Acts 20:17
Acts 20:1717From Miletus, Paul sent to Ephesus for the elders of the church.
JWs acknowledge that Paul summoned the "older men" (elders) of the Ephesian congregation () and that the NT uses plural eldership. However, the Watchtower reads the overall pattern as supporting a centralised hierarchy: Governing Body at the top, branch offices, circuit overseers, and local elder bodies flowing from a central authority. The door-to-door method is also traced to , where Paul taught "publicly and from house to house."
Paul summons "the older men of the congregation" () — note the plural. He charges them collectively: "pay attention to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the holy spirit has appointed you overseers" (v. 28). The Spirit appoints multiple overseers in one city, not one overseer with authority over multiple cities. This pattern is consistent across every NT reference: (elders in every congregation), (elders in city after city), (elders who preside), (Peter calls himself "a fellow elder," not a chief shepherd). There are zero exceptions. As for , the Greek kat' oikon means "in homes" (house churches), not sequential door-knocking. The NWT itself proves this by translating the identical Greek as "in different homes" at . has Jesus explicitly prohibiting house-to-house movement: "do not keep transferring from house to house."