Sermon Tone Analysis

Text: Acts 6:1-5a

Theme: Discovering a biblical model for governing the affairs of a local congregation.

The New Hampshire confession of faith, adopted in 1830, was one of the earliest and remains the most important of the Baptist confessions of faith.

It formed the basis for many subsequent statements, including our own Baptist Faith and Message.

Article 13 of the New Hampshire confession is entitled "The Church."

It reads: “We believe that a visible Church of Christ is a congregation of baptized believers, associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the gospel; observing the ordinances of Christ; governed by his laws; and exercising the gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by his word; that it's only proper officers are bishops, or pastors, and deacons, whose qualifications, claims, and duties are defined in the epistles to Timothy and Titus.”

In this paragraph lies one of the most distinctive features of Baptist faith— it’s polity, or form of government.

Some may ask, “What difference does it make how a congregation decides to conduct its affairs?”

Well, if we’re going to call ourselves a New Testament Church it matters.

I. THE HISTORIC FORMS OF CHURCH GOVERNMENT

1. since the first century, a number of different forms of church polity have developed

2. Church government is a matter about which there is some latitude—Baptists have always realized this

a.

yet at the same time, Baptists have also always realized that there are some instructions in Scripture about our churches’ polity

b. in general four principal types of church government have been most common in the history of Christianity

A. EPISCOPAL POLITY

1. Episcopal Church government comes from the Greek word episkopos which is often translated as bishop but literally means overseer

a. in this form of church government, authority rests with the local bishops

b. these bishops (who are referred to as “superior clergy”) preside over a number of individual congregations, which in turn are governed by priests (who are referred to as “inferior clergy)

c. in this form of church government, the bishops alone have authority to ordain to the ministry and make decisions for the Church

2. in many cases, Episcopal bodies argue that there is a succession of function and authority from the apostles to the bishops of the present

a. they refer to it as Apostolic Succession

3. most Catholic and Anglican communion have an Episcopal form of church government

ILLUS We just recently witnessed it in action in the election of Pope Francis I.

In Roman Catholicism, the line of authority begins with the highest-ranking bishop, the Pope—also known as the Bishop of Rome.

This man is often referred to as The Vicar of Christ, and supposedly speaks as Christ’s authority on Earth.

Under him are the Cardinals—bishops who are the “cardinal” or primary spiritual advisors to the Pope.

Under these Cardinal-Bishops are the Archbishops who oversee several diocese.

Under the archbishop is the Bishop who oversees one diocese made up of many parishes.

Under the local Bishop is the Priest who serves a local parish or congregation.

Under the Priest is the Deacon who aids the priest during mass, and lastly there is the laity.

a. advocates for an episcopal form of church government argue that the sheer fact that it went virtually uncontested from the late 3rd century until the time of the Reformation in the 16th century testifies to its claims as the biblical form of church polity

b.

Baptists would argue that a long tradition of the church doing something does not necessarily mean it’s Scriptural

c. Baptists would also argue that the plethora of church offices in the Roman Catholic, Anglican and Orthodox traditions are absolutely unbiblical

B. PRESBYTERY POLITY

1. another type of church government is the Presbyterianism, which comes from the Greek word presbuteros, which means elder

a. in this form of church government, authority rests with a council of elders or a presbytery

1) this form of church polity recognizes two classes of Elders—teaching elders and ruling elders

b. in this form of church government, the congregation—which itself is autonomous—is led by the minister, who is the "teaching elder," who is chosen and called by the congregation

c. the “ruling elders” within the congregation are laymen who serve as the spiritual/theological/moral/visionary leaders of the congregation

1) these elders, however, are ordained by the presbytery, which consists of the teaching and ruling elders from a group of congregations over which it exercises jurisdiction

2) these local elder councils will send a select number of delegates to a still broader body of authority, sometimes called a Synod

3) the Synod will meet regularly to discuss major issues of theology and practice facing the whole denomination

4) their decisions are binding on all the participating congregations

2. modern Presbyterian churches practice this type of polity

C. PASTORAL POLITY

1. this is often referred to as Elder-rule or Elder-led

a. Elder-rule is when the elders of the church make all of the decisions alone without the involvement of or the congregation’s specific assent

1) it’s a modified form of Episcopal polity, but on just the local church level

2) a hierarchy within the Church rules and makes decisions for all

b.

