Back in the spring of 2011, I made the regrettable decision to publish a blog post entitled, “Congregational Government is From Satan.” Initially the post was inflammatory to get attention, but in the end it was judged as unbalanced and therefore unfair. In that sense, the danger of hyperbole was realized. That post was removed long ago, but its negative impact continues to linger. This post is for the purpose of apologizing and explaining how I have come to regret it.
For the sake of our local Harvest and church plants around the world, and my many friends who follow a congregational model of local church governance, I offer this update.
“God is able to humble those who walk in pride.” Daniel 4:37
Daniel 4:37 reminds us that “God is able to humble those who walk in pride,” and I must say that He has made good on that promise in regard to my convictions about church government. I do not believe congregational government or any form of church government is, in itself, from Satan. I sincerely apologize for making such an inflammatory statement about a truly secondary issue and also apologize for all the offense I gave to my Baptist and other congregational brothers and sisters in Christ.
I grew up in the Fellowship of Evangelical Baptist Churches in Canada, and I have my home church to thank for my conversion to Christ, my baptism (my wife’s baptism too), my discipleship, and my vocational training at this same church. It was then called Central Baptist Church of London, Ontario (later named Stoney Creek Baptist Church), and they helped found London Baptist Bible College, where I received my undergraduate ministry training. My first pastoral position was at Riverside Baptist Church in Windsor, Ontario, where in 1985 almost sixty Baptist pastors heard my doctrinal statement, questioned me about my biblical convictions, and prayerfully ordained me into gospel ministry. When my wife, Kathy, and I moved to Chicago in 1986, I was hired by a church then known as Arlington Heights Evangelical Free Church, also a champion for the distinctive of congregational government. All that is to say I now view my flip to the ‘other side’ as less a study of Scripture and more a reaction to the negative impact of congregational meetings I observed in my formative years.
My conviction about biblical teaching on local church Eldership has not changed. What has changed is my confidence that Elder rule is a better protection against satanic attacks on a local church than congregational governance that attempts to be biblical in distributing authority among mature church members.
Many years ago Chuck Smith, founder of the Calvary Chapel movement and now with the Lord, graciously offered to meet with a young seminarian—and my most burning questions were about church government. In response to my inquiries, Pastor Chuck said something I did not understand at the time: “James, God can do a lot more through a bad system of church government with good men, than He can do through a good system of church government with bad men.” In other words, it’s not the system; it’s the people.
The greatest danger our churches face in regard to the enemy of our souls is our individual pride.
How true that has proven to be in my experience and observation. The highest points of victory in our church through the years, and in the churches we have been privileged to plant, have come when men submitted themselves to one another in love and refused to act out of haste or hurt. Sadly, I must also confess that the most difficult days of local church ministry have flowed from times where too much authority was vested in too few leaders, whose collective deficiencies (self included) gave the enemy an opportunity to cause division. These divisions have been equal to any I have seen in congregationally governed churches. Just as congregationally governed churches can languish in division when minor issues get inflamed during open forum meetings, so Elder boards, especially smaller or ingrown boards, can lose the objectivity that a broader congregational consensus could bring.
The potential for damage to a church seems likely in both models if a lack of humility is resident in those participating in the governance. In such cases, it is the condition of people’s hearts and not the model of governance that gives Satan an advantage in his efforts to damage the work of Christ in that body. My best thinking these days is that the Elders are wise to include congregational participation as a regular part of their church governance. When matters facing the church are difficult or must remain private to protect an individual, the congregation does well to trust the Elders they helped nominate and to pray for God’s wisdom among the Elders. When the decisions have far-reaching implications for the entire church family or when the Elders struggle to reach consensus, a review by the church membership for greater wisdom in seeking the mind of the Lord may lead to better decisions and greater unity among the entire church family.
Over the past few years, we have made significant changes to our own church governance in an effort to increase transparency and accountability to our church membership. Monthly written updates that summarize Elder meetings, frequently scheduled public forums for church members to ask questions and get answers, and posting our budget and annual audit online are just some of the improvements we have been making. These steps have been well received by the congregation and have created a forum for dealing with any future attacks of Satan upon our Elder form of church governance.
I am not a Congregationalist at this point, but I have come to learn that the greatest danger our churches face in regard to the enemy of our souls is our own individual pride. It seems like the Baptist kid has migrated a few steps back toward his congregational roots and, by God’s grace, away from the error of making a secondary issue a cause of division between brothers—something we ‘Baptists’ must work at constantly. 
I hope and pray this resolves any uncertainty about where my heart is regarding my regrettable post, and that it also clarifies the respect I have for the benefits of congregational participation in local church governance.
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