Some Thoughts on "Church Authority" and "Church Discipline"

Wade Burleson, on his blog, Grace and Truth to You, wrote this article entitled Church Authority: What It Is And What It Is Not in which he reprints this article, Authority in the Local Church, from his father Paul Burleson's blog.

In response, Chuck Andrews wrote this article, Authority, Leadership, & Relationships.

Wade Burleson also wrote this article, Are We Southern Baptists Becoming a Benign Cult? The Danger of Casually Dismissing Scripture When Defining 'True' Christianity.

How do these ideas relate to the abuse of "church authority" being witnessed in churches today? Are we seeing this type of abuse of authority in Bellevue Baptist Church? Please cite specific examples.

Mac Brunson, pastor of FBC Jacksonville, Florida, recently modified their church's bylaws to include a church disciplinary committee.

Dr. Adrian Rogers did something similar at Bellevue over ten years ago with the formation of a Church Displinary Council except that it's not a part of the bylaws. As we know, these are the bylaws of BBC, written in 1929, and for the most part they are ignored by the church administration. Here are the bylaws transcribed.

Has the Church Disciplinary Council ever been utilized since its formation?

Thanks to "junkster" for this topic idea.

Touch Not Mine Anointed!

This is the story of one abusive pastor, Phil Arms, but there are some similarities to what Bellevue is experiencing. This is Phil Arms' bio, copied from his website, Phil Arms Ministries.

"Phil Arms grew up in West Texas. His dynamic Christian mother raised her six children in the local church. However, Phil did not commit his life to Christ during his younger years and chose to join himself with the sub-culture of the sixties and seventies in Houston, Texas. After experiencing one dead end after another, running from the love and voice of God, he began to search for reality and gave his life to Christ on a street corner in 1972. Immediately after his conversion, he began a ministry on the streets of Houston, Texas, witnessing to those in need of Jesus. Within a short time God began to open wide the doors for Phil to minister in churches, schools and evangelistic rallies.

"He was licensed to preach in a local Southern Baptist Church and commissioned as an evangelist, birthing Phil Arms Minstries. This inter-denominational ministry went on to create weekend rallies geared to youth for many years, adding television and radio ministries, and also numerous church revivals and area-wide campaigns where Phil always focused on preaching a Bible-centered, Christ-exalting message.

"After spending fifteen years in the ministry of full-time evangelism, Phil and his wife, Suzanne, felt God strongly urging them to start a local church in the Houston area in 1986 and for fourteen years witnessed a continual, powerful move of the Spirit of God as it touched thousands of lives and homes.

"Since the year 2000, Dr. Arms, has devoted much of his time to writing and speaking at Bible Conferences and in churches as well as guesting for radio programs.

"Phil has co-authored several best-selling books with men such as Tim LaHaye and others. These books include Earth's Final Days, The Triumphant Return of Christ, and Piercing the Darkness.

"He has also written Promise Keepers--Another Trojan Horse , Wet Flies Can't Fly, The Winner in You and Pokemon and Harry Potter--Fatal Attractions."

But that's not Phil Arms' whole story...

From The Houston Press we learn that there's a whole lot more to his story than the above.

Read In Arms' Way.

Here's one couple's experience with Phil Arms:

Spiritual Abuse - Is there such a thing?

And another's:

Houston Church - The Problem

Related articles:

What is "Spiritual Abuse"?

Biblical Leadership Styles

Tell it to the Church

Who'd Have Thought?

Well, well. It seems the "church growth movement" hasn't been such a rousing success after all.

The ugly truth.

A Prayer Guide For Our Pastor

Bellevue members are receiving this "prayer guide" in the mail this week. Enclosed along with a letter from David Coombs, it appears the guide may have been written by Director, Prayer Ministry, Carolyn Higginbotham.

Here is the 6-page guide:

Page 1

Page 2

Page 3

Page 4

Page 5

Page 6

Comments?

Anonymous Letter #2

Many of the same people who received the first anonymous letter a few weeks ago received another one this week. (See "An Anonymous Letter" two topics down.)

This was taken from a scan that contained several different font styles and sizes, and some of it wasn't completely clear due to the poor quality of the scan, but I believe I have now corrected all the errors in the original scan.

The Pastor Search Committee

Formerly called the "pulpit committee," is the body now called the "pastor search committee" always really qualified to search for a new pastor, and do they really do enough research before making a decision?

There were definitely some questions regarding conflicts of interest with Bellevue's last pastor search committee.

Related articles:

Pastor searches packed with perils

INTEGRITY IN MINISTRY: NO HIDDEN SKELETONS IN YOUR CLOSET

Pastoral Search Questions

The Pastor Search Process

This illustrates how monumental the task must seem!

Pastor Search Committee Workbook

Steve Gaines addresses the congregation of Gardendale's FBC July 10, 2005 regarding the call to Bellevue in his "Didn't I tick you guys off?" speech. Summary here.

Thanks to "amazed" for this topic suggestion.

An Anonymous Letter

This week Bellevue deacons, some members of the choir, members of Joe Jernigan's class, and perhaps others received this anonymous letter.

While I think if you're going to send a letter to someone by mail you should have the courage to sign your name, that's really not the issue here. I have no idea at all who wrote it. I can't even guess based upon the writing style, and besides, it's likely someone I don't know. But instead of criticizing the author for not signing his or her name or for sending it in the first place, why not critique the content of the letter itself? As someone so appropriately pointed out, we don't know who wrote the book of Hebrews either, but that doesn't diminish the value of what it says.
The sermon archives can be accessed here.