Elder-led is when the elders make the majority of decisions, but some decisions, such as voting in a new pastor, or deciding on a major building program, or adopting the yearly budget are decided on by the congregation

2. Elder-rule is a small, but growing way of doing church polity in Southern Baptist life

a.

our own history reveals that in the formative years of our convention’s life that Elder-ruled or Elder-led churches were present and Baptists fully accepted it

b. it is estimated that about 1% of SBC churches have adopted some form of Elder-rule polity

ILLUS.

This type of church polity has become a point of contention in Southern Baptist life.

It’s often been associated with Baptists who hold to Calvinism.

Some convention leaders and influential mega-church pastors see it as a conspiracy to change the historical polity of the convention.

I don’t believe that for a moment, but Elder-led congregations are growing among Southern Baptists and some perceive it as a clear and present danger.

In 2006 the issue nearly split the 9,000-member Germantown Baptist Church in Memphis, TN.

An interesting phenomenon is the polity transition we see take place as a church grows into mega-church status.

John Vaughn, editor of Church Growth Today magazine, and an authority on America’s mega-churches says that mega-churches actually change in polity as they increase in membership.

During its inception a mega-church is Congregational (people-led), moves to Presbyterian (deacon/staff-led,) and finally to Episcopal (staff-led).

Southern Baptist icon W.A. Criswell, famed late pastor of the First Baptist Church of Dallas fully believed that an Pastor-led church was the only true Scriptural polity.

He once declared, “Lay leadership of the church is unbiblical when it weakens the pastor’s authority as ruler of the church….

A laity-led church will be a weak church anywhere on God’s earth.

The pastor is ruler of the church.

There is no other thing than that in the Bible.”

Criswell added, “The pastor is the ruler of the church….

The pulpit is mine….

The staff is mine and I run that church.”

Proponents of Elder-led polity often counter that many SBC churches declare themselves congregational in their polity, but are actually deacon-led in practice.

3. my issue with Elder-led polity—and I’ll deal with this more extensively next week—is that churches that adopt Elder-led polity essentially establish a defacto third office within the local church that I believe is unbiblical

D. CONGREGATIONAL POLITY

1. in this form of church government, authority rests with the membership at large—the congregation

2. congregationalism stresses the independence of the local church through the priesthood of the believer

a. higher human authority within the church or over the churches is denied, and pastors are regarded as full-time servants— not church managers

b.

under congregational polity decision about membership, leadership, doctrine, worship, conduct, missions, finances, property, and relationship are all made by the gathered congregation

c. the role of the pastor in congregational polity is not one of CEO, boss, or taskmaster

1) his role is that of spiritual leader

2) he works with congregationally approved representatives, such as deacons or specifically elected lay-leaders to guide the ministries of the congregation

3) any decisions are then presented to the church for final approval or rejection

3. Baptists are among those Christian bodies that practice congregational polity

a. while all types of church government can claim some support from the New Testament, Baptists have long believed and been persuaded that Congregationalism is the best attested of the four

II.

A DEFENSE OF CONGREGATIONALISM

1. the New Testament does not give us detailed instructions about church government

a. we must, therefore, sift through the New Testament to find the bits and pieces that give us a pattern for church government

1) thankfully there are lots of bits and pieces!

b. four features of the early church stand out

A. The Churches in the New Testament Are Represented as a Local, Independent, Autonomous Bodies of Believers

1. there is zero evidence that any outside authority was imposed on the local churches, accept by the apostles, whose teachings were binding

a. the church at Jerusalem, for example, does not transmit its instructions to the church at Corinth

b. it does not threaten them with excommunication when it learns of the disorderly walk of some of the Corinthians

2. as the apostles’ doctrine became more widely known and as the apostles themselves began to pass from the scene, the church’s autonomy became more apparent

3. moreover, except for occasional reference to the church as the body of Christ, the word church is only used in the New Testament for a local assembly