In the epistle to the Corinthians, St. Paul describes the ministries in the church: apostles, prophets, teachers, workers of miracles, healers, helpers, administrators, speakers in various kinds of tongues (I Corinthians 12:28). Only a short time later, in the Epistle to Titus we find a very different understanding of Church ministries. I left you in Crete so that you might set right what remains to be done and appoint presbyters in every town, as I directed you. The free-wheeling, bottom-up approach to ministry Paul describes in AD 54 becomes by the time he writes to Titus the structured, institutional model we recognize today with priests and bishops. (It is for this reason that scholars speculate that Paul himself did not write the letter to Titus but one of his disciples writing in his name.) While structures can be limiting the Church recognized early on how necessary they were to ensure unity and continuity. The constant challenge for the Church is to preserve the freedom of the Spirit even as we build institutions.
