How could preachers avoid “Evangelistic Oversight” (i.e., one-man rule) when new congregations are started by a preacher? This same question overlaps into the question: What if a preacher preached for just women, which was the only gender in that congregation at the time?
In a sense, the answer is the same when preaching for a congregation comprised of both genders, even if newly started, and preaching for a congregation of all women. There is a biblical distinction between instruction, congregational authority and gender roles. It is the responsibility of preachers to preach, and it is a congregation’s responsibility to rule itself – in fully developed congregations by biblically qualified elders.
A preacher is a herald (Vine’s) of divine revelation (Romans 10:13-15), and in that capacity alone, the Bible does not endow him with authority over a congregation to which he delivers God’s Word. If he presumes authority over a congregation, irrespective of his reasons or the circumstances, he goes beyond what is written in the New Testament (1 Corinthians 4:6).
Clearly, God wants congregations to be ruled by a plurality of men, who are elders selected by the congregation over which they are appointed and who meet the biblical qualifications of 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:5-11. However, it is equally clear from the early history of the Lord’s church in the Book of Acts that initially, especially at their commencement, congregations lacked elders for a time. Yet, those churches necessarily functioned for a time without elders, if only in selecting the time and place for assembly, but as likely also respecting the selection of persons to instruct it and attendance to the disposition of the collection funds. We may presume that in congregations in which men and women members were present, and where there were no elders, that male members (from which gender elders are selected) would take responsibility for the respective congregations. Obviously, a congregation of all women, though, would not have that latitude.
Works Cited
Vine’ Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words. CD-ROM. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1985.)
