Who Does What Around Here?: An Overview of Congregationalism and Elders

Our church is in a season of adding another elder, so we’re spending a few weeks talking about elders and their relationship to the church.  Two weeks ago we discussed what elders do.  We learned that they teach, govern, and shepherd the church.  Last week we talked about the qualifications for elders, examining 1 Timothy 3:1-7 in order to see who can be an elder.  Our topic this morning is how the ministry of the congregation and the ministry of the elders fit together.  I’ve adapted this material from a class taught on this topic at Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington D. C.

  

We’re going to start with the congregation’s authority because, under Christ, their authority is the most basic level of authority in a local church that we see in Scripture.  Then we’ll look at the authority of elders.  The authority of the elders is thus placed inside the authority of the congregation since elder authority exists to help lead and equip the congregation to exercise their authority.  And finally we’ll look at how the two fit together.

 

Authority of the Congregation

Some think that congregationalism means that the whole church needs to vote on what kind of pencils we’re going to buy or what color the carpet needs to be.  That kind of congregationalism has given congregationalism a bad name.  The question, as always, is, what does the Bible say?

 

Here’s the big biblical idea about congregationalism I want you to get: the Bible teaches that church membership is an office.  It’s a job.  Your job as a church member is to guard the what and the who of the gospel.

 

It’s the whole church’s job to answer the questions, “Is that a true gospel confession?  Is that a true gospel confessor?”  That is the biblical heart and substance of congregationalism.  The primary texts for this understanding of congregationalism is Matthew 16:13-20 and 18:15-20.

  

Let’s spend some time looking at Matthew 16:13-20.  In verse 13, Jesus probes the disciples’ understanding of him.  They give some of the trending options about his identity in verse 14, but Jesus then asks them directly who they think he is in verse 15.  Peter, as the spokesman for the twelve, says, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (v. 16).  Jesus commends Peter for his answer, but then in an effort to keep him humble, he says in verse 17 that God is the One who’s given him this insight.  Then in verses 18-19, Jesus says that he will build his church on “this rock”, that the powers of evil won’t stop it, and then that he’ll give Peter and the disciples the “keys of the kingdom.”

I want to focus on two questions from these two verses.  What is the “rock” that Jesus promises to build his church on?  And what are the “keys of the kingdom”?  First, what is the “rock”?  Theologians have debated this question for hundreds of years.  Roman Catholic theology teaches that the “rock” is the apostle Peter.  Peter’s name in Greek is similar to the word for “rock” in Greek, and it’s likely that Peter was the first bishop, or pastor, of the church in Rome.  The church in Rome, over time, became the most influential church, and began to exercise power and authority over the other churches.  The bishop of Rome became known as the Pope, or the supreme and authoritative representative of Christ on earth.  Roman Catholic theology took this a step further in the year 1870 when the Pope declared that when he speaks ex cathedra, or when he gives a decision on behalf of the whole church, he speaks without error.

There’s much that could be said here, but our question concerns “the rock” that Jesus says he’ll build his church on.  Is it the apostle Peter and all who succeeded him as the bishop of Rome, men who claim to be able to speak without error on matter of faith and morals?  The short answer is no, Peter or Pope Francis aren’t the infallible “rocks” that Jesus is building his church upon.  The “house of God” is being built on the “foundation of the apostles and prophets (i.e. the Word of God), (and) Christ Jesus himself (is) the cornerstone” (Eph. 2:19-20).

What then is Jesus referring to in Matthew 16:18?  Many Protestants argue that the “rock” is Peter’s confession that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.  Can a church be built on mere words?  Confessions come from people, so it seems that the best answer to our question is that Jesus will build his church on people who believe the right gospel words.  Jesus isn’t building his church only on people or only on words.  He’s building his church on people who confess him as “the Christ, the Son of the living God.”  In other words, Jesus is building his church on true confessors.

Our second question is, what are the “keys of the kingdom of heaven” mentioned in verse 19?  I want to first tell you what I think they are, then I’ll tell you how I got there.  I think the “keys of the kingdom” refers to the authority given to the church to evaluate a person’s gospel words and life in order to determine if they’re a true gospel confessor or not. 

Here’s how I got there.  Jesus is giving Peter and the apostles the authority to do what he had just done with them.  Jesus says that Peter’s answer came from the “Father who is in heaven,” and now he gives him the authority to speak on behalf of heaven when he “binds” or “looses” on earth.  This language of “binding and loosing” was used by Rabbis when deciding whether a particular law applied to, or “bound,” a person in certain circumstances.  Jesus is giving the apostles this same kind of authority, or as Jonathan Leeman says, “The authority to stand in front of a person, to consider his or her confession, to consider his or her life, and to announce an official judgment on heaven’s behalf.”  So the apostles are given the task of declaring who on earth is a citizen of the kingdom of heaven.

