Amending Scripture

  At the heart of evangelism and church planting is the Canon of Scripture. It should be what provides us with motive and method for everything we do and should not be subject to a vote. But it appears that like our United States Bill of Rights, the church has felt the need to correct its deficiencies with amendments. Now while they may not take the technical form of such, they end up functioning as such.
  Prior to my leaving the mainstream to plant a non-traditional church, I served in five traditional ones. As verbal as each was in declaring its allegiance to the Bible, every time I attempted to lead in creatively fulfilling our purpose of reaching the unchurched, I was confronted with either “we’ve never done it that way before” (better known as the last seven words of the church) or “we can’t do that because our Constitution and Bylaws says, ‘blah, blah, blah.’” It was never about Scripture! While it is necessary to have some agreed upon documents to satisfy the laws governing legal incorporating as a church, going too far beyond that by canonizing culturally attuned methodologies is akin to amending the Bible.
  In my last effort at leading a traditional church into evangelistic productivity, the legally required Trustees had assumed a governing role in all matters. The Chairman carried around a notebook with a newspaper article about a church fight that had pitted the Trustees against the Deacons regarding the disposition of the Pastor. It ended up in court where it was ruled that the Trustees were the legal guardians of the corporation and as such were in the position of final authority. I was frequently reminded of that article. In most cases, whether it is Trustees or Deacons, they are normally waving a copy of the church’s Constitution and Bylaws saying, “we can’t do that because it says here, ‘blah, blah, blah.’”
  While a particular governing municipality may require certain officers in forming the corporation, they do not stipulate how they are placed into that position. If the only spiritually binding document is Scripture, then great care must be exercised in creating assumed amendments that bind the hands of present and future leaders. Successful pastoral leadership requires the right to make decisions within the framework of Scripture. If pastoral leadership isn’t in a position to make a mistake, it isn’t in a position to lead.