Reforming the Assemblies
Returning to the Apostolic Local Church – Jethro’s Bottom-Up Wisdom, Elder Election by the Congregation, and the Restorationalist Witness
The modern ecclesiastical landscape bears the scars of centuries of deviation from the simple, powerful pattern set forth in Scripture. Prior articles on this Substack—such as The Beast That Rome Never Fully Cast Out, The Scarlet Harlot’s Long Game, The Great Rebranding Scam, Hellenization Hold-Up, and others—have exposed the top-down hierarchies inherited from Rome, the institutional overlays of Orthodoxy (“Ortho-Inc.”), and the denominational structures that Protestantism often cloned rather than fully reformed. These critiques stand as necessary warnings against centralized power, clerical lordship, state-church alliances, and the pagan accretions that diluted the apostolic witness. Readers are encouraged to consult those pieces for the full historical and theological indictment. Here, however, the focus narrows to the positive vision: a return to autonomous local assemblies governed from the bottom up under Christ alone, with elders elected by the gathered congregation according to the counsel of Jethro and the clear pattern of the New Testament. This is not novelty or rebellion; it is restoration to the ancient order, attested by Scripture and echoed—often at great cost—by faithful witnesses across the ages.
The Biblical Foundation: Jethro’s Counsel and the Apostolic Pattern
The principle of decentralized, accountable leadership finds its earliest clear expression in the counsel of Jethro to Moses. In Exodus 18, Moses sat alone from morning until evening judging the disputes of the people, leading to exhaustion for himself and frustration for the congregation. Jethro, observing this, offered divinely affirmed wisdom:
“Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens: And let them judge the people at all seasons: and it shall be, that every great matter they shall bring unto thee, but every small matter they shall judge themselves: so shall it be easier for thyself, and they shall bear the burden with thee. If thou shalt do this thing, and God command thee so, then thou shalt be able to endure, and all this people also shall go to their place in peace.” (Exodus 18:21-23, KJV)
Moses heeded the advice, selecting qualified leaders “out of all the people”—not imposed from above by a distant authority, but drawn from among the Israelites themselves. These rulers handled routine matters locally, escalating only the most difficult cases. The qualifications were practical and moral: able, God-fearing, truthful, and incorruptible. God endorsed the structure, and the people experienced relief and order. This Old Testament model typifies the New Testament reality: leadership emerges from the congregation, serves the congregation, and remains accountable within manageable local units under the ultimate Headship of Christ.
In the apostolic church, this bottom-up dynamic finds full expression. The early assemblies knew nothing of diocesan bishops wielding coercive power over multiple congregations, synods exercising jurisdiction beyond advisory counsel, or external hierarchies dictating officers. Each local body was an autonomous expression of the body of Christ, a “temple of the Holy Ghost” (1 Corinthians 3:16) where the priesthood of all believers (1 Peter 2:9; Revelation 1:6) functioned under the direct lordship of Jesus (Ephesians 1:22-23; Colossians 1:18).
Consider the selection of deacons in Acts 6. The apostles, facing complaints about the daily distribution, instructed the multitude: “Look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business” (Acts 6:3). The whole company chose the seven, and the apostles prayed and laid hands on them. The initiative and selection belonged to the congregation; the apostles confirmed what the people had discerned. This pattern repeats with elders. Paul and Barnabas “ordained them elders in every church” (Acts 14:23), and Titus was charged to “ordain elders in every city” (Titus 1:5). The language and context indicate recognition and setting apart of men already qualified and known within the local assembly—not appointment by a distant apostle or prelate in isolation from the people.
The qualifications for elders, detailed in 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:5-9, further underscore congregational involvement. Traits such as being “blameless,” “the husband of one wife,” “vigilant, sober, of good behaviour,” “apt to teach,” and “not a novice” are observable by the local saints who live alongside the candidate. The church, guided by the Spirit and the Word, recognizes those who meet the standard. No external board or bishop can impose a leader unknown or untrusted by the flock.
Discipline and major decisions likewise rest with the gathered congregation. Jesus instructed: “Tell it unto the church” (Matthew 18:17)—not a clerical court or presbytery. In Corinth, the assembly itself was to “put away from among yourselves that wicked person” (1 Corinthians 5:13), gathering “in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” with the power of the Lord present (1 Corinthians 5:4). The punishment was inflicted “of many” (2 Corinthians 2:6), indicating collective action. The church binds and looses on earth as in heaven when two or three agree in Christ’s name (Matthew 18:18-20). This is not democratic chaos but Spirit-led consensus under Scripture, where every member functions as part of the body (Ephesians 4:11-16; 1 Corinthians 12).
