Our Congregational Heritage - The Church Meeting

Preached by Rev, Wesley Ellis on 10th May 2009 in Cregagh Congregational Church, Belfast.(Apologies to the preacher if these words are not exactly what you said - they are what I heard through God's voice.)

This was an extremely challenging message to listen to. If you ever thought that the church meeting was an outworking of democracy - then you need to read these sermon notes.

The Church Meeting

Yes I know it can encompass the colour of the new carpet - but it also encompasses so much more. We make many excuses as why we cannot attend - but perhaps we should think again.

In the Old Testament, God was to be approached in the way He set out, and in no other way. Thus we see the Tabernacle , the priestly system and the sacrifice at the Day of Atonement. The ordinary man did not approach God directly. He approached the priest who would do this on his behalf. This was a tiered and hierarchical system.

So why is there no hierarchical system in the Congregational Church. We have moved towards the understanding of the Priesthood of all believers. So we are autonomous and our government is autonomous. The Church meeting has a real importance within congregationalism.

The Old Testament system showed -

1. The Holiness of God - for the ordinary man and woman - He is unapproachable.
2. The appropriate manner in which God could be approached.
3. It is a picture of what was and is to come.

Jeremiah 31:31 ff says -
"The time is coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt,because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them, "declares the LORD. "This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time," declares the LORD."I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest," declares the LORD."For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more."
This passage told of the time when God would come to the individual and we could all come to Him. So we have the priesthood of all believers. We have no earthly priest, no need of a system. This is fundamental in the Church meeting. It is not a democracy - in Christ our High Priest, we come into His presence. So in the Church meeting we appear as the body of Christ - as living stones knit together as a royal priesthood. We are His people - His body.
And that body needs a head - that head is Christ. It may look like a democracy when we vote together and are met in the Church meeting. But as we move, we take our will and our impulse from Christ. Thus we have a theocracy in our Church meeting - congregationalism embraces theocracy. So the people of Israel wanted a king like the other nations BUT God himself was to be their King.
Through Christ we have access to God, and He has access to us. In our Church meeting we are listening to the impulses of the head - to Christ. So to look at the democratic idea in the meeting is a dangerous thing. For we have liberty in Christ, but also a responsibility. And so in the Church meeting we empty ourselves of all of our ideas, of our opinions, and open our hearts to Jesus' promptings. He makes known to us what He wants so that we are led collectively and individually.