Church Government

Royal Priesthood, Holy Nation                                Acts 1:23 – 26

Church Government

by Robert T. Cooper

Who gets to decide what in a local church? My background is with churches with congregational polity, but I know someone who is taking classes to join a church with a different polity. A recent lesson he took referred to the Jerusalem Conference and concluded that the local congregation doesn’t get to decide everything.

So when we come to Acts 1:23 – 26, we find a situation in which everyone agreed a person needed to be selected to replace Judas as an Apostle. It seems from the context that the entire congregation was permitted to nominate candidates, but only two were nominated. And then rather than the entire congregation voting, lots were cast. They didn’t think of it as gambling; they thought of it as allowing the Lord to decide the selection. Do any churches make decisions that way in modern times? I don’t know of any.

Still, as a believer I have confidence in the Lord, that however any local church makes decisions, He is in charge of the outcome. He moves in people’s hearts to vote one way or another. He places words in people’s mouths according to His intentions. He causes ballots to be counted or left uncounted in various ways. When we fully trust in the Lord to bring about the result He desires, we can be confident that He does.

What is the voting polity of our church? What is the biblical basis of that polity?