According to Nelson's New Illustrated Bible Dictionary, the meaning of theocracy can be explained as - to direct government of the nation of Israel by God Himself or His earthly representatives. Throughout the Bible, the understanding of God's rule on earth is vividly shown/ In Israel's early days, God ruled through men such as Moses, Aaron, and Joshua. Later, He ruled by using a group called judges and prophets of God. However, the people pf Israel demanded to have a king (1 Sam 8:5) to rule over their nation. God answered their prayer. As a result, theocacy has been replaced by monarchy.
One Bible commentator says that: "One of the purposes of the New Testament is to show God's kingly rule reestablished in Jesus Christ, the Prophet, Priest, and King appointed by God (Luke 24:19; Heb. 7:7:17; Rev. 19:16)." Hence, I think that the rightful model of church governance is theocratic governance.
From the Old to New Testament, God's original intention was that He would be the divine King to govern His own people. Nevertheless, in the New Testament, God has appointed the apostles to take care of the church for they were chosen by God as the earthly representatives. As for the church today, I believe that God has appointed pastors and deacons to take care of His people. It is because they have been called and elected by God. God's desire for church governance is indeed the theocratic governance for we are His people.
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Testing...
dear mun chung, you have choosen your model that best suits your explanation, God's calling upon a person is to do His will and i am of the view that managing the church can also be left to the congregation who are the part of the church. GB.
what do you have to say if the church adopt the worldly way of Church Governance to keep up with the changes that is taking place in the world today so that they are able to attract more people to church.
hey, eunicelaw, can i pls give me more clearer definition of "worldly way"? do u mean integration of secular management in church governance?
Well explain MC, if someone come up and ask if God choose pastor,how come certain pastor fail their responsible, how can we explain to others. Samuel is actually appoint by people rather than god in the first place and later God approved it, but he didn't end his life well, how can we explain that theocratic works well in this? Thanks.
Wow... dictionary...
I find that your discussion on the governance of the church base your root in the Old Testament, the original plan. I like that idea.
If we developed the idea further, God raise up apostles to govern the church in the New Testament right? Today, God is reviving the ministry of Apostolic with the Apostolic Movement. God, by His power ordained certain people to rule the church which find the roots back to the early apostleship.
So, today we need to submit our church to the Apostles of this era. Don't you agree?
Thanks for your comment. The question your asked is indeed very pertinent to the theocratic governance of church.
now 1 Samuel 9:15-17 says that God is the One that revels Saul to Samuel for He has chosen and anointed Saul to be the king of over and govern His people. Evidently God's theocracy on the nation of Israel is clear. He has indeed chosen Saul to be the king. Saul is in the mind of God.
however, he has failed God on his disobedience.
back to our context, the fall of minsters does not mean that God's theocracy on the church has decreased. For instance, when Saul has failed, God raised David to be the next king. In other words, God works beyond the fall and flaw of us. He knows best how to govern His church.
I have a very simple question then but I think has profound contradictions to what you say
Why have a 'Senior Pastor' then?
Leon, what do you think on Bao bao's comment? do u think we need to submit to the Apostleship of this era?
Leon, can you please clarify on the contradiction you mentioned about?
is senior pastor is part of the 5 fold ministry? or the role of senior pastor is a function?
define right model... in what context is it "RIGHT"..
right means biblically right or culturally right or right because u read from some books?...
give me ur piece of mind on what is ur definition about right model
Hi Mun Chung,
Thanks for sharing. My view on theocractic is no doubt that God is the form of leadership as described by you that through Christ as priest, king and prophet. But my concern issue is if throughout the bible there is no perfect channel for God to use in establishing a perfect governing, there is to my conclusion NO perfect model. Yes, I too believe in God's leading His people but through my past bad experiences with leadership causing the church split, not once but three times, my preferred choice would be congregational.
my issue is this. If we are talking about theocratical rulership of the church. Then the whatever giftings God has given to us has nothing to do with rank/position but service.
Why the senior pastor role. I don't see no Senior Pastor in the bible. We put the responsibility to lead the church under one man and give him the responsibility to ensure a theocratic rule. We use democratic means to ensure just governance. So I am asking you if you believe in a theocratic rulership then why the practices in your church?
Isthat the model that you are talking about? Becuase the model you talk about seems (in my opinion) to contradict the need for 'Senior Pastor' or so on so forth. I mean titles could be just titles but seriously what do you think?
About the apostle thing. I think we are very foolish is we do not study and realise what the function of a true apostle should be. Never was the giftings of the so called 5 fold ministry (because I think this is man own creation) ever given the mandate to rule nor govern over the church. Instead these were given so that we may be effective in building God's church. So in my opinion, if we give any precedence of and of God's giftings over the other, we definately have lost what the sense of a church really is.
Hi Mun Chung,
Yes, intergration of secular management in church governing? Do you agree with it?
whats wrong with monarchy? how do u know whether a church is govern through a theocracy or monarchy approach? both approach are having human leaders to lead and both can claim God is the one ruling through them.
Even if a pastor is led by God yet have a very poor management skill, should he lead the church administration? whats wrong with getting a person who is very skill is management skill to lead the church administration?
Sorry if i sound confuse, do educate me as i sincerely want to know...
hey, learning via question.
thanks for commenting on my blog. i think you raised up a very important question. can you give me sometime to study more on the question you have posted? i want to have more concrete understanding before answering your question.
nevertheless, if anyone wants to answer this question by "learning via question", you are most welcome to do so!
thanks
hey, wall-e.
the rightful model of the church governance serves as guide line for us to build our church.
yes, right means biblically right.
my personal opinion is that we can never achieve to the level of perfect governance. however, rightful model of church governance will help us and guide us along the way.
Hi Mun Chung,
I do agreed Theocracy is biblical but the key issue here is the ideal model one preference to manage the church affairs. To my understanding Theocracy simply means those in leadership seek God before implememting any plans. They are the ones who through their understandings and spirituality, allow God's will and purpose to be carried out rather than just thier decisions and human form of governing. Therefore, Theocracy is not a true sense of "structure" by itself but rather God's will and purpose on all matters of the church. Models of structures available or are seen today are subjective or suit to the needs required in each congregations one is serving in. There is no perfect structure.
Dear Mun Chung,
Sorry for the delay in posting my comments. I still thing a theocratic form of church government is still not feasible in our times today, only because very few of our Pastors and leaders are in a position like Moses Aaron or Joshua whom you mentioned. These men of old had established a direct communication network with God.Moses even saw God face to face and God was diretly letting them know his plans and purposes unlike nowdays when many of our leaders have to learn fom trial and error and it has cost some churches heavily in the way of church splits. Therefore I still feel the church is not ready for theocracy as there are too many imperfections in the world of ours and leaders are not in a position to hear directly from GOD. Just take a look at the Mighty who lay fallen amoung the Church leaders and for your info there,s going to be a mighty fall very soon and its a church leader who thought he had a vision from God and started to build the tower of Babel but confusion is setting in everywhere.
Mun Chung, I agreed with you that the rightful church governance is theocracy, but how to practice it? What form does it take in practice? Can it be actually be instituted?
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