Protestant history includes a woodcut authorized by Martin Luther. Pope Leo X had issued the bull Exsurge domini, “Arise O Lord” against him, and Luther wrote detailed responses. Cranach’s woodcut showed peasants baring their behinds to the pope’s face. When a religious entity exceeds its just authorities, that religious entity itself is subject to correction. The very idea of “Protestant” in itself says that protest and resistance to the abuse of spiritual authority is proper.
Isaiah tells God’s provision for His Church:
I have set watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; they shall never hold their peace day or night. You who make mention of the Lord, do not keep silent, and give Him no rest till He establishes, and till He makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth. Isaiah 62:6-7
God has set watchmen, plural, on the walls. Watchmen are not limited to the pastor or conference president, the conference executive committee or even delegates at a constituency meeting. God has set watchmen on the walls of Jerusalem; to us, watchmen on the walls of His Church.
The watchmen “never hold their peace day or night.” They are not silenced by threats or policies, rightly or wrongly interpreted, voted, or applied.
Keen-eyed soldiers high on the walls kept ancient cities secure, scanning the horizon for camp smoke or dust clouds caused by an approaching army. The watchmen today are the same as in the time of Isaiah: “You who make mention of the Lord.” That is, every believer in Jesus.
Then you and I are to give God no rest until He establishes, makes Jerusalem, a praise in the earth. Humans are to be guardians for God and for each other. We pray for someone having surgery or battling a disease. That is intercession, mediation; that is watchman-ing. The local church is a place on His wall. We are to defend present truth, defend the faithful. Our position is non-negotiable. “The Church is God’s fortress… which He holds in a revolted world.” (Acts of the Apostles, p. 11)
God’s voice speaks through the prophet at 62:1-2:
For Zion’s sake, I will not hold My peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until her righteousness goes forth as brightness, and her salvation as a lamp that burns. The Gentiles shall see your righteousness, and all kings your glory.
In verses 6 and 7 God says we are not to rest. We are laboring for and God is laboring for Jerusalem. The church membership and God are working together.
The Church Board
But let’s not just theorize. Today we are looking at responsibilities and delegations of power as they presently stand in your local church. For example, what are some of the responsibilities that the Seventh-day Adventist Church has assigned to the church board?
Pages 134 and 135 of the Church Manual list several items such as:
1. An active discipleship plan.
3. Spiritual nurturing and mentoring of members.
4. Maintenance of doctrinal purity.
5. Upholding of Christian standards.
Someone thinks that the pastor is the last word locally on doctrinal purity. No; the church board, including its elders, is. Who the pastor is is an important question, but immeasurably more significant is the question of who has been elected to serve on the church board. Your congregation should only nominate to the board persons committed to the mission of the church, and who have the backbone to insist your members be nurtured, to maintain doctrinal purity, to uphold Christian standards, and to strengthen the evangelistic impulse in your congregation.
Don’t depend on the conference and the pastor. They have their part, but the world church sees the areas listed, and other areas, especially as church board territory. Woe to the congregation where this is misunderstood.
Did you know that Church Manual page 135 says: “It is one of the primary functions of the board to ensure that members are nurtured and mentored in a personal, dynamic relationship with Jesus Christ”?
How do they do that? One way is to bring in presenters, teachers, and guest speakers who are able to help your congregation grow in their relationship with Jesus, and to increase in their understanding and application of present truth. This is not a secondary thing, or only if the pastor needs help; this is primary. The pastor assists the congregation. A church board who invites faithful guest speakers is only doing what it is charged to do. (We’ll have more to say in this series about the specifics of how the conference and the local church relate to guest speaker invitations.)
In the first presentation I showed how all authority is given to Jesus and that Jesus vests some of His authority in His Church. I pointed out an important theme from the Church Manual page 28:
The Seventh-day Adventist form of governance is representative, which recognizes that authority rests in the membership and is expressed through duly elected representatives at each level of organization, with executive responsibility delegated to representative bodies and officers for the governing of the church at each separate level.
That statement is drawn from the current (as of 2023) Church Manual. But hear the Church Manual 52 years before that. It is describing different forms of church governance, and then comes to our form:
Representative—the form of church government which recognizes that authority in the church rests in the church membership, with executive responsibility delegated to representative bodies and officers for the governing of the church. This form of church government recognizes also the equality of the ordination of the entire ministry. The representative form of church government is that which prevails in the Seventh-day Adventist church. p. 46.
Exactly the same wording appears in my 1951 edition twenty years further back, on p. 43. And we can go back further, this is not a new idea in the Church. Our form of governance is representative. So who is represented? The membership.
Where Authority Begins
Authority rests in the membership—not in a pope or a president or a pastor. Pastors and presidents are lent some authorities, but the foundational idea is Jesus has actually lent His authority to the church in its membership. That given authority actually “rests in” the membership. “Rests in” means that in practical terms the membership is the root, membership is effectively the home of authority, the starting place. You as members have authority. It begins with you.
How is the authority that rests in the membership expressed in the Seventh-day Adventist Church? It is expressed through duly elected representatives at each level of organization.
So let’s think about the local church. Are officers elected at the local church? Yes. So, in your congregation you have a church board and various officers and committees. Almost all of them are under the authority of the church board.
Delegated Authority
The governing of the church is delegated to representative bodies and officers. What does delegated mean? Certain duties are assigned to representative groups and officers. The assigning body has authority to assign. It has greater authority than those to whom it assigns. The assigning body delegates certain authorities. The board does not dictate to the congregation; the congregation, so to speak, dictates to the board. The congregation decides who represents them by electing certain individuals to serve on the board. You can see why your church should take the process of voting and elections seriously. The church election is how the local congregation, led by the Holy Spirit, appoints members to guide the life and work of the local church.
One way this authority is manifest is that the church board is authorized to invite guest speakers in consultation with the pastor (p. 126). Consultation is required, but not agreement. A majority vote of a church board is sufficient to issue an invitation to a speaker. In relation to the broader sisterhood of churches and the conference, there is more to be said, and it will be addressed in this series.
The church board is not a power to itself. It’s meetings should be open to the membership of the congregation except in rare cases. Church members who are not serving on the church board can sit in and listen to a board meeting. With permission, a non-board member may be allowed to address the board. The board is established by the membership to facilitate the ministry of the local church, not to rule over the membership, just as a pastor works in cooperation with the membership to facilitate the ministry of the local church, not to rule over the membership.
A body of believers with church status delegates some of its authority to the church board.
We’ll have more to say about church member involvement with the board, how the pastor fits in, and limitations on the authorities given by the membership—not to the membership, but by the membership.
Every member is a watchman! In the third installment we will see how the moving parts work in a local congregation, with its authority continuing to rest in the membership.
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