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Dave Miller wrote a piece about elders in the life of the church, and why he doesn’t consider it to be a big issue one way or the other. Within the thread comments the idea was teased out that the Bible does not mandate a particular structure for church government. Instead of structure, the focus is upon the character of the leaders and then needs and other influences helped develop unique structures from church to church (city to city).

I wholeheartedly agree that character is more important than structure. It doesn’t matter what structure a church has, if the leadership is not devoted to following Jesus, pursuing holiness, and loving others then the church is not going to be a healthy church. I also agree that God never provided a clear cut structure. There is no Constitution and By-Laws section of the Bible. There is no set order of service. There are no set rules about the number of pastors (elders) or deacons…and so forth.

The author of the link admits early on there is no and there are no ...

No authority there ...

There is basic structure in all churches, if only Pastor, Elders, ushers etd, and of course in Spirit filled churches...the Holy Spirit is welcome to change the course of worship whenever he desires...being open to a move of God.