Leading an Independent Church
We believe that … every local church has the right under Christ to decide and govern its own affairs.
That is from our statement of faith, and in this blog I’d like to point out a few things about how our church governs its affairs.
We’ve chosen to be independent rather than part of a denomination. Decisions about our property, our vision, and our programs are controlled completely and solely by people in our church.
We’ve chosen to fund everything we do by the offerings of our people and rarely ask outsiders to fund our ministry.
We’ve chosen a quasi-presbyterian form of leadership, i.e. we are governed by elders approved by the congregation. Our council of twelve ‘ruling’ elders focus on administration and decide on the philosophy and ministries of the church. Working with the ‘ruling’ elders are our paid ‘teaching elders’ (‘pastors’) who focus on teaching and doctrine.
It is our elders’ responsibility to find and ‘ordain’ the pastors (if not already ordained). Ordination is the tradition of testing a candidate for fitness and preparedness for office. An independent church ordains its own pastors, often with recommendations from a council of elders and pastors from like-minded churches.
Though all final decisions lie with the council of elders, the elders refer things like changes in the Constitution or sizable expenditures for buildings, property, or staff, to the congregation for its approval.
The second group of leaders in our church are the deacons. Deacons oversee financial matters and land and property projects (based on the apparent founding of the office in Acts 6). Deacons are also approved by the congregation and work in conjunction with the elders.
The elders can also choose to create additional offices, as needed. We have always had a board secretary (to take minutes of meetings) and a treasurer. Over the years, our growth has necessitated adding administrative assistants, a worship leader, a business administrator, and a communications coordinator.
As an independent church we select and support our own missionaries. The deacons work to create a budget where 1/10th of the annual offering goes to missions. We also choose to provide a lot of support (over $1500 a month) to three missionaries rather than a little support to many.
Finally, we oversee and maintain our membership with church discipline. If members start believing and/or teaching things or engaging in sinful practices that disrupt the peace of the church, we address those things and if the problem persists, the leadership recommends that the congregation excommunicate the unrepentant member.
These are just a few examples of decisions made in governing our church as we seek to represent and serve Christ in the world.
That is from our statement of faith, and in this blog I’d like to point out a few things about how our church governs its affairs.
We’ve chosen to be independent rather than part of a denomination. Decisions about our property, our vision, and our programs are controlled completely and solely by people in our church.
We’ve chosen to fund everything we do by the offerings of our people and rarely ask outsiders to fund our ministry.
We’ve chosen a quasi-presbyterian form of leadership, i.e. we are governed by elders approved by the congregation. Our council of twelve ‘ruling’ elders focus on administration and decide on the philosophy and ministries of the church. Working with the ‘ruling’ elders are our paid ‘teaching elders’ (‘pastors’) who focus on teaching and doctrine.
It is our elders’ responsibility to find and ‘ordain’ the pastors (if not already ordained). Ordination is the tradition of testing a candidate for fitness and preparedness for office. An independent church ordains its own pastors, often with recommendations from a council of elders and pastors from like-minded churches.
Though all final decisions lie with the council of elders, the elders refer things like changes in the Constitution or sizable expenditures for buildings, property, or staff, to the congregation for its approval.
The second group of leaders in our church are the deacons. Deacons oversee financial matters and land and property projects (based on the apparent founding of the office in Acts 6). Deacons are also approved by the congregation and work in conjunction with the elders.
The elders can also choose to create additional offices, as needed. We have always had a board secretary (to take minutes of meetings) and a treasurer. Over the years, our growth has necessitated adding administrative assistants, a worship leader, a business administrator, and a communications coordinator.
As an independent church we select and support our own missionaries. The deacons work to create a budget where 1/10th of the annual offering goes to missions. We also choose to provide a lot of support (over $1500 a month) to three missionaries rather than a little support to many.
Finally, we oversee and maintain our membership with church discipline. If members start believing and/or teaching things or engaging in sinful practices that disrupt the peace of the church, we address those things and if the problem persists, the leadership recommends that the congregation excommunicate the unrepentant member.
These are just a few examples of decisions made in governing our church as we seek to represent and serve Christ in the world.