PLANTING CHURCHES WITHOUT OVERSEER

Planting Churches Without Overseers

The apostles Paul and Barnabas left the churches of the first missionary journey alone for some period of time, perhaps up to two or three years, without any appointed elders. It was right that they did so. Paul and Barnabas were called to a certain work which involved traveling and preaching the Gospel.

In I Timothy 3:6, Paul writes than an overseer of the church was not to be a novice. Since the apostles appointed elders from within local churches, it makes sense that the churches be given time to grow and mature so that, in time, men would mature into elders of sufficient spiritual character to take on oversight of the church.

These Churches Were Churches

Some people think that a church is not a true church unless it has an ordained minister. But we see from the Bible that these churches were indeed churches before any elders were ordained. Their assemblies were legitimate, in spite of no elder being present.

Acts 14:23 tells us that Paul and Barnabas “ordained them elders in every church”. The passage does not say “and they ordained elders in every fellowship, turning the fellowships into churches.” No, the churches were legitimate churches before the elders were appointed. It was advantageous to appoint the elders, or they would not have been appointed

It is likely that Paul regularly planted churches without immediately appointing overseers, allowing God to raise up such men in His time. Of Paul’s epistles, only three mention elders or overseers in the churches: Philippians, Titus, and Timothy.
I Corinthians deals with the need of the Corinthians to appoint judges over cases, but no mention is made here of elders of the church. It is conceivable that neither Paul nor his coworkers had yet appointed elders in these churches.

Planting Churches without Overseers

Some people think that no new church plant may be begun without an ordained minister to lead it. This idea is unscriptural, and it can slow the growth of church planting efforts. Some think that a church planter must stay with a new congregation until an ordained minister is available to take over. This concept can also slow church planting efforts.

Many church planting efforts are based on the idea of a Bible college graduate or experienced minister planting a new church, and staying there. A church planter who wants to move on and evangelize elsewhere is expected to turn the work over to an ordained minister.

Evangelists who follow the example of Paul and Barnabas, leaving new churches behind without any appointed leadership could face criticism. But we need to realize that some men have ‘itchy feet.’ It is a part of their call to take the Gospel to new areas-to evangelize new souls.

In some cases, God might want a church planter to stay for a long time in one location and do long-term discipleship work. On other occasions, a church planter may need to leave after a short time and fulfill the call of God to preach in other areas. Paul spent probably only months in some of the cities where he preached, but he stayed in Ephesus for months. There the Lord opened a great door of opportunity. Paul stayed there for a period of time and the Gospel spread into the province of Asia. In Acts 20:31, Paul speaks of having warned the elders of Ephesus for three years.

A church planter may stay in one church for a long time, or he may move around. He should follow the leadership of the Holy Spirit in the matter.

Church planters need to be freed from some of the traditional churches about church planting. Realizing that a church can be started, and even left behind without ordained elders, can free church planters to go do other work.

Many church planting strategies are based on sending young men to Bible college to serve as professional pastors over new churches. Educating a young man in Bible college is a slow, expensive undertaking. Ironically, many Bible college graduates are not even Biblically qualified to be overseers of the church according to the lists of requirements given by the apostle Paul. Very few of them fit the description of an elder. The Greek word for elder, presbuteros, does, after all, mean ‘older man.’

Caring for New Churches That Don’t Yet Have Overseers

Many would object to the idea of leaving a church behind with no ordained leadership in charge. They think it far too dangerous for such churches to be left alone.

In the New Testament, we see that new churches could be tempted by false teachers and false apostles. This was a real danger. But we also need to realize that churches that already had elders still had to battle with this problem. Many believe that Galatians was written to the first missionary journey churches-to south Galatia. If this is the case, the letters were likely written after Paul and Barnabas had already appointed elders in these churches. The letters written to the churches in Revelation exhort them to resist false teachings. Thos churches had probably been around for decades, and most of them probably had official church government. Elders are to resist false teaching, but they are not a proven cure against heresy. Paul even warned the Ephesian elders that, from their own number, some would arise, speaking perverse things, to draw men after themselves. (Acts 20:30.)

Such churches are not truly left alone without an overseer. I Peter 2:25 shows that Jesus is the Shepherd and Bishop of the souls of the saints. God watched over the churches that Paul left behind.

Though we do see that Paul left churches behind, we see that he did not abandon them completely. Paul earnestly prayed for these churches. He also kept in touch through men sent to and from the churches. He responded to what he had heard from brethren who had visited these churches in letters. Some of his letters answer questions sent to him by these churches. At times, Paul and his coworkers would travel back to churches to strengthen and encourage them.

As more people on what had been frontiers for the Gospel believed, there were also more workers available to strengthen existing churches. Some of these people joined Paul in his travels. After Paul had been ministering many years, there were several men who traveled with him, who could also be sent to existing churches to exhort them.

© Paul L. Hudson, Jr. 2001