Wade Burleson, one of the very few Southern Baptist pastors I’m able to pay attention to without feeling that I’ve soiled myself, takes up the subject of church membership covenants. Spoiler: He’s against ’em.
Read Village’s Church Covenant. It’s chilling when it comes to the authority of elders and church leaders. Here are some of the phrases that the prospective must read and then sign, vowing their allegiance to obey them:
I understand the importance of submission to church leadership
I will submit to the elders and other appointed leaders of the church
I will agree to walk through the steps of marriage reconciliation at The Village Church before pursuing divorce from my spouse
I’ve written several articles stating that the major problem in modern evangelical Christianity is the authoritarianism of evangelical leaders. I have sought to explain how pastors/elders “twist the Scriptures” and demand “obedience and submission” to this alleged authority. Jesus tells us that that true ‘spiritual leaders’ are only servants, never masters.
I especially like this observation:
When a Christian signs a church covenant he or she is enabling that institutional church to maintain an authoritarian structure. Rather than the weak and wounded sheep being the focus of attention within church covenants, most are written with phrases that seem intent on bringing church members into “submission to church authorities.” Paul Burleson points out that any institutional church more concerned with supporting their authoritarian system of control than healing their wounded members is sending signals that are a sign of weak spiritual leadership. Jesus said that the world uses titles, positions of honor, and seeks to “exercise authority over those they rule,” but “this should never be the case among His followers (Mark 10:35-45).
Pastor Burleson and I are obviously miles apart on some fundamental questions, but this goes to exactly the behavioral element that leaves me unwilling to be a good sport who goes through the motions and at least shows up on Christmas, Easter, et cetera and drops a few bucks in the plate.
In a nutshell: Who do these barely-educated under-achieving goddam buffoons think they are?