Back to Basics - Autonomy
Pat Farish
Churches of human devising – denominations — have myriad structural arrangements, various intermediate diocesan levels, and in some instances a sitting president or supreme ruler. These do not come from the New Testament.
As an undergraduate at a small Baptist college in South Texas, I was obliged to take a course named Comparative Religions, or something like that. It involved each member of the class announcing their religious affiliation, which pretty quickly became a discussion of the various churches represented. A Methodist lady in the class brought a diagram of the arrangement of the Methodist Church, from top to bottom. It reminded me of the back of an old radio, with its printed schematic pasted to it: all kinds of lines going hither thither and yon, and interconnecting with the other lines. It was really confusing.
What would a “schematic” type arrangement of the church of Christ look like? It would have Christ as the head, of course. It would have innumerable lines ascending directly to Christ; each line would represent a member of the church, in relationship to Him. There would be groupings or “clusters” of some of these lines which would represent local churches composed of these individual members. None of the lines would be broken; and not all of the lines would be in one or the other of these clusters (remember the Ethiopian Eunuch, as he went on his way rejoicing, Acts 8:39; and Saul of Tarsus seeking to join himself to the disciples in Jerusalem, Acts 9:26). In such a “schematic” you would see the church in the universal sense, composed of Christians; and you would see churches of Christ in the local sense, each also composed of Christians.
There is no functional arrangement revealed for the church universal: all those Christians directly related to Jesus, and enjoying “every spiritual blessing” in Him. The functional arrangement (ability to work) is reserved for local churches of Christ. Paul sets it forth in Philippians 1:1, as “the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons”. A local church is composed of people – saints – some of whom, by virtue of qualifications attained and selection and appointment are identified as “bishops” (I Timothy 3:1-7); and some, on the same basis, identified as “deacons” (I Timothy 3:8-13).
Those “bishops” (elders, pastors) are responsible for oversight of the church. Paul tells the elders of the church at Ephesus, “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers” (Acts 20:28). Peter wrote that elders should “shepherd the flock of God that is among you... “ (I Peter 5:2). The “flock, in which ...”. The “flock of God that is among you ...”. This tells us that the responsibility of elders is to the local church in which they are elders. They have no responsibility to other churches, or other institutions. The Holy Spirit makes them responsible for the local church where they are.
The word which describes this arrangement is, autonomy. It means, “independent in government; self-governing; also, without outside control”). The independent and self-ruled condition of local churches of Christ, as set forth in the passages examined in the preceding paragraph, has several effects.
First, it limits the size of works the church can do. A church with an annual budget of x dollars cannot comply with these passages and still undertake a work costing 2x – or 10x – dollars annually. This has proved to be no problem for some, who simply ignore the limiting passages and seek oversight of monies from other churches. They offer many excuses, but continue their headlong plunge into such programs without real regard for what is written.
Second, it raises a barrier against outsiders’ intrusions into the local arrangement. The judgments involved in accomplishing the work Jesus assigned the local church are the business of the elders of that local church. I may not think that the time selected – or the structure of the meetings – or the location – or other similar things – is best; but if I am not a member of that local church, it is none of my business. It is more than a little amazing that some who are so hard-line in their application of autonomy in cooperative questions, flunk so terribly when faced with considerations of autonomy on this more basic level. They need to embrace and apply Paul’s instructions “to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs ...” (1 Thessalonians 4:11).
The autonomous arrangement of local churches of Christ does not pander to desires for worldly attention: but it is the arrangement ordained by God, and it will be respected by those who are His servants.