But the first century church was not pastored this way. its pastors, shepherds and more accurately Elders were of a plurality and choosen from within the flock. these men could be seen for who they were and what they were worth before the flock choose them.

the Qualification of 1 Timothy, Titus and 1 Peter were strictly adhered to. we could see first how a man ruled his house before he ruled the church oif Christ. we could see his reputation both inside and outside the church community. we knew these men well, we grew up with them.

sadly we do not see this today, we hire pastors right out of seminary (unqualified elders to say the least) unproven, unknown. or worse a hierachy sends us a new pastor with out any of our own input or testing. this is not the biblical pattern set by Paul who in order to bring to order the churches of Christ said to appoint a plurality of elders from within.

its just a matter of getting back to biblical principles

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Amen to your great post. You're right that getting back to the Bible and Biblical Principles is what we need to do.

xof



P.S: Thanks for the note about that book by Strauch. I'll try to get a copy of it.