Church Polity

I appreciate the coherent thoughts Alan Knox from the assembling of the church has put together on Church polity.

He has put together 8 posts in this series:

• Introduction
• Episcopal
• Presbyterian
• Congregational
• Scriptural Evidence
• The Problem
• Moving Forward
• From Experience

At issue is how we view leadership in a community of believers. It is common to have a few members make decisions on behalf of the rest. We typically view these as the leaders of the church. There are a range of ideas around how these governing bodies should be structured, and how much say the body or laity should have in decision making.

Taking a looking at Scripture, there isn't a clear winner between the 3 main types of church government that you frequently see in churches today (Episcopal, Presbyterian, Congregational). For example yes there were elders. But I think the similarities end with the label. Who selected the elders? How long did they remain elders? What was their role in decision making for others?

Alan suggests an alternate way... but it doesn't sound as practical or efficient. Is it possible we are to make decisions together - following the lead of the same Lord? It does seem a bit too idealist. But maybe no decision is better than a decision made by someone on behalf of others that may lead to disunity. If we can't agree together we don't move forward together. Or we wait until God does more work and we are ready together.

Anyways. If interested in this topic, Alan's series is worth the read.