Well, I almost walked out of Sunday Morning Meeting today. I literally came this close, |–|, to doing it. What stopped me? I do not know, I guess I wanted to hear all of it. Perhaps it was the wrong decision, perhaps it was the right one, only time will tell.
My Sunday started out like any normal Sunday. Got up, finished off a few things for Sunday School, ate some muffins with my lovely bride, and went to meet with the Church. Today we started teaching from Galatians. I taught a little of the background of Galatians, the significance the book has had in history (protestant reformation/Luther/etc.), and then taught through the first chapter. It was really good. Then we all gathered together for Sunday Morning Meeting (or whatever it is called).
During the announcements the pastor said that he was starting a new series on Wednesday nights bible study. Apparently he was planning on teaching through the beatitudes, but given the conversation at the last business meeting he has decided it is important to teach through the Church by-laws and constitution.
This is not what made me want to leave. I did however roll my eyes and thought, “Great, one of the few times these people want to get together to learn about God’s word and you’re going to teach them crap.”
I wonder why Paul never wrote to the Galatians about their by-laws and constitution?
Then I noticed there was a little paper inside of my bulletin – it was the Church Coventant. I thought to myself, “Oh this must be one of those days when everyone stands up and reads aloud the Church Coventant – then Jesus descends from the clouds and blesses us all, right?” Well, today they did do that (I did not participate), Jesus never descended from the clouds – maybe next time.
Wait-a-minute – I thought the by-laws and constitution state that we are to read from this on the first Sunday of October… is it October already? No, that was not it. Then the pastor told us, in light of the previous business meeting, he has decided to preach the next four sermons from the Church Covenant. *Holy Crap*… what is going on here? Am I in the Twilight Zone or something?
We have one of those copy-and-paste covenants, you know, the ones that are so important for the church to have. They added a few things though, like we cannot look at pornography, etc. The covenant has four paragraphs and each paragraph is a sermon. What a waste of time.
By the way, my wife and I do not meet the covenant guidelines. I wonder if this means we cannot be members. Here is a copy of the covenant:
Having been led, as we believe by the Spirit of God, to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior and, on the profession of our faith, having been baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, we do now in the presence of God and this assembly, most solemnly and joyfully enter into covenant with one another as one body in Christ.
We engage, therefore, by the aid of the Holy Spirit, to walk together in Christian love; to strive for the advancement of this church, in knowledge, holiness, and comfort; to promote its prosperity and spirituality; to sustain its worship, ordinances, disciplines, and doctrines; to contribute cheerfully and regularly to the support of the ministry, the expenses of the church, the relief of the poor, and the spread of the Gospel through all nations.
We also engage to maintain family and secret devotions, to religiously educate our children; to seek the salvation of our kindred and acquaintances; to walk circumspectly in the world; to be just in our dealings, faithful in our engagements, exemplary in our deportment; to avoid all tattling, backbiting, and excessive anger; to abstain from the sale of and use of destructive drugs, intoxicating drinks as a beverage; to shun pornography; to be zealous in our efforts to advance the kingdom of our Savior.
We further engage to watch over one another in brotherly love; to remember one another in prayer; to aid one another in sickness and distress; to cultivate Christian sympathy in feeling and Christian courtesy in speech; to be slow to take offense, but always ready for reconciliation and mindful of the rules of our Savior to secure it without delay. We, moreover, engage that when we remove from this place we will, as soon as possible, unite with some other church, where we can carry out the spirit of this covenant and the principles of God’s Word.
(I googled “church covenant baptist” and this was the first hit it came up with: http://www.mt-pisgah.org/church_covenant.htm – if you care, check it for differences.)
During his sermon he actually talked about how church membership and covenants and all this crap does absolutely nothing for our salvation, pleasing God, or anything. It made me wonder, why do we care so much about this garbage? Why preach for a month about a covenant that is meaningless? Why? Why? Why? I literally almost cried on my way home. I feel so bad for everyone who is getting trapped in this.
Lunch with him on Wednesday. Please pray for me.
Lew –
Ahhh … church covenants. Brandon and I have often wondered at them as well. I don’t have anything more to say as we agree about all the crap ;) …
~Heather
BTW have you and your wife thought about Mercer in Atlanta? Then you’d be closer to us! Just a thought :)
Lew,
My husband and I have faced the covenant issue twice now. Just saying the word makes me ill. I’m sorry that this has come up for you and your church, and I’ll pray for your meeting Wednesday.
Heather
I guess it’s time we start wearing some long boots… aye?
Mary
Twice? At two different gatherings?
Thanks for the prayers.
God’s Glory,
Lew
Lew,
The first time was in our home state; the second time was after we moved. The second time caught me a bit off guard because I thought our first experience was too isolated and unique to happen again.
The most important document, after the Scriptures, is the church bylaws. What?!! Why most people have never even read their church’s bylaws. The pastor might have to scrounge around the church office for 20 minutes or so to even find a copy. And when he finds it, the yellowed paper, the rusted staple, and an old date indicate that it was last amended years ago under some prior pastor. Who even cares if the church has bylaws! Surely anyone who says it is the second most important document in the church has lost his senses, or simply likes to provoke others with the arcane and obscure.
Not so. Bylaws define the structure of how the church is governed. They state who has the power to make the decisions. They set forth the procedure for the selection of a new pastor. They outline how the money is handled. In summary, bylaws set forth the rules of who in the church has authority, and the issue of authority is the enduring question of this and every age…
Who defines orthodox Christianity? How does a church deal with issues which are not explicitly addressed in scripture? When there is a disagreement over speaking in tongues during the Sunday morning service, or whether the church parking lot should be paved, who makes the decision? Is it the pastor, elders, the board of trustees, the deacons, the bishop, the denomination’s national church board, the congregation, or some combination of them?
So long as everyone agrees, questions of authority can be fudged. But when Christians disagree, one must ask, “Who has the authority to decide for the whole church?” That is when somebody must dust off that old copy of the bylaws…
Whatever form of church government, it is essential that it be clearly spelled out. The place to spell it out is in the bylaws. Bylaws let everyone know what authority is vested in the congregation, the trustees, the pastor, et al…
Disputes within a church are always troublesome. They can be disastrous if people cannot even agree about who has the authority to make the decision. The body of Christ has been torn by many disputes down through the ages, as any reading of church history will readily disclose. A good number of these disputes are over the issue of authority. Many such problems can be avoided with carefully thought out bylaws.
More here: http://www.daguelaw.com/church_bylaw.aspx
r. radewicz,
Thanks for stopping by and commenting. As you may have guessed we disagree greatly on this topic. I think the fact that Scripture is completely silent on the role of “by-laws” may give us a hint as to where it stands on this issue as well. If by-laws really are the “second most important document in the church” then surely Scripture would say something about their importance.
Further, since Scripture is silent on many issues touched on in by-laws, I wonder if perhaps we should remain silent on such issues. If they are important enough to “split” over than again, why is Scripture silent on these issues?
Thanks for commenting.
God’s Glory,
Lew