|
|
Pages: Cover,
Content,
1, 2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
8,
9,
10,
11,
12,
13,
14,
15,
16,
17,
18,
19,
20,
21,
22,
23,
24,
25,
26,
27,
28, 29,
30,
31,
32
|
page 2 of 33
|
|
|
From Call to Settlement |
|
by Lloyd M. Hall, Jr.
|
I. FOREWORDS
|
|
|
Autonomy
|
|
|
|
Any statement issuing toward one Church's yielding of authority to any other -
including a body of related Congregational Churches - runs immediately into the
arguments for preeminent autonomy. They (the Churches of the fellowship) have
"no right to tell us what to do."
The debate becomes troublesome in the Congregational Christian Churches of
the United States at the end of the 20`h century because of the inability to
perceive authority in any other than a statutory way. To have authority is
believed to hold some power of enforcement, to be able to impose sanctions.
The authority of an Ecclesiastical Council of the Vicinage 1
is of a different order.
It is closer to what authority means when Matthew says of Jesus, "he taught
them as one having authority, and not as one of their scribes." The authority
does not receive its power from its capacity of enforcement by ecclesiastical or
secular court, but from the wisdom imparted as God acts through this agent.
Jesus' words have authority because they are perceived to be the words of God.
The result 2 of a Council finds its authority in the prayer-directed communication
of Christ's will.
Autonomy grants no power to defy the will of a Council - merely to be very, very
serious about recognizing whether the result is consistent with faith and
scripture. Only if the Church is faithfully
convinced that the result is in error does it possess the power to act
in any manner contrary to the result. Henry Martyn Dexter's word
on Robert Browne's attribution of authority to Councils remains
contemporary.
"That by the word `authority' here he meant just
what every true Congregationalist always means by
it in such a connection - the authority of Christ, the
great Head, revealing itself through such advice of
His servants, as may be the result of their
examination of the facts under the guidance of the
Holy Spirit - is made beautifully clear... " 3
Or as we read in the Cambridge Platform:
[Cambridge, XVI, 5] The Synod's directions and
determinations, so far as consonant to the word of God, are to
be received with reverence and submission; not only for their
agreement therewith (which is the principal ground thereof,
and without which they bind not at all:) but also secondarily,
for the power whereby they are made, as being an ordinance
of God appointed thereunto in his word.
The obverse side of the obligation to seek the advice and counsel of
sister Churches in any matter affecting the wider fellowship is the
response that is made when asked to provide that Council. How
many Churches are needed before we believe the results of the
Council speak for all of us? When any of us fails to respond to the
Letter Missive, we proclaim to the world that ordination (or
installation) among us is a matter of small import. To receive a
Letter Missive is not to receive an invitation to an "open house"
where so many are invited that the Church's presence or absence is
indifferent. It is, rather, to receive a plea to give counsel on the most
solemn and sacred of matters. The communion (fellowship) of the
Churches requires our presence.4
|
|
|
1
From here on simply referred to as a "Council," is a body of Congregational Churches
invited by a Congregational Church (or, in some circumstances, individuals) to consult on a
particular matter.
2
The statement of conclusion reached by the Council on the question(s)
before it.
3 Henry Martyn Dexter; The Congregationalism of the Last Three Hundred
Years;
Burt
Franklin, NY,
1970;
a re-print of the edition of
1880
which was
based on the Andover Lectures of
1876-1879; p 109
4
Hall, Lloyd, "Advice Sincerely Sought and Taken" in Peay, Steven, editor; A
Past With A Future; The Congregational Press, 1998; p 103 |
|
National Association of Congregational Christian
Churches
PO Box 288, Oak Creek, WI 53154
|
|
Pages: Cover,
Content,
1, 2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
8,
9,
10,
11,
12,
13,
14,
15,
16,
17,
18,
19,
20,
21,
22,
23,
24,
25,
26,
27,
28, 29,
30,
31,
32
|
Page 2 of 33 |
|
|
