Comments on: Is the Church a Democracy? http://naclacey.org/is-the-church-a-democracy/ Lacey, Washington Wed, 14 Mar 2007 22:00:52 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 By: Andrew http://naclacey.org/is-the-church-a-democracy/comment-page-1/#comment-2 Andrew Thu, 11 Jan 2007 07:09:25 +0000 http://naclacey.org/is-the-church-a-democracy#comment-2 What I get from Acts 6:1-4 is that the apostles recognized that while they had been entrusted to guide the spiritual matters of the church, it was not appropriate for them to extend this control to matters of economics and governance of the church as a social body. You bring up an interesting point about the lack of clear delegation, and I think that in all cases democracy is complicated by those who are less informed and less invested in the history and context of the organization, whether it is a church, business or nation. Nevertheless, Jesus seems to take a trusting approach to this question in Matthew 18:19-20, saying "if two of you agree down here...my father will do it for you. For where two or three gather together because they are mine, I am among them." And in Acts 15, the Council at Jerusalem describes a very inclusive process which resulted in a rather humble statement on a matter of critical importance (i.e. circumcision): "It seemed good to us, having unanimously agreed on our decision..." (v. 24). This suggests some sort of consensus process, which would address the concern about an immature majority making a wrong decision. Thank you for bringing up this topic in your church. I look forward to visiting at some point soon. What I get from Acts 6:1-4 is that the apostles recognized that while they had been entrusted to guide the spiritual matters of the church, it was not appropriate for them to extend this control to matters of economics and governance of the church as a social body.

You bring up an interesting point about the lack of clear delegation, and I think that in all cases democracy is complicated by those who are less informed and less invested in the history and context of the organization, whether it is a church, business or nation.

Nevertheless, Jesus seems to take a trusting approach to this question in Matthew 18:19-20, saying “if two of you agree down here…my father will do it for you. For where two or three gather together because they are mine, I am among them.”

And in Acts 15, the Council at Jerusalem describes a very inclusive process which resulted in a rather humble statement on a matter of critical importance (i.e. circumcision): “It seemed good to us, having unanimously agreed on our decision…” (v. 24). This suggests some sort of consensus process, which would address the concern about an immature majority making a wrong decision.

Thank you for bringing up this topic in your church. I look forward to visiting at some point soon.

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