Acts 15:11 Now the apostles and elders came together to consider this matter.
It may have been a heated discussion, but the mere fact that it is a discussion sheds light on the structure of the early church.
Also in Acts we are given another example of how leadership was determined locally.
Acts 20:28 Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers...
It is the fruits of the Spirit that reveal the qualities of leadership, not a monobishophoric hierarchy.
No, wmfights, which part here don't you understand? It doesn't say everyone showed up with a bible and started to argue whose opinion is based on the "indwelling Spirit."
The Council was a gathering of apostles and elders. That spells h-i-e-r-a-r-ch-y. Okay? from the very beginning you had hierarchy and not some home-grown backwoods church with a lay minister toting the OT.
Acts 20:28 Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers...
It is the fruits of the...
Are you joking? Acts 20:28 speaks of overseers (bishops). Where do you get the "Spirit that reveal the qualities of leadership, not a monobishophoric hierarchy?" Bishops are hierarchy.
There was hierarchy in the Council of Jerusalem and ever since then. there was hierarchy from the moment Christ left the Church to his Apostles on the Pentecost. They, the Apostles, were the hierarchy and anyone they ordained was part of that hierarchy. The apostolic authority is thus preserved in the direct self-styled, self-ordained bible thumpers.
LOL. There you go again...