Elders serve as undershepherds, not lords. Peter exhorts: “Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock” (1 Peter 5:2-3). The flock belongs to God; elders are “among” them, examples rather than overlords. Plurality of elders in each local church (Acts 20:17; Philippians 1:1) guards against one-man rule while distributing care.
No hierarchy existed between churches. Jerusalem consulted with Antioch (Acts 15), but the decision was received as the mind of the Spirit and the brethren together—not a binding decree from a mother-church. Each assembly operated independently under Christ, consulting as equals when needed. This bottom-up flow prevents the concentration of power that invites abuse, whether through wealth, political alliance, or clerical ambition. It restores mutual edification, where “every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation” for the profit of all (1 Corinthians 14:26), all done decently and in order.
The apostolic pattern, rooted in Jethro’s decentralized wisdom, stands as a rebuke to every top-down system—whether Roman pontifical monarchy, Orthodox patriarchal structures, or Protestant presbyterian or episcopal overlays that mimic the very hierarchies the Reformers sometimes failed to fully shed. It empowers the saints, guards against tyranny, and keeps Christ as the sole Head.
Historical Proofs in the Primitive Church
The earliest post-apostolic writings confirm this local, congregational reality before Constantine’s fusion of church and state introduced imperial hierarchies. The Didache (c. 100 AD) instructs: “Appoint for yourselves bishops and deacons worthy of the Lord.” The initiative lies with the local believers. Ignatius of Antioch (c. 110 AD), while emphasizing order, addressed churches with plural elders and deacons functioning locally, without a monarchical bishop dominating multiple assemblies in the later sense. These traces reveal a network of autonomous congregations, each recognizing its own gifted servants, before ambition and state patronage centralized authority. The shift toward episcopacy and clericalism accelerated with imperial favor, precisely the top-down corruption that later restorers sought to undo. The primitive model persisted in pockets, testifying that the apostolic pattern was never entirely lost—only obscured by human inventions.
The Restorationalist and Primitive Protestant Voices: They Saw It and Paid for It
Throughout history, courageous believers called the church back to this biblical order. They were not innovators inventing new structures but restorers recovering the ancient ways of Acts. Their witness forms a cloud of faithful voices, often sealed with suffering at the hands of prelates and princes who feared congregations bold enough to elect their own elders and govern themselves under Scripture alone.
Pre-Reformation Witnesses: Lollards and Wycliffe’s Vision
John Wycliffe (c. 1320s–1384), the “Morning Star of the Reformation,” struck at the root in works like De Ecclesia. He taught that the true church consists of the predestinate—those living in conformity to Christ—rather than an institutional hierarchy. Authority resides in the Word, accessible to all believers, not in a corrupt priesthood or papal claims. The Lollards who carried his message forward rejected clerical lordship, affirmed the priesthood of all believers, and insisted that local assemblies of the godly should order their own affairs according to Scripture. They faced burning and persecution because their vision threatened the top-down machinery that profited from ignorance and control. As one Lollard tract put it, the church is where faithful people gather in Christ’s name, not a building or hierarchy imposed from Rome. Their blood cried out for a return to simplicity and congregational accountability.
Balthasar Hubmaier and the Early Anabaptists
Balthasar Hubmaier (1480–1528), a learned theologian turned Anabaptist, articulated a believers’ church in On the Christian Baptism of Believers (1525). He insisted that only those who confess faith personally should enter the covenant community, and that such a church exercises the keys of the kingdom collectively. Hubmaier wrote that “every Christian believes and is baptized for himself; every one should see and judge by Scripture whether he is being rightly fed and watered by his shepherd.” The congregation discerns and holds its leaders accountable. In Waldshut, he championed local liberties against imposed clergy. For refusing state-church uniformity and insisting on congregational consent, Hubmaier was tortured and burned at the stake in Vienna on March 10, 1528. His executioners—defenders of the very hierarchical systems he opposed—feared a church where the flock chooses its undershepherds rather than receiving them from magistrates or bishops. Conrad Grebel and the Swiss Brethren echoed this in their 1524 letter to Thomas Müntzer, rejecting violence and state compulsion while calling for separation into voluntary assemblies ordered by the Word and mutual discipline. They too suffered banishment, drowning, and martyrdom for daring to restore the gathered church of believers.
