10b_churchGovernment

The Church has historically had different views on church government. In the early Church, elders were responsible for leading, teaching, shepherding, and praying for the Church. Ignatius proposed a three-tiered authority structure with a bishop, elder, and deacon. The Middle Ages saw the expansion of papal power, with the papacy asserting superiority over the emperor. The Great Schism occurred when two popes vied for authority. John Calvin suggested a presbyterian government, and the Westminster Assembly established levels of church government. The Anabaptists practiced congregationalism, while the Church of England had an Episcopalian form of government. Baptists and Congregationalists had their own forms of church government. In modern times, there have been shifts in leadership structures, the rise of multi-site churches, and increased opportunities for women in ministry. Chapter 27 Church Government Key Terms Great Schism Council of Constance Westminster Assembly for Church Government Egalitarianism Complementarianism Key People Ignatius Novatian Cyprian Clement of Rome Origin Dionysius the Pseudo-Eriapogite Innocent III Boniface VIII Clement V Martin V Pius II John Calvin Robert Boone John Smith Thomas Helwes A.H. Strong Key Points The Church has historically held variant views when it comes to church polity. The responsibilities given to the elders in the early Church included leading the Church, teaching sound doctrine, shepherding the Church, and praying for the Church. Ignatius proposed a new form of church government, one with a three-tiered authority structure – the overseer-bishop, the presbyter-elder, and the deacon. Ignatius elevated the office of one solitary bishop over the office of elders in terms of authority, with the office of deacon under both the bishop and the elder. The most important development during the Middle Ages was the expansion of the powers of the papacy. Following John Calvin, the Westminster Assembly for Church Government made a distinction between different levels of church government, involving the Directory, which called for the presbytery at the local level, the Classus at the regional level, and the Synod at the national level. A.H. Strong argued for a congregational government with a single pastor leading the Church. He believed that while the New Testament does permit a plurality of elders, the text does not require plural eldership in every case. To summarize, the Church has historically held variant views when it comes to church policy. The Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Episcopal churches were governed by a three-tiered leadership structure consisting of bishops, presbyters or priests, and deacons. Presbyterian and Reformed churches are governed by elders and deacons at the local level, but they also have regional and national assemblies that exercise authority through selected elders. Other churches, such as Congregational and Baptist churches, are governed by a two-tiered leadership structure consisting of pastors and deacons. These pastors have no external governing authority above the local congregational level. The leaders of the early Church were the Apostles. Jesus set apart twelve men and gave them authority to carry out ministry. It was upon these men that the Church was founded. After the Apostles, the Church appointed elders. The term was used interchangeably with presbyters, overseers, bishops, and pastor-teachers in the New Testament and continued to be used in this way even as late as the end of the fourth century. The responsibilities given to these elders included leading the Church, teaching sound doctrine, shepherding the Church, and praying for the Church. Deacons and deaconesses were also appointed to assist in the functioning of the Church. Thus, the leadership pattern presented in the early Church was twofold, elders and deacons. This same pattern continued in the late first century and into the second century. This two-tiered leadership pattern is confirmed in the writings of Clement of Rome, the Didache, and Polycarp. Ignatius, Clement of Rome, and Irenaeus each wrote about the differences that exist between the responsibilities of elders and deacons. Elders were responsible for the improvement of the soul while deacons were responsible for ministerial service. Despite the traditional interchangeable use of these two terms, some leaders in the Church began making a distinction between the offices of elder and bishop. Ignatius proposed a new form of Church government, one with a three-tiered authority structure, the overseer-slash-bishop, the presbyter-slash-elder, and the deacon. Ignatius elevated the office of one solitary bishop over the office of elder in terms of authority with the office of deacon under the bishop and the elder. Ignatius originally chose to elevate one single bishop over the Church in order to counteract heresy and maintain Church unity. Clement of Rome sought to substantiate this model by pointing to the old covenant priesthood, making parallels between the high priests and Levites with the bishops, elders, and deacons. Another line of support for this three-tiered hierarchy came from Dionysius the Pseudo-Ariapagite, who rooted this structure in the threefold hierarchy that he found also to exist in the Anglican realm. Although Ignatius's structure stood in contrast to the two-tiered structure in the New Testament, it would become the standard form of government for the Church. When a Church founded by a Novatian separated from the Catholic Church after considering its teachings to be contrary to the Christian faith, Novatian was confronted by Cyprian. However, Cyprian had no grounds to confront Novatian for theological error, since the breakaway Church was sound in doctrine. Instead, Cyprian's response centered on the office of the bishop as the key to the unity of the Church. Therefore, since Novatian separated himself and his Church from the leadership of the bishop, Cyprian believed Novatian's Church to be heretical. According to Cyprian, membership in the one-tiered Church with the bishop at its head is necessary for salvation. Deaconesses, female deacons, also ministered in the Church during this time. Origen argued from the biblical example of Psebe in support of female deacons. One responsibility for deaconesses was to accompany other women who had to talk with the male clergy, a ministry that