I have seen members, board members, and Associate Pastors leave churches over minor disagreements with the Pastor or church leaders. This doesn’t seem to fit with the submission standard that was taught with respect to governmental authority. When should we resist church leadership? How does resistance to church authority look, and how much do members resist before leaving a church?
Like the person who asked this question, I also have seen many people leave the church over minor disagreements with those in church leadership. Two thoughts come to mind with the questions being asked.
First, “minor disagreements” is an essential point in the first half of this question. I can’t think of any “minor disagreement” that would warrant leaving a church. Again, the fact that these are minor disagreements is key. This could range from the style of music used for musical worship to the color of the new carpet in the fellowship hall, from the board not hiring your relative for the youth director position to the missions ministry deciding to cut ties with a particular partner. It’s not that these are unimportant decisions (though some of them are less important than others!); it’s that they are not major decisions — where major is defined by being essential to the Christian faith.
This leads to the last set of questions being asked: When should we resist church leadership? And what does resistance to church authority look like?
When the essentials are on the line…we must resist. If church leadership starts teaching against the essentials (or for something that is in opposition to the essentials), as a follower of Jesus, you are obligated to resist. Resistance would begin by scheduling a meeting with the church leadership to make sure that you aren’t mistaken or misinterpreting things. If they don’t listen to you, in our denomination (the EPC), every church member has the right to appeal to the Presbytery and/or General Assembly. This means