Church leadership, or hierarchy

I'm curious to know what your understanding is of the hierarchy of an individual church group. We can leave out the fact that Jesus is the head of the church... that's understood. I'm talking about the day to day operation and oversight of a church assembly.
Who is in charge? Who "runs it" ... Who makes decisions, especially monetary ones? What about spiritual decisions?

Please explain your thoughts, preferably with scriptural examples for reference..

I can say at my church, a small country church, that it's pretty simple. We have a pastor, of course, we vote him in. We vote in deacons. Anything done by the church in regards to money is voted on by church members. Our small church is very generous and give to many different ministries. If there is anything to be changed, members vote on it. If we had an issue with the pastor we could take a vote of confidence. I guess the buck would have to stop at the pastor, but he's not one to act like he's the sole authority. Very informal in services, people ask questions or add to something he's said. But there are a lot of older folk who knew him in his youth, even though he's in his 60s. So they think a lot of him.

My mother took a bad fall several yrs ago and he rushed to the hospital to meet us there. He sat with her while my father and I had to get another vehicle to get her home. He was telling the nurse to be careful with her and he was so involved she assumed he was her husband. My parents have had health issues and can't make it to church and he visits them as often he can. I think the runs the church according to the Biblical standard.

In a marriage, the husband is the head of the wife. He is to give his life for her.
In a house (marriage w children), the children are to obey the parents.
In a household (many marriages due to children growing up) the elder parents who lead admirably in the Lord receive honor from the young.

When apostles establish elders, those elders rule over the affairs of the local church. At times, deacons are needed to attend to the issues that arise when believers come together.

Ideally, the natural rule within a family supports the spiritual rule among the believers: where there is a 1 to 1 correlation between those who rule their family well naturally and those who rule spiritually. However, because that isn’t so often the case, it is important that believers are connected with elders. For example, there is no Biblical basis for “Youth Pastors”. Parents, mothers and fathers, are charged with the spiritual upbringing of their own children. When that is not available (perhaps a child’s parents are not believers) then an elder will take on the responsibility of raising the young one in the Lord.

Locally, the elders bear the responsibility of the spiritual care of believers. An elder may be an apostle, but he will not travel to another area where there are believers without the consent of the elders there (assuming all is in order). Also, Elders might rule over several congregations in different areas.
All elders are pastors/shepherds but not all shepherds are elders. That means a shepherd may display the care for the people (the primary function of a pastor) but he will not have authority over them, unlike an elder who may command them. Pastors are also not always teachers.

Any ruling stricture within the church that does not resemble a multi-generational family (for example: if leaders/pastors are chosen based upon their education, or chosen from without the congregation, or where “father” is a title, or where “pastors” are transitional, or where there are pastors of functions and not people, or where leaders are chosen by democratic votes, etc.) is not Biblical.

In a marriage, the husband is the head of the wife. He is to give his life for her.
In a house (marriage w children), the children are to obey the parents.
In a household (many marriages due to children growing up) the elder parents who lead admirably in the Lord receive honor from the young.

When apostles establish elders, those elders rule over the affairs of the local church. At times, deacons are needed to attend to the issues that arise when believers come together.

Ideally, the natural rule within a family supports the spiritual rule among the believers: where there is a 1 to 1 correlation between those who rule their family well naturally and those who rule spiritually. However, because that isn’t so often the case, it is important that believers are connected with elders. For example, there is no Biblical basis for “Youth Pastors”. Parents, mothers and fathers, are charged with the spiritual upbringing of their own children. When that is not available (perhaps a child’s parents are not believers) then an elder will take on the responsibility of raising the young one in the Lord.

Locally, the elders bear the responsibility of the spiritual care of believers. An elder may be an apostle, but he will not travel to another area where there are believers without the consent of the elders there (assuming all is in order). Also, Elders might rule over several congregations in different areas.
All elders are pastors/shepherds but not all shepherds are elders. That means a shepherd may display the care for the people (the primary function of a pastor) but he will not have authority over them, unlike an elder who may command them. Pastors are also not always teachers.

