The Democratization of the Church

One of the biggest challenges of the church that is affecting our witness is our lack of understanding of Rank. The God we serve is a God of Order. The Kingdom of God is a Kingdom of Order. With this in mind, it needs to be understood that every Kingdom, secular or spiritual, is established by rank and order. Everyone is not equal. Without this understanding, the people in the respective kingdom will ignore rank, and thus be out of order. We find this type of disorder in the church because the mainstream church doesn't adhere always to the Rank and Order established in the Kingdom of God. Church polity and bureaucracy is not synonymous with the Rank and Order of the Kingdom. A lot of this is due to what I'd like to describe as the Democratization of the Church.

Let us first establish that the church is not a Democracy it is a Theocracy. In a democracy, the people rule. In a Theocracy, God rules. This is extremely significant, because even though we (in America) live in a democracy, the government of the church is not regulated by the principles of a democracy. This is why the scripture stresses "not to be conformed to this world" (Romans 12). The way the world runs their organizations is not how God runs His church. So the church is not a democracy, she is a Theocracy. God rules. And when you understand this, the next item to understand is how God rules and runs His church through a Theocratic Government.

Let us first establish the order of the church. Christ is the Head of the church. Jesus the Christ, the Savior of the world, is the Head of the church, The Body of Christ (Colossians 1). So Christ is the Head of the Church, and the Holy Spirit is the Leader of the church (Acts 20). This is the Theocratic form of Leadership that God the Father has ordained for His Covenant people, in and through His Son, during this dispensation of Grace. Therefore, if a believer is going to truly govern themselves as a child of God and a believer in Christ, they must understand the Headship of Christ and the Leadership of the Holy Spirit.

The next thing that we need to understand about the Theocratic Rule of God in His church is that He rules through human instruments. Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father (Hebrews 12) as the Head of the Church, but He runs His church through human individuals. This is why you have different officers and leaders in the church. It is imperative, as we embark upon this Kingdom Move, that Christians understand how God has structured the government of the church through His human servants. One of the biggest mistakes that the mainstream church has made is to think that the pastor is the highest ranking officer in the church. This is incorrect. One of the reasons why the mainstream American church has not operated in Kingdom Power is because we've set the bar too low in terms of ecclesiastical leadership. According to the word of God, the order for leadership in the Body of Christ is apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers (Ephesians 4). I did not grow up in the church understanding the office of the Apostle. All I knew was the office of the pastor. And for many years, I actually thought that present-day apostles did not exist. I was sadly mistaken. We must get back to the order that God has established for His church.

The days of the church being run by "democratic" councils and committees and boards are over. Yes, there should be input and feedback from representative members of the congregation. But at the end of the day, God has the last word! And that word is communicated through the officers that He has established for His church. Let us take heed, and forsake the Democratization of the Church.