The proper government of the church is the outworking of the inner life within the believers. However, since there is a lack of life among the Lord’s children, it is very difficult for the proper government in the church to exist. Without life, the government of the church becomes a matter of organization. The human body is a composition of bones and tissue, and a table is a composition of a variety of parts. The difference between these two is that the human body has life and a table does not. Since a table has no life, it is a composition based solely on organization. However, since the human body has life, the bones and tissues in the body form not an organization but an organism, a composition of life. If the church does not have enough life, the government of the church will become solely a matter of organization. Someone may be able to set up a very good system for governing the church, and this system may even seem to be very scriptural. However, if the church does not have the adequate amount of life, this system will still be only an organization. A living body and a corpse are the same in terms of their parts; both have ears, a nose, bones, and legs. The difference between them is that a living body has life and a corpse does not. The proper government of the church is not a government based on organization but a government based on life.
Some may think that the government of the church is primarily a matter of power. This is not the case. Genuine church government depends eighty percent on life and only twenty percent on power. We can liken this to the government within a family. Every family must have some form of government. If a family has no government, that family will be a mess. The first thing needed for the government of a family is that the family members have life and that their life be proper and healthy. If all the members of a family were insane, they would not be able to have a proper family government. This would also be true if all the members of a family were underage. If both the children and the parents lacked the maturity in life, it would be impossible for them to have a proper family government. This demonstrates that life, that is, a proper and healthy life, is the primary necessity for government.
Once we have life, we need some power for the proper governing of the church. In order to govern, we need governing power, governing knowledge, and serving ability. I have observed that in some families in the West, the parents serve the food to their children during their meals. If you can serve well, you will be able to govern well. Without serving, you cannot rule. If you are to govern a church, you must serve it well. In fact, the only way to govern is by serving (Matt. 20:25-28). If you do not serve the saints, you will not be able to govern them well.
Thus, with both a family and the church, a sound government depends eighty percent on life and twenty percent on governing power, governing knowledge, and serving ability. If there are some in a local church who have the maturity in life, that church will have a good government. If all the members of a family are healthy and proper in terms of life, that family will have a proper government. In addition to having life, the family also needs a little governing power and serving ability. If a family or a local church has both life and power, the government of that family or church will be wonderful.
For a proper government to be established in a local church, the primary need of the saints in that locality is life. Thus, when we were in China and were visiting a locality, the first matter we dealt with was the matter of life. In many places we did not touch the matter of church government for as long as two to three years because the saints in those places were spiritually too young. Because they were childish, it was not possible for us to set up a government among them. If we try to set up a government among the saints when they are too young, all we will be able to do is to organize them. However, if we allow the saints to mature in life, after they have matured to a certain extent, they will develop into an organism. We will need to do only a small amount of appointing and arranging, and a government will arise among them out from their growth in life. Then we will be able to help them realize the governing power and the serving ability. The result will be a very proper government established in that local church. Thus, if we desire to have a sound government in a strong local church, we should stress the matter of the growth in life.
The New Testament confirms that the government of the church depends upon the growth in life. In the book of Acts very little is mentioned concerning church government because Acts deals only with the beginning of the church, when the saints were still young in the growth in life. In the Epistles from Romans to Revelation much more is mentioned concerning the government of the church. If we read these twenty-two books carefully, we will see that the government of the church is the outworking of the growth in life. For example, in Romans 8 Paul speaks concerning life. Those who experience this chapter have begun to mature in life and be conformed to the image of the firstborn Son of God (v. 29). Thus, after a parenthetical word in Romans 9 through 11, Paul begins to speak concerning the Body of Christ and the government of the church in Romans 12 through 16. In 1 Corinthians Paul deals with this matter further, revealing that there was something wrong with the government of the church in Corinth and indicating that this was due to a shortage of life (3:1-4). This is why in the first two chapters of this book the apostle tells the church in Corinth that they need the real experience of Christ as power and as wisdom (1:24). In these two chapters power refers to the power of life. The crucified and resurrected Christ as life is the power of the resurrection life and is wisdom to us. If we desire to have a strong local church with a sound government, we must experience the crucified and resurrected Christ. This is why Paul told the Corinthians that he had determined not to know anything but Christ and Him crucified (2:2). The Corinthians had power and gifts, but they did not have the proper government or a proper church, because they lacked the experience of Christ.
The government of the church always goes together with the divine life. Apart from the divine life and the growth in this life, all we have is organization. We need life, and we need growth. Consider the example of the human body. When a child is only two months old, the members of his body are not sufficiently developed to function. Even when a child is two years old, his members are still not fully able to function. We cannot send a baby to school to attend the first grade. A baby can see and hear, but he is not mature enough to attend first grade. He must first grow and mature. If we could cause a baby to instantly become five years old, twenty-one years old, or fifty years old, it would be a miracle, but there are no such miracles related to the matter of life. In order to become twenty-one years old, a person must live for twenty-one years. For twenty-one years he must eat three meals a day and get a sufficient amount of sleep every night. With regard to life, there are no miracles; there are only principles. Not even modern science can cause people to mature more quickly. Since I have experienced and witnessed miracles, I believe in miracles. However, when it comes to the matter of life, there are no miracles. Time is required for the saints to grow in life. Thus, we need to help the Lord’s children live, grow, and go on in a gradual way.
When it comes to the government of the church, nothing is more important than the growth in life. If the saints in a locality have the adequate growth in life, it will be easy for them to have the proper church government. If there is the growth in life among us, then spontaneously some brothers will begin to function in a certain way, and all the rest of the saints will recognize that these brothers are the elders. This is the way that a family governs itself. If all the members of a family gradually grow in life and are healthy, that family will spontaneously have a family government. Recently, I observed the behavior of the children of a brother in whose home I was staying. I noticed that the oldest child took care of the younger children. When I saw him doing this, I knew that he was the oldest child. He was the “elder” among the children in that family. There was no need for the children to come together and vote to determine who was the elder among them. All the younger children automatically recognized that the oldest child was the elder among them. It was quite clear to them. It is the growth in life that makes this clear.
This principle applies to the deacons as well as to the elders in the church. Based upon their growth in life, some of the brothers and sisters will automatically rise up to serve the saints. Out of their love for the Lord, the church, and the saints, they will simply begin to serve. The Greek word for deacon means “a serving one.” Thus, those who spontaneously begin to serve others based upon their growth in life are the real serving ones, the real deacons. When they begin to serve in this way, others will recognize that they are the deacons.
This principle also applies to all the ministries in the church. Perhaps one member of a family develops into a good cook, and another member of the family develops into a good sewer. Since these are their gifts, they will spontaneously take care of the cooking and the sewing in the family. This is also the case with the different ministries in the church. There is very little need for spending human effort to make arrangements. This is not to say that there is absolutely no need for any arranging but rather that this need is small. Similar to what takes place in a family, there is the need for only a small amount of arranging based upon what has already been expressed through the growth in life. We can do a little arranging based upon what has already been spontaneously expressed, but everything must be the outworking of the growth in life.
The Lord’s way is the way of life and the growth in life. Thus, if we take this way, the Lord will honor it. This is truly wonderful, for when the Lord honors something, He blesses it. If, however, we take our own way, we will lose the Lord’s presence, and there will be no blessing. When the Lord does not honor the way that we take, we are forced to do everything with our own human effort. Christianity has complicated the matter of the government of the church. In the denominations the government of the church is based almost entirely on organization. However, if we follow the Lord’s way revealed in the Bible—the way of life—everything will be very simple, and we will receive the Lord’s blessing.