James the Apostle

Chairman of the Elders/Apostles

Church of Jesus Christ

Jerusalem, Israel

Dear Brother James,

We have felt the Holy Spirit’s leading to start a new fellowship group of disciples.  We believe the Spirit of Jesus is actually raising up this group.  We have been meeting for several weeks now and have many questions which we would like for you as the brother of Jesus, or the elders, to address if you have time to do so. 

We live in a society that has many ways of doing church and they are patterned after so many different models and traditions.  The big thing around here is “form should follow function” and we wondered how you feel about that philosophy? We are confused and need clarification as we try to be pleasing to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Our questions at least include the following:

1. What is a church?  A congregation?  A fellowship?
2. Why is that we should meet together?
3. How should we be organized?  What type of government should we use?
4. What leadership structure, if any, do you want us to adopt? 
5. What are the basic offices of the church from your point of view?
6. Should we have deacons or elders or neither or both?
7. By the way, what is an elder?
8. How should we go about identifying leaders and leadership?
9. What do you think about having paid clergy in addition to elders?
10. What selection criteria should we use in identifying leadership?
11. Who should do the selecting?
12. Should we have a church board of some kind?
13. Do we really need leaders if we just pull together and follow the Holy Spirit?
14. What role should the congregation have in governance?
15. Does it matter where we meet?  In small or large groups? 
16. How should we conduct our meeting time and conduct?
17. How should we style our worship?
18. How often should we meet?  Weekly?  Many times a week?
19. Should we build a temple, synagogue, palace, basilica,  banquet hall or what?  How about houses of members?
20. Should we have membership and membership requirements in this congregation?
21. Do you think we should be affiliated with other churches, formally or informally?
22. What do you think about democracy as a way of accomplishing church decisions and leadership selection?  Our people are really into voting, rights, equality and political process.
23. Should everyone have a right to vote on deciding what the church does or not do?
24. Should leadership be financially compensated for their leadership activities?
25. What name would you like for us to use in describing ourselves to others.
26. What is the purpose of the Lord’s Supper?
27. How often should we eat it?
28. How should we eat it?
29. Is each church free to do whatever it wants to do?
30. Should each church just pray and follow the Holy Spirit’s leading on these and other questions?
31. Should each congregation be unique and different and try to be free of outside influence?
32. Should the church be changing depending upon its cultural background?
33. Do you have a definite agenda and clear guidelines for us to follow?
34. Should we incorporate in our U.S. state of residence?
35. Should we try to get tax-exempt status with our national government?
36. Should we be an autonomous fellowship or under authority?

Did Jesus have any directions for how His church should address these issues?  Do His apostles having any recommendations on these matters?  If our little group of disciples is being raised up by the Spirit of Jesus, we were just wondering if the Spirit of Jesus also has any preference about how we should answer these questions. 

We have heard that some apostolic-given patterns have been given other local churches in your area.  Should we follow these absolutely? Are they to be considered optional or imperative?  Should we treat these apostolic patterns as very interesting history and tradition, or should they be considered some kind of normative church practice or pattern?  We did read a copy of the Acts of the Apostles.  Is this normative or suggestive?

Maybe you could identify some apostle in our area to serve as a consultant to us as we make these plans?

I know we have  asked many questions, but we would appreciate it if you could answer even a few of them. Is there some kind of  manual or published guidelines for helping us to organize? 

Thank you for your help and I’m sure we will have more questions in the future.

In His name,