Robert Browne and the Birth of Congregationalism
Robert Browne (c. 1550–1633), often called the father of Congregationalism, refused to “tarry for any” magistrate or bishop in A Treatise of Reformation without Tarrying for Any (1582). He declared that a true church is “a company or number of Christians or believers which by a willing covenant made with their God are under the government of God and Christ, and keep His laws in one holy communion.” Officers—pastor, teacher, elders, deacons—are chosen by the congregation itself through covenant and consent. No waiting for top-down approval; immediate obedience to the apostolic pattern was required. Browne taught that reformation begins locally with gathered saints covenanting together and electing their leaders. For this he endured exile, imprisonment, and relentless opposition from the established church, which preferred enforced uniformity to free congregations under Christ. His call pierced the darkness: the people must act now, without tarrying for princes or prelates.
Henry Barrow and the Separatist Witness
Henry Barrow (c. 1550–1593) provided one of the clearest early descriptions in A True Description out of the Word of God, of the Visible Church (1589). He wrote: “The true planted and rightly established Church of Christ is a company of faithful people—separated from the unbelievers… gathered in the name of Christ… joined together as members of one body, ordered and governed by such officers and laws as Christ… hath thereunto ordained.” Crucially: “There must be sheep before there be a flock, a flock before there be a shepherd… the people must choose the pastor.” Ministers are “first duly proved… Next he is chosen and ordained with prayer and fasting in and by the congregation.” Barrow rejected both episcopal tyranny and any presbyterian overlay that removed final authority from the local body. Every particular congregation possesses the full power of Christ to elect officers, administer discipline, and govern itself. For these truths he languished in foul prisons for years, denied basic comforts, and was finally hanged at Tyburn on April 6, 1593. His writings, smuggled out during visits, fueled the Pilgrim Fathers and the broader Congregational movement. The persecutors—monarchs and prelates wedded to state-church control—could not tolerate assemblies that elected their own elders and answered to Christ alone.
Internal Protestant Tensions: Rutherford, Owen, and Beyond
Even within broader Protestantism, echoes persisted. Samuel Rutherford in Due Right of Presbyteries (1644) wrestled with congregational power, acknowledging the local church’s role while defending a more connectional system. John Owen, in The True Nature of a Gospel Church (1689), affirmed independent local churches with elders chosen by the congregation, emphasizing the voluntary, covenantal nature of gospel assemblies. Alexander Campbell, in The Christian System (1839), called for restoration of the ancient order: no denominations, local elders serving autonomous congregations according to the New Testament pattern. J.B. Rotherham’s Emphasized Bible (1902) and Watchman Nee in The Normal Christian Church Life (1939) echoed the call for simple, local, Spirit-led assemblies free from clerical or denominational overlays.
These voices—Lollards, Anabaptists, Separatists, Independents, and restorationalists—agreed on the core: the church is local, gathered by consent, governed bottom-up with elders elected by the saints, and fiercely independent under Christ. They suffered because their vision threatened entrenched powers. Prelates and monarchs preferred chains and gallows to the danger of congregations bold enough to read Scripture, choose their own leaders, and practice discipline without permission from above. How fearful must a system be when it burns men for teaching that the flock should elect its own shepherds?
Secondary studies confirm the pattern. Works like Anne Hudson’s The Premature Reformation on Lollard texts, Euan Cameron on the Waldenses, Malcolm Lambert on medieval heresy, John Coffey on Rutherford, and Richard T. Hughes on the Churches of Christ restoration movement all document this recurring desire for primitive, congregational order—often met with persecution. Chained research through bibliographies leads to the same dead-end conclusion: the Apostolic model was repeatedly recovered, repeatedly suppressed, yet never extinguished.
Why This Matters Now: A Call to Reformation Without Tarrying
The hour is urgent. Previous articles have laid bare the failures of top-down systems—whether branded as Roman, Orthodox, or Protestant clones. Now is the time to build. Form or reform assemblies on the apostolic pattern: covenant together as believers, choose able, God-fearing elders from among yourselves after the manner of Jethro and Acts 6, practice mutual discipline and edification under Scripture alone, and refuse to wait for hierarchical approval. Reference Branded for the Book and Restorationism Receipts for deeper receipts on the first-century house-church reality.