Any ruling stricture within the church that does not resemble a multi-generational family (for example: if leaders/pastors are chosen based upon their education, or chosen from without the congregation, or where “father” is a title, or where “pastors” are transitional, or where there are pastors of functions and not people, or where leaders are chosen by democratic votes, etc.) is not Biblical.

I'm curious to know what your understanding is of the hierarchy of an individual church group. We can leave out the fact that Jesus is the head of the church... that's understood. I'm talking about the day to day operation and oversight of a church assembly.
Who is in charge? Who "runs it" ... Who makes decisions, especially monetary ones? What about spiritual decisions?

Please explain your thoughts, preferably with scriptural examples for reference..

I'm curious to know what your understanding is of the hierarchy of an individual church group.

So am I correct in inferring that the pastor is basically the "leader" of the church? And that you have deacons, but not elders?

It depends upon the denomination of the church.

Methodists have a centralized leadership. The pastor is placed by a bishop....same as a Catholic Church.

Some, like the Baptists the pastoral staff are locally sourced and placed. Voting on everything in the Congregation.

Some Baptists have switched to a board of elders that control the church....the pastor is a public face....a "personality" with no real power except from the pulpit.
There is no set standard

I'm curious to know what your understanding is of the hierarchy of an individual church group. We can leave out the fact that Jesus is the head of the church... that's understood. I'm talking about the day to day operation and oversight of a church assembly.
Who is in charge? Who "runs it" ... Who makes decisions, especially monetary ones? What about spiritual decisions?

Please explain your thoughts, preferably with scriptural examples for reference..

What are the qualifications of "apostles" ? I've seen scriptures that give qualifications for elders (bishop/shepherd/pastor) but not for apostles.... Much of what you describe seems very similar to what I've experienced.

...although it seems that in some instances, elders were over more than one church in a city...

Well, that was sort of my question..... IS there a standard set in the 1st century church?
There are many questions that could be asked about "is is scriptural"....
I'm mostly curious as to what people on here are accustomed to....

I believe that, scripturally, the church is under the spiritual leadership of elders... and there are specific qualifications/requirements for elders. It appears that this role for men was also called overseer, bishop, shepherd...

Also, in the early church, deacons (workers) were appointed to take care of day to day "secular" issues.

That's pretty much it... some churches had "preachers" that stayed local, some were more itinerant, going from church to church, spending time in different locations.

There was no central, governing body over all the churches.... although it seems that in some instances, elders were over more than one church in a city... I will have to research that some more....

It seems that in the independent, non-denominational, AOG style of churches, they are founded by a "pastor", basically a preacher, and he is the head over the whole shebang.... collecting and dispensing the collections however he/she desires, and making most, if not all decisions as to the running of the church.

I do not think that is scripturally sound....

Generally speaking, most AOG churches operate the way you describe until they reach a certain size and then some sort of an equivalent of a "Board of Directors" is installed. (Given whatever name that is popular) However....usually the original board is nothing more than a rubber stamp for the pastor's wishes. Sometimes it's the Pastor's own children and spouse that comprise the majority seats. (Joyce Meyers)

I had some dealings with a lot of shenanigans inside of AOG churches until I left completely never to return. For whatever reason they simply don't want any transparency for their actions. And it doesn't take long to find something in the administration of an AOG church to find something that smells fishy.

Titus was told to appoint elders "in every city". So in each city there would have been a local assembly, and from within that assembly men meeting the qualifications of elders would have been appointed. But limited to their own church.

Every NT church was autonomous, with Christ directly as the Head, and the elders as "under-shepherds" under Him. Unfortunately, the NT pattern began to be abandoned rather early (2nd century), and today the majority of churches fail in this regard. Which is quite strange since it is all clearly laid out. The Catholic practice of seminaries was maintained by the Protestants, then by the non-Protestants, and that generally led to a totally different kind of church leadership opposed to the NT. Hardly anyone dares or cares to go back to what is in Scripture.

in our fellowship, we have overseers, which are the elders, and the Pastor is the shepherd.

Pastor is also a teacher. a gift to the body of Christ to help perfect the saints 1cor 12. Eph 4:11-12

Who is in charge? Who "runs it" ... Who makes decisions, especially monetary ones? What about spiritual decisions?