{"id":5809,"date":"2023-07-22T09:18:00","date_gmt":"2023-07-22T13:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jpa.mbc.mybluehost.me\/lw\/?page_id=5809"},"modified":"2023-10-06T17:52:30","modified_gmt":"2023-10-06T21:52:30","slug":"church-governance","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/lakeworth.sunlightchurch.com\/es\/about\/church-governance\/","title":{"rendered":"Church Governance"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Church Structure<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Everything you need to know about elders, council, and church governance.<\/h2>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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What denomination is Sunlight a part of?<\/span><\/h2>

Sunlight Community Church belongs to the Christian Reformed Church of\u00a0 North America. The Christian Reformed Church (CRC) includes just over\u00a0 one thousand congregations across the United States and Canada.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

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What authority does the Christian Reformed Church have over Sunlight?\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>

The Christian Reformed denomination is somewhat unique, in that it does\u00a0 not employ a hierarchical structure of governance. Rather the CRC\u00a0 considers every local church council to be the highest level of authority at\u00a0 that church. The conviction of our denomination is that every local church\u00a0 is a complete church of Christ, fully equipped with everything that is\u00a0 required for its own government.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

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The broader assemblies of our denomination (called \u201cClassis\u201d at the\u00a0 regional level and \u201csynod\u201d at the national level) are thus not considered\u00a0 higher authorities, but more general authorities. Therefore, \u201cClassis\u201d and\u00a0 \u201cSynod\u201d cannot impose whatever it wants on a local church, nor can it\u00a0 meddle in internal affairs. Local churches like Sunlight are limited,\u00a0 though, in that they mutually agree to be affiliated with the whole. No\u00a0 single church has the right to disregard matters of mutual agreement,\u00a0 doctrine, and of common interest.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

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What form of church government does Sunlight Community Church have?<\/span><\/h2>

Sunlight Community Church has a Presbyterian form of church\u00a0 government. The word Presbyterian derives from the Greek word\u00a0 presbuteros \u2013 which means \u201celder.\u201d In a presbyterian form of\u00a0 government, the church is led by a council of elders. The presbyterian\u00a0 system is distinguishable from two other common forms of church\u00a0 government–the episcopal system and the congregational system. The\u00a0 episcopal system is similar to a monarchy in that all authority for the\u00a0 church is given to a single bishop or pope. The strength of this system is\u00a0 efficiency; its weakness is accountability (as there is potential for danger\u00a0 when only one person wields sole power). The congregational system, on\u00a0 the other hand, operates like a pure democracy. \u00a0\u00a0In the congregational\u00a0 system, all decisions both large and small are reached through a simple\u00a0 majority vote of the members. The strength of the congregational system\u00a0 is accountability; however, its weakness is efficiency (due to the fact that\u00a0 it is cumbersome to have to take a vote on every matter).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

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At Sunlight, we believe that not only does the Presbyterian system strike\u00a0 the right balance between accountability and efficiency, we also believe\u00a0 that this structure is biblically preferable. It seems clear that the church government described and commissioned in the early church was marked\u00a0 by a plurality of elders (Titus 1:5-7; 1 Timothy 3:1-7; Acts 11:30; 14:23;\u00a0 20:17-18). Although Sunlight believes in and employs a presbyterian form\u00a0 of government, by no means do we not insist that all other churches be\u00a0 like ours, but rather acknowledge the rich history and continuing value of\u00a0 churches which adhere to other systems of leadership.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

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Is Sunlight’s church governance typical for the Christian Reformed Church?<\/span><\/h2>

Our church is unique because of our unique mission. In fact, we were one\u00a0 of the first churches in our denomination to contain within it multiple\u00a0 congregations in multiple locations. Because our church has multiple\u00a0 congregations within it, our church council must represent and oversee\u00a0 the \u201cbig picture\u201d rather than merely the individual needs of only one local\u00a0 congregation. We recognize that the CRC church order, as it now exists,\u00a0 has not envisioned a church with the leadership needs that we currently\u00a0 have and anticipate moving forward. We believe, though, that our\u00a0 leadership model honors the CRC principles of church governance and yet\u00a0 serves our local mission as well. Although we were the first to pioneer\u00a0 our church structure within our denomination, we are now serving as a\u00a0 model for other CRC churches who are pursuing similar ministries.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

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What is the role of the church council?<\/span><\/h2>

The church council is the ecclesiastically recognized body according to\u00a0 CRC Church Order. It is responsible for leading the wider ministries of\u00a0 Sunlight Community Church including all of the church plants and\u00a0 developed congregations. It has full and final authority in all matters.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

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How large is Sunlight’s church council?<\/span><\/h2>

The church council is ordinarily composed of 5-7 members. \u00a0\u00a0We have found that this size is optimal in that it is both large enough to allow for a\u00a0 variety of viewpoints and at the same time small enough to foster frank\u00a0 communication.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

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How are members of the church council chosen to serve?<\/span><\/h2>

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When an opening on the church council occurs, the council itself, after\u00a0 seeking suggestions from the congregation, nominates individuals who\u00a0 meet the list of biblical qualifications (see 1 Timothy 3) and whose\u00a0 experience meets the leadership needs of this council. Before ordaining\u00a0 the nominee to the office of elder, the church council will seek the input of\u00a0 church members to make sure there is no impediment to their service. Should there be multiple nominees for the same position, the council will\u00a0 seek the input of all adult members through a church-wide vote.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

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How long are the terms of service for council members?<\/span><\/h2>

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Members of the church council will ordinarily serve for a term of five\u00a0 years, but may serve consecutive terms if deemed appropriate by the\u00a0 council. The Senior Pastor of Sunlight serves as the one permanent\u00a0 member of this council and serves as its chairperson.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

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Who oversees and leads each individual congregation?\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>

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For each congregation, the church council selects a pastor to serve as the\u00a0 lead campus pastor. This campus pastor is given the responsibility each\u00a0 year to select a Campus Leadership Team (CLT) ordinarily of no more than\u00a0 7 members. The members of each campus leadership team are reviewed\u00a0 and approved by the church council. The CLT is responsible for all aspects\u00a0 of their respective congregation\u2019s ministry.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

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How are deacons chosen?<\/span><\/h2>

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A study of the Bible reveals that deacons were first appointed in the early\u00a0 church in order to assist the elders in their work. To this end, each CLT\u00a0 selects, equips, and empowers church members to carry out the work of\u00a0 ministry (Eph. 4:12). As it does so, each CLT may designate members to\u00a0 serve as leaders over key areas of ministry within each congregation. These ministry leaders (once also approved by the church council) will\u00a0 serve as deacons within each congregation. These ministry leading\u00a0 deacons are accountable to their respective Campus Leadership Teams\u00a0 and ultimately to the church council.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Church Structure Everything you need to know about elders, council, and church governance. What denomination is Sunlight a part of? Sunlight Community Church belongs to the Christian Reformed Church of  […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":981,"parent":3890,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-5809","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakeworth.sunlightchurch.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakeworth.sunlightchurch.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakeworth.sunlightchurch.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakeworth.sunlightchurch.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakeworth.sunlightchurch.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5809"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lakeworth.sunlightchurch.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5809\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5936,"href":"https:\/\/lakeworth.sunlightchurch.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5809\/revisions\/5936"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakeworth.sunlightchurch.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3890"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakeworth.sunlightchurch.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakeworth.sunlightchurch.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}