The evangelical Protestant church’s current low ecclesiology and contempt for churchmanship are not only evidence of our superficial reading of Scripture, but they also constitute an abandonment of our reformational heritage.

Many in our churches think of churchmanship as a modest and antiquated virtue, rather like good penmanship or knowing how to tie a bow tie: nice enough, but not really important in life. Others have drunk the post-modern Kool-Aid and believe that any concern for the organizational and procedural life of the institutional church is not sufficiently “spiritual” and/or “relational.”

But if our understanding of churchmanship is taken from the New Testament, we get a very different picture. Paul labored heroically to both establish congregations and to see that they were organizationally healthy. The appointment of qualified leaders, the maintenance of sound doctrine, and the discipline of unrepentant sinners in the churches fill the pages of his epistles.

The unity and doctrinal cohesion of the early church was secured in a general assembly of the church’s leadership in Jerusalem. All of this was more than just ensuring that things were done “decently and in order,” though that was no small concern (1 Corinthians 14:40).

Churchmanship is also a crucible of the soul and battlefield for the kingdom. Paul’s language to the Galatians is almost war-like. And nobody’s light burned brighter for the maintenance of the visible church in faithfulness like Jesus Christ, of whom it was

said, “zeal for the Lord’s House consumes him (John 2:17).” His clearing the temple of moneychangers and his establishing the Church as a confessional institution at the time of Peter’s declaration of Jesus’ messiahship are examples of churchmanship par excellence. His affirmations and Churchmanship is rebukes to the seven churches in the Revelation are the epitome of love-driven churchmanship. And he gives we who serve him the ministry of the keys of the kingdom, that we might continue in his train (Matthew 16:19).

Decades of Neglect
The evangelical Protestant church’s current low ecclesiology and contempt for churchmanship are not only evidence of our superficial reading of Scripture, but they also constitute an abandonment of our reformational heritage. Moreover, the near-apocalyptic decline in the corporate life of American denominations of the Church can substantially be traced to decades of negligent and gutless churchmanship. When I was a minister in the PCUSA, I saw constant evangelical isolationism: “I’ll just pastor my own church and leave church politics to those who are interested in it” (i.e., inevitably liberal clerics who had little interest in the ministry of the Word).

And, indeed, I know that I have often been a lazy churchman myself; I must repent and embrace the high, holy and often hard calling of serving the Head of the Church through such a labor.

So, in good hope, and preaching to myself first of all, I would urge the following seven practical steps towards an obedient churchmanship:

• Show up to your session, presbytery or General Synod meeting, and be prepared: read everything sent to you in advance. We should no more fail to do this than we would fail to show up to preach on Sunday or to be prepared to lead worship. Do not leave the meeting early for any light reason.

• Pray as elders for the work of the courts of the church. And it is an especially good sign when congregations actively pray for these meetings as well. The era of keeping congregations in the dark about the large issues in church affairs should end.

• Speak up when you are convicted about some matter before the court. Relying on more outspoken men to speak is a dereliction of duty; in all likelihood they are only speaking because they know you will not.

• Both large church officers and small church officers are presbyters and should contribute in this way. No false modesty or unbiblical inferiority complex should thwart the vows we all made at our ordination. And the same can be said for ordained seminary professors: it is your church too!

• Combine passion for truth with dignity and respect for the court. Remember that it is the visible church which is “the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, the house and family of God, out of which there is no ordinary possibility of salvation” (Westminster Confession, Chapter XXV, II).

• Love your fellow presbyters as brothers, but be willing at any point to do the right thing for Christ and the church, even if your best friend thinks differently.

• Take a multi-generational view of the church, accepting our role as spiritual fathers to others. In this way, we leave a more faithful institution to our sons who will lead it in the future. It is hard to think of a better gift we could give them and others who will make up the church of the future.

In sum, churchmanship is far more than a modest virtue. It is for brave hearts, sanctified minds and loving spirits. In all of this, may Christ be glorified, and his church reclaimed as the “church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth!” (1 Timothy 3:15)

Dean Turbeville is a minister in the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church and seves as pastor of All Saints’ ARP Church in Charlotte, NC. This article first appeared in the November 2011 issue of the ARP Magazine and is used with permission.