“Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others”.
So said Winston Churchill and on most days I agree with him. It isn’t perfect; it has its challenges, but it does seem to do a good job of creating opportunity, limiting power and protecting human rights. As an idea, it is without many peers. But in practice, it is made far more difficult by the reality and ubiquity of human sin.
Much the same could be said about congregational polity in the life of the church. It is the worst form of government; except for all the others. It represents a fair reading and application of the text, and it seems to be the best way to limit abuse, temper human pride and discern the will of the Lord in secondary matters.
It is however, like democracy, greatly complicated by the reality and ubiquity of human sin.
Therefore, how shall we proceed?
In the life of a church, from time to time, issues will arise which are not directly addressed in Scripture. Should we purchase property X or Y? Should we incorporate for insurance purposes or should we not? Should we give 10% of our global budget to missions or 20%? These are secondary issues, and they represent a challenge for congregational churches.
Oftentimes the outcome is less significant than the process. As a pastor, I find that I am usually far less concerned about whether we get it right and am far more concerned about whether we still love each other after the dust has settled. Towards that end, I offer a few thoughts on how to engage in secondary discussions within a congregational framework.
1. Prepare for the meeting (read, pray, repent)
Thomas Jefferson famously said: “The cornerstone of democracy rests on the foundation of an educated electorate”. If that is true in civil society, how much more true is it when applied within the church! Congregational polity only became an idea in Western society after the invention of the printing press. It was only after people could read the Bible for themselves that it began to be assumed they could be trusted to participate in the discernment of God’s will. Congregational polity assumes that the church body is ultimately responsible for the teaching it permits from the pulpit. It further assumes the ability of the membership to discern plans and proposals that align with the revealed Word of God. You can’t do those things if you are not regularly reading the Bible.
You must also be committed to prayer! The assumption of congregational polity is that with the Word of God regularly washing over us and the Spirit of God pulsing and flowing within us, we ought to be able to discern the will of the Lord. However, searching about for the voice of the Lord on decision day is a recipe for disaster! Unless you have become familiar with his voice through regular secret prayer, you will be unlikely to discern his whispers in the din and noise of the crowd. Frequent, private prayer must precede public intercession.
You must also regularly repent. The most dangerous person at a congregational meeting is the person who is too sure of his own spiritual and moral instincts. Better the person who believes himself capable of willful self-deception. The Bible says:
“The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it? (Jeremiah 17:9 NKJV)
Give me a room full of people who believe that and I expect a useful meeting.
2. Speak your mind
Congregational polity only works when people are encouraged to speak their minds. Very often in a church, there are a few people who wield enormous and disproportionate influence. Perhaps they are generous givers, perhaps they are founding members, perhaps they are natural leaders in business and industry. However they came by this influence, it must not be allowed to eclipse the thoughts and contributions of other people.
Very often in Scripture the way forward comes through highly unlikely sources. When Namaan, the captain of the hosts of Syria was sick with leprosy, it was not a King or a Queen or a General who pointed him in the right way, rather it was a servant girl who waited on Namaan’s wife. Had she not been permitted to speak, Namaan would have forfeited his healing. So too in our congregational meetings. Do not assume that the great men and women will carry the day. Perhaps you are the servant girl who knows what no one else knows.
3. Listen carefully
It is certainly true of fallen men and women that we tend to enter conversations more focused on what we mean to say, rather than on what we happen to hear. Congregational polity requires you, by God’s grace, to overcoming that natural tendency.
Nowhere in the Bible are we led to assume that saved people will always have perfect understanding. Even the Apostle Peter – even after Pentecost – needed help from the Apostle Paul to clarify his thinking on certain matters. In one congregational setting the Apostle Paul corrected Peter (Cephas) in the hearing of all. Galatians 2 records:
I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?” (Galatians 2:14 ESV)
Peter had thought it would be better for Gentiles to get circumcised before getting baptized as Christians. The Apostle Paul saw better how the logic of the Gospel ought to be applied. He corrected Peter – publicly; and it certainly appears, thank God, that Peter listened. He even went on to recommend Paul’s writings to all his churches.
It takes a big man, or a big woman, to admit that they did not have light on a particular issue. That is the beauty and the blessing of working in team. Never assume that you have all the answers. Assume rather that God has given someone in your church exactly what you need.
4. Vote your conscience
Churches sometimes make the mistake of thinking they can argue their way to unanimity. More often than not, ad nauseam conversation is just a recipe for hurt feelings and calcified convictions.
In a good meeting, the moderator will call for a decision once the main points of discussion have been covered by one member or another. The moderator should discourage members from directly rebutting the input of others unless that input contains false information or accusation. Generally speaking, people should share their thoughts, their hopes and their perspectives and then the moderator should call for a decision.
When voting, members should vote their conscience. They should not vote based on how they think others would want them to vote. Those people, if they are members, can vote for themselves. Congregational polity assumes that everyone gets 1 vote and that all votes are weighted equally.
5. Trust the process
As a pastor I have far more influence than I have actual authority. I am a member at my church and so I get the same 1 vote as any other. I have no fiduciary responsibility so I actually have less official authority than any elected elder at the church. As such, I occasionally find myself on the losing side of a decision. Two or three times a year, after a Board meeting, I get into my car and I am forced to wrestle with the reality that I did not get my way.
On the whole I have found that very helpful.
It pushes me back into the group.
It reminds me that I am a sheep and a shepherd but I am a sheep first.
It reminds me that this is Christ’s Church – not mine. These are HIS people – not mine. This is HIS money – not mine.
I have come to the conclusion that sometimes God intentionally does not give me light on a particular issue just to reacquaint me with these facts. He knew it would pass and he knew it would pass without my vote. So he gave me no light at all except the light that I was given through my brothers and sisters. He was doing a work in me in addition to the work he was doing through all of us.
Sometimes losing is part of the plan.
So trust the process.
Do your homework, speak your mind, listen carefully and vote your conscience. And then go home and sleep like a baby.
And may the Lord’s will be done!
SDG,
Pastor Paul Carter