In Matthew 18, this task is handed off to the church (vv. 15-18).  Jesus gives the church the authority to do the “binding and loosing.”  He puts the “keys of the kingdom” into the hands of the local church.  Someone is unrepentant of serious sin, so Jesus calls the church to take action.  There’s no mention of pastors or elders here.  The final court of appeal is the church.  The church, as the body of Christ filled with the Spirit of Christ, represents Christ on the earth and functions like Christ in deciphering who true gospel confessors are. 

This means that receiving and dismissing members from a local church is more important than we probably realize.  Church members aren’t God.  We’re not perfect.  We don’t have absolute authority, and we cannot save anyone.  The church cannot make a person a citizen of heaven or remove someone as a citizen of heaven.  But churches are called to formally affirm who the citizens of heaven are.  Whoever is holding the keys of the kingdom has heaven’s authority, not to make a Christian, but to declare who is a Christian.  Becoming a member of a church is like visiting the embassy if your passport expires when you’re out of the country.  The embassy can’t make you a citizen, but they do have the authority to declare that you are a citizen.

  

Congregationalism doesn’t mean voting on every decision that must be made in the church.  It’s about the church affirming real Jesus followers.  It’s about protecting and proclaiming the gospel.  Think of it this way, when you’re baptized into the name of Christ, you become responsible for the family name.  That responsibility comes with the authority to exercise the keys, to receive and remove members of the church.

 

No one wants their family name to be smeared.  Followers of Christ wear Jesus’ name before the nations, meaning that we have a responsibility to protect his name against false doctrine and false professors.  That’s why congregational authority is important.

 

Church membership is therefore an office, or a job.  Job responsibility number one: help preserve the gospel.  The members of this church are responsible for protecting and preserving the gospel.  This is why Paul tells the church to clean up false teaching about the gospel in Galatians 1:8-9.  This is why our church has the authority and ability to fire me if I every start saying or doing anything contrary to the gospel.

Job responsibility number two: help affirm gospel citizens. Every member of our church is responsible for protecting and preserving the gospel by affirming and disaffirming gospel citizens.  It’s the congregation that’s to act to clear up who represents Jesus to the world.  Jesus in Matthew 18 and Paul in 1 Corinthians 5 tells the church to remove people who’re living contrary to the gospel.

 

When the pastors or elders say to the church, “Hey, it’s our job receive members.  It’s our job to discipline.  It’s our job to guard the gospel,” they weaken Christians and promote complacency and nominalism.  This is why we spend time in our members meetings seeing members in and out.  It’s not just that I want you to know who’s joining.  I want you to feel the authority Scripture gives you.  Otherwise, I’ve effectively fired you as members from the responsibilities Jesus assigned to you.

  

This has relevance far beyond formal voting authority at members meetings.  If we’re to exercise this responsibility, we need to know the gospel.  We need to know that a Christian is someone who knows that God is holy and who admits that they’ve sinned against him, someone who has put their faith in Jesus and Jesus alone to save them from the righteous judgment of God, someone who is living a lifestyle of turning from sin out of love for God.  We need to know that a Christian is someone who believes the gospel and pursues God and godliness. 

 

And we need to know each other.  Part of being a member is knowing and being known.  This flows directly from our job description as a congregation.  We have authority to affirm whether someone is in fact a true confessor of Christ.  To do this, we need to be actively involved in each other’s lives.  This is why I talk about our church being a culture where discipling and hospitality and grace and honesty are normal practices.

 

This means that when a friend is struggling spiritually, it’s your job to help them.  Not just by alerting an elder to the situation, but by being on the front lines of pastoral care.  The elders will be there to equip and encourage and sometimes walk alongside you.  But ultimately, caring for one another is our job together.

 

And, by the way, as a congregation we’re really growing and getting better at this.  One of my biggest joys as your pastor is when I learn that our members are meeting together outside of these walls to encourage, pray, counsel, confess sin, and cry and laugh together.  That is the church being the church.

 

Authority of the Elders

If that’s the authority of the congregation, what does the authority of the elders look like?  The church has the authority of the keys.  The elders have the authority of teaching and oversight. 

The authority of oversight is God-given.  Acts 20:28, “The Holy Spirit has made you overseers.”  Authority in teaching is also God-given.  Titus 1:9, “(An elder) must…give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.”  Hebrews 13:17, “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls.”

The elders must use their authority of teaching and oversight to lead the church in its use of the keys.  The congregation cannot wisely fulfill their job responsibilities unless they have gospel teachers teaching and giving oversight.  They need elders to do their job.  They need elders to lead them in the exercise of the keys.

 

How do elders do this?  Well, we can break down their responsibilities into a few categories that we find in Scripture.  First, the ministry of the Word.  Other than not being a new convert, the only qualification that an elder has and a deacon doesn’t is his ability to teach.  Elders are to teach the Word, in public and in private.  They’re always ready to apply the Word to the situation at hand.  An elder must have complete confidence in the ability of God’s Word to do God’s work.

