God used various forms of government with his people. What is the appropriate form of church government for his people today?

This text is from a transcript of a talk by David Gooding, entitled ‘The Problems of Becoming and Being a King’ (1990).

I'm tempted in my heart to say, and I'm not meaning to be facetious, it is that form of government that the New Testament laid down. I mean that seriously, in answer to your question. There is a large view in Christendom that the pattern that we find in the New Testament was not meant to be obligatory upon us. They think it was the pattern of things that God used, and the early Christians used, because it was convenient to that time; but God leaves us free to adapt our methods of church government and suit them to the particular age in which we live. I myself would hold that the way God led the early Christians to do it in the New Testament was the best way then, and is the best way still. That would be my answer to the question.