Local Church Government Without an Oversight

GOVERNMENT WITHOUT AN OVERSIGHT

A CHRONOLOGY OF THE CHURCHES OF CRETE

Approximate Dates AD	Event
30-33	Passion of Christ
30-33 50-Days After Resurrection	Day of Pentecost Acts 2:1-12, 36-37, 41 Three Thousand Saved Pilgrims from Crete Probably Get Saved & Return to their Country
36-38	Paul Gets Saved On Road to Damascus
40-46	Paul Travels with Barnabas To Jerusalem, Antioch, & Tarsus
46-57	Paul’s Three Missionary Journeys
57-62	Paul’s First Journey to Rome & Trial Briefly in Cretan Harbor (Acts 27:7)
62-63	Paul Visits Crete & Macedonia Instructs Titus to Appoint Elders in Crete (Titus 1:5)
64	Paul Arrested, Imprisoned, & Martyred in Rome

Many of the dates above are from John Stirling, An Atlas of The Acts, London: George Philip & Son, 1966, pages 3, 5, 7, 9-10, 13-15, 17, 19-20, 22-23, 25-26.

The churches of Crete did not have qualified elders for around 30-years.
Thus a church does not have to have qualified elders to exist.
A church without qualified elders is susceptible to false doctrine (Titus 1:10-14).
It is better to not have elders than to have unqualified elders. See “must be” in 1 Timothy 3:2 and Titus 1:6.
A church operates best with qualified elders (Titus 1:5).
Each church must have more than one elder (Titus 1:5).

HOW SHOULD A CHURCH BE GOVERNED THAT DOES NOT HAVE ELDERS?

Perhaps the elder-less church could combine with another close by church of like mind that has qualified elders.
The Apostle Paul taught that women are not to be leaders (1 Corinthians 14:34; 1 Timothy 2:12).
The Cretan Jews would have been members of a synagogue. Synagogue leaders were always male (Donald D. Binder, “Second Temple Synagogue FAQs, http://www.pohick.org/sts/faqs.html, ã 2001, read December 23, 2003).
A non-elder government might be a church planter, board of men, a men’s meeting, etc.
A church not governed by elders needs to regularly look for qualified elders. How can this be done? Perhaps every couple of years the congregation can be taught the qualifications of elders and then critique the men of the church in a way that avoids embarrassment.

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