Governing Members are Adult Communicant Members who have completed the Novitiate and have been 1) commissioned as Commissioned Governing Members or 2) ordained as Presbyters and Deacons or 3) appointed or consecrated as Abbots.
Also see Governing Roles, and Novitiate.
In Basileia, all members have governing roles that are equal in authority but different in function. Presbyters (and Presbyters who assume the additional role of Abbots) 1) guard a jurisdiction’s boundaries according to the Constitution of Basileia, particularly in relation to 2) admitting or removing members. Deacons and Commissioned Governing Members have complementary governing roles to those of Presbyters. Commissioned Governing Members and Deacons have a voice, but no canonical authority to directly or independently usurp the role of Presbyters in their exercise of their two distinct governing roles of guarding Constitution and Canonical boundaries and of admitting or removing members. Furthermore, all baptized members are able by Grace to grow in self-governance. Thus the limited governing role of Presbyters is not the total of all that is needed in Church governance, but neither is it to be usurped by other forms of Church governance, such as Basileia exercises in its Deacon Councils and Missional Councils.
Also see Deacon Councils, Government, Missional Councils, and Presbyter Councils.
The covenantal nature of mankind gives rise to both individual and collective forms of governance, which are the two modes of governing, judicial, and teaching authority. The individual governmental authority is distinct from the collective governmental authority of elders in general and of Presbyters of the Church in particular. First, individual governing authority is to be exercised by individual members and the leaders of educational, vocational, and associational structures in accord with public Trinitarian oaths administered by elders of family, Church or state. Oaths taken during a Rite of Incorporation into Basileia, for example, establish a two-way relationship of accountability between individuals and the authority of the Church first and foremost in regards to formative discipleship, not just to corrective discipline (Rom. 13:1-7; Eph. 5:21-6:9; Titus 3:1-2; 1 Pet. 2:13 - 3:7). Second, collective authority is to be exercised by elders whose primary role is to define and defend a Christian society's covenantal boundaries in the government of family, Church, and state. Again, as with individuals in general, the authority of elders is bound by public Trinitarian oaths, which are ultimately backed by the authority of the Church (Matt. 16:16-19; Eph. 5:22-33).
Also see “Governing Roles of Men and Women in Basileia,” Head, and Kingly, Priestly, and Prophetic.
Hades, not to be confused with the pagan concept of “Hell,” was the place in the Old Covenant period where all souls went upon death. It was neither a place of reward nor of punishment. It may be likened to “Death's prison” where the souls both of the just and of sinners were confined. While Christ’s body rested in the tomb on the Sabbath (the day after the Crucifixion), His soul descended into Hades. When Christ died, Death claimed His soul for Hades, but Hades received more than it expected; it received the Giver of Life who destroyed the power of Hades from the inside out. The notion of “Hell” as a place of “everlasting punishment” is not biblical, but pagan. What people generally mean today when they use the word “Hell” is something not taught in the Bible, but is in fact taught by ancient Egyptians and other paganized cultures. Hebrew Scripture speaks of Sheol and Greek Scripture speaks of Hades, Gehenna and Tartarus, none of which can be equated to what most people mean today when speaking of “Hell.” Replacing the meaning of these biblical terms with the popular but pagan concept of “Hell” heretically perverts the Gospel. Kingdomculturally speaking, Hades is not an eternal warehouse for evil, but a place whose gates shall not prevail as Jesus builds His Church (Matt. 16:18). Therefore, Basileia as a specific expression of the Church, symbolized by a logo of four gateways that shall prevail, is a kingdomcultural alternative to Hades’ gates, which shall not prevail.
Also see Gateway, Icon of the Resurrection, and Logo.
