There Is...One Lord

The central grounding truth of biblical church governance is the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ alone is the one Lord and Head of the church.

Papal rule is wrong and unbiblical.

Episcopal rule is wrong and unbiblical.

Synodical rule is wrong and unbiblical.

Elder rule is wrong and unbiblical.

Deacon rule is wrong and unbiblical.

Pastoral rule is wrong and unbiblical.

Congregational rule is wrong and unbiblical.

Christ founded the church (Matthew 16:18). Christ is the Head of the church (Ephesians 5:23; Colossians 1:18). He and He alone is the Great Shepherd (Hebrews 13:20...i.e. "Senior Pastor") of the church. He has not abdicated or retired. Jesus is not an emeritus anything.

So, biblical church governance is about one and only one thing: What does Jesus want?

Facing the bewildering array of decisions that churches face today, our purpose for our polity is to determine the will of God. I believe that every form of polity is vulnerable to corruption by those who will not acknowledge the Lordship of Christ, yet I do not believe that every form of polity is equally vulnerable to that danger. Some forms of polity are better suited to discerning and following God's will than are others.

If the New Testament gives us any instruction about church polity (and I believe that it does), then it would be strange indeed to conclude that ignoring those instructions will improve our ability to find God's will for the church. Do we find God's will by ignoring God's word? I think not.

So, this upcoming series on church polity rests upon these premises: The purpose of polity is to acknowledge and follow the Lordship of Christ; Christ has given us instruction about church polity; and even in the choice of a system of church polity, we acknowledge that the choice is Christ's, and not our own, to make.