Let's explore the word polity. What are the high-level views of polity? What models are used by different denominations? Why is it important that we know about polity? How does polity play out in the church today? Why do most congregations not understand the significance of polity?

Is the congregation solely responsible for the running of the church? What does it look like to have a congregation be completely in charge? Is this what the Bible teaches?

Should we hand over the entire authority of the church to one man? Should the Head Pastor be able to make unilateral decisions? If so, which ones? Should there be any checks and balances for the Head Pastor? If so, what would those be?

Pastors come and go and congregants can't be trusted to make good decisions, so the deacons should be in charge of the church and be able to make all decisions. This is the philosophy of some people in churches, but is it the right philosophy? What responsibility should the deacons have in the church? Do they tell the pastor to preach and they will run everything else?

Two important words that need to be considered in the discussion of polity are the words, plurality and parity. Plurality means more than one and parity means equality. How do these two words play out in a healthy church model?

Should your church be led by a group of qualified men? How should they engage with the congregation and the deacons when it comes to decision-making? Should they lead or should the congregation or deacons lead the church? What does this model look like?

Should a group of qualified guys run the church? In other words should they have all the power without accountability by the congregation? If so, what does that look like? How do we ensure that these men do not abuse their authority? What does the Bible say about this?

So what happens if your church has a group of elders and one or more are paid by the church and one or more are not? What happens if some of the men think their only job is to show up and make decisions and the actual role of pastoring should be done by other people, namely the paid guys? Is this a problem? Is this healthy? Is this what the Bible teaches?

An overview of a biblical guide to choosing God's shepherds.

Even though this series will explore the hypothetical differences and realities if the local church did not exist, we will establish that there are at least five things that will be unaffected by this: The gospel, preaching, evangelism, discipleship, and the future gathering of believers for eternity. These five essential realities are unchanged even if the local church does not exist.