This painting, The Tower of Babel, is by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, drawn from the story in Genesis 11 concerning human language. Photo credit: Google Art Project, Wikimedia Commons.

the church and organization

Messages and Essays on the Church and Organization

Would Jesus be for Organized Religion?

Christian Ethics of Organization: The Church, Organizations, and Organizational Authority A long essay exploring authority in the church, and Christian ethics for any and all organizations

Church Structure and Mission: Organizational Diversity, Relational Unity A presentation exploring how Catholic orders and Protestant parachurches relate to parishes and local churches

A Defense of Parachurch Organization A presentation exploring the history of the parachurch organizational structure, compared with Roman Catholic orders

Why Are We Three Fellowships at Harvard? A presentation given when I served with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship in campus ministry; see also Why Do We Do Ethnic-Specific Ministry, a vimeo by James Choung

An Evaluation of the 'Five-Fold Ministry' (Eph.4:11) and 'the Charismatic Restoration' A paper evaluating the claims of some in the "house church" movement to be restoring the "five fold ministry" of Ephesians 4:11

Women in Church Leadership A compilation of essays, presentations, and resources arguing that women shared all levels of church leadership with men in the earliest stage of the church. The church likely shifted to having all male leadership because of the Roman legal and social tradition of disempowering women in law and the public sphere.

Helpful Resources on the Organization of the Earliest Churches

Helpful Resources on the Division from the Council of Ephesus 431 AD: The Church of the East

Helpful Resources on the Division from the Council of Chalcedon 451 AD: The Oriental Orthodox

Helpful Resources on the Division of Catholic West and Orthodox East

Helpful Resources on Protestant Organization