Congregational Church Governance 01

Who "runs" the church?

“So in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.” Romans 12:5 (NIV)

Who governs your church? Who selects your pastoral leadership? Who decides how the tithes and offerings will be spent? Who determines what beliefs and practices will guide your church? Who owns your church’s property? How much should a congregation know about the administration of the church? A church’s polity or governance determines the answers to questions such as these.

What Is Congregational Church Governance?

Polity is how an organization, such as a church, functions—the policies that guide matters such as governance, decision making, structure and leadership. Baptists differ from most Christian denominations in matters of polity. The difference especially is evident in how congregations of Christians are governed.

One major difference between Baptists and many other denominations is that no person or group outside of a Baptist congregation is to have any authority over the church in regard to beliefs and religious practices. Furthermore, all of the members within the church fellowship are to have equal voice in the governance of the church.

Baptist church governance often is termed “democratic.” In a sense it is. In a democracy, all of the people have equal voices in decision making. No individual or group of persons is in control. Such is to be the case in a Baptist church. One way that democratic governance is practiced is that each member of the church has the right to vote on matters at church business meetings.

To many non-Baptists, and even to some Baptists, this seems to be a strange way for a church to function. Putting the governance of a church in the hands of persons who have no special training, education or calling appears to be foolish. Why would Baptists dare to function in this fashion?

The in depth answer to this question will be presented in subsequent articles. The immediate answer is that we have no "chief priest" other than Christ, Himself. He is a priest on the order of Melchizidek. The Congregation is a group of priests. That is the Biblical description. We are a priesthood of believers; a royal priesthood (I Peter 2:9). Therefore, the congregation is responsible for the on-going operation of the church.

A well informed congregation is required for this to be the case. They must know where the church is going, how it is going to get there, what the finances of the church are (in detail) and who is doing what. Since they are the priests, they have the right and responsibility to be completely informed about every aspect of the church. They also have the responsibility of making decisions about the church: who the pastor will be, who the staff will be, how the church will operate, how the finances will be handled, how ministry and missions will be done, etc.

No pastor, staff, committee or group has any right to dictate or decide the direction of the church. That is to be decided by the congregation under the leadership of the Holy Spirit. If a pastor does not trust his congregation to be ultimately led by the Holy Spirit in church matters, he should move to a church that he does trust with those matters.

So who runs the church? The Godhead (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) through the congregation. The pastor is not charged with running the church. His job in leadership is to pray, minister to the members' needs and to preach the gospel. The rest is up to the church itself.