How do church leaders make decisions?

Prior to anything it should be pointed out that any decision that is heretical in nature, goes against the obvious teaching of the bible and contradicting gospel truth must not be entertained at all. That is not a decision; that is a foregone conclusion. Decisions in this care are problems that are not expressly mentioned in the bible, where either path is not inherently heretical, and where both solutions are all glorifying to God in the highest.

Part 1: Considerations from the words of Paul.

First we will consider the leadership qualifications listed by Paul.

1 Timothy 3:1-13

“The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church? He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil. Deacons likewise must be dignified, not double-tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for dishonest gain. They must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. And let them also be tested first; then let them serve as deacons if they prove themselves blameless. Their wives likewise must be dignified, not slanderers, but sober-minded, faithful in all things. Let deacons each be the husband of one wife, managing their children and their own households well. For those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and also great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.”

Although not directly giving any advice to church leaders on how they ought to be considering and thinking through tough decisions, we must not forget that church leaders need to live exemplary lives. They need not be perfect, because nobody can live a perfect life, but they need to be sufficiently above criticism such that their decisions are not affected. For even if their decisions are “correct”, the nature of mankind is such that our personal morality, or more precisely, the lack of morality, can reflect badly on others when they consider our decisions. We must also be assured that decisions taken are not heavily influenced by the leader’s selfish desires.

Next we will consider 1 Timothy 4:11-14

“Command and teach these things. Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you.”

Any decision that a church leader takes, he must be able to lead by example. If a church leader makes a decision for church members that he himself would not be able to do, the decision probably is questionable. For example, if he decides that a cell above a certain number of people should split, he should be willing to split his own cell if it reaches that number. If he decides that non-believers are allowed to serve in specific ministries, he should be willing to take in non-believers, teach and nurture non-believers in whatever ministry he is serving in.

Next we will consider 2 Timothy 2:22-26

“So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.”

Decisions must be made with the purpose of leading people to the truth. If a decision does not directly lead people to the truth, or get them to pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, it might not be something that we would want to carry out, especially if in so doing we generate controversy and quarrels.

Quarrels for the sake of the Gospel, for the sake of spreading the truth is sometimes unavoidable, but arguably good. However, quarrels over anything else is something that should be avoided.

Part 2: Considerations from the first church council.

The first church council was held with the purpose of figuring out whether Gentile believers needed to follow the Old Testament laws that the Jews still followed. The apostles and elders met in Jerusalem to consider this questions, before giving their judgement. Refer to Acts 15 for details.

This whole episode seems to suggest that the body of leaders, in the early church’s case consisting of the apostles and elders, before making the decision, engaged in debate and discussion. It is impossible to provide doctrine on every imaginable case or situation that may come up, but the leaders of the church, as a collective body, should have enough wisdom and knowledge to figure out what to do. No one person has all the answers, so they must engage in constructive criticism of each other’s suggestions and ideas, refining each other’s thoughts such that they may arrive at a product that can withstand scrutiny and does not contradict any main theological doctrine.

Next, after they have arrived at their decision, they present it from multiple points. Firstly Peter talks about his visions from God that directed him to interact with Gentiles. Next Paul and Barnabas talk about their experiences with the Gentile ministries. Lastly, James refers to scripture to support the stand that the church council has decided to take.

This seems to suggest that decisions need to be supported with multiple pillars of argument. In this case, they support it with a personal vision, positive ministry development and with scriptural support. In our case, when we make a decision, it cannot just be off a personal vision, or off an encouraging event. We must develop the whole argument from multiple angles.

When we take a closer look at the decision, to not require Gentile believers to follow the law except for abstaining from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. This is usually interpreted as very lenient conditions for Gentiles.

Although this might be extrapolating too much, I suggest that the apostles and elders, in their considerations, wanted to make it as easy as possible for new believers to enter into the communion of the saints in the church. They decided to remove any barrier that was not necessary, that was cultural, historical, and that did not directly impact the faith and theology of the believers. Paul also elaborates more on the decision to require them not to eat from food sacrificed to idols in his letters. Decisions that we make must not intentionally or inadvertently produce barriers to faith; indeed, we must destroy these barriers that might be hindering non-believers and young believers.

For the truth of the Gospel is independent from any cultural, environmental or historical practises that we perform. For even though we might like things done a certain way, we must remember that heaven rejoices over the one sheep that was lost and found more than the 99 sheep that never went astray. Our calling to glorify God and to go out and make disciples of all nations trumps anything else.