Nigel Mitchell wrote:

I have read and studied the scriptures in this matter, and I cannot see anywhere that there is even the slightest support for the congregational model of church governance. I am not saying
that it is not an adequate model, but it is not based on scripture. I
think the model of Bishops etc. is not perfect, but I do believe, for
the reasons I have stateed in this discussion, that it more closely
reflects the model of Church we see in the NT.

A comment from a Baptist:

Baptists and Congregationalists are strong advocates of congregational
church government/governance, but Nigel is right: their biblical
rationale is weak. 

Not only that, most Baptists don't seem to realize that they're reading
back into a biblical culture which was more hierarchical than ours,
through blinkers forged from two _modern_ trends: post-Enlightenment
individualism/autonomy, and notions of Western democracy.

My own view is that the question 'Who governs the church?' is best
answered: Bishops, in collaboration with fellow elders/presbyters,
guided by Prophets, consulting fully with the whole community of faith.

Related Articles:

• THE NEW EVANGELICALS: HOW CHRISTIANS ARE RETHINKING ABORTION AND GAY MARRIAGE
• Theologians, like parents, are invited to be humble as well as (frequently) ignorant…
• The Jesus Driven Life
• INCARNATION
• Virgin Birth: ‘God degraded Mary?’

This work, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Australia License.