Church by a Manual

There are some churches that have a publication called the Church Manual, and my understanding is that it outlines virtually everything regarding structure, policy and standard operating procedures of the church. Now, to be fair, this is found in denominational churches more often than not, which makes sense from a certain perspective. As a denomination, you want to make sure that if someone walks into any of your churches, there will be certain things that will be the same regardless of where in the world that church is located.

However, I must also shake my head in sadness as I have seen many good ideas for outreach and evangelism shot down because it didn't mesh with the manual. My questions begin with the most obvious one, "What's wrong with just using the Bible as a 'manual?'" Paul talks at length at how things should be conducted, and while there is a lot of culturally-specific stuff that he outlines, there's still enough in there to allow for a broad outline.

I had a buddy of mine tell me about how his church is setup recently. Essentially, they have put a blanket denial on earmarked donations (for pet projects, etc.), and then they split their budgets into the following categories: General Fund, Youth, Evangelism/Outreach. Wouldn't that make it easier on the treasurer??? I look down the list of accounts/departments we have at a local church I help out with and the combined budget is divvied up into 50 distinct line items! And then there are another 46 special fund (pet projects, etc.) accounts! Yikes! It's kinda scary to look at! But that's the way it is.

Another church I help out with doesn't have a Finance Committee, or a Church Board. There is a small leadership team that dictates how the money is spent which allows the church, which is fairly small, to move quickly to pour resources into an area of need. This gives the church an ability to move quickly and effectively while not having to worry about getting bogged down in process. And this church is growing very quickly because it's effective. And it's effective partly because it can respond quickly.

I understand the reason for the committee system, I really do, but doesn't it seem that there is an overarching feeling of distrust associated with the system? I mean, you have a committee for a department that must get approval to spend money that's over a certain limit from the Finance Committee, but if the cost is high enough, there needs to be Board approval, as well. The message that is inherent in that system is that "we don't trust you, so we're going to require you to notify us before you can make any major purchases, or make any drastic changes." It's very stifling, and while it encourages good communication, that communication often turns to frustration as the needed action continually bogs down in the process because the process takes so much time.

What are your thoughts?

Baptism-Into the Body of Christ or Into a Church?

I've been hearing a story lately from a friend of mine recently about one of their experiences. They were looking getting re-baptized into a particular church and while going through the preparation for the event, it came to light that there were certain statements that had to be agreed with before they could be baptized into the church.

Now, this brings up some interesting questions, chief among them: should we require people to agree to certain statements (what I constitute as addendums) that are in addition to the primary requirement of accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and repenting of your sinful ways?

While I agree that it's helpful to study what that particular church believes and follows, I do not subscribe to the idea that a person should have to accept all of that in order to be baptized into that church. John the Baptist didn't require it, Jesus didn't do it, and that is our example.

Perhaps you think that I'm wrong, but allow me to express myself in even stronger, and hopefully, clearer terms. Expecting people to agree with certain statements above and beyond what the Bible calls for in order to be baptized smacks of something very scary, indeed: Communism. I know that the ideological differences between the actual form of government and what we're discussing are quite different...I can appreciate that.

However, when there is an expectation that is set down from before a person is baptized that they will need to "tow the party line," I get very, very worried. Who are we to put those kinds of conditions on someone joining the family of God?

Which brings us to the central issue of whether we are trying to baptize people into a particular church or into the family of God? I believe we are called to do the latter, not the former. IF we change our mindset and perspective to match that VERY fundamental Biblical teaching, we'd be amazed at how God can work when we can manage to get ourselves out of the way!

What do you think?