Autonomy of the Local Church

Dear Pastors (& Christian Leaders)

Autonomy of the Local Church

I am currently engaged (again) in an interesting conversation about the biblical understanding of the status of a local Church in our modern times. The central question is this:- Is the autonomy of the local church a biblical idea or model?

A little bit of context might help. I have previously served as a Baptist Pastor for 25 years. Today I both chair the Board of the local Baptist church I attend in Hamilton and I am also on the teaching team. I started in pastoral leadership in 1983 in a Baptist church and I have lost count the number times this topic comes up for discussion. Currently it is on the table again because as we all know we are all facing new and challenging issues around recent law changes including the Charities Act, ensuring our churches are free from all kinds of abuse (safe churches) and pressing financial concerns as more and more Baptist churches are struggling to fund there local church.

Historically Baptists have held the position that as Baptists we are not, strictly speaking, a denomination¹ but rather a family of autonomous local churches. We are a ‘union’ of churches (hence The Baptist Union of NZ) that are connected together relationally but not organisationally. As such we will associate together, enjoy fellowship with one another and co-operate with each other where this is sensible and appropriate. We believe that this is the biblical model. That said, I know all to well that this is a contestable issue even amongst Baptist’s today and it is certainly contestable from those who have a more Episcopal understanding of how the church should be structured and organised.

To put a sharper point on it. Autonomy literally means self-rule. That has always been understood as ‘from a human standpoint’. In other words Jesus is the head of the church (Ephesians 1:20-23) and to whom we are accountable. So a better word that has been broadly adopted is self-governing. So an autonomous local church (irrespective of the name of the church) is self-governing, self-regulating and self-funding.

When we read through the pages of the New Testament it seems to point over and over again to the idea of autonomy of the local church (although the word as such is not used nor for that matter is the word ‘denomination’ found anywhere in the bible):-

"The elders who are among you I exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed: Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock" 1 Peter 5:1-3

"So when they had appointed elders in every church, and prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed." Acts 14:23

The idea that a congregation can and should be submitted to the rule of Christ yet led by Elders, taught by Elders, cared for by Elders was ever so important for the first century church. In other words the ‘organisational requirements’ were nigh on non-existent. “All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper and to prayer” Acts 2:42. This meant that as thousands upon thousands were coming to faith in Christ churches could be started all over the place without buildings, constitutions, Trust Deeds, Mission Statements and Strategic Plans and on and on and on and on. It was simple back then. With the passage of time all this has changed and now we have evolved into highly prescribed organisations that are costing an arm and a leg to keep running. But that is a whole other discussion for another day.

So Pastors, how do you see it?

1. Is local church autonomy biblical?
2. If autonomy is not biblical what is the biblical model/concept?

3. Are denominations biblical?
4. Have denominations helped or hurt the witness of the church?

5. Is autonomy and interdependence mutually exclusive?
6. How could we be better united as a family of churches in a local area irrespective of our name or denominational affiliation.

I would love to hear or read your thoughts.

Blessings
Alan

¹ The Baptist Union lives with a ‘quirk’ of history that to my knowledge no other denomination or church body has in NZ. We have an Act of Parliament that does complicate things a bit. It’s called the Baptist Union Incorporation Act 1923 that does refer to us as a denomination. However, as I have tried to argue here, a piece of law is still ultimately subject to the teaching of scripture.