church governance

We acknowledge Jesus Christ is the head of and Lord of the universal Church. We recognize that nowhere in the New Testament is a fully exhaustive form of church government described, but instead certain practices, offices, and responsibilities are prescribed. We believe the local church should be led by a plurality of elders who have particular responsibility to teach and oversee the church. The members of our church and the elders have a shared authority, underneath the authority of Jesus Christ the head, in a form of governance that is more widely described as elder-led congregationalism. This language maintains the biblical language of the elders’ authority to lead the local church in a Christ-like manner, but grants the members of a local church the rightful authority, as prescribed in the Bible, to enact church discipline and to keep watch over the doctrine of the church and the elders. Deacons are those who are appointed to relieve elders from direct responsibility for areas of service within the life of the church.