Second, the ministry of prayer.  Prayer is the other thing the apostles devoted themselves to in Acts 6, so it follows that elders must also pray.  Praying for themselves, praying for other elders, praying for needs they know of in the church, praying for larger challenges facing the church.

 

I’m reminded more and more each week that I’ve been given a job that only God can do.  As one pastor says, “Elders aim toward maturing church members in Christ, yet they have no power to make anyone else progress spiritually.  Overseers can teach the Bible, but they cannot make people obey it from the heart.  An elder can exhort fighting members to be reconciled, but he cannot make either party forgive.  God has given elders a goal that only God himself can bring to pass.”

You know from experience how much your best intentions for prayer can be scuttled by the busyness of life.  Don’t think that your elders are immune from those same temptations and pressures.  When you pray for your elders, pray that they would pray.  Pray that God would sustain them in prayer.  Like Hur who held up Moses’ arms in Deuteronomy, hold your elders up in prayer so that they can continue to pray.

 

Third, the ministry of protecting.  Jesus is the Good Shepherd whose voice the sheep hear and follow.  He gathers them to himself and he protects them.  He is the shepherd who leaves the 99 sheep to track down just one that’s gone astray.  He tells his Father that he has not lost any of the sheep the Father had given him.  The job of an elder is to be an undershepherd of the Good Shepherd.

 

Paul tells the elders in Acts, “Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers” (Acts 20:28).  And Peter says, “Shepherd the flock of God that is among you” (1 Pet. 5:2).  Elders are to keep watch over all the flock.  They’re to watch out for the weak and struggling, the rebellious, and the wolves in sheep’s clothing.  Elders equip the church to do the work of ministry through teaching, praying, and protecting.

 

How do these fit together?

One last question: how does the authority of the elders fit together with the authority of the congregation?  Ephesians 4:11-16 helps answer this for us. 

The ascended Christ gave the gifts of verse 11 in order to equip the church for the work of ministry, to train the church to build up the church.  One of those gifts is “pastor-teachers,” or elders.  Elders, then, are given to the church to train the church.  This work must continue “until” the church is mature (v. 13).  Paul’s language here tells us that all of God’s people are involved in this work (“we all”).  All Christians are involved in the maturing process.  The church’s growth is a group project.  The church’s growth is dependent on a collective buy-in by all members.  “We all” must continue serving until the church reaches maturity. 

God gives elders as gifts to the church to help the church be the church.  But it’s the church itself who must take responsibility for the ministry of the church.  In other words, the church owns the ministry of the church.  The basic idea of congregationalism is that gospel ministry is the day-to-day work of the congregation, equipped by the elders.   

Think of two hypothetical churches for a moment.  In church number one, the elders are in the front of the exercise room leading the Body Pump or Zumba class.  While they’re doing the exercises, the church is just sitting around and watching them.  In church number two, the elders are in the front of the exercise room leading the Body Pump or Zumba class and the church is doing their best to do the exercises that the elders are teaching them.  Which church do you think will be healthier?  God gives the church elders to train the church to be healthy, to take care of its body.

To summarize: members are mainly cared for, or pastored, by each other.  Elders mainly equip the church through public teaching.  Elders should be involved mainly as coaches, helping members care for each other.

 

Practically this means that it’s not just the elders who must use their lunch breaks and nights and weekends to care for the members of the church.  Every member of the church is called to care for other members of the church.  When someone is grieving or hurting or struggling or sinning, members don’t have to wait for the pastor or the elders to address it.  The church should step in and own the ministry that God has given them.  Members meet to pray and counsel and encourage and rebuke and lovingly correct other members.  The members of the church are responsible to care for the members of the church. 

This is how congregationalism works on the ground.  Congregationalism isn’t a representative democracy.  Some people look at Baptist polity and think it’s like the congregation is the people and the elders are congress.  The people vote the elders in to do what the people want, and the people vote the elders out when they don’t.  It’s not like that at all.

 

Sure, the congregation does have the most basic authority under Christ.  But the authority of the elders isn’t given to them by the church.  It’s given to them by Christ.  The elders are to use their authority to help the congregation exercise its authority.

 

That means that 99.9% of the time, these two authorities work together.  In extreme situations, the congregation uses their authority over and against the authority of the elders, kind of like veto power, or like an emergency brake.  When the elders lead in a way that is clearly contrary to Scripture, in a very important matter, the congregation needs to get rid of the elders.

 

But generally, these two authorities work together, not opposed to each other.  And generally neither elders nor congregation are exercising their authority as a trump card, saying “Do this because I say so!”  Instead, they’re living under the weight of their responsibility before God, the responsibility that comes from the authority that God has given to them.

As I said two weeks ago, leadership structures aren’t the most important thing for us as a church.  The glory of Christ is.  But biblical leadership structures help churches become healthier and therefore able to bring more glory to Jesus.  May God help us as members to care for one another well.  Any may he help our elders to equip us well through teaching, praying, and protecting.