Community Congregations 3

The subject matter of 1 Corinthians 12 and Ephesians 4 is *spiritual gifts*, positions of service and responsibility, NOT positions of rank, privilege, and authority over, or upon, the brethren, but in the service for, and of, the brethren - eldership and service from within the congregation !! - there is no professional ministry, no central authority; the government of God is a relationship amongst the ministry of the brethren with Christ as High Priest directing *the* work: the autonomous, self-sufficient, loosely confederated, and flexible [not rigid, but open to new truth, new experience] community-congregations, each *a* work of God, growing in the grace and knowledge of God, each walking with Christ, working out their own salvation with fear and trembling [reverence and awe] !! - a plurality of elders, mature in the spirit, providing guidance in each, with a sharing of the gifts by the brethren amongst the congregations, a *reciprocal relationship* of freely sharing all that God has freely shared with them, for the edification and growth of the Body of Christ - in *brethren assemblies* there is NO imposed distinction between clergy and laity !!