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Congregationalism The Way To Go?
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May 21 Congregationalism The Way To Go?

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The churches of Asia send greetings. Aquila and Prisca, together with the church in their house, send you hearty greeting in the Lord. 1Cor. 16:19, RSV.

Joseph Bates joined the Whites in their concern for gospel order. And in harmony with the restorationist roots of his Connexionist background, he claimed that biblical church order must be restored before the Second Advent.

He argued that during the Middle Ages the "law breakers" "deranged" such essential elements of Christianity as the Sabbath and biblical church order. God had used the Sabbatarians Adventists to restore the seventh-day Sabbath and it was "perfectly clear" to his mind "that God will employ law-keepers as instruments to restore. . .a 'glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle.' . . .This unity of the faith, and perfect church order, never existed since the days of the apostles. It is very clear that it must exist prior to the second advent of Jesus. . .in restoration of all things."

While Bates indicated that he believed in the recovery of the apostolic order of the church, he made no room for any element of organization not found in the New Testament.

James White at this early period shared a similar opinion. Thus he could write in 1854 that "by gospel, or church order we mean that order in church association and discipline taught in the gospel of Jesus Christ by the writers of the New Testament."

A few months later he spoke of the "perfect system of order, set forth in the New Testament, by inspiration of God. . .The Scriptures present a perfect system."

White, Bates, and others were quite certain that eery aspect of church order needed to be explicitly spelled out in the Bible. Thus it was that J.B. Frisbie even argued against any church name except the one given by God in the Bible. As he put it, "THE CHURCH OF GOD. . .IS THE ONLY NAME THAT God has seen fit to give his church."

With that extremely literalistic view, it is not surprising to see early Adventist leaders discussing the duties of deacons and elders as set forth by Paul, but it is a little more puzzling to find them defining "CHURCH" as signifying "a particular congregation of believers," given the implications of Acts 15 and overseer function of Paul and his associates. But so it was. Congregationalism was the structure favored by the Sabbatarians in the mid-1850s.

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Thank You, Lord, for our local congregations. Help us never to forget the important place they hold in Your work.
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