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RB Distinctive Playlist: • RefBaptist Distinctions
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The second
Baptist distinctive would be Congregationalism, and this addresses church government. We reject the idea of a presbytery or synod overseeing and ruling over the individual congregations and held that individual congregations were independent, autonomous, and responsible directly to God himself.
In other words, the local bodies are responsible to God, not to bishops, not to presbyters above them.
We believe in associations, not denominations. So Congregationalism speaks of a form of church government,
Episcopal church government is ruled by bishops. And I learned this, that it's
Episcopal and the bishops become bishops by the laying on of hands. So that's different than Presbyterianism.
In Episcopalism, in order for somebody to become a bishop, the other bishops have to lay their hands on him.
In Presbyterian church government, it's ruled by elders, and in Congregational church government is ruled by the congregation.
That's why the elders of the church are chosen by the congregation, not the bishops or the presbyters.
So the congregation recognizes the giftings in the body and puts forth men who can be elders, men who could be deacons.
But that has to be recognized by the congregation, not people outside the congregation. In fact, in Presbyterianism, the pastor of the church is not a member of the church.
He's a member of the presbytery. So he doesn't fall under the discipline of the church, he would fall under the discipline of the governmental body over the church, which is, again, not biblical.
Episcopal government usually includes a hierarchy over the local church, and Presbyterian government sometimes does as well.
Congregational government nearly always avoids such hierarchy, maintaining that the local church is answerable directly to God, not some man or organization.
Again, Congregationalists promote associations, not denominations. Congregational churches recognize the sovereignty of Christ over His church and make that a touchstone of their faith.