Articles for tag: Congregationalism

January 26, 2014

By Don Bennett I”m convinced the sheep should not choose their shepherds. It”s time to get rid of policies and procedures that allow this. I spent my formative years in two Restoration Movement churches that seated their leadership through a voting process that usually occurred at an annual congregational meeting. This was the norm in the 1960s and “70s, with many churches actually allowing nominations from the floor on the day of the vote! As I witnessed this tradition over several years, I became convinced of this system”s flaws. For starters, few if any of those present and voting were

August 30, 2009

Christian Standard

Church Life

The Celebration of Congregationalism

by C. Robert Wetzel As a young man I spent too much time thinking about what was wrong with the church without reflecting enough on how much I was blessed in being a part of it. And when I thought of church, it was both the local congregation and broader expressions of church. There was, of course, an idealized version of what the pure, New Testament church was supposed to be, but if the ideal existed, it must be in another town, another state, or another country. Thankfully, the older I grew the more I began to see what is

October 19, 2008

Christian Standard

Church & Ministry Church Leadership Eldership

Three Resources on Elders and the Local Church

By Casey Tygrett When I was asked to write this article, I had to admit I had not read extensively in the area of eldership for some time. It isn”t exactly vacation reading for beside the pool! Especially after reading through Alexander Strauch”s classic Biblical Eldership, I had not explored other resources on the subject because I felt he had said it all in his detailed book. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the three books featured below, because they present challenges and ideas that can only serve to strengthen the leadership and character of elders in the local church.