Chapter II: Responsibilities of Leadership in the Local Church

1. _Autonomy of the local church._ As some of you know, I was requested last fall to teach a series of lessons at Grace Avenue on the subject of church leadership. When I contemplated the task I wondered what I would say, but before it was over I was wondering how I would find time to say what was to be said. Of course, church leadership means leadership in the local congregation because that is the only capacity in which the church can scripturally function.

Congregational autonomy needs to be emphasized. God has ordained that each congregation shall be entirely independent to manage its own affairs under him without any interference or dictation from any other congregation or from any other group of people upon the earth. Since God has ordained that each congregation shall be independent, we cannot function in the capacity of a group of congregations organized together.

No inter-congregational organization can scripturally exist. Therefore, there can be no inter-congregational ownership of property. We cannot own property as a whole, that is, as a group of congregations. You could not deed a piece of property to the church of Christ in general. It has to be deeded to a particular congregation. That’s the only way the church can scripturally function. Therefore, when we speak about leadership in the church, we are speaking of the leadership in the local congregation.

2. _Distribution of work._ Now I realize that in the church there is not such a clear cut division of labor or responsibility as there is in a business organization because in the church every member is vitally interested in every phase of the work. To use an illustration: I taught temporarily at Peabody last spring in the mathematics department. Except for a very general interest in the welfare of the school and my fellowman, it made no difference to me what the history teacher next door did or said. I had no responsibility in reference to his work. There was a clear cut division between his department and mine. In the church our relationship to each other is too intimate and our interest in the general welfare too great for such a clear cut division of responsibility to exist.

However, for the sake of efficiency there should be some distribution of responsibility or work, for the very simple reason that what is everybody’s business tends to become nobody’s business. _Unless there is some mutual agreement as to who shall do what,_ _there is a danger that a great many necessary tasks will be neglected._ Some congregations that are large have a distribution of responsibility among the elders themselves. Instead of bringing up every little detail before a general business meeting, certain ones are delegated to look after certain phases of the work and to make all minor decisions regarding the same.

For instance, I know a congregation which has a maintenance committee, authorized by the overseers, to keep the building in repair up to the point of spending so many dollars each month. There’s a limit placed upon what they can spend. They don’t have to get expressions from all the elders before they replace a broken window light, or make other minor repairs. This responsibility and authority has already been scripturally and officially delegated to them. That illustrates what we mean, then, by division of responsibility—a location of responsibility and a distribution of the tasks that are to be performed.

3. _Responsibility of making thoughtful decisions._ As we proceed I cannot quote a lot of Scripture tonight, for the mere reason that I’m talking about the sphere in which God has not given specific instructions. That’s where the leadership of the church comes in. In this sphere the overseers of the church have a great responsibility. Oh, I could spend two or three hours reciting Scriptures and discussing the qualifications and work of elders. But it’s not our purpose to discuss that field at this time. We are discussing the sphere, mentioned in the lesson this morning, where God has given only general instructions.[4] Why, friends, where God has given _specific_ instructions the overseers don’t have to make any decisions. They simply follow the directions given. It’s just exactly in the realm where specific instructions have not been given that the overseers are called upon to make decisions of their own. Where God has specified, they have very little responsibility. They have no responsibility in making decisions for God has already made the decisions.

But there are a thousand questions that God has not answered specifically. Just to mention a few, He doesn’t tell us what kind of song books to use. He didn’t tell you how big to make this house, or how many windows to put in each wall. He doesn’t tell you how many meetings to have each week. He doesn’t tell you how often you should have a protracted meeting, or how many classes to have on Lord’s day morning, or how you should arrange your missionary program, how many preachers you should employ and what part of each one’s support you should furnish. A hundred other questions could be mentioned, which God has not specifically answered. And, therefore, the elders, the overseers, in every congregation, must make decisions for themselves in reference to these things.

Please don’t think that I’m going to tell you the answer to these questions, for if I were to do so, then I would be making specifications where God has made none, and, therefore, going beyond that which is written. But the one thing I do want to do tonight is to insist that a great deal of thought and study be given to all such matters and that instead of making decisions on them recklessly or thoughtlessly or without proper meditation and study, the very opposite should be the case.

All such questions, even though they may appear to be insignificant in their nature, should be weighed very carefully. For, if there is any field of work in all this world in which we want to do our very best, it is in the work of the Lord; and be it ever so good in the past, we want to make it better in the future; for God expects us to grow in His work, and to become better and better as the days go by. So the one point that I’m emphasizing most of all is that in _all these decisions a great deal of study, thought, and prayer should be used_.

Sometimes I have been surprised at how carelessly decisions were made in certain business meetings of churches where I have labored. I have seen important decisions determined by a very slight suggestion from some individual member of the group and passed immediately, without any time being taken to carefully study the issues involved. I believe that what a church business meeting will do is about the most unpredictable thing in the world. Some of their decisions are made with such little study and with such little thought that it’s almost impossible to know what may happen when such a meeting is called. Now I believe that God expects us to use wisdom in this field where He has left us to our own judgment. There are Scriptures which authorize this statement. Some of them were used this morning. For instance, “Be ye therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves” (Matt. 10:16). Or again, “Let all things be done decently and in order” (1 Cor. 14:40).

4. _Importance of careful planning._ Every outstanding business organization in this country has its post-war plans already worked out. It has its blueprints drawn, and those plans have not been made hastily. They have been worked out after a great deal of research, investigation and study. The directors of those businesses have come together and have consulted with each other. They have exchanged ideas. They have weighed details. And after all of that study and work, they have mapped out their plans for the years ahead.

Many of these business men are members of the church, and I maintain that, if men who are able to succeed in the commercial and professional world will apply the same diligent study and careful planning to the work of the church, then it will succeed far more than it has in the past. There is no other organization in all this world which would have survived as much mismanagement or neglect as the church of Jesus Christ has survived. Someone has said that the church is certainly a divine institution or it would have perished from the earth long ago through neglect or bad management. I have confidence in the leaders of the churches. I have confidence in their ability. I believe that they are interested. If they will give to the work of the church the same careful study which they devote to the plans for their business enterprises, I believe we will be able to make greater progress.

Just to give you an illustration close at hand, everyone will agree that the effectiveness of our Thursday evening services has been very greatly increased by a group of men coming together and carefully planning the programs. If the attendance is to be taken as indication of what you think about them, then they have been improved at least one hundred per cent. The attendance is now twice as much as it was before. I am of the firm conviction that what has been done for the Thursday evening meeting can be done for every other phase of the work of the church if it is properly studied and planned.

In some of my connections outside the church I have been greatly impressed with the conscientiousness with which certain people go about their work. The head of a department out at Peabody, who is engaged in educational work, which certainly isn’t one tenth as important as the work of the church, studies every little detail. He takes into consideration all the facts that are at his disposal. He is continually revising his program and endeavoring to improve his methods. He listens to every report that he receives. He will call a conference of those who are working under him and discuss ways and means of making his work more effective.

Now, if educational work deserves such careful study as that, surely the work of the church deserves even more. And yet, friends, I know congregations—great, big congregations—that never do have any sort of a business meeting. Just think of it! They don’t even have a business meeting! The overseers never get together to ponder the problems which confront the local congregation, or to study ways and means of improving their work.

Now, please remember that the fact that the Bible furnishes us completely unto every good work does not relieve us of the responsibility which I am emphasizing. Anyone who stops to study the matter will realize that this is true, because there are so many questions which the Bible does not answer specifically. We must study and give diligence and pray for wisdom and use whatever talent the Lord has given us to make His work just as successful as possible.