Teaching Notes are Bible studies we taught before GraceLife Ministries began publishing articles online in 1995. Some were presented as sermons, others as group studies.

Our hope is that these older studies will be a blessing to you in your life and ministry. Please use them in any way God leads you.

These teaching notes are from a series about Church Growth taught over a period of several months.

[These notes are from a study from 40 years ago.]

Outline For Growth

A. Understanding of Growth: Defining Christian Growth

B. Direction for Growth: Goals of Christian growth

C. Training for Growth: What Christians Need to Grow

D. Assembling for Growth: What the Assembly is For

E. One-Anothering for Growth: How to Build Up Members of the Assembly

F. Structuring for Growth: How the Assembly Should be Managed

G. Ministering for Growth: How the Assembly Should Impact Its Community

Part Six: How the Assembly Should be Managed

Once an assembly of Christians understand the meaning of spiritual growth, the goals of spiritual growth, what Christians need to grow, the purpose of the assembly, and the importance of building up each member of the assembly (one-anothering), it’s important that the assembly receive the proper management.

God has not left Christians wondering how to “manage” an assembly of the saints. His will concerning that is spelled out clearly in the New Testament. God is OVER ALL. He has total OVERSIGHT of the Church. Jesus Christ said He would build His Church and that’s what He has been doing for two-thousand years. What is His method? It is organized and orderly –

“And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.” Ephesians 4:11-16

Jesus Christ gave spiritually-gifted people to His “Church” to equip the saints for “their ministry.” The apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastor-teachers have a specific task of “equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God.”

Here are some of the Greek words the Apostle Paul used to describe those spiritually-gifted people’s work in assemblies of saints across the world during the past two-thousand years:

  • ἐπίσκοπος, episkopos – “an overseer, one who watches over, has care for .. Acts 20:20; Philippians 1:1; 1 Timothy 3:2; Titus 1:7
  • ἐπισκοπή, episkopé – “office of an overseer” .. 1 Timothy 1:3
  • πρεσβύτερος,  presbuteros – “elder, older, senior” .. Acts 14:23; 20:17; 1 Timothy 1:5; 5:17; Titus 1:5
  • πρεσβυτέριον, presbuterion – “the order of elders, body of elders, assembly of elders, officers of the church assembly” .. 1 Timothy 4:14

“Elder” is who they are .. “Overseeing” is what they do.

  1. The Apostle Paul ordained (χειροτονέω, cheirotoneó, “selected, appointed, chose) elders (plural) in every assembly. He taught that ordained men should ordain other men. This was to continue the line of authority directly from Christ through Paul. (Acts 9:15; 14:23; 1 Timothy 2:7; Titus 1:5).
  2. Paul told the elders of the Ephesian assembly that God had made them overseers to feed (ποιμαίνω, poimainó, “act as a shepherd, tend as a shepherd, guard and guide as a shepherd,” keeping in mind that Jesus Christ is the Chief Shepherd, and thus the greatest example for under-shepherds to follow. Paul warned elder-overseers that doctrinal wolves in sheep’s clothing would try to devour God’s flock (saints) and that fellow-elders would even try to steal away disciples to follow after them (Acts 20:17, 28-30).
  3. Paul taught that elder-overseers have a special place of authority in the local assembly. They are responsible to God for taking care of each member of the church. If a man wants to be an overseer, he desires a good ministry (1 Timothy 3:1,5 ).
  4. Paul made it clear that overseers must be men, Christians for several years, able to teach, in control of their own bodies and minds, married to only one woman, good managers of their own household, not quarrelsome, hospitable, not heavy drinkers, not greedy for money, and having a good reputation with non-Christians in the community (1 Timothy 3:2-7; Titus 1:6-9).
  5. Paul wrote that the elder-overseers who ruled well were deserving of respect and high esteem. Those elders who functioned as preachers and teachers of God’s Word were valuable enough to the assembly to be financially supported in their ministry (1 Timothy 5:17-18; 1 Corinthians 9:14).
  6. Paul taught that no accusations should be made against an elder-overseer unless it could be backed up by the Word of God and supported by two or three credible witnesses. If an elder was found to have sinned, he was to be rebuked publicly before the whole assembly so others would be warned (1 Timothy 5:19-20).
  7. Paul warned each assembly to be slow in ordaining elder-overseers. It was not something to be done quickly or lightly (1 Timothy 5:22).

Next Time

We will look at How the Assembly Should Impact Its Community in the next part of our series.

[Thank you for reading these teaching notes from 40 years ago. My prayer is they will be a blessing to you and your life and ministry.]

GraceLife