WITH CHRIST AT THE CENTER
JANUARY 2024
CONNECTIONS IN NOVEMBER, PROVIDENCE MEMBERS GATHERED TO PLEDGE THEIR GENEROSITY PLANS FOR 2024 AND MAKE THEIR COMMITMENT FOR THE RESTORATION AND RENEWAL OF PROVIDENCE!
From the Senior Pastor There is no one way to organize a Baptist church to do ministry and make decisions together. That’s the blessing of a congregational form of governance, in which each local church is an autonomous – that is, self-governing – community of faith. From their 17th century beginnings, Baptist churches have been “congregational” in both form and spirit. An early Baptist statement of faith and practice written in 1611 put it this way: “As one
responding to an ever-changing environment. This freedom creates two foundational principles for good congregational governance: healthy churches adapt to new realities, and local solutions are usually the best solutions.
congregation hath Christ, so hath all. And therefore no church ought to challenge any prerogative over any other.”
structure and decision-making process are no longer best-suited for a church of our size. How so? To be fully functional, our current structure requires too many volunteers and, even then, it doesn’t always meet our needs. It’s also unclear where and how decisions get made. Committees, for example, have specific authority to make specific kinds of decisions, and yet the decisions they’re called upon to make are often beyond the purview of any one committee to address. Moreover, our deacons have not had decision-making authority since the 2011 by-law revision. Under our
In other words, every Baptist church has the freedom to selfdetermine how it will worship and do ministry, who it will call and ordain to leadership positions, and where it will spend its resources. Under the Lordship of Jesus and trusting in the guidance of the Holy Spirit (two crucial qualifiers!), each local congregation does as it sees best. This means congregationallygoverned churches are free to be nimble, flexible, and creative in
Our Deacons and Coordinating Council have spent several months discussing where, and how, Providence needs to adapt to new realities. A consensus has emerged that both our current committee
current by-laws, our Coordinating Council can discuss, but not make decisions about, matters of significance to the church. Bottom line: we need to revise our governing structure to be less cumbersome and more clear in order for us to meet the missions and ministry goals that we’ve set. The good news is that we have the freedom to do just that. Indeed, because we are Baptists, “How do we get there?” is a question for the congregation to discuss. We will have two Sharing and Listening events this month: One on January 21, the other during the Faith Formation time on January 28; plus written options (both online and on paper), for those who can’t attend either event. I hope that each of you will add your voice to this important conversation. It’s how we do our best work together, which is the genius of Spiritled, congregationally-governed churches like ours. May the peace of Christ be with you!