonomous congregations were self
governing. They were not attached to any superficial hierarchy such as those later created by Roman Catholicism
or Protestant Denominationalism. The churches of Christ do not meet with a
council, convention, or diocese for governmental or legislative reasons. Such is contrary to the principle of
local autonomy. In the New Testament these churches, established by the gospel, were self governing and independently
ruled from Heaven, with Christ as the Head of the churches, ruling from Heaven
now through His Word (John 12:48-50 et al.). Each congregation, that was fulfilled,
had an eldership or bishopric to run the congregation’s business and work (Acts
14:23), again independently. These elders met certain qualifications according to I Timothy chapter three
and Titus chapter one. The words elder, pastor, and bishop translated into English all refer to the same office/work.
This work was always enjoined by a plurality of men and never a one pastor system because Christ is
the “Chief Shepherd or Pastor” (I Peter 5:1 ff)
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