Father-Son Dynasty?
Throughout history the people of God have been called to fellowship together in sincerity toward the Lord and toward each other. There have always been pressures to turn these love relationships into institutions of men.
One example is the pattern where the assembly of the saints is turned into a business. Some of these businesses grow into mega church corporations. Many are of the smaller family-owned variety.
Evidence of a family business is when a son inherits the business from the father.
This pattern of passing the church as a family business, from father to son, can be seen in many places. Prime example are the TV preachers such as Oral Roberts & son and Robert Schuller & son. There are other examples in Evangelical Church Organizations in southern Oregon and San Jose, California.
Does the New Testament specifically prohibit a father-to-son dynasty? No. And yet the New Testament does not even hint at one man owning a church as if it were a business. Let us search the New Testament for what it does say about how an assembly should be led and let us seek to apply that by the grace of God.
Many professing Christians consider this pattern of a father-son family business to be reasonable and normal because churchianity is all they have ever known. However, the New Testament teaches something far more beautiful. The assembly of believers is to be a gathering of brothers and sisters, led by elders and deacons who lead from among their brethren, with no one lording it over anyone else, and no one man “owns” the church. Jesus is king and Lord. The Church belongs to Him.