[Amanah]

Originally Posted by Aquila

Interesting question. I appreciate that. Let's look at the text:

Ephesians 4:11-13 King James Version (KJV)
11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:

Punctuation is important here. The King James scholars had a more congregational form of church. So they chose punctuation in accordance to their preference. However, more recent translations that are less biased translated the very same text this way...

Ephesians 4:11-13 English Standard Version (ESV)
11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,

I'm instantly reminded of what one of our house church elders said. Bro. Renis said, "My job is to preach myself out of a job."

An elder is a seasoned saint of God with a spiritual maturity, understanding, and wisdom that is more advanced than his fellows. However, each elder has a given calling, role, or job within the body. Some are "apostles" (missionaries). Some are prophets (supernaturally gifted preachers and seers who reveal the mind of God through the Spirit). Some are evangelists (those gifted in the ways of sharing the Gospel and in the winning of souls). Some are shepherds (gifted spiritual mentors and counselors). And some are teachers (gifted to expound upon the Scriptures to reveal their teaching).

So, we have "elders" that guide the church... and each elder might be gifted in any of the five ministries listed above. The combined purpose of these ministries is to "equip the saints for the work of ministry". That's right, to train and spiritually prepare all of us to go forth to serve a lost and dying humanity, plucking as many from the fire as will respond to the call of the Gospel. They are to build us up, encouraging and strengthening us, in our efforts to fulfill the Great Commission and to become the unified and Christlike in our advancement of the Kingdom of God.

That's my understanding of the text. Why do you ask?

because when you said:
"I've never been a suck up to the establishment. Nor have I ever let a panel of men me what to believe or how to interpret Scripture. "

I wondered if you meant that you were not accountable to anyone, but by what you posted you are telling me that isn't so?