The same Spirit who empowered the apostles, stirred Wycliffe and the Lollards, moved Hubmaier and Grebel, fired Browne and Barrow, and raised up Owen, Campbell, and Nee is alive today. He equips the saints for the work of ministry. Let local assemblies rise again—autonomous, elder-led by congregational consent, Christ-ruled, and free from the machinery that has so often quenched the Spirit.
May the Lord grant courage to obey Scripture rather than tradition, to restore rather than rebrand, and to honor the blood of the faithful who went before us. Reformation without tarrying—for the glory of God and the purity of His church. The pattern is clear. The witnesses have spoken. The choice remains: tarry for the prelates, or obey the Head.
Bibliography
The Holy Scriptures, cited throughout according to the King James Version unless otherwise indicated, form the foundational primary source for this study of apostolic church order and restorationist witness. Early patristic and medieval texts provide essential context for the primitive pattern before the rise of top-down hierarchies. Among these stand the Didache (c. 100 AD), which instructs local assemblies to appoint their own bishops and deacons, and the letters of Ignatius of Antioch (c. 110 AD), which address plural elders serving autonomous congregations under Christ. John Wycliffe’s Tractatus de Ecclesia (late fourteenth century), edited by Johann Loserth for the Wyclif Society and published by Trübner in London in 1886, articulates the true church as the company of the predestinate rather than an institutional hierarchy. Jan Hus’s De Ecclesia (1413), translated with notes and introduction by David S. Schaff and issued by Charles Scribner’s Sons in New York in 1915, likewise insists that Christ alone is head of the gathered faithful. Conrad Grebel’s Letter to Thomas Müntzer (1524) and his collected correspondence underscore the call for voluntary, believers-only assemblies governed by Scripture and mutual consent.
Balthasar Hubmaier’s On the Christian Baptism of Believers (1525) appears in the definitive modern edition Balthasar Hubmaier: Theologian of Anabaptism, translated and edited by H. Wayne Pipkin and John H. Yoder and published by Herald Press in Scottdale, Pennsylvania, in 1989. Robert Browne’s A Treatise of Reformation without Tarrying for Anie (1582) is preserved in the original Middleburg printing and in the 1903 Old South Association reprint issued in Boston. Henry Barrow’s A True Description out of the Word of God, of the Visible Church (1589) was printed in Amsterdam and is available in the University of Michigan Early English Books Online edition. Samuel Rutherford’s Due Right of Presbyteries (1644) was published in London by E. Griffin for Richard Whittaker and Andrew Crook. John Owen’s The True Nature of a Gospel Church and Its Government (1689) appeared in London from the press of William Marshall. Alexander Campbell’s The Christian System (1839), in its second edition, was issued in Pittsburgh by Forrester and Campbell. J. B. Rotherham’s The Emphasized Bible (1902) was published in four volumes by H. R. Allenson in London, drawing on the Masoretic and critical texts of Ginsburg and Westcott-Hort. Watchman Nee’s The Normal Christian Church Life (originally 1939 in Chinese; English edition 1980) was released by Living Stream Ministry in Anaheim, California.
Secondary scholarship consulted includes John Coffey’s Politics, Religion and the British Revolutions: The Mind of Samuel Rutherford, published by Cambridge University Press in 1997. Richard T. Hughes’s Reviving the Ancient Faith: The Story of Churches of Christ in America appeared from Eerdmans in Grand Rapids in 1996. Euan Cameron’s The Waldenses: Rejections of Holy Church in Medieval Europe was issued by Blackwell in Oxford in 2000. Malcolm Lambert’s Medieval Heresy: Popular Movements from the Gregorian Reform to the Reformation, third edition, came from Blackwell in 2002. Anne Hudson’s The Premature Reformation: Wycliffite Texts and Lollard History was published by Clarendon Press in Oxford in 1988. Champlin Burrage’s The Early English Dissenters in the Light of Recent Research (1550–1641) appeared in two volumes from Cambridge University Press in 1912. Geoffrey F. Nuttall’s Visible Saints: The Congregational Way, 1640–1660 was released by Basil Blackwell in Oxford in 1957. Francis Johnson’s A Christian Plea and John Robinson’s A Just and Necessary Apology, along with William Ames’s The Marrow of Theology, are drawn from standard seventeenth-century editions preserved in Early English Books Online and the Post-Reformation Digital Library. John Greenwood’s A Collection of Certain Letters and Conferences is likewise referenced through these digital repositories of primary dissenting literature.