The elders should not lord it over the believers. Instead, they should be patterns, examples, taking the lead to love the Lord, to seek after the truth, to grow in life, and to serve in the church (Matt. 20:25-28; 1 Pet. 5:1-3). They should not think that as elders they are rulers over the believers. This kind of concept is wrong. In Matthew 23:8-12 the Lord Jesus told us that all the believers are on the same level. We all are brothers, including the elders. Among us there should be no lord except one Lord. We only have one Lord and we only have one Leader. This unique Leader, the Lord Jesus, is our Guide, our Instructor, and our Director. The elders are not lords governing the believers; all the elders are still only brothers. They should set themselves up as a pattern, as an example, to take the lead in loving the Lord, in seeking after the truth, in growing in life, in preaching the gospel, and in serving in the churches. This is the right way.
The ground of locality is the outward expression of oneness (1 Cor. 1:12-13). As we all are meeting in Seoul, the city of Seoul is our ground. But this is merely the outward oneness. The inward reality of oneness is the Spirit (Eph. 4:4). We must have the Spirit moving in us, living in us, and working through us. Outwardly we have the ground of locality to keep the oneness; inwardly we live by the Spirit for the oneness of the Body. If we have only the ground of locality without the Spirit, we merely have something outward with no inward reality. We need to have both the outward ground of locality and the inward reality of the Spirit.
In the local churches there are only prophets and teachers (Acts 13:1); there are no apostles and no evangelists (cf. Acts 14:4, 14; 21:8). All the believers should be gospel preachers, but some members in the Body do have a particular gift to preach the gospel. These are called the evangelists. The apostles and the evangelists are universal and are for all the churches. But the prophets and the teachers are local. Therefore, in 1 Corinthians 14, a chapter concerning the local meetings of the church, the prophets and teachers are mentioned (vv. 26, 29) but the apostles and evangelists are not. The apostles and evangelists are universal. They travel from city to city preaching the gospel to establish the churches.
In this chapter I have presented a brief outline concerning the proper church and the proper practice of the church life. As Christians, we all should be in such a proper church, and we should participate in such a proper practice of the church life.