The Five Differentistics Of The Five Models Of Church Government
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According to most scholars, there are five basic models of church governance: Presbyterian, Episcopal/Anglican, Plural-Elder models, congregational, and congregational/single-Elder. Supporters of each model claims that the progenitive source of their specific model of church governance is founded upon Scripture. After all, if the source of authority were anything but the divine Word of God, the church would be like any other secular human business, organization, or enterprise. Phil A. Newton supports this conclusion as he maintains “For evangelicals who believe in the sufficiency of Scripture for life and practice, it only makes sense to develop church polity based on God’s Word.” Therefore, any similarities or differences that can be made concerning these five different models of church government must be based on the Bible.
The Five Models of Church Government
Presbyterian
The Presbyterian model of church government is based on two terms coined and expounded upon within the New Testament epistles. The terms presbyteros and episkopos were both used by the New Testament writers to describe the leader of a church. Both terms were qualified by the apostles who described the person filling this role as one who is both a leader in the church and accountable to God for his integrity in leadership. This New Testament construct has been distilled over the years into a common form of church government. Robert L. Reymond describes the Presbyterian model as the “governance