Methodist and Nazarene Polity, Worship, and Sacraments — Unit 5: The Local Church: Membership, Classes, and Lay Leadership

Key Verse

"And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers." (Acts 2:42, NKJV)

Learning Objectives

When you finish this unit, you should be able to:

1. Describe what the Wesleyan tradition teaches about the local church and church membership.

2. Explain Wesley's condition for joining a society and the three General Rules.

3. Describe the class meeting and explain why Wesley valued it.

4. Name the main lay offices of the local church and the biblical basis for lay leadership.

5. State the objections to our view of membership and discipline, and give the Wesleyan answers.

The Voice of This Unit

This unit is written from inside the conservative Wesleyan tradition. It is about the congregation where most pastors and lay people will spend their lives. Units 1 to 4 spoke of the wider church. Here we come to the ordinary congregation. The rules for membership differ among the Wesleyan bodies, and your own manual or discipline decides every detail. Other Christians hold other views of membership and of church discipline. We state those views fairly and then answer. "Test all things; hold fast what is good" (1 Thessalonians 5:21).

What the Local Church Is

The New Testament word for church means an assembly of called-out people. A church is first of all a people, not a building. The Methodist Articles of Religion describe the visible church of Christ as a congregation of faithful people in which the pure Word of God is preached and the sacraments are rightly administered. This agrees with the picture in Acts 2:42, where the first believers gave themselves to the apostles' teaching, to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

Wesleyans add an emphasis of their own. A church is not only a place where the Word is preached and the sacraments given. It is a company of people who are being made holy together. Wesley said that he wanted to spread scriptural holiness. For him, the local group was the place where this happened in daily life, where believers helped one another to stay faithful, as the Letter to the Hebrews urges: "not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together" and stirring one another up to love and good works (Hebrews 10:24-25).

Membership

How Wesley received people

Wesley's rule for joining a society is famous. In the General Rules of the United Societies he wrote that the only condition required of those who wished to join was "a desire to flee from the wrath to come, and to be saved from their sins." A person did not need to be fully converted. A person who truly wanted to be saved could join, and could be helped along the way.

This was possible because the Methodist society was not the whole church. Wesley's people were also members of the parish church, where they received the sacraments. The society was a place of nurture within the church. Seekers were welcomed there, and those who did not continue in the way were removed.

Membership in the Wesleyan churches today

As the Methodists and the Holiness people formed their own churches, membership took on a fuller meaning. The Church of the Nazarene, The Wesleyan Church and other Wesleyan bodies ask those who join to give a testimony of new birth, to agree with the statement of faith, and to accept the church's covenant of Christian conduct and its duties. Some bodies also have a period of preparation before full membership. Baptism and the Lord's Supper are the signs of belonging, as Units 7 and 8 will show.

Members have duties. They worship regularly, give of their means, serve in the church, live by the church's rules, and support the pastor and the whole work. They also have privileges. They may vote in the church meeting, hold office, and receive the care of the pastor and the congregation.

Seekers are still welcome. A person who is not yet converted can attend every service, sit in a Bible study and be prayed for. Wesley's openness to seekers is a good model for the church today. The distinction is that membership carries responsibility, and the church speaks plainly about what a member should believe and how he should live.

The General Rules

The three General Rules describe how members of a Wesleyan church are to live. They are to do no harm, avoiding evil of every kind. They are to do good, as far as possible to all people, especially to those of the household of faith. And they are to attend upon the ordinances of God, which Wesley described as public worship, the ministry of the Word, the Lord's Supper, family and private prayer, searching the Scriptures, and fasting or abstinence.

The rules are not a way of earning salvation. Course 2 taught that we are justified by faith alone. The rules describe the life of those who have been saved and are growing. Their goal is love for God and for neighbor. Course 3 taught that holiness without love turns into legalism, and that warning applies here.

