Equipping University

Christians meet in Episcopal churches, Presbyterian churches, and Congregational churches. Each of these types of churches operate under vastly different forms of church governance. Can all the different views on authority in the church be right? Is it a matter of being more or less right? Is there a New Testament teaching on church government that should set the pattern for all churches today? Or is each church or denomination free to organize their church leadership as they think best? As we begin to consider the controversial issue of church governance, we must agree that the form of church government is not a major doctrine in the Scriptures. However, this does not mean that the Bible's teaching on governance or polity is altogether unimportant. In this lesson, we will explore the three major forms of church governance and then the role of pastors, elders, bishops, overseers, and deacons in a local church. There is much confusion in the modern Baptist church over the distinct roles, functions, and qua

There is a great need for churches to realize the value of corrective church discipline for the health and vitality of the church. Churches must realize that corrective church discipline on earth is important because it is a small act of judgment that dimly points to God's final judgment in heaven. However, that relatively small act is performed with the hope that the sinning church member will come to repentance before God's final judgment ever arrives. This decline of church discipline is perhaps the most visible sign of the failure of the contemporary church, which is no longer concerned with purity of confession or lifestyle, but sees itself almost entirely as a voluntary association of autonomous members with minimal moral accountability to God or each other. Without a recovery of biblical church discipline, the church will continue its downward slide. This is not the way it is supposed to be. The people of God are depicted throughout the Bible as people of purity. As the chosen people of a holy God,

There is a great need for churches to realize the value of corrective church discipline for the health and vitality of the church. Churches must realize that corrective church discipline on earth is important because it is a small act of judgment that dimly points to God's final judgment in heaven. However, that relatively small act is performed with the hope that the sinning church member will come to repentance before God's final judgment ever arrives. This decline of church discipline is perhaps the most visible sign of the failure of the contemporary church, which is no longer concerned with purity of confession or lifestyle, but sees itself almost entirely as a voluntary association of autonomous members with minimal moral accountability to God or each other. Without a recovery of biblical church discipline, the church will continue its downward slide. This is not the way it is supposed to be. The people of God are depicted throughout the Bible as people of purity. As the chosen people of a holy God,

The SBC loves to tout that we are the largest denomination in the United States with 16,266,920 members in 44,696 churches. That sounds impressive until you read the next line on the annual report and discover that the average attendance in worship in those same churches is 6,148,868. This means that only 37.8% of all the SBC members attend worship services on any given week - a little more than two-thirds! Of course, it is possible that many are ill, at college, in the military, or have some other valid reason for not being in their home church. However, that cannot be the case for all the absentees. Every week, over 10 million Southern Baptists fail at the absolute minimum level of commitment for a church member. In the past, it was generally accepted that no church and no denomination had the right to consider itself healthy unless more people attend than were on the roll. This is the standard in churches all around the world today and by our great-grandparents in America's past. As we attempt to gauge t

Every year seems to produce "the greatest witnessing opportunity in decades." However in relying on events instead of a biblical understanding of evangelism, very little lasting impact is made. As Bayly tried to explain in his parable, the church spends too much time on outreach methods that are grandiose and highly visible, but often impersonal and ineffective. It appears we have drifted from the original plan given to us by Jesus. We have looked at two marks of a healthy church the last two chapters: the gospel and conversion. Both have to do with a biblical understanding of salvation. Now, we are prepared to look at a third aspect of salvation: evangelism. There is a biblical way to do evangelism and healthy churches understand this. A healthy church is not pragmatic in its approach to anything, especially evangelism. A healthy church understands that theology matters because what you believe has an immediate impact on what you do and why you do it. That is why we studied the gospel and conversion firs