Who Decides?
Thursday, July 10th, 2008 : By Eric Farr
This week’s GraceTalk featured the following question…
Why are matters such as leasing\buying a building put to vote by the whole church? Specifically what issues are to be decided by the church members? Why is it biblical?
All of these questions fall under the broad topic of Church Government (or, if you like the technical terms ecclesiastical polity). This is a tough topic because the Bible gives virtually no direct instructions for how local churches should organize themselves. So, we have to look at examples and apply wisdom in how we think we can most faithfully represent what Christ had in in mind for His church. Because of this, we need to recognize that equally God-honoring, Bible-believing brothers and sisters may come to different conclusions on these matters.
Elder-Led, Congregational
Grace Fellowship was organized with as an elder-led, congregational form of government. We’ll take a brief look at what that means and where it comes form.
As we look at local churches in the New Testament, two complimentary patterns emerge…
First, we see that the the local church has final responsibility to govern itself. We see this in matters of both practice and doctrine.
In Matthew 18, we see, according to Jesus, the final step in church discipline is taking the matter to the church. Likewise, in 1 Corinthians 5, Paul takes the whole church to task for putting up with a blatantly sinning member and the whole church is to assemble to put him out.
In Galatians 1, Paul charges the Galatian church with the responsibility of judging the message anyone inside or outside the local church against the standard of the gospel of Christ.
8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.
Other than the pastoral letters (1 & 2 Timothy and Titus), all of the New Testament epistles are addressed to churches or believers in general.
Another aspect of local churches we see in the new Testament is the specific leading of elders. We see elders appointed in Acts 14:23 and Titus 1:5, qualifications for elders in 1 Timothy 3:2-7 and Titus 1:6-9. elders charged with caring for the church in 1 Peter 5:1-2, and churches charged with submitting to leaders (which are sure to include elders) in Hebrews 13:17. We have much more on the role of elders on the Web site.
So, we see local congregations responsible for governing themselves according to Christ’s commands and doing this by appointing elders. Elders are responsible for leading and governing. However, their authority is not absolute and exclusive. As we see in Galatians, the congregation must not allow leaders to teach contrary to the gospel. In 1 Timothy 5:19, members of the congregation have a mechanism for addressing issues of sin with elders. We see the whole church involved in the final stages of disciplining members. In Acts 6:3, we see the congregation choosing deacons.
How Does it Actually Work?
The constitution and by-laws of Grace Fellowship are representative of these two principals we see in the New Testament. The congregation has a responsibility to recognize spiritually mature men from within the body and invests them with the authority to lead the church.
The congregation recognizes elders by vote. Those elders lead and govern the church. They develop programming and implement the church’s philosophy of ministry.
Recognizing elders is not the end of the responsibility of the congregation. If the elders decide that they want change something in the doctrinal statement, the by-laws, or the constitution, the congregation must approve it. This is in keeping with the spirit of Paul’s command in Galatians 1 for the church to test its teachers against Christ’s gospel.
There is one other area where our by-laws involve the congregation–money. The elders are stewards of the church’s money, but it is the church’s money. This is why we prepare an annual budget, explain it to the church, and have the church approve it.
Leases fall under the same category. An elder might be the one to sign a lease for the church, but it is the church entering into a new lease–not the elders. The elders (or a team they designate) may lead the way in something like a new lease, but we want everyone on board when making a major decision like that. Even if we have the authority to sign a lease without the congregation’s approval, we wouldn’t want to enter into such a commitment if the majority of the church was against it.
Perhaps this parallel will help illustrate… As the husband, I am the leader of my family and the buck stops with me. Imagine I get a job offer in another city. I determine that the move would be the best thing for my family. I’m the head of my household. Do I have the authority to make that decision? In a sense, yes, I do. Would it be wise and good leadership for me to walk in and announce to my wife and children that we are moving (even if I have good reasons)? I would say no. Even though I lead and have final responsibility and authority, I would neither be serving or leading my family well if did not consult them in decisions that affect them.
For more information on the biblical rationale for the elder-led, congregational model, I recommend A Display of God’s Glory by Mark Dever of 9 Marks fame.
About The Author
Eric is privileged to be an elder at Grace Fellowship, a husband to an amazing woman (Donna), and daddy to two cool kids (Austin and Savannah). If he had free free time, Eric would probably go fishing, boating, or shoot some amateur photography.
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