gengwall

Paula,

For the first 200 years of Christianity there were no temples, no props, no liturgical calendars, no elevated priests. And the Assembly was pure; it “turned the world upside down”– without committees, without boards of oversight, without fundraisers, without advertising, without youth programs, without nurseries, and without any of the other trappings of religion.

I would disagree with this quote to a degree. The 1st century church did indeed have committees (Acts 6:1-6) and boards of oversight (1 Peter 5:1-2 amongst others; Greek presbyteros is inherently authoritative and hierarchichal)

The church has always had hierarchies in place from the very beginning with the Apostles and Paul had no problem exercising his authority when the situation called for it.

Anarchy is an inclination of the fallen human heart, essentially the selfish nature within each of us to “rule” ourselves. As much as we would like to think we could operate in a authority free system it simply is not possible. Burleson is by no means advocating that we remove all authority and hierarchies within the church. What he is suggesting is that those who function within those structures need to operate out of love and humility, not greed for power. That is the apostolic way.