When the Church first started out, communication was done on foot or by horse, through letters. Yet at the same time, all Christians maintained an organic unity of faith, which is to say, they believed the same things. In addition to this, they had accountability and unity of government. No pastor of this Church could be eliminated from his office merely because his congregation didn't like him. The ancient practice of the Church only allowed a pastor who was duly appointed to be removed for a just cause, by those who had appointed him. Each Bishop recognized the others, for they knew that the other Bishops had gone through similar trials and requirements as the others leading up to their appointment as Bishops.
It should be noted that the pastors of the early Church had no fear that speaking the absolute, unadulterated truth would get them removed from their position simply because someone's conscience or even their particular interpretation of God's word bothered them because of the truth to which the pastor witnessed. They could speak out about sin, and not be removed. They could tell their congregations about the demands of Faith in Christ (for Faith in Christ does indeed place demands on the believer), or about the words spoken by Jesus which caused people to leave His company, and not worry about being replaced. How often these days do we see Pastors watering down the Gospel in order to keep congregants (or contributions)? How often do we see Pastors soft pedalling certain Gospel truths, or even flat-out denying them in order to keep their jobs? These are important questions about which we ought to reflect. What do the Scriptures say about all of this?
The Scriptures provided for three offices of Church Government, Bishop, Presbyter (also called Priest), and Deacon. Already in the writings of Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, and and early Christian Martyr, we have a clear demonstration that the office of Bishop and the office of Presbyter were distinct within the first century of Christianity's existence, for Ignatius testifies that a Bishop was surrounded by his presbyterate. It is to these that the job of making sure that all Christians received Christ's Grace, and stayed united in the truth was given by Divine command. They were to shepherd God's people. They were also accountable to "guard the deposit of faith." (1 Tim. 6:20) They were to be sure to hold fast to the tradition received from the Apostles whether they received it by word of mouth or by letter (2 Thess. 2:15).