served to circumvent the possibility of bringing reproach upon the Church in the case of a sexual scandal between male clergy and the women of the Church. The Middle Ages The three-tiered hierarchical structure continued with little change into and throughout the Middle Ages. The most important development during this time had to be the expansion of the powers of the papacy. During this time, Pope Innocent III asserted the superiority of the papacy to the emperor. This papal superiority would not go unchallenged. Less than a century after Innocent III, Pope Boniface VIII attempted to assert his power over English and French governments. Boniface sought to prevent England and France from taxing the clergy and their lands in order to raise money for war. He threatened excommunication if they failed to comply. Yet Edward I of England and Philip IV of France defied the pope. Philip IV sent an emissary, William of Nogaret, and a mob of other emissaries to capture Boniface and force him to resign from the papacy. Boniface was rescued but died soon thereafter. Clement V was chosen to replace Boniface as realm. At the urging of Philip IV, Clement moved the papacy to Avignon in France. For the following 70 years, the papacy was known for waging war, luxurious living, extravagant spending, and immorality. Though Pope Gregory XI was successful in moving the papacy back to Rome, the Church's problems did not cease. The problems that existed within the papacy led to the Great Schism, a time when two popes vied for authority, one in Avignon and one in Rome. The Church was split over the matter. In an attempt to resolve the issue, the Council of Pisa deposed both popes and appointed another in their place. However, the two deposed popes refused to step down and the Church was left with three popes. Only ten months later, Pope Alexander died, leaving Popes Clement VII and Urban VI. However, the Council of Constance convened, deposed both popes, elected Martin V as pope, and asserted the authority of the General Church Councils over the authority of the papacy. However, Martin V refused to submit to the authority of Church Councils. Later, Pope Pius II issued a declaration that made appeals to General Church Councils illegitimate, thus reaffirming the ultimate authority of the papacy. Many protested against the hierarchical government with the papacy at the head of the Church. John Wycliffe, for one, emphasized the holiness of pastors and their leadership over individual churches, the Reformation and post-Reformation. Martin Luther rebelled against the authority of the papacy, suggesting rather that pastors are the rightful leaders of congregations. Indeed, pastors were to be called and appointed by the Church. John Calvin believed that God had chosen to rule directly over the Church, yet God opted to govern the Church through ministers. Calvin referred to Paul's list of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. So Calvin referred to this list in Ephesians 4.11 and proposed that God ordinarily uses the last two in the Church, while the first three were used at the beginning of Christ's kingdom and are revived as the need demands. Calvin broke with the three-tiered authority structure and suggested rather that the Church should be ruled by a presbyterian government. Even so, Calvin delineated between four offices in the Church, pastor, teacher, elder, and deacon. Following Calvin, the Westminster Assembly for Church Government made a distinction between four levels of church government, involving the directory which called for the presbytery at the local level, the classes at the regional level, and the synod at the national level. The Anabaptists rejected the church-state reality of the Catholic Church and that the new Protestant churches had in one sense practiced an early form of congregationalism, encouraging the establishment of individual congregations. The Church of England broke away from the Roman Catholic Church, though it kept an Episcopalian form of government. It did not look to the Pope as its leader, but rather to the Archbishop of Canterbury. Thus, the Church of England developed a Protestant Episcopalian form of government. As a separatist, Robert Boone fled from the Church of England with his congregation to Holland. He would later articulate his ideas for what would become the congregational form of church government. The separatist movement led by John Smith and Thomas Helwes fled from Gainsborough, England to Holland to establish the First Baptist Church. Unlike the Church of England, the Baptists reserved baptism for believers. Both General Baptists and particular Baptists emerged from among them. While their church government was congregational, they still called for non-authoritative representative assemblies beyond the local church for the purpose of resolving problems among church members and local churches. In the modern era, A.H. Strong presented a case for Baptist congregationalism. He explicitly opposed the Episcopalianism of the Roman Catholic Church and refuted the state church form of government. He further argued for congregational government with a single pastor leading the church. He believed that while the New Testament does permit a plurality of pastors, the text does not require plural eldership in every case. The movement has developed among congregational churches to replace the solo pastor with a plurality of elders. Charles Hodge and Louis Burkhoff have both served as modern defenders of the Presbyterian form of church government. One of the largest shifts that have taken place in recent congregational church governments has been the remaking of leadership structures among the lines of businesses or corporations, oftentimes with a church operating officer of the company serving as the leader. Another shift has been the development of multi-site churches, where one church meets in multiple locations. Another development in the church has been the increasing frequency of women serving leadership positions in the ministries of the church. Women's opportunities before the latter half of the 20th century were rare. However, this changed as many Protestant denominations began arguing for an egalitarian theology and began ordaining women into the ministry after the middle of the 20th century. Many churches, however, have resisted the ordination of women, arguing rather for a complementarian view of men and women.