Care and discipline

Wesley took membership seriously. In his societies the leaders checked on the members regularly. Members received tickets, which were renewed each quarter, and a person whose conduct did not match the rules, and who did not repent, could be removed.

The New Testament teaches the same pattern. Jesus gave steps for dealing with a brother who sins: go to him alone, then take one or two others, then tell the church (Matthew 18:15-17). Paul urged the Galatians that if someone is overtaken in a fault, those who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness (Galatians 6:1). He told the Corinthians to deal with open and unrepentant sin among them (1 Corinthians 5). The purpose of discipline is first the restoration of the person, then the purity of the church and the honor of Christ. A pastor who disciplines should weep as he does it, and should rejoice when the person returns.

The Class Meeting

Its origin

Among Wesley's inventions, the class meeting was perhaps the most effective. Historians tell us that it began in Bristol in the early 1740s as a way to collect money for the society's building debt. The society was divided into small groups of about twelve, each with a leader who gathered a small weekly contribution. The leaders soon discovered that they were learning about the members' lives, and Wesley saw that the groups could be used for spiritual care. The class became a weekly meeting for fellowship, accountability and prayer.

What happened in a class

The members met weekly under a leader who was a mature layman or laywoman. The leader asked each person in turn how his soul was prospering. Members spoke of their struggles and victories, were exhorted, comforted and prayed for. The leader reported to the pastor, collected the contributions and noted who was absent.

The biblical basis is plain. Believers are to "bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ" (Galatians 6:2). James tells them, "Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed" (James 5:16). Hebrews 10:24-25 calls believers to encourage one another. The class was a way to put these commands into weekly practice.

Why Wesley valued it

Wesley held that the class kept the revival from fading. Those who were awakened by preaching were gathered and taught to walk in the way. The class provided the accountability that prepared believers to pursue holiness of heart and life. It also trained a large body of lay leaders.

The decline of the class

In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries the class meeting faded in many Methodist churches. Historians debate the causes. Some point to growing church size and respectability, which made believers unwilling to speak of their struggles. Others stress that Sunday schools, prayer meetings and revival meetings took its place. Some critics argue that the decline of the class weakened the Methodist movement, while others say that preaching and not classes was the heart of Methodist growth. We think both mattered. Wesley himself saw the preaching and the class as two halves of one work. Course 5, Unit 3 will show how classes can be recovered today as small groups, and this should be done with care so that the groups serve the gospel and are not just another program.

Lay Leadership

The Wesleyan tradition has always depended on lay people. Wesley's societies were led largely by laymen and laywomen. Paul taught that Christ gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers "for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry" (Ephesians 4:12). Peter says that "as each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God" (1 Peter 4:10). The church that has only a pastor doing the work is a church that has not understood its calling.

The main lay offices

The names vary, but the following are found in most Wesleyan churches.

• Class leader or small-group leader. Cares for a group of members and helps them grow in grace.

• Steward. Looks after the finances and the practical work of the church, and often the care of the poor. The word means a manager of what belongs to another. In Acts 6 the seven were chosen to manage the daily distribution to widows.

• Trustee. Holds and cares for the church's property, within the rules of the manual.

• Sunday school teacher and superintendent. Teaches the Word to children and adults.

• Lay preacher or lay speaker. Preaches under the direction of the pastor or district, especially where there are few pastors.

• Delegate. Represents the congregation in district and general assemblies, as Units 2 and 3 described.

• Church board member. Shares with the pastor in the oversight of the church.

The qualifications of lay leaders

When the apostles asked the church to choose the seven, they said the men should be "of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom" (Acts 6:3). The same standard fits lay leaders today. A leader should be a converted person, active in worship, faithful in conduct, and wise. The pastor and the congregation should pray before they elect people and should train them afterward.

The pastor and the lay leaders

The pastor is not a lord over the church. Neither is the church board a ruler over the pastor. They work as a team in the service of Christ. The pastor teaches, shepherds and guards the doctrine. The lay leaders manage, assist and bring the voice of the congregation. When the two sides respect one another, the church flourishes.

Objections and Our Answers

Objection 1: Church membership should be limited to those who are clearly born again.

Baptists and many others teach that the church is a body of regenerate believers. They say Wesley's low condition for entering the societies filled his groups with unconverted people, and that this was a weakness in Methodism.

Our answer. We agree that the church of Christ is made of the born again, and our churches ask members to testify to the new birth. But Wesley's societies were not the church in the full sense. They were groups within the church where seekers might be nurtured. Jesus Himself taught that the wheat and the tares grow together until the harvest (Matthew 13:24-30), and no human discipline can fully separate them. Our practice is to welcome seekers, to receive members on profession, and to exercise discipline in love.

Objection 2: Classes and church discipline invade privacy and make people legalists.

Critics say that asking members how their souls prosper is intrusive, resembles Catholic confession to a priest, and breeds a spirit of judging others.

Our answer. The class meeting was voluntary, and members chose to join. The confession James describes is mutual: believers confess to one another and pray for one another, not to a priest for absolution (James 5:16). Wesley's aim was love, not control. We agree that discipline can become harsh and legalistic, and Course 3 spoke plainly of that danger. The cure is to keep the rules few, the spirit gentle and the goal restoration. The answer to abuse is right use, not the abandonment of fellowship.

Objection 3: Giving much authority to lay people weakens the ministry.

Some say that when laymen elect officers and vote on matters of the church, the pastor's authority to teach and lead is reduced and popularity may rule.

Our answer. The Wesleyan view is that the whole body shares in ministry. The pastor has a real authority from the Word and from his office, and the lay leaders have a real voice in the work. Acts 6 shows the apostles asking the congregation to choose the seven, and the congregation did so. A church that listens and a pastor who leads in love are not in conflict.

Pastoral Application

A pastor receives a church with eighty names on its membership roll, but only thirty-five people attend. Some have moved to other cities. Some have not been seen for years. A few have fallen into sin and stopped coming. A church officer says, "Let us simply remove all the names of those who do not come, and the problem is solved."

The pastor does not agree to simple removal. First, he prays and asks the church board to join him. Second, he makes a list of each person and finds out what is known about them. Third, he and the leaders visit or write to every name, to learn who has moved, who is ill, and who has drifted. Fourth, for those who have moved, he helps them to transfer to a church near them. For those who have drifted, he calls them back with warmth and offers to meet them. Fifth, only after patient effort, and where a person plainly does not wish to be part of the church, does he bring the matter to the board for formal action under the manual. He also begins small groups so that those who return will find friends who care how their souls are doing. The church has fewer names but more shepherding.

Summary

The local church is a people gathered around the Word and the sacraments, and Wesleyans stress that it is also a company growing in holiness together. Wesley's condition for joining his society was a desire to flee from the wrath to come and be saved from sin. Today our churches ask members to testify to the new birth, agree with the statement of faith and keep the covenant of Christian conduct. The three General Rules describe the life of members: do no harm, do good and attend upon the ordinances of God. Discipline is meant to restore. The class meeting was the heart of Wesley's care for souls, a weekly small group of fellowship and accountability based on Galatians 6:2 and James 5:16. Lay people serve as leaders, stewards, trustees, teachers, preachers and delegates, because Christ gave leaders to equip all the saints for ministry. We answer those who want only the regenerate in the church, those who fear intrusion, and those who fear lay authority, by pointing to Scripture and to the balance of love and order.

Further Reading

• John Wesley, "The Nature, Design, and General Rules of the United Societies" (1743).

• John Wesley, A Plain Account of the People Called Methodists.

• John Wesley, sermon "Of the Church."

• John Wesley, sermon "On Visiting the Sick."

• The Methodist Articles of Religion (1784).

• Your own denomination's current manual or book of discipline, for the present rules of membership and local church government.

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