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Forms of Church Government

I believe in

  • the Episcopal form of government.

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • the Presbyterian form of government.

    Votes: 3 100.0%

  • the Congregational form of government.

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • another form I'll explain in this thread.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    3

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J

JM

Member
Just wondering what style or form of Church government you believe is Biblical.

Episcopal

Adherents: Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Episcopal/Anglican, Luthrean, Methodist, etc.

Authority: Bishops

Basis: Acts 6:6; 14:23, Gal. 1:19; 2:9

Presbyterian

Adherents: Presbyterian and Reformed.

Authority: Elders

Basis: Acts 20:7, 1 Tim. 5:17, Tit. 1:5

Congregational

Adherents: Congregational, Baptist, Mennonite, Evangelical Free, etc.

Authority: Congregation

Basis: Acts 15:12; 22-25, Col. 1:18, 1 Pet. 2:9
 
Well, my church is set up this way. I don't know what section it falls in so maybe you can tell me.

We have 1 pastor, 2 assistant pastors, 12 elders, about 40 deacons.
In my church the pastor has very little power and his main job is to teach.
The elders really run the show. The members are responsible for voting in elders. We do not allow women pastors
So what does this sound like?
 
oscar3 said:
Well, my church is set up this way. I don't know what section it falls in so maybe you can tell me.

We have 1 pastor, 2 assistant pastors, 12 elders, about 40 deacons.
In my church the pastor has very little power and his main job is to teach.
The elders really run the show. The members are responsible for voting in elders. We do not allow women pastors
So what does this sound like?
Click to expand...

Are you ever asked to vote on anything?
 
JM said:
Are you ever asked to vote on anything?
Click to expand...

Yes. For example, the church just had a vote that was passed by the members to purchase more property to build a day care center. It passed by a large margin
 
I hardly ever vote on these polls.

I think every Church government may have something wrong with it, and have some things right about it, too. Since that wasn't in the poll, I didn't vote. :wink:
I don't follow Church government, but Yeshua's words. :)
 
oscar3 said:
Yes. For example, the church just had a vote that was passed by the members to purchase more property to build a day care center. It passed by a large margin
Click to expand...

I'd guess Congregational.
 
Congregational here: Hey, I belong to a SBC congregation... we vote on everything! :-D I believe it to be the best way, warts and all. Ekklesia does mean assembly or congregation.

But... as Jason pointed out using scripture references, all forms have a Biblical basis to them.
 
If the elders were elected by the congregation it would then make option "B" congregational also, no? Unless the Pastor hand picks the elders.
 
I have to say that I hold a mix of congregational and "Presbyterian" forms of Government. The Elders are obviously to have authority as overseers, I've always seen that Elders are the "Bishops" (literally overseer) of the congregation. The congregation should have vote in matters appealed to the congregational and then the vote considered and discussed among the elders, and appealed again with explanation to the congregation if a difference in opinion arises. And I guess I'd lean on the Elders overall vote & judgement to solve the issue as the overseers of the Church. It would sort of be how the electoral college pulls from the public's votes but largely it is up to them, but that's not the greatest comparison. But the elders are clearly to be Godly men and fit many qualifications and lead by submission and prayer to God, and it is clear that they have authority over the congregation as does the Pastor (an Elder?) as the shepherd of the flock.
 
Dave... said:
If the elders were elected by the congregation it would then make option "B" congregational also, no? Unless the Pastor hand picks the elders.
Click to expand...

Not really but I think I see your point.

Presbyterians often claim there is no such thing as democratic practice in the early church; hence, Congregational polity is wrong and unbiblical. The Moody Handbook of Theology states on page 357, "In contrast to the congregational form of government, the presbyterian form emphasizes representative rule by the elders who are appointed or elected by the people." So, Congregational and Presbyterian polity both use democracy. The difference between the two would be how the local congregation in the Congregational polity make decisions that govern the church where the Presbyterians have elders making the decisions for them; they are also accountable to a synod of Reformed/Presbyterian churches where Congregational churches are only accountable to God.

By the proof which has been adduced, it is fully established that the word church, in such names as The Church of England, The Church of Scotland, The Presbyterian Church, The Episcopal Church, The Methodist Church, does not correspond in signification with the Greek word ekklesia. These churches never assemble in one place, because their members are dispersed over too large an extent of territory. They are, therefore, not churches in the New Testament sense of the word. It is true that some of these churches have supreme judicatories in which the power of the whole body is supposed to be concentrated; and in these the whole church is conceived to be assembled: thus, the Presbyterian Church has its General Assembly. But whenever the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church is mentioned, the very title indicates that the Assembly is one thing, and the Church another.

The Assembly may be seen in some spacious room, transacting the business of the Church; but no one will affirm that the Church itself is literally there; and no one calls the Church itself an assembly. The people of the United States areconceived to be assembled in Congress; and the people of the several states in their several legislative assemblies; but no one understands this to be literally true, and no one calls the people of the United States or of any single state an assembly. But whenever the word ekklesia is used, we are sure of an assembly; and the term is not applicable to bodies or societies of men that do not literally assemble.

In defending the Presbyterian form of church government, it has been argued that the term ecclesia is applied in the New Testament to denote all the Christians in a large city, when their number was so great that they could not all assemble for worship in one place. In a large city of the present day, a single denomination of Christians may have many churches assembling at their several places of worship at the same hour. The same division of the worshipping assemblies, is supposed to have existed in ancient times; and yet, it is remarked, we never read in the New Testament of several churches in one city; and it is inferred that the word ekklesia in the singular number, included in these cases all the separate worshipping assemblies. Manual of Theology by John L. Dagg 1858a.d.
Click to expand...


Peace,

~JM~
 
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