Church Government

This week's Bible Study looked at the life of Oliver Cromwell and Bible passages related to how churches should be run. Why link the two together? Cromwell was the first head of state in this nation to allow religious freedom, albeit to Protestants and Jews only. He was also a Congregationalist. We examined the three approaches to church government- episcopal, presbyterian and congregational, noting the pros and cons of each. We then examined the scriptures to see what they say.

We concluded that episcopus (bishop), presbuteros (elder), shepherd and steward were essentially all the same thing.