Church Governance?

[Franklin]

I just finished reading Instructions for Christian Living and Church Membership which says:

"The discipline is a sat of rules which are designed to control and direct our conduct. These rules are based on Bible principles. They are agreed upon by the church leaders as well as the church as a whole."

I would like to understand how these rules are agreed upon. Do the church leaders propose rules and then the rest of the church pass the rules? Is it decided by majority vote? What exactly is the process of passing rules?

[Josh]

I assume you are asking about Eastern, which has one of the strongest conference structures of any conference. Generally these decisions are made at a conference by bishops and ministers. Sometimes, decisions are brought before local congregations with their consensus sought by the bishops and ministers.

Someone who is more familiar Eastern could explain in a lot more detail.

[steve-in-kville]

I would like to understand how these rules are agreed upon. Do the church leaders propose rules and then the rest of the church pass the rules? Is it decided by majority vote? What exactly is the process of passing rules?

I think I understand what you are asking. I've been in and out of both the Mennonite circles as well as the brethren counter-parts, and the establishment of new regulations, as well as the enforcement of them varies widely.

In the Mennonite church we were associated with, the leadership would simply state what was decided among the leadership team. If you didn't like it, you voted with your feet (which happened a lot!). Expect heavy turnover in membership.

The brethren circles use a different concept, where a query to make a change is submitted to the leadership of a local church. If appropriate it moves to be voted on at council. If it passes that it goes to the district. If it passes that it goes to general conference. Last I remembered, each vote required a 2/3 majority to move forward. So it moves slower, but there are stops in place to prevent something being "railroaded" or someone in leadership pushing an agenda.

Hope that helps.

[YorkandAdams]

I assume you are asking about Eastern, which has one of the strongest conference structures of any conference. Generally, these decisions are made at a conference by bishops and ministers. Sometimes, decisions are brought before local congregations with their consensus sought by the bishops and ministers.

Someone who is more familiar Eastern could explain in a lot more detail.

Eastern is a conferring fellowship, which means that in order for changes to occur, both the members and the ministry have to approve at a certain (combined) rate (i believe is 80%). Ministry gets 50% of the vote and laity gets 50% of the vote. The problem with this model is that written change is often slow (due to the lengthy voting process). One way around this process is for the ministry to release "Bishop Statements". These statements are meant to clarify the standard, but sometimes end up contradicting what is actually written in the agreed upon standard (Internet usage is a great example of this problem).

There are churches with a true conference style approach like York and Adams. In this setting, every change is made by the ministry. This can be a double-edged sword, as they can react to changes quickly, but could also grow out of touch with the desires of the laity. These groups will often form committees to advise in different areas, but the ministry has the complete power to go against "recommendations" given by committees.

There are churches with a fellowship style structure, which is often some form of basic democracy. Think of the small unaffiliated Mennonite church down the road.

[steve-in-kville]

This can be a double-edged sword, as they can react to changes quickly, but could also grow out of touch with the desires of the laity. These groups will often form committees to advise in different areas, but the ministry has the complete power to go against "recommendations" given by committees.

This is where my wife and I struggled with the political system in the Mennonite church we attended for a number of years. If it works for you, great.

[Franklin]

Thanks for the answers. I have some more questions to understand this better.

Who/what is "the brethren circles"? Is this Mennonite?

Is "leadership" and "ministry" the same thing? How are they chosen?

What is "council"? What is "general conference"?

Who is the voting laity? Everyone who is baptized? Is it limited by age or sex?

Maybe I should explain why I want all these details. I am very impressed with how Mennonites are able to resist modern culture which I consider to be like an infectious disease that causes depravity. But I am not Christian. So I am wondering if Mennonite organization could be used outside of Christianity to form groups that are resistant to modern culture.

[RZehr]

Thanks for the answers. I have some more questions to understand this better.

Who/what is "the brethren circles"? Is this Mennonite?

Is "leadership" and "ministry" the same thing? How are they chosen?

What is "council"? What is "general conference"?

Who is the voting laity? Everyone who is baptized? Is it limited by age or sex?

Maybe I should explain why I want all these details. I am very impressed with how Mennonites are able to resist modern culture which I consider to be like an infectious disease that causes depravity. But I am not Christian. So I am wondering if Mennonite organization could be used outside of Christianity to form groups that are resistant to modern culture.

Brethren circles would mean different things to different churches. What is the context? It likely means church congregations who are in the same conference or fellowship. It certainly wouldn't be meant to include every church that has the word Mennonite on their sign.

I think leadership and ministry would be meant to be the same thing. They are chosen from within the congregation by nomination, then if more are nominated than needed, the lot is used to select one.

Not sure what council means. My guess is it just means advise? Often if there is a issue at hand, the leadership may ask the members for their council on the matter. This would often be done in private and in confidence. Or the leadership may ask other leaders from another church to give their advice on the matter. This document is probably from a conference church and not a fellowship structure. General conference probably means their group of churches.

The voting laity in our church depends on the decision. On minor decisions maybe every member may vote. Sometimes there would be an age limit of 18 or 20 or 21 years old to vote on the matter. Some churches women vote, some they don't. We would only allow members to vote and not anyone who is baptized but not a member.

Each church group will do this a little differently, so I'm just talking about our flavor of Mennonite.

Absolutely Mennonite organization could be used outside of Christianity. At least that is what many ex-Mennonites tell me. Find yourself some of them and quiz them out.

[steve-in-kville]

Who/what is "the brethren circles"? Is this Mennonite?

Is "leadership" and "ministry" the same thing? How are they chosen?

What is "council"? What is "general conference"?

The Brethren circles (i.e. Church of the Brethren, Dunkard Brethren, German Baptist, Little Kutztown, Bible Brethren, etc) follow many of the same applications as their Mennonite counterparts. But our political system is quite different. We ordain differently, our leadership structure is larger and our communion is quite more involved (we call it love feast).

Mennonites have bishops who are in power for life. We have elders that serve in 4-year terms.

Mennonites use the "lot" to ordain. We use a 2/3 majority vote.

Our counsel meetings are what you would call a general or business meeting. Ours usually happened quarterly.

In place of what Mennonites call a counsel meeting, we have spring deacon visits. The same three questions are asked.

Our leadership is larger. We have five ordained ministers, one of them serves as elder, or head pastor. For every one Mennonite deacon, we have five. I think we have 17 active deacon couples at the moment.

Our communion service can be a 2-day affair, with a meal served. We call it Lovefeast. It happens in the spring and in the fall.

I will go in record to say I am quite biased against the Mennonite leadership structure, for a variety of reasons. It has its advantages, I will admit. Hope this clears some things up.

[steve-in-kville]

Double post.