HIERARCHY AND THE CHURCH

  My daddy used to say that “the most efficient form of government is a benevolent dictatorship” … and he was willing to sign up to be the dictator. There’s lots of folks who literally love to be the “dictator” or the person “in charge.” They’re convinced that if they were in control, then things would be done the right way - their way.

   Down through history, the question of how the church should be structured - and who should be in charge - has been an ongoing struggle. Our brotherhood has come to believe that the Bible describes the 1st Century church as populated by independent congregations whose Elders were the pastors of each specific flock. We’ve come to believe that these congregations observed the authority of the Apostles but were otherwise “independently owned and operated” (as I like to say).

   Over time, that began to change.

   When emperor Constantine became the patron of the church of his day, he began to reward Christians with positions of influence and authority within the Roman government. And the more involved those Christians became in Rome’s power structure, the more impressed they were with the efficiency of how things were run. Rome’s government was essentially in the form a pyramid, with the Emperor exercising authority from the top, and power flowing downward through governors and generals and lesser authorities. In time this governmental structure began to be embraced by the Catholic church. Instead of an emperor, they placed a supreme bishop (or Pope) at the top, with Cardinals, Bishops and Priests overseeing smaller and smaller portions of church government.

   This centralizing of power (or a “benevolent dictator model”) was a very efficient way to do church business. It kept tight control over power, doctrine, and physical assets like cathedrals and church buildings. And when the reformation split off from Catholicism, these reformation groups often embraced the same centralizing of authority - replacing the Pope with their own “Bishop,” or with a central group of decision makers such as a council or a synod. This centralized power structure not only controlled doctrine, but also often owned the church buildings of local congregations within that denomination.

   When our brotherhood got started, they noticed how this centralized power structure was abused by various denominations and became convinced that this was not how the early church ran things. Granted, there is no “thus saith the Lord” - where the Bible commands a specific church structure - but I’ve learned over my 30 years in ministry that there are at least 3 reasons why centralized power is counterproductive, and even dangerous.

 1. The Head Tax. Over the years, our congregation has had a couple families come to join us because they’d gotten kicked out of their home churches. Why were they kicked out? Money. These ex-members either wouldn’t declare how much they were giving to their church, or they didn’t feel they could afford the tithe demanded by that denomination.
  But why would a church excommunicate members based on how much they gave each Sunday? Well, the reason has to with that denomination’s centralized power structure. When a denomination has a central organization, somebody has to pay the people they put in positions of power. And that “somebody” who has to pay those salaries is the individual supporting church.
  Each local church is expected to pay a “head tax” based upon the number of members in each congregation – the more members a church has, the more “tax” they have to pay. If (in a given congregation) a person is seen as NOT giving their “fair share,” the leadership tends to view that individual as “dead weight.” Whether that member gave their tithe or not, the congregation still has to pay a “head tax” on them to the central organization. Thus, many denominational churches simply remove the “dead beats” from their membership rolls to avoid the extra cost.

  By contrast, in our brotherhood, there is no central organization to answer to. So there’s no head tax. In most of our congregations we don’t even keep track of the donations of members. We figure how much a person gives is between them and God.

 2. Power hungry people seek to be in power. I’d love to say that churches are filled with people with noble purposes… but it ain’t always so. Some people seek power. In the local church that power can be found in the church board, or the Eldership or the pulpit. Once a “power” person obtains a position of power, they can dominate and control the church in the way THEY think things should be done - and such power brokers can do great damage to that congregation.

   By contrast, in a church with a centralized hierarchy, the golden fruit of power is at the top of the food chain. Power seekers will tend to go for the leadership of the denomination because that’s where all the real action is.

 And that leads me to my next point…

3. Centralized power can drag a multitude of churches down a rat hole. When I began preaching, my first congregation had an Elder named Stan. Stan liked being in charge and had run off nearly every preacher before I got there. But since I play well with others, he liked me and put up with me… until the day I found out that his cousin (and a Deacon of the church) was engaged in adultery. At the time that I confronted and fired that Deacon, Stan was in Florida. But when he got back, things got very messy in a hurry and I was ultimately fired because I wasn’t bending to Stan’s will. That’s the result of power seekers dominating a local church.
  But while I was preacher there I also learned of the impact power lovers can have on denominational hierarchies. There was an important man in the community who I had developed a friendship with. And during one conversation with him he told me that he’d once belonged to one of the other churches in town, but had left them over a disagreement. I asked him what happened, and this was his story:
  He’d gotten wind that this denomination was seriously entertaining allowing unrepentant homosexuals to be members of their churches. My friend knew that wasn’t Biblical, so he called the Bishop of their district and asked why they’d even consider such a move. The Bishop replied “you take care of local matters. We’ll take care of national matters.” In response my friend told the Bishop: “you can take care of whatever you want… I’m outta here!” Power people had gotten to the top of that denomination and ignored Scripture so the could impose their own theology.

 Now, this is what I learned. At the church I served, one man had immense power and embraced immorality rather than purity. But that Elder’s decision effected ONLY that local church. Our sister churches in the area were embarrassed by this travesty, but their doctrine never changed.

  By contrast, the denomination my friend left was run by people with immense power, but few morals, and these power brokers attempted to drag 100s of churches down the rat-hole of impurity… simply because they could.

   Localized power within “locally owned and operated” churches may not always be as powerful or as highly effective as the huge denominational groups… but local autonomy does protect churches like ours from abuse by power brokers who often sacrifice faithfulness to God on the altar of personal preferences.