It has been known for decades—centuries, even—that what we experience as "church" today is a far cry from what the biblical Church looked and functioned like during the first three centuries. New Testament "scholars" and Church historians of all stripes—Catholics, Lutherans, Calvinists, Anglicans, Presbyterians, Baptists, Episcopalians, Methodists, Pentecostals, etc.—are in agreement that the earliest gatherings functioned as depicted in the following quotations, and later morphed into a period that was led by a "leader."
“Is the Christian church justified in confining its attention to the ministry of one person? In most modern congregations there are some Christian people who by natural ability, by experimental knowledge and inspiration, are far more qualified to instruct and confront the people than their professional and stated minister. Surely official preaching has no authority, either in Scripture, reason, or experience, and it must come to an end sooner or later.” —David Thomas, 1898
“[1 Corinthians 14] sheds a flood of light on what a church service was like in the early Church. There was obviously a freedom and informality about it, which is completely strange to our ideas... There was clearly no settled order at all... The really notable thing about an early church service must have been that almost everyone came feeling that they had both the privilege and the obligation of contributing something to it.” —William Barclay, early 1900s
“[The ekklesia] was not the Jewish community over again, with a few minor differences, but was a new creation... [W]hen much of his spiritual teaching was forgotten...the church took on more and more of the character of an ordinary society. It sought its models deliberately in the guilds and corporations of the day, and before a century had passed a Christian church was almost a replica in miniature of a Roman municipality. It had a body of officers graded like those of the city, clothed in similar vestments and bearing similar titles. The conception of a unique society, representing on earth the new order which would prevail in the Kingdom, seemed almost to have disappeared.” —Ernest F. Scott, 1941
“Now Paul sketches [in 1 Corinthians 14] a picture of worship, a very flexible procedure to be open to anyone, but each is to be attentive to the good of all... What a revealing glimpse of a vital community, whose worship was in good measure unstructured, open to participation by all, and guided not by a pre-set program, but by the Spirit!...Apparently there was no one who regularly presided, in contrast to the almost universal practice of the later church.” —William A. Beardslee, 1994
Having known that our structure is not biblical in the least, why have we not returned to the model instituted by Jesus and His apostles? You and I both know that our "leaders" today will never give up their power, positions, or pay checks. If you oppose the establishment, they will turn on you, revealing their true colours, and will engage in projection, ad hominem, name calling, and character assassination attempts merely because the truth is not on their side!
Because our current model of "church" became common place, they had to twist Scripture like the Devil by engaging in proof text methodology and eisegesis in order to support it. First Timothy, Second Timothy, and Titus are apostolic letters — not "pastoral" letters. Timothy was an apostle (see 1 Thess. 1:1; 2:6). While Scripture does not call Titus an apostle, we know that he was one because he had the same function as Timothy. Paul was not telling Timothy anything he did not already know with his letters. Timothy was a 20-year-veteran itinerant worker at this point. Paul called the Ephesian elders to meet him in Miletus (see Acts 21:17-38) 6 years before he wrote his letters to Timothy!
Make no mistake about it, the "pastor" is an unbiblical position. He is not supposed to exist. The early Christians considered it heresy for anyone to be paid for the Gospel. There was no clergy/laity split in the early Church. They did not even have temples. Look at the blatant blasphemy that has become common place. It is no wonder that it is not conducive to spiritual transformation, resulting in stagnant spiritual babes (if not completely false converts). The "body" consists of one mouth and many ears. Your "tithe" (which is really voluntary giving as the tithe was an OT thing for Israel only) predominantly goes toward filling the "pastor's" pocket and taking care of a building that never should have existed in the first place. It rarely goes toward supporting missionaries (which are actually church planters) and certainly does not go toward those things that Scripture declared it should: widows, orphans, poor, sick, and imprisoned.
If you support these godless men in these godless positions swindling your hard-earned money for their godless organized religious institutions and their own sordid gain, then you are an ignorant fool who does not know your Bible. You have been brainwashed, conditioned, programmed, and propagandized to believe their lies. Some of these "leaders" do not know any better because of the worthless, useless, godless training they have received that has stunted them through brainwashing, conditioning, programming, and propagandizing. These "leaders" tend to do more harm than good. Especially because these "pastors" were never in community long enough for the Lord to temper, adjust, break, or transform them. They do not know how to lose.