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Congregationalists accept the Bible as a sufficient rule in matters of faith
and practice. They therefore base their polity, their church government, upon
Scriptural foundations. At a time when the Congregational Christian Churches are
being asked to speak up for their Way, it is well to ask: What is the basis for
their faith and practice and how does it harmonize with the Bible-based usages
which Congregational Christian Churches have followed across the centuries?
The great central text of Congregationalism is Matthew 18:18-20, in which
Christ says to the early Church:
Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in
heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be looses in heaven. Again
I say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing
that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.
For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst
of them.
From this passage we draw two principles of faith:
1. THE HEADSHIP OF CHRIST
2. THE COMPLETENESS OF THE
GATHERED LOCAL CHURCH
THE HEADSHIP OF CHRIST means that Christ is the head of each local
Church. It is commonly but erroneously supposed that congregational Christian
Churches are democratic, or majority-ruled, in their government. This error,
together with the strong and persistent stress on the democratic ideal in
secular government, has led to a perversion of the New Testament teaching of the
Divine in the midst of human activity and decision. True Congregationalists
simply do not determine ultimate issues of right and wrong by counting noses!
Such arithmetical heresy has been widely practiced, and in no small measure it
has fostered an ecclesiastical secularism. Because of this men have turned to
centralized forms of church government in the hope of finding more spiritual
authority than is resident in the common human mind of fifty or a hundred
neighbors. The true Congregational Christian Church is a theocracy; it is ruled
and guided by God. It is not ruled by a written constitution, person or
tradition of the church.
THE COMPLETENESS OF THE LOCAL Church is based upon Christ's words to
the Church; ""Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in
heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."
(Matt.18:18) This means that God has given to the local Church every power
necessary for its spiritual functions. The local Church does not need the
authority of a pope or general council or any body external to itself in order
to do the Lord's work. This is a radically different concept than that of the
one great national or international Church. Any ecclesiastical organization
which ignores or contravenes the completeness of the local Church is not
Congregational.
In historical practice in America, Congregationalism has come to stand for
two basic principles:
1. THE AUTONOMY OF THE LOCAL
CHURCH
2. THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE CHURCHES
No better definition of Congregationalism has ever been written than that of
the noted scholar Dr. William E. Barton, which is to be found on page 15 of his
definitive book, The Law of Congregational Usage.
Congregationalism is that system of church organization which recognizes the
equal rights of all believers, the independence and autonomy of the local
Church, and the association of the Churches through voluntary organizations
devised for fellowship and cooperation, but without ecclesiastical authority.
Those Churches which intend to be Congregational cannot accept a constitution
or ecclesiastical organization which is at variance with this definition.
AUTONOMY, self-government under God, is the distinct witness of churches of
the congregational order. The small "c" is deliberate here in order to
include denominations such as the Baptist and Unitarian, which have a polity
like ours. It is worth remembering that the most popular polity in the United
States is congregational. In practical terms, Autonomy means that a local Church
is free from the bondage of ecclesiastical control. In our long, harsh struggle
to maintain the autonomy and freedom of the local Church, we have unfortunately
been forced to stress our principal doctrine to the exclusion of the second
great truth of Congregationalism.
That truth is THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE CHURCHES. In the New Testament we find
the Churches associated with one another as equals, with neither one Church
claiming authority over the others, nor the several Churches lording it over the
one. The early Churches lived together in an atmosphere of mutual love, not in a
relationship of dominance and submission. Congregationalists, following their
example, have companied together because they wanted to, not because a book of
discipline forced them to. Any ecclesiastical organization which attempts to
define, describe, or delineate the life, work, and relationships of our Churches
violates the Congregational principle of fellowship because it presumes to put
in black and white what ought to be written only on the heart.
Any organization which claims to be congregational in polity will therefore
have these four marks, clearly stated and visibly practiced:
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It will specifically honor the Headship of Christ in each local gathered
Church;
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It will exalt the spiritual completeness of each local Church;
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It will acknowledge, respect, and defend the autonomy of each local Church;
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And it will recognize Christian fellowship, not ecclesiastical law, as the
tie that binds our Churches together. Congregationalism is based on Biblical
truths which are eternal.
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