Church Autonomy

I believe in Church Autonomy, that is, that each individual congregation of believers should be governed by itself. The head of this government should be a group of biblical elders (or overseers) as described by the Apostle Paul in the New Testament (Titus 1:6-9).

The problem with many denominational congregations is that they are not autonomous. They are often united and governed by an organization or convention of leaders that rule from afar, detached from the local congregation. While it is true that these organizations for the most part allow individual congregations to regulate themselves, they reserve the power to step in whenever they wish to alter or change any congregation that considers itself under their authority. Barring this, the organization still exerts an enormous amount of influence and control through its cult of personality.

This is not a good thing. Each congregation of believers ought to govern itself by the leadership of its own elders. Only those that live in the area and personally know the needs, strengths and weaknesses of the people are qualified to lead any given congregation.

Many believe that belonging to an organization is necessary to accomplish the goal of spreading the gospel, because no single congregation has the means to carry out the task alone. While I agree no single congregation has the means alone, I do not agree that forming some kind of confederation is the only solution. Many autonomous congregations are able, despite their independence, to combine their resources and work together to send missionaries and aid to those in need without forming a binding confederation.

Independent Christian churches, for example, are totally autonomous. Many of them even include the word "independent" in their congregation's name. Within these churches, there is no earthly authority greater than the individual congregation's elders. The decisions of one of these congregations do not affect the other congregations. While every congregation has an elder or group of elders (or pastors, for those of you so inclined to that name) that leads, the remainder of the governance varies. Some elect elders with absolute power for life, which I have issues with (is this not the same problem on a micro level?) Others elect elders with constitutional powers (via by-laws) for indefinite periods with congregational consent. That is, their powers are limited and the congregation can remove them from office if they abuse their power. This involves the messy business of democracy and church politics but many (especially in the US) believe it's the only way to prevent corruption. There are no easy answers to these questions of governance.

Whether you pick column A or column B or invent a new column C as an independent church, the issues you face must be better than the alternative. A congregation of believers whose overseers are hundreds of miles away can barely even make a complaint known to them, much less have it addressed. In the end the believers are beholden to the whims of the organization, and if that organization becomes corrupt, which is inevitable in human society, the believers are hopelessly bound to the organization unless they decide to become independent. The problem with this is that these believers have also become dependent on the organization, and feel they cannot survive on their own.

We are seeing this more and more today as denominational organizations make friends with the World and compromise the truths of God's Word in order to gain favor, political influence, or just to be liked. Many of the individual congregations within those organizations are so dependent on the system they feel they cannot break away. Over time, the new generations growing up in that congregation will conform to the system governing it - even if their parents didn't believe the system was right.

Most Protestants understand how the Roman Catholic Church fell into the state it is in today, but fail to realize that their own congregations are headed down the same path. By allowing a few detached people to rule over many churches, you give them power with little responsibility or accountability. Over time, their lust for power will corrupt the system, and eventually each and every one of these organizations, or denominations, will become more or less exactly like the Roman Catholic Church. If you do not believe me, simply study the history of the Roman Catholic Church.

No believer is more important or better than another. All are equal in Christ. It is true that God appoints some to be leaders, some to be servants, but we are all equal in the eyes of God. Each of us can read and study our Bible, and if we see our leaders are not leading according to Scripture, it is our duty as Christians to address this and seek to turn our elders back to the truth. If they will not suffer the truth, we should leverage whatever influence we have (hopefully legitimate influence through congregational democracy) to remove them. If we find ourselves trapped in a congregation where the leadership cannot be removed and has become unrepentant and corrupt, then we must make the prayerful decision to seek out another congregation that follows the Word.