Is today’s Church structure biblical?

Another day, another revelation of abuse in the Church. With recent allegations against leaders at the US megachurch Bethel coming to light, I’ve been reflecting on how we do church, and how abusive leaders with narcissistic tendencies find their way to the top. The fault lies with the individuals, their horrific unrepentant sin, and the fact that it has gone unchecked by other church leaders. 

I’ve also been reflecting on how church structure gives a small number of leaders a large amount of power. This is especially true in mega churches the size of Bethel in California, where 10,000 members attend each Sunday. Yet the structure of power of one leader at the top seems to sometimes play a part in emotional, sexual and spiritual abuse, even in much smaller congregations. Is this structure even biblical? 

There are of course many good churches who will never make the news headlines. They are led by faithful pastors, who fear God and love their congregations. I’m part of one, which I love, yet, from time to time, I can’t help but think of the book of Acts, and how our modern church structure is so different. 

An informal structure 

In the book of Acts, churches met in houses, in more informal gatherings. There was not a set structure with 20 minutes singing followed by a half-hour sermon. Communion was a meal shared together rather than a thimbleful of grape juice and a cracker. There were no denominations, just one church in each town. Pastors (also called shepherds in the Bible) were not considered to be the head, but instead performed a role of helping people with their problems and discipling new believers. 

1 Corinthians 14:26 reveals a lot: “When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. Everything must be done so that the church may be built up”. Gatherings did not consist of a single person holding the microphone; rather, each person contributed. 

I recently came across a few podcasts that opened my eyes to how the way most churches are structured is quite different to the early Church. Pastor to Pioneer and The UnSunday Show are both hosted by pastors who left their congregations to make disciples and have smaller home gatherings. 

In one interview on the Pastor to Pioneer podcast, a mega church leader felt proud of the 10,000 baptisms his church had achieved. Then he spoke to someone from the underground church in China, where they’d done a million baptisms. Through building disciples, they had managed to multiply at a much faster rate than most churches do. 

Being open to other ways 

We each have a unique role to play in the Body of Christ, some within conventional churches, some spending time at home gatherings or out on the mission field. It’s not about a right or wrong way of doing it, but perhaps expanding our awareness of possibility rather than sticking to tradition just for the sake of it. 

My friend Elise described to me her experience of being a long-term Christian, and then leaving the institutional Church and her faith deepening as a result. She says: “I’ve been a Christian nearly 20 years, was a member in a mainstream Baptist church until 2020, when I resigned because of the decision to close for the lockdown. I then found a group of believers and we met as a home church for several years until everyone decided to go back into mainstream Church. As a family, we go back to my old church at Christmas and Easter, but I’m currently getting a lot of fellowship online. My faith really took off once I’d left the mainstream Church, and my walk with Jesus has massively deepened as a result. I’ve since realised that things I have been taught were not actually biblical, and I’m not sure I could go back into a mainstream church. My friend and I run a fortnightly Bible study for a group of ladies from the New Age.’’ 

I have heard other reports of people’s faith deepening during the lockdown, when, away from the roster of church events, they actually found more time for personal prayer and Bible reading. 

All this is food for thought, about how we might go about facilitating people to have deeper relationships with Jesus – and each other. I’ve often found that it goes deeper sitting around the kitchen table with other Christian women I know; laying down the burden of our problems, sharing scripture and encouragement. It seems to me that when structure is removed, things can flow more freely and organically.

Nevertheless, I think caution and prayerful reflection are needed. “Iron sharpens iron” (Proverbs 27:17) and we can have a tendency to go astray without the support of a Christian community. Whatever kind of church we go to – whether it’s sitting in the church pews, or around a kitchen table – let’s not neglect to meet with each other on a regular basis. 

Does the Church need to change? Read Veronica Zundel’s view here.