Baptists
have historically been known as ‘congregationalists’.
By this we mean that the highest court of appeal on earth is the “ekklesia of God” - the congregation or church of God,led by her elders, and they together, under the headship of
her ascended Lord.
Muddying the waters …
I
wish I could present you with a clear apologia for being a congregational Baptist. I can’t, because congregationalism itself is subject to weaknesses, since
congregations are after all constituted
by redeemed sinners.
To make matters even worse, congregational
Baptist churches have sometimes been invaded by non- regenerate members since the door into church membership had not been guarded. This has been the case
in churches where members were received
through an emotional, ‘decisionistic’ form
of evangelism, together with a shallow theology of repentance and a
lack of insistence upon a thorough discipleship. So when goats begin to rule the church, congregationalism becomes a
curse and a nightmare!
Notwithstanding
the fact that
congregationalism as a form of
church government has its own set of critical challenges, I
believe in congregationalism, and I am committed to this form of church government.
Clarifying Congregationalism…
I
know that some Reformed Baptists have
sometimes struggled with congregationalism because,
(i) They have had an experience of
ungodly congregationalism. I personally have experienced the
worst kind of congregationalism in the early years of my ministry, and there are
still shades of it from time to time,
when the congregation makes bad, prayer-less
and naïve decisions, overruling their elders.
Nevertheless, I believe in, and
encourage congregationalism!
(ii) They
are very often influenced by their
evangelical Presbyterian brothers, whose theology they admire, and
whose style of church government they
find appealing, because it eliminates
the pains of slow and clumsy congregationalism. In fact,
one might argue that some Baptists are are “Baptist Presbyterians“, and they would be Presbyterians, if it
were not for their sound views on believer’s
baptism! I also know that some godly
Presbyterian church
elderships are far more
congregational in practice than they would care to admit!
Rule
by the elders in terms of the ‘buck-stops
–here‘ - decision- making process in the church admittedly
appears to be preferable to the often clumsy congregational meeting.
It appears to simplify
the decision making process simply because less people are involved, but I
would argue that this
does ultimately not help the church to mature, nor does it help to exhibit the
level of congregational life that our
Lord truly desires! Pastor – teachers and the elders of the church exist to equip the
congregation to become mature. To this
end the apostle Paul writes that God gave gifts
to “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the
body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and
of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the
stature of the fullness of Christ…”
(Eph. 4:12,13).
Children only
mature as they are given responsibility, and I would argue that this is the
strength of true congregationalism. I would argue that congregationalism fosters spiritual responsibility, which is the goal of mature membership!
In Defense of Congregational Church Government
1. The
congregation under Christ is
led by a servant leadership/ eldership rather than ruling eldership.
Jesus frequently addressed this subject, particularly when His disciples wanted to set themselves as little popes in the kingdom of God (e.g.Mark
10:35-45; Luke 22:26; John 13:2-17). Servant Leadership is
focused on helping the congregation, and leading the congregation
into responsible decision making. I would argue that this even includes allowing the congregation to make
mistakes (obviously - of a non heretical
nature), after which the elders
through patient instruction should lead the congregation to repentance and a more biblical
view of things. I have had such experiences in our church, where
I believed that the church had been
wrong in a congregational decision. But since the elders and I had been outvoted, we needed to teach the church patiently (cf. 2 Tim. 2:24), only to see the church conform to the elders wisdom after a while.
2. The
Congregation is the final court of
appeal on earth (Matt. 18:18ff): The
context of this statement made by our Lord
Jesus Christ is the church. “Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on
earth shall be bound in heaven, and
whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven“.
Whilst elders do undoubtedly have a vital role
to play in guiding the church in
responsible decision making and teaching, they must in the end defer to the church. This means that the
church meeting (the congregation)
may override the authority of the elders. The elders are not
invested with infallibility, nor are they endued with
absolute authority. They are always accountable to the church.
3. Congregationalism takes seriously the nature of the church.
Each member, born again and baptized is not
only important in the church, but is also able
to engage in responsible churchmanship, since the Holy
Spirit dwells
in each true believer.
Furthermore, the Holy Spirit has gifted each believer in order to make a vital
and necessary contribution to the ministry and well-being of the whole church.
This does not only mean that members can meaningfully contribute to the
ministry of the church in terms of their gifts, but also in terms of their
corporate wisdom, prayer and counsel. Let me repeat something that I have said earlier: Congregational church government presupposes
that our members are converted! Historic Baptist ecclesiology is founded upon the
principle of a regenerate
membership.
The question is this:
Will we trust our members to participate
in responsible decision making? Obviously, if Baptist churches have a large group of passive, ‘non –resident’, unfruitful, even non-regenerate members, congregationalism becomes chaotic and
risky. But if the gates to church membership are
guarded through making sure (as much as
is humanly possible) that our members
have entered by the narrow gate, and if our members have been discipled into the obedience of the faith, then we have no reason to fear congregationalism. Someone may ask then, "What
about young believers who are not mature, and who still have many worldly
ideas floating in their minds?" I believe that the mature leadership of the
elders who lead the church in responsible decision- making plus the
maturity of the older members will have a wholesome influence over the younger members.
4. Congregationalism most honours
the Head of the Church, the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is committed to His whole
church, and if every member does their
part and is involved in the ministry of the church according to their spiritual
gifts, and if each member participates in the congregation (including in the decision making processes involved in a General Meeting of the church), it also
follows that Christ is most glorified in such a church.
5. Church discipline is congregational. In many churches church discipline is actually exclusively
exercised by elders, when in fact both the Lord Jesus, and the apostle
Paul taught that the church was the final court of appeal in the matter of church discipline (Matt.18: 15-18 ; 1 Cor. 5: 1-13). I find that this fact affirms our view of congregational church government. In our church we practice church (congregational) discipline, after all
attempts at restoring a person by the
means prescribed in Matt 18:15ff have
failed.
Conclusion
I am not saying that
congregationalism is a perfect system.
Neither am I saying that it is easy. It isn’t ! Ask me … I have been ‘at it’ for 29 years at the time of writing. But I would still argue that
congregational church government would be the logical outcome for a a maturing congregation.
With tongue in cheek I would
therefore suggest that when a church is
planted, it might initially be governed episcopally. Let the bishop rule over
his young flock while they are babies.
Then as time passes, add other elders, and widen the decision-making process to a body of ruling elders, and call yourself ‘Presbyterian
Baptists’, if you like!
But since we are aiming for maturity (our achievable goal according to Ephesians
4:1-16), we should strive for congregational church government with a serving eldership.
Namibian Coat of Arms 
