If you look throughout the NT, there was always a Bishop (what we call a pastor today)
It might be what most churches do today, but a pastor is absolutely not a bishop! A pastor is one of the fivefold ministries that should be manifest in all churches.
who was, indeed, the leader and overseer of the church, elders, deacons...in fact, everyone who served had strict expectations and guidelines. Even those who were just lowly "table waiters", as the apostles put it, were still expected to be filled with the spirit, honest, and above reproach. They all had hands laid on them in prayer and were ordained for the work they were performing. In fact, a lack of leadership, accountability, and general chaos is why Paul had to write to the Corinthians twice.
You really do have things completely back to front.
The letter to the Corinthians was not about lack of leadership at all, but about excessive leadership! Go read it properly and it becomes abundantly obvious. Paul condemned them for people following, instead of Christ following. That is what was causing the chaos in Corinth. And nowhere does Paul say that pastors ran the churches, on the contrary, pastors are just one of a collection of ministries in the church.
These requirements would also indicate that not everyone served...so yes, there was a congregation who did nothing but attend and were fed spiritually.
And your shocking statement,
".......a congregation who did nothing......."
Yup that probably describes yours and most churches, top-down institutions that guarantee Christians remain the infantile milk drinkers that Paul derided throughout his letter.
I'm sorry to be blunt here, but what you're stating simply does not line up with Scripture or the expectations that God set for the churches through Paul's instruction and the testimony given about church life in Acts.
No, my friend, what you describe does not line up with Paul's writings or what Jesus said when the disciples clamoured for leadership positions.
You, and everyone else, have simply imported top-down worldly systems of man and business management into the ekklesia.
Throughout Christendom, men have given themselves headship over other Christians and completely displaced the headship of Christ.
Paul taught the priesthood of all believers and decried the way the members were following other men.
Here's what Jesus said about leadership.
Matt20v24And when the ten heard it, (James and John secretly asking for thrones next to Jesus and above everyone else). they were greatly displeased with the two brothers. 25But Jesus called them to Himself and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. 26Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. 27And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave— 28just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”
As Jesus said,
it shall not be so among you, yet that's exactly what every church does, contradicting Jesus's very specific words. And please let's not pretend that pastors are servants. If you have to ask or check permission with a pastor, then he is a ruler not a servant!
Paul follows Jesus-
1Cor1v11For it has been declared to me concerning you, my brethren, by those of Chloe’s household, that there are contentions among you. 12Now I say this, that each of you says, “I am of Paul,” or “I am of Apollos,” or “I am of Cephas,” or “I am of Christ.” 13Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?
As the above shows, Paul objected to them following after men, even after himself!
Paul repeats the condemnation here.
1Cor3v1And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. 2I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; 3for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men? 4For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not carnal?
Paul describes the drive to follow men as carnal.
If you go step by step through 1Corinthians, you will find again and again that Paul expounds the nature of the body of Christ and the relationships within it, and it is abundantly clear that the typical church hierarchy of today is absolutely anathema to Paul.
As evidenced below, your description of church is completely contrary to Paul's
1Cor14v26How is it then, brethren? Whenever you come together, each of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification.
Paul expected every member to participate via the gifts of the Holy Spirit, not by wielding his intellect!
27If anyone speaks in a tongue, let there be two or at the most three, each in turn, and let one interpret. 28But if there is no interpreter, let him keep silent in church, and let him speak to himself and to God. 29Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge. 30But if anything is revealed to another who sits by, let the first keep silent. 31For you can all prophesy one by one, that all may learn and all may be encouraged. 32And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. 33For God is not the author of but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.
As can be seen, nowhere is the church instructed to operate as a hierarchy.