When the evidence is gathered, the picture is sharp and consistent.
The five-fold ministers — apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers — have real authority. They do not pretend otherwise, and we should not pretend otherwise either. But the authority they wield is teaching authority, doctrinal authority, and the authority of personal example. They exercise it almost entirely through persuasion: appealing, urging, exhorting, beseeching, reasoning, framing, equipping. They write letters because they cannot be present, and even when present, their characteristic posture is to reason and persuade rather than to override.
When they do command, it is in two narrow situations: when the Lord Himself has spoken (so they are simply transmitting His commands), or when the gospel itself is at stake. On matters of practical church life — finances, ministry direction, internal disputes, congregational decisions — they choose to appeal even when they could command. Philemon 8–9 and 2 Corinthians 8:8 are the clearest examples of this deliberate choice.
Local congregations, meanwhile, are consistently addressed as decision-making bodies. The Jerusalem Council decides "with the whole church." Hebrews tells congregations to obey their own local elders. Peter tells those same local elders not to domineer. Paul writes whole letters to whole churches and trusts them to act on what he writes.
The "obey your leaders" language of the New Testament — such as it is — is uniformly directed at local elders, not translocal figures. The Greek words used are softer than English translations sometimes suggest: respect, esteem, honour, be subject to, be persuaded by. Even the strongest verb, peithō in Hebrews 13:17, has "to be persuaded" as its root. Submission in the New Testament is grounded in the leader's visible service and faithful watch — not in their institutional position.