The Community is also a growing, changing entity. It is (we are) in the process of being fully transformed into the image of Jesus; spirit, soul, and body. So, all the parts, although equally vital and important, are not at the same level of transformation - are not "equally" participating in the Divine Nature. And it is only to the extent that we allow this transformation to occur that any of us thinks with the mind of God, wills the will of God, speaks the words of God.


LEADERSHIP IN THE COMMUNITY

It is owing to this disparity, as well as to the differentiation of charisma (gifts and grace-imparted abilities), that Pastors are placed in the community. It is because there are some who are farther along the path, if you will, more mature, and who are given certain abilities by the Holy Spirit in order to function in certain ways in the Body. So, we see that all are not yet able to hear God clearly, not all can spiritually "see" as well, nor are all gifted in the same ways. Thus, we need Leaders and Guides - Mentors, Overseers, Elders, Pastors in the community. They are not the only ones who see, or who can see. They are not the only ones who are mature, or who become mature. It is a combination of their maturity (their closeness to God) and their giftedness which moves them into this place or function in the Body. They are there to guide the others - to lead them into the same maturity so that all might see what they see and hear what they hear. They are in place, as well, to guard them, shepherd them on their journey to maturity.

We cannot, because certain abuses have taken place in the Body of Christ at the hands of those who have been called "leaders", simply throw away the Truth of God. We may indeed have even experienced heavy-handed authoritarian leadership in the church. We may even have been damaged and scarred by it. But, again, this gives us no leave to cast away what God has laid into the Body. Rather, we must sincerely, without bias in heart, seek to see how God has truly designed the Body of His Son to function. We must pray that the Holy Spirit show us the Truth - and He will.


PINPOINTING THE PLACE OF OVERSIGHT

So, what we have is a community among which there are Pastors, not Pastors under which are communities. The Pastors do guide and lead. They do shepherd and teach. But they are not separate from or other than the community of believers. They do hold "positions" in that they "function" in certain ways, and it is their function which creates the position. So the position is a matter of function and the function of oversight is indeed a necessary one in the Community. And as we have made clear earlier, Elders are not merely mature believers. They are necessarily that, but they are more in that they are specialized cells of the Body.


AUTHORITY

As for the matter of authority - I suppose it is good to say "only the AUTHOR has real AUTHORITY." What I mean to say is that all authority belongs to Jesus, His essential self, and whatever is exercised through us is just that - authority exercised "through" us and "by" us only in that we are truly members of His mystical Body. So, Elders or Pastors do have some degree of authority that is different than that which is exercised through the rest of the members of the Community. And because they have been given oversight of the body, they receive "advanced instructions" for the whole Community.


GOVERNMENT

The Pastors will have oversight of the Community, will influence it, teach it, be examples to it, serve it, and guard it from "wolves." They do have a special role to play, but they will also be accountable to the whole body in their service. They will take care of the every-day decision making issues of the church. Larger, more important issues will be decided by a two-thirds consensus of the whole Community. This will help to safeguard the headship of Christ and the direction of the Holy Spirit in the church.

There will be two tiers of decision making in the Community. The first will be that of the Pastoral Team. It will be these more mature ones, charged with oversight of the whole Community, who will make the general and daily decisions of the community by a consensus of their whole number. It will be this council which will decide when a matter is weighty enough to go to the entire community. When a matter is of sufficient "weight," a decision will be made by a two-thirds consensus of the whole community, as was said before - all the adult members.