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Five Models Of Church Governance

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According to most scholars, there are five basic models of church governance: Presbyterian, Episcopal/Anglican, Plural-Elder models, congregational, and congregational/single-Elder. Supporters of each model claims that the progenitive source of their specific model of church governance is founded upon Scripture. After all, if the source of authority were anything but the divine Word of God, the church would be like any other secular human business, organization, or enterprise. Phil A. Newton supports this conclusion as he maintains “For evangelicals who believe in the sufficiency of Scripture for life and practice, it only makes sense to develop church polity based on God’s Word.” Therefore, any similarities or differences that can be made concerning these five different models of church government must be based on the Bible. …show more content…

The terms presbyteros and episkopos were both used by the New Testament writers to describe the leader of a church. Both terms were qualified by the apostles who described the person filling this role as one who is both a leader in the church and accountable to God for his integrity in leadership. This New Testament construct has been distilled over the years into a common form of church government. Robert L. Reymond describes the Presbyterian model as the “governance of the church by elders/overseers in graded courts, with these officers executing the responsibilities of their office in unison and on a parity with each other, and with the material care and service of the church being looked after by deacons…under the supervision of the elders/overseers”. The key benefit of the Presbyterian form of church governance is the high degree of accountability among those in church leadership. This is a natural byproduct of the hierarchy of the structure of elders and overseers. It provides a series of checks and balances that ensure the church is being faithful to her core …show more content…

Business meetings are usually informative and always civil, but the church members are not always as informed as they should be. It would behoove the church leadership to assure that every effort was made to completely inform the church members before an issue is deliberated and voted upon. It should be noted that the church is a part of county, state, and national convention that networks it with churches with the same basic form of church government. This interconnectedness allows this local church to join with other churches in similar ministerial

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