A Response to James MacDonald

How do you decide whose voice is heard in church government?

Recently James MacDonald posted on his blog an article entitled "Congregational Government is From Satan". I think it safe to say he stirred the pot and probably set a record for comments. As with any writer, there are always a few ready to declare his words as complete truth and use them to justify their poor behavior. Being that a bit dangerous to me, I had to post my comments. The following is my post to his bog and his gracious reply. You can find my post on June 11 and the post of hundreds of others at the blog of James MacDonald

James, thank you so much for sharing your heart on this subject.  Processing this article has been a very important exercise for me, and I am sure it will be for other church leaders as well. I agree with almost everything you say, but I believe there is a danger here.

Let me begin with your statement: "Sadly, though, this has led in many congregations to the Eldership of all believers—where each person, regardless of training, giftedness, fruitfulness, experience, etc., considers their thoughts about the future of a given congregation to be of equivalent value."

James, the other side of this statement is the premise by many pastors, and even many lay elders, that the opinion of anyone who is not an elder has NO value.

The best biblical example that shows us how we should listen to lay people when it comes to vision and direction is found in Acts 9-11. God called a new believer, Saul, to lead the biggest vision change in the history of the church—explaining that the gospel was for even the Gentiles. He also used a godly man, Ananias, to help Saul understand and confirm this vision.

However, it took years for the church leaders to embrace this change. Peter, the "chairman of the elder board" did not embrace it until God helped him through a vision on a roof in Joppa. He then began to ponder whether Paul and Ananias were right, and it was not until the evidence of the Holy Spirit was undeniable in the body of Cornelius's church group in Caesarea that Peter actually agreed with it. The key here this: Where was the final place that the Holy Spirit worked to confirm the vision for Peter? It was in the congregation.

It does not matter that the sovereignty of God provided Paul a few years to develop as an apostle while the church elders processed the whole idea. The fact remains that many pastors and lay elders overlook the significance of what God is doing in the lives of people in congregations and how God is prompting opinions and vision in each person's life.

I agree with your biblical foundation of what God intended for leadership in the church. Unfortunately, I vividly remember one visit to a congregational meeting at a church in conflict. We were only there to watch, but it did not take long to see who was producing the fruit of the Holy Spirit. The pastors and elders leading this meeting were totally out of line. The fruit of the spirit in the congregation must have finally worn them down, because after about an hour, and to everyone’s shock, they all stood up, threw their church keys on the table, walked out, and left the church. From what I know today, this church is recovering nicely.

In my opinion, the verses to which you refer in Hebrews were meant for the congregation! They were not spoken to leaders so they could use the verses to lord over their people. I am not saying you do James; I do not know you … but I know of a few who have.

So how does one put the right value on an opinion? When it comes to “ the future of a given congregation,” I coach people to submit to their leaders, but  always follow the fruit of the Spirit, no matter where that leads. If the leaders display good fruit in the process, making sure that God is not working through the opinion of the opposition, then that will be the day when leadership is at its best.

Photo courtesy of Irargerich.