Politics in the Church
Wes Johnson, a retired District Superintendent with the Evangelical Free Church, once said something that stuck with me like a thorn in the flesh. I don’t like what he said, but over a number of years in ministry working with pastors and church leadership the words have been proven true way too often.
Here’s what Wes said: You can expect that the number of pastor and congregation problems in a church will increase during Presidential election years.
It seems that when governmental offices are up for grabs, especially the top office in the land, people tend to subconsciously want to vote on leaders, either affirming them of kicking them out of office. An internal debate tends to be set off in the brain of church goers that questions if a change in leadership is needed to solve the “problems” of the church or just give a “fresh” look to church government. In other words, leadership is up for grabs because a “democracy mindset” has taken hold of the North American church, and I for one don’t like it. My study of the Scriptures tells me that the church is not a democracy. My study of local churches in North America tells me that the church is thinking too much like a democracy, and not enough like a Christocracy. Now, I am committed to congregationalism as my preferred form of church government, but every believer having an equal “vote” on crucial issues, especially leadership issues, is not part of my view of congregationalism.
My home church (www.ibckenosha.com) has just gone through a major change in the way the church is governed that should help people understand the role of biblical church leaders and followers in the congregation. The church now has an elder board that will be able to give attention to spiritual leadership while the congregation participates in the life of the church and community by using their gifts and passion for ministry. Votes are minimized except for essential congregational decisions, and leaders will be able to lead and oversee the life and witness of the church.
Sometimes, change in church leadership is needed, and I believe the Scriptures provide clear guidelines for communicating this need to church leaders when it exists. But most of the time, the need to change leaders is really a matter of personal expectations, personal preferences, and personal criticism.
As Election 2008 approaches, my prayer is that godly, biblical leadership will not be up for grabs, but that we will follow our leaders in the church as they follow Christ.
