Daniel Akin, James Leo Garrett, Jr., Robert L. Reymond, James R. White and Paul F. M. Zahl. Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2004. 353 pp. (Paperback).
How does God intend His people to be governed and guided in their churches? This challenging and scholarly work addresses this issue as its contributors discuss five organizational models that have developed in church history.
These five approaches are thoroughly discussed here by as many advocates, each of whom thinks the structure he presents is the most faithful to Scripture. These models are the single elder-led congregational, the democratic congregational, the Presbyterian, the plural elder-led congregational and the Episcopal forms.
Baptists, of course, from our inception have followed congregational polity. Quite interestingly, more than 30 other denominations practice this form of governance.
Frankly, this reviewer has serious concerns that some Baptist churches have moved away from congregational governance.
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