A Head is an elder who, in Basileia is a Presbyter who serves as the Head or Presiding Member of a Presbyter Council. Since Deacon Councils and Missional Councils administrate individual forms of governance instead of collective governance like Presbyter Councils, Presbyters who may serve as Presiding Members of Deacon Councils and Missional Councils are referred to as Presiding Members, not Heads, even though in other capacities in their eldership role in the Church, family or state they may exercise headship. Thus headship is a very specific kind of leadership that male Presiding Members perform in relation to formal eldership roles, such as those performed by Presbyters in relationship to Presbyter Councils. The Scriptural basis for our understanding what headship is in relation to eldership is as follows: The LXX reading, “the presbytery [gerousia] of Israel” in Exodus 3:16-18; 4:29; and 12:21, shows that elders did not function merely as a collection of individuals, but rather as a collective body that exercised collective governance in contrast to individual governance. Thus when elders exercise headship they act in a collective capacity on behalf of a collective body, not just in an individual capacity as men and women do in individual governance. Head elders therefore have a double collective governing role. They not only represent the collective people as a whole, but also the particular eldership council of which they are head. James, for example, as the head elder of the Jerusalem Council, gave voice to the Scripturally based decision of both the Jerusalem Council as a whole and of the Church as a whole (Acts 15:19). Likewise, Peter's confession in response to Jesus' question which Jesus asked all of the disciples, was a confession as a head elder of the disciples in particular and of the people of God in general (Matt. 16:15-17). Finally, we may note that Jesus' reference to the “two or three gathered together in My name,” in its immediate context means elders who represent both all the elders of a particular body of believers and “the Church” collectively (Matt. 18:17-20).
Also see Consensus Decision-Making, Elder, and “Governing Roles of Men and Women in Basileia and Head.”
The covenantal approach to governance embraces the idea of development and changing patterns of relationships as mankind in Christ moves progressively toward that city which has foundations, whose building and maker is God. Thus we may speak of the covenantalizing of all of life as the pattern for heavenizing earth. The conflict with sin, Satan, and death makes this anything but automatic or easy. Nevertheless, by means of the cross, which exhausts evil, we shall finally see in the resurrection the restoration of all things ruined by evil.
Also see Ancient-Future, Restoration, and Theosis.
Holistic unity is fourfold: 1) unity with God, 2) unity within ourselves, 3) unity with others and 4) unity with creation. The Father’s pleasure to “gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth” (Eph. 1:10) embraces these four modes of unity. The first place where this unity is manifested is in the second movement of the Liturgy in which the worshipers assemble in unity with God, themselves, others and creation. Thus the Church, as the “assembly” or “congregation,” in her various ecclesiastical functions, operates as the microcosm of holistic unity on behalf of all creation. In this sense, each jurisdiction of Basileia is a microcosm of the holistic unity that is the Father’s pleasure to manifest in the whole of heaven and earth.
Also see Jurisdictions.
Hospitality is what Basileians offer to each other and to those yet beyond the Church that creates a thin place, kingdomcultural environment where Theosis happens. In subcultural and countercultural thinking, hospitality is conditional upon believing in order to belong. Kingdomcultural hospitality extends to all a welcome to belong in order to believe. These two different forms of hospitality are rooted in two different views of the nature of evil. If evil is seen as permanent, as subcultural and countercultural thinking assumes, then hospitality is perverted into creating prisons that put some in bondage. Ironically, with subcultural hospitality, the hosts become captive in their own prisons, locking out everyone else who doesn’t believe like they do. Countercultural hospitality does just the opposite; it creates gulags to imprison those who are not welcome in the “hospitality” zones that those who control power and wealth have built for themselves. But kingdomcultural hospitality doesn’t see the world as a place where evil has the last word. Therefore since the world is not lacking in abundance, hospitality may be offered to all. As Jesus declared in parable form, “Then the master said to the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled’” (Lk. 14:23).
Also see Belong in Order to Believe, Hosts, Kingdomcultural, Theosis, and Thin Place.
Basileians are Hosts who in the practice of offering hospitality to all already within the Church and to those yet beyond the Church extend the embrace of Christ to the lost whom He has come to seek and save. This priestly lifestyle practice is related to our primary discipline of serving the Church and the world.
Also see Ambassadors, Hospitality, Serve, and Voluntary Exiles.
The Icon of the Resurrection presents Jesus destroying Hades and building His Church. He stands triumphantly upon a figure lying prone in the darkness – the personification of Death, conquered, bound and defeated. He is building His Church by raising Adam from the dead. Death is defeated and the gates of Hades have not prevailed, but are now shattered by His descent and have fallen in the form of a cross. Trampling down death by His death, Jesus leaves Hades in utter chaos, littering it with broken locks and chains. Jesus pulls the first man, Adam, from the tomb by his wrist, not by his hand, because Adam cannot help pull himself out of this prison of death. Eve, to the left of Adam, holds her hands out in supplication, waiting for Jesus to raise her too. Various kings, prophets and righteous men who immediately recognize the Risen One look on from the right. Here is pictured the restoration of Adam and of all humanity into communion with God. “To earth hast Thou come down, O Master, to save Adam: and not finding him on earth, Thou hast descended into Hades, seeking him there" (from Paschal Matin of the Orthodox Church). Christ’s descent into Hades is the utter extreme end of His kenosis that in turn makes way for our Theosis.
Also see Church Year, Hades, Kenosis and Theosis.
Individual governance, in contrast to collective governance, is governing authority exercised in an individual or private capacity by men and women created in God’s image as individuals. This is in contrast to the collective role of elders who exercise collective governance.
Also see Collective Governance, Council, and “Governing Roles of Men and Women in Basileia.”
Infant baptism is the New Covenant practice rooted in the Church’s Apostolic Rule of Faith, which carries forward and adapts the Old Covenant practice of infant circumcision. Because mankind is created in God’s image as a covenantal being with both an individual and a collective nature (Gen. 1:27), Basileia rejects the false dichotomy between individual and collective expressions of faith. Biblical faith is covenantal faith, which means that it is a faith greater and more holistic than even the sum of its individual and collective expressions. Thus, infant baptism, no less the Liturgy or the Eucharist, if these are all regarded as “collective” expressions of faith, is not a substitute for, in competition with, or a violation of “individual” expressions, professions and confessions of faith. Abraham did not respond in faith to God’s blessing (i.e., God’s gift of salvation) only as an individual, but he at the same time also placed his entire household under the covenant by means of the Old Covenant sign of circumcision (Gen. 17:23; cf. Ex. 12:43-48). Abraham’s faith response to God’s initiative was covenantal, that is, both individual and collective. Thus, Basileia positively affirms that God’s high and loving intension, as witnessed to by the Apostolic Rule of Faith, is for parents today to place their entire household, including their infant children, under the covenant by means of the New Covenant sign of baptism (Acts 10:38; 16:15; 16:30-34; 1 Cor. 1:16; also, consider Acts 18:8 together with 1 Cor. 1:14). God’s blessing is not merely a salvation limited to life in heaven after we die, but is the power of His divine life at work in and through us that makes Word flesh, resulting in us, His Church, becoming totus Christus, the dwelling of God with mankind on earth now and in the ages to come. The greater thing that infant baptism, just like adult believer baptism, brings into visible, actual, cultural form is the Church, the divinely ordained covenantal environment in which salvation in all of its individual and collective expressions is alone possible.
Also see Baptism, “The Capital C Church,” The Case for Covenantal Infant Baptism, and Rite of Incorporation.
Interpreting the Word according to the Apostolic Rule of Faith is the practice of authoritatively embodying the Word in our individual and collectives lives in such a way that when people see us they see Jesus. Basileians are Pattern-Keepers who, in our primary discipline of listening to the Word, integrate the practice of interpreting the Word according to the Apostolic Rule of Faith with following the Lectionary in rhythm with the Church Year with and observing the Constitution of Basileia.
Also see Listen, One-Source View, and Pattern-Keepers.
Journey is an element of the first of the five primary disciplines of our Basileian way of life – journey, assemble, listen, govern and serve. In parallel fashion, journey is also an element in the first movement of the Liturgy when worshipers move in procession with Christ to the Mountain of the Lord in response to the call to worship where we come before Him who is our source of authority.
Also see Primary Disciplines, and Source of Authority.
The following six general principles are basic if Basileia’s Presbyter Councils, Deacon Councils and Missional Councils are to function in a coordinated way that is ministerial and not mediatorial:
Also see Empowerment, Mediatorial Authority, and Ministerial Authority.
A jurisdiction is a collective member or expression of Basileia governed cooperatively by a Presbyter Council, a Deacon Council and a Missional Council. The word “jurisdiction” is composed of juris which means “rule” and diction which means “speaking.” Thus any jurisdiction that is kingdomcultural is one objectively ruled by the Word of God as interpreted according to the Apostolic Rule of Faith. Every Basileian jurisdiction is in a strict sense, according to how the word ecclesia is used in Scripture, a “congregation,” that is, the Church, not a department of the Church. No jurisdiction is more the Church or less the Church than any other; they are each equally the Church but in different ways. Even as Israel had different jurisdictions (i.e., families membered to clans membered to tribes membered to the nation), so the Church today in general and Basileia in particular is multi-jurisdictional. Like any nation, the Church is a nation with local to global jurisdictions that are all embedded in one another.
The six Ecclesial Jurisdictions of Basileia are 1) The Basileia Alliance, 2) Basileia Communities, 3) Fellowships, 4) Abbeys, 5) Vocational Societies and 6) Chapters. Individuals may become members of Fellowships, Abbeys and Chapters. These Basileian jurisdictions relate as follows: the Basileia Alliance is composed of Basileia Communities and Vocational Societies, a Basileia Community is composed of Fellowships united around an Abbey. Vocational Societies are composed of Chapters membered to Fellowships.
A Basileian jurisdiction is 1) composed of either individual members (as with Abbeys, Fellowships and Chapters) or only collective members (as with the Basileia Alliance, Vocational Societies and Basileia Communities) or both, (as is the case only with Fellowships) and 2) membered to a broader jurisdiction, which in turn may then be membered to a yet broader jurisdiction.
The Scriptural basis for why Basileia has multiple jurisdictions and how these jurisdictions are conceived is as follows: In Israel there were multiple eldership councils that corresponded respectively with the multiple jurisdictions within the national congregation of Israel (Josh. 7:14-18, 24). Broader jurisdictions of government typically form eldership councils out of elders who are already serving in more local jurisdictions of government. (For example, compare Ex. 18-13-27 with Deut. 1:15 and Num. 11:16.) In combination with a confessional understanding of the nature of authority, this does not give rise to mediatorial hierarchies where some lord it over others (Matt. 20:25-28; 1 Pet. 5:3). Rather it calls upon those who demonstrate a superior capacity in facilitating the judicial decision-making of a more local jurisdiction to (also) serve as elders of broader jurisdictions that must deal with complex issues that more local jurisdictions, while having the authority, do not have the capacity to resolve. This expresses the reality that the Church is a congregation of congregations.
The change in covenantal administration that came with the New Covenant era has brought about a change, not in the basic nature, but in the shape that God's ekklesia takes in the world today. In the Old Covenant era the ekklesia of God was limited to a particular geography in the land of Palestine with the national congregational gathering point located in the city of Jerusalem. But as Jesus foretold to the Samaritan woman, “The hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father” (Jn. 4:21). The writer of Hebrews says that in this New Covenant era believers have not come to the assembly at Mount Sinai as the Old Testament believers did (Heb. 12:18-21). Instead today we come to “Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angles, to the general assembly and church [ekklesia] of the first born who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel” (Heb. 12:22-24). The reference to this company of angels recalls “the day of the assembly” at Sinai when “God came from Sinai…with myriads of holy ones” (Deut. 33:2).
Just as at Sinai, so in the congregational gatherings of God’s people today, the members of the covenant community of heaven and earth meet in the presence of God who is continually surrounded by angels. When God comes into the sanctuary He comes with “tens of thousands and thousands of thousands of the chariots of God” (Ps. 68:17). Furthermore, when God’s people come together they are to remember that Christ Himself “will sing God’s praise in the midst of the ekklesia” (Heb. 2:12). Thus today the ekklesia of the Lord is a congregation of congregations with many jurisdictional expressions, some of which are not even geographically based. Nevertheless, the diversity of jurisdictional expressions of the Church––even before this modern day of the Internet and jet airplanes that have reshaped the role of geographic proximity in life––is illustrated by this brief survey below from Scripture:
Also see Collective, Holistic Unity, Member, and Missional Initiative.
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