BAPTIST CHURCH POLITY
LECTURE 24
CONTEMPORARY CHURCHES & THEIR POLITY
Col 2:8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
Churches are changing their structure, their style, their identity, not after a Biblical model, but after a wordly model.
They look to what is popular in the world and try and integrate some of the principles into how a church operates. This is ridiculous! Let’s look at some of churches’ trendy polity changes, and see the dangers with them.
Since about the 1960’s it has been the popular and accepted trend for a church to become a 501c3 corporate entity with the Government. It is advantagious in their minds in that it offers more ‘insulation’ to the members from law suits claimed against the church; and that it makes it easier to get a building loan; and that you don’t have to pay property taxes. But at what costs?.... You have given up your church polity autonomy to some degree by agreeing to become an entity of the government! You have to abide by their rules; right not the rules are not too invasive and obnoxious, but in the years to come they sure may be.
Just to let you know, you can avoid being a 501c3 entity and still have reasonable insurance protection from law suits, still be able to get a loan, and still not have to pay property taxes. Don’t turn over your church’s polity to the government!
A very contemporary trend in church polity these days is to transform from traditional leadership polity to a more ‘politically correct’ model….that of ‘elder rule’. There is a whole lecture on this topic that we have already covered. But, to summarize: ‘elder rule’ is a misnomer; what they are really talking about is ‘laymen’ rule. They want to give the ‘non-pastor’ types their representation in the church’s leadership model. The pastor has some authority, but the key lay leaders have the majority. These ‘elders’ rule over the pastorate and the church. This ultimately destroys any assemblance of Biblical polity as the years go on and the changes these ‘elders’ make goes on!
It is very popular for Baptist churches to go from closed communion to close communion, or from close communion to open communion. The key is to just simply go in the ‘right’ (really wrong) direction. They don’t want to have a discriminatory polity, and to prevent certain people from celebrating the Lord’s Supper is unthinkable to them. Baptism has the same issue: the trend is to go from accepting only baptisms from churches that are very much the same as yours, to accepting baptisms from any ‘evangelical’ church, and then eventually to accept any baptism (Catholic, Mormon, Grandmother, Se…). Once these are changed, the whole polity will quickly change. It opens the doors wide for operating as do all the other ecumenical harlot churches!
1 Cor 11:2 Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you.
Polity is based on the truth of the Scriptures. If you change that truth, then you change polity. And that’s what Baptist churches are doing in droves! They are dropping the ‘antiquated’ old King James Version for the more ‘user-friendly’ versions like NKJV, NIV, NAS, The Message, etc.. These versions are more contemporary and speak better to the ‘seekers’ that will come to visit your church. These ‘perversions’ are filled with errors, and very quickly so will that church’s polity!
1 Tim 3:15 But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.
One of the biggest hurdles to changing a church’s structure, how it does things, how it is led, etc., is by changing its identification…i.e. its label. Thus, the trendy thing to do is to ‘hide’ the denominational label (like Presbyterian, Lutheran, Free Methodist, Baptist, etc.) and put in its place a label like ‘The Rock Church’, ‘Cornerstone Christian Fellowship’, ‘Zenith’, ‘Higher Ground Worship Center’, ‘Life Tabernacle’, ‘Community Fellowship’, ‘Turning Point Ministries’, etc.. Once the label has been changed, then it is very easy, and expected, to change its polity.
1 Cor 14:40 Let all things be done decently and in order.
Church polity is trending quickly towards the opposite of this. They seem to want to do things ‘as the Spirit leads’, as they say. This involves, in their mind, not following ‘order’…not following the ‘standard way of doing things’… not being so concerned with if it is done ‘in an accepted fashion’; but, rather, to do things unconventionally, unorthodoxically, against norms, against what the majority may be comfortable with. They want to try ‘new’ things. They don’t mind experimenting with new formats and models. Order is not important…in fact it is looked upon as impeding the Spirit.
If Jesus Christ were to actually visit these Contemporary churches (which He doesn’t, because they are not His), He might react much like He reacted in John 2 --
John 2:15-17 And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables; And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandise. And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.
1 Kings 12:8 But he forsook the counsel of the old men, which they had given him, and consulted with the young men that were grown up with him, and which stood before him:
One of the big reasons for contemporizing a church’s way of doing things (polity) is from the older folks listening to the younger folks as to how to do things. They want that ‘youthful’ excitement; they want young people taking over for them so that they can ‘retire’; they want the church to grow leaps and bounds, and that seems only to be possible with reaching out to the younger generation. Polity usually majorly changes when the old Senior Pastor finally retires and moves away and a 30 something pastor takes over who wears an earing and has a faddish haircut and goutee’.
Probably the most notable contemporizing of church polity is seen in the change in ‘worship style’.
John 4:24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
Just because a contemporary church says they are worshipping the Lord in their new, up to date, worship style, doesn’t mean that that is actually happening. God requires worship to be acceptable worship…acceptable to Him.
Lev 10:1-2 And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the Lord, which he commanded them not. And there went out fire from the Lord, and devoured them, and they died before the Lord.
This new style of ‘ecstatic’ Worship is nothing different from this ‘strange fire’ that Nadab and Abihu offered up to their holy God.
Music and Worship sytle have an awful (and I mean ‘awful’) lot to do with shaping the ‘polity’ of a church. Once the worship style of a church changes, then very soon the whole of the church’s polity changes: 1) Decreased Pastoral authority; 2) Deacon Board power; 3) Introduction of Elder rule; 4) Deaconesses; 5) Decreased emphasis on ordinance purity; 6) Bible version smorgasborg; 7) Easy believism; 8) Fellowshipping with all types of churches; 9) They youth and young adults are the drivers, not the aged; 10) The denominational label is dropped; 11) What are you now??......
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Let’s look at some examples of this contemporization of church polity:
The rush is on. How contemporary can we really be? How in the world will we ever get the unchurched to come when virtually all they know comes through 30 second sound bytes?
We all know they will not listen to sustained discourse for more than 15 minutes! The contemporary plan is plain for all to see—create a worship service (none dare call it liturgy!) that is fast-paced, light on doctrine, and very heavy on music and drama. We are preoccupied, as a friend puts it, with being "trendier-than-thou." One local paper advertises, "Church Like You've Never Seen It Before!" This is followed by a brief description, all too typical of the trend:
Outstanding Music . . . No choirs or pipe organs here. Our music is crisp, contemporary, professional, and yes, even hot! World Class Drama . . . Each week our Drama Team,” Showcase", presents a dramatic performance specifically designed to enhance the message. Messages . . . Our pastor . . . teaches ageless truths tailored for people in the `90s.
(John Mark Ministries)
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It's Sunday night at White Mills Baptist Church. Set alongside the Nolin River in rural Kentucky, the white clapboard church on the hill has been a traditional site of worship since 1898. But there's not much that's traditional about tonight's service.
Inside, pastor and resident keyboard player Craig Perkins is leading the congregation in worship music along with a praise team that includes singers, guitarists and a drummer. Toes are tapping as the congregation gets into the feel of the music. These aren't your father's hymns.
White Mills is one of many churches moving from a traditional worship service that uses hymnals and piano to a more contemporary style, with praise bands and modern music.
Perkins said attendance at traditional Sunday night services had dwindled to 15 or 20 members on a good night. Since incorporating the praise band and a drama team nearly three years ago, attendance has easily tripled and on some nights even quadrupled, he said. The church averages 65 each Sunday night, and has seen more than 100 visitors.
"I felt what we needed to do was change the approach," Perkins said. "We pulled it out of the sanctuary and put it in the fellowship hall. It's a new environment and a new experience."
The fellowship hall's padded chairs are more comfortable than the wooden pews in the church's sanctuary, he said.
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(The following is excerpted from Wikipedia on the Emergent Church):
Emergent refers to an official organization, the Emergent Village, associated with Brian McLaren, and has also been called the "Emergent stream."
The emerging church (sometimes referred to as the emergent movement) is a Christian movement of the late 20th and early 21st century that crosses a number of theological boundaries: participants can be described as evangelical, post-evangelical, liberal, post-liberal, charismatic, neocharismatic and post-charismatic. Participants seek to live their faith in what they believe to be a "postmodern" society. Proponents of this movement call it a "conversation" to emphasize its developing and decentralized nature, its vast range of standpoints and its commitment to dialogue. What those involved in the conversation mostly agree on is their disillusionment with the organized and institutional church and their support for the deconstruction of modern Christian worship, modern evangelism, and the nature of modern Christian community.
They follow a ‘centered set’ theory of ‘membership’. The centered set does not limit membership to pre-conceived boundaries. Instead a centered set is conditioned on a centered point. Membership is contingent on those who are moving toward that point. Elements moving toward a particular point are part of the set, but elements moving away from that point are not. As a centered-set Christian membership would be dependent on moving toward the central point of Jesus. A Christian is then defined by their focus and movement toward Christ rather than a limited set of shared beliefs and values.
[Emerging churches are often what have long been known as ‘House churches’; groups of ‘believers’ who were disdained with ‘organized religion’ and have found common bonds with each other in a non-judgemental, contemporary, unorthodox approach to ecclesiology; they meet in homes (at least initially) in order to distance themselves from appearing ‘orthodox’ or ‘traditional’. Their ecclesiology is very unstructured; they do have ‘leaders’, but that ‘position’ is not ‘pushed’ much; they want to be all equal and work together in their pursuit to better know Jesus.] (narrative by Pastor Warner)
The movement favors the sharing of experiences via testimonies, prayer, group recitation, sharing meals and other communal practices, which they believe are more personal and sincere than propositional presentations of the Gospel.
The emerging church claims they are creating a safe environment for those with opinions ordinarily rejected within modern conservative evangelicalism and fundamentalism. Non-critical, interfaith dialog is preferred over dogmatically-driven evangelism in the movement.
Emerging communities participate in social action, community involvement, global justice and sacrificial hospitality in an effort to experientially know and share God's saving grace.