BAPTIST CHURCH POLITY

LECTURE 28

Other Unscriptural Polity:

Elder Rule (Laymen), Deacon Board rule, Women Pastors

ELDER RULE (of laymen)

Overview of the Elder rule issue

There is a common misunderstanding, today, that eldership is a sort of third office in which elders are a board of men with more authority than deacons but less than pastors. Elders are often viewed as representatives from the congregation, elected for a specific term and for the purpose of representing the interests of the church to the pastor and counseling him on matters of concern to the church. In many other churches the elders are a board of ruling laymen set over the pastor. These ideas, however, reflect a misunderstanding of the New Testament elder.

The first order of business is to establish the congruity of “elder,” “pastor,” and “bishop.” These are not three separate offices, nor are they three distinct ranks within the one office; they are one and the same. The three words are used interchangeably: They speak only to the different aspects and functions of the same office: The term “elder” refers to the dignity of the office; “bishop” speaks to the design or function of the office; while the word “pastor” relates to the duty of the office.

Here are three passages that help clear all the confusion up on this issue:

Titus 1:5-7 For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shou.ldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain ELDERS in every city, as I had appointed thee: If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly. For a BISHOP must be blameless...

{Elder and Bishop used interchangeably here}

Acts 20:17,18,28 And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called the ELDERS of the church. And when they were come to him, he said unto them... Take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the FLOCK, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you OVERSEERS, to feed the CHURCH of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.

{Elders used interchangeably with overseers (bishops); also, elders rule over a flock (church), which connotes pastoring (who takes care of a flock? Pastors/ Shepherds)}

1 Timothy 3:1,4,5 This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a BISHOP, he desireth a good work. One that RULETH well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity; (For if a man know not how to RULE his own house, how shall he take care of the CHURCH of God?)

{A Bishop (i.e. pastor) is suppose to be a good “ruler” both of his own home and the church of God; “Elder” is not mentioned here, nor does it have to be, for elder is synonymous to bishop and pastor}

Quasi Presbyterian , Quasi Corporate

Scriptural leadership has been replaced with the 21st Century “corporate” leadership model.

The old ‘unscriptural’ model of a board of deacons presiding over the church, and the pastor, is now outdated.

There is needed a newer, more user-friendly, unscriptural model for leadership.

What is very popular today is the ‘quasi-Presbyterian’ model of church leadership.

This model follows a consensus style of leadership by a ‘board of elders’.

These so-called ‘elders’ are usually not ordained pastors, but are men in the church of ‘renown’ who are voted in

by their peers.

The position of elder here is of no similarity to the office of pastor. These elders do not claim for a moment to be

‘called’ to be a pastor, or even a deacon for that matter.

They are chosen often in groups of 3-7 and may include the senior pastor, but often do not include any pastor.

This is very similar to the corporate style of leadership, with a CEO who is answerable to, and subordinate to, a

Board of Directors. These directors are chosen by the corporation’s members.

Southern Baptist Style

Popular pastors of large Southern Baptist Churches are ‘trending’ to an elder rule model of church leadership. They seem to support it Biblically by promoting that a pastor is an elder which is a bishop. This is all fine; but then in practice they tend to place certain men from their church into leadership as elders who are not at all pastors, but simply ‘lay leaders’. These ‘lay’ elders are on the ‘elder board’ usually along with any ‘pastor’, or at least the ‘senior pastor’. Then there will eventually be a vote where the church is asked to switch from ‘congregational rule’ to ‘elder rule’. This implies that the group of elders will make most, or sometimes all, of the decisions for the church.

Concerns of this trend:

1. Non-pastor gifted (and called) ‘lay elders’ ruling.

2. What happens if the ‘lay elders’ don’t agree with the ‘pastor elder’?

3. The disentigration of the congregation’s (church’s) authority and involvement in spiritual

decisions.

4. The move from ‘rigid fundamentalism’ to ecumenicism is only possible if you change leadership. So, get some

young ‘elders’ in to the elder board and eventually (3 to 5 years) they can cause the church to become

progressive, NIV, universal, Rock n Roll, contemporary, non-Baptist, etc.!

THE DEACON’S AUTHORITY

In a word, the deacon has no authority. Nowhere in the New Testament are deacons described as rulers in the church, and nowhere are they seen ruling over the pastors. Deacons are not rulers! The Bible speaks of ruling elders (as pastors or bishops) (1 Tim. 5:17), but one will search in vain for a reference to ruling deacons! The following comments by Baptist historian Thomas Armitage are helpful:

"This election created a new office in the Church, but not a new order in the ministry, as that term is now technically used. Alford warns his readers (on Acts 6) ‘Not to imagine that we have here the institution of an ecclesiastical order so named’--deacons. In modern parlance they were ‘laymen’ before their election. and they remained so after. The reason given for the creation of their office was, that the Apostles might be relieved from those duties which interfered with their full ‘ministry of the Word.’ One set of ministers was not created to help another to do the same work, but duties that were not ministerial or pastoral were separated from those that were, and given into other hands. So that the deaconship was not probationary to the eldership, nor have we any evidence that in the first century any deacon became an elder. … The instructions given to the deacon in the Epistles, show the functions of his office to have been the same in the latter period of the Apostolic Age that they were when the office was created; and it nowhere appears that they exercised the pastoral or ministerial office. Even in matters relating to the relief of the poor they were not supreme. When Paul and Barnabas brought relief to the poor saints at Jerusalem, they delivered the gift to the ‘elders’ and not to the deacons: and no deacons assisted in the call, deliberations, or decisions of the advisory Council at Jerusalem. Paul’s associations there were all with the elders and not the deacons of the Church, showing that the deacons held no rank in the pastoral office" (Thomas Armitage, A History of the Baptists, 1890).

The terms "pastor," "elder," and "bishop" are used interchangeably in the New Testament and refer to the same office. The three different words are used to describe the three aspects of his office—shepherding (pastoring), instructing, and leading. A pastor (or church planting missionary) is the only officer in the church who has Bible authority to exercise oversight. He is called the bishop, which means overseer. The elders in the church at Ephesus were also called the overseers (compare Acts 20:17 with 20:28). In the New Testament, no other church officer is ever given this title. Deacons are never referred to as overseers, rulers, or leaders. A church must never set up overseers over the overseers!

Anytime a committee or trustees or board of deacons or board of elders (made up mostly of laymen) or some other group of men set themselves up over the pastor(s) in authority, rather than placing themselves in submission under the God-assigned position of the pastors, the men involved are sinning and are in rebellion to the Word of God.

There is a normal tendency for a church to want to set up a human system of checks and balances on the pastor’s authority after experiencing a failure or abuse of such.

For example, the deacons sometimes take control of the church on a permanent basis and retain ultimate authority over the pastor. Sometimes the strongest families in the church assume control; sometimes in a blatant, public manner; but more often in a subtle, "behind the scenes" manner. In other cases, the biggest financial givers and businessmen will take control of church affairs, ruling over the pastor and congregation, either publicly or from behind the scenes.

WOMEN LEADERS

Men and women in the world, having rejected Bible truth, are confused about the most basic things. Many men are trying to be like women in dress and manner, while many women are demanding the right to be like men, to dress like men, to do the same work as men, to play the same sports as men, to fight in armies like men. They want more than equal pay for equal work; they are demanding a man's place in the home, church, and state.

Sadly, the church is always affected by society. Thus the rebellion of women in the world is causing similar problems in the churches, and we find women demanding leadership roles in many Christian groups.

The Bible speaks too clearly on this subject for there to be any confusion. The problem is that churches too often are looking to sources other than the Bible for guidance. God loves women as much as He does men. Women are as important to the home, church, and society as men are. In Jesus Christ, women enjoy the same spiritual position and blessings before God as men do. This does not mean, though, there is to be no difference in men and women in their appearance and roles. There is a basic truth which needs to be restated in the church and society today: Men and women are different!

FEMINISM: WOMEN’S GREATEST ENEMY

Feminism:

Not just looking for ‘equality’ of the genders; they want total dominance.

Men have ruled too long: look at the mess we are in.

It’s time to take back America: via political action, left wing judges, media control, etc.

Radical feminism (feminatzsism) – all men are evil. Lesbianism and Pro-choice movement are their rallying points.

(Victoria Osteen serves as the co-pastor of Lakewood Church. She is a passionate and active leader and an integral part of each worship service at Lakewood.)

Feminism is greatly influencing our homes, schools, governments, and, yes, our churches! Most churches have women in the majority of the membership numbers. However, most churches have women far in the minority in leadership positions. The world looks at this with disdain. Church member women are often in the world, working in the world, and definitely influenced by the world. They can bring those ‘influences’ into their church, especially when they see the apparent ‘disparity’ as mentioned earlier. Feminism is influencing our good churches, you can be sure.

Feminism is against authority: man, parental, employer, governmental, and surely God… their ‘beef’ is not just against the man, but everything attached with man and his ‘authority’. They want freedom from all the rules and regulations of societal norms and most definitely the Bible. Feminists are therefore anti-God, anti-Bible, anti-Church, anti-Christian, and, yes, anti-Christ…

Lisa Comes is an Associate Pastor of Lakewood Church in Houston, TX, under the leadership of her brother Pastor Joel Osteen. Born with a crippling birth defect that doctors said might keep her from walking, Lisa was miraculously healed as a child. In 1990, God spared her life when a pipe bomb sent thru the mail exploded in her lap.

Feminist Bible:

They are battling the church from within, within the very rule book the church uses, the Bible. They are developing

“Gender-inclusive” Bible translations. One of their most popular ones is the NIVI (NIV inclusive); however, it was a great failure and is only sold in England currently. They also published the NirV (NIV readers version), which was designed for young children; it used Gender inclusive language, but without explaining this in its preface; which was a dirty trick indeed for unsuspecting parents. It turns out that the NIVI and NirV are basically the same. In 2002 the TNIV hit the bookstores and is becoming more and more popular. Many are using it without even understanding its great Gender-biasedness. All the following versions are "gender-inclusive" versions: 1990 NRSV, 1992 TEV, 1993 THE MESSAGE, 1996 NIVI, 1996 NLT, 2002 TNIV…

The Feminists goal is to change the rules; to change the rules that Christians and churches go by; they change the rules by changing the Bible.

Pastor Sally…?!

There are almost 4,000 licensed and ordained women in the Assemblies of God.

The United Methodist Church has ordained women since 1956 and today has 4,743 women "clergy."

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has 2,419 female leaders.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has 1,358 ordained women.

The Fall 1997 edition of Folio, the newsletter of Baptist Women in Ministry, reported that there are 1,225 ordained Southern Baptist women.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has 1,358 ordained women.

"U.S. women ordained to full-time ministry in 1986 increased to 20,730 from 10,470 in 1977, and represented 7.9% of all U.S. clergy, according to a recent study by the National Council of Churches. ... The survey showed that 84 of 166 denominations ordain women to full ministry...