Titus 1:5
Titus 1:55The reason I left you in Crete was that you would set in order what was unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you.
JWs cite to support the appointment of elders by the Watchtower's branch offices, circuit overseers, and Governing Body. The verse is read as endorsing a hierarchical chain of authority flowing from a centralised governing body down to local congregations — elders are appointed from above, not selected by the local church.
reads "appoint elders in every city" — the pattern is elders (plural) in every city (local). Paul does not appoint one elder per city, and he does not centralise authority in a single location. This pattern is consistent across every NT reference to church governance: (elders in every congregation), (Ephesian elders, plural), (elders who preside well), (fellow elders). Every reference uses plural elders in each local church, with zero exceptions. The New Testament never gives us a single continuing organisation claiming to be the sole channel through which God speaks. The church's teaching authority is derivative — it has no life of its own apart from Scripture, the Spirit, and the community of believers. What Paul models is distributed, accountable, local leadership, not a top-down global hierarchy.