Tribal Power Structure and Church Government

Abstract

In planning for the form of church government which will obtain in the churches which they found, missionaries commonly think of the interpretation of Biblical precedents and the ecclesiological traditions of the churches which have sent them, and only rarely give much thought to the power structures already existing among the people who will be church members and leaders. In this article, the author points out that it would be surprising if a church organization based on a pattern other than that already operative within the tribe should succeed. It may be added (Editor's comment) that a good case can be made for the position that the New Testament churches followed in their organizational patterns, not some transcendent heavenly pattern, but the existing ones with which they were already familiar in their various cultures and societies.