Monday, September 18, 2006

The Role of Organization in a Body of Believers.

Lately I have been thinking about the role of organization within a body of believers. Is organization good or bad? Is it neutral? How should we approach the different types of organization a group of believers might want to use? The following paragaph is some of my thoughts. I am still learning and studying so I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic.

The church (believers in Jesus Christ) can be served by organization (specifying a time to meet for example). However, problems arise when the church serves the organization instead of being served by it. Organization is beneficial when it aids in carrying out the commands and purposes that God has given us in Scripture (for example, organizing a trip overseas to spread the Gospel). We must be careful when implementing a form of organization in order to understand the demands that that particular form of organization requires. For example, purchasing a building will require a budget of some kind to pay for it. So the decision to buy a building is also a decision to have a budget. Because of this, we must be wise and discerning as to the types of organizational measures that we implement. We must not put into place any type of organization that would draw us away from following the Scripture as well as organization that would cause us to serve it rather than being served by that form of organization. In addition, any form of organization that we seek to implement must be weighed against the Scripture. For we believe that the Scripture is sufficient for all that we need to know to live as the church. Therefore, when a form of organization is found to be in conflict with the command or pattern of Scripture, it would not be wise to implement that form of organization.