Church as Family, Part 2: Who’s in Charge Here?

We’ve made the case that the Church (or Ekklesia) should not resemble a business or corporation, as it often does, but instead should function as the family she is meant to be. One way the Church tends to abandon her design as the family of God is to reduce herself to a hierarchal chain-of-command.

For clarity, a hierarchy is a system in which people are ranked one above another. A chain-of-command takes it one step further. In a chain-of-command, each position has direct authority over those immediately below them. But does Christ, the one and only Head of the Church, really prescribe a hierarchal chain-of-command for His Bride? In Matthew 23:8, 10, we read:

“But do not be called Rabbi; for One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers. … Do not be called leaders; for One is your Leader, that is, Christ” (NASB).

Jesus instructs the crowds and His disciples not to be called teachers or leaders. In His great, beautiful and limitless mind, Jesus is the only leader of the Church. Thus, all who follow Him ought to regard each other as brothers and sisters, having no distinguishing honor among them.

In the nuclear family, there is one level of hierarchy or chain of command. A family’s parents have authority in the home while the children regard each other equally as siblings. Though parents may sometimes share authority with their eldest child, this authority remains limited both in scope and timeframe as it is given for a specific purpose; that is, older children do not intrinsically have more authority than younger siblings because that authority can only be given by the parent. In the same way, the Ekklesia should function as a family composed of God’s sons and daughters who treat each other with equal respect, value, and honor. There is no biblical warrant for a chain-of-command in the Ekklesia, so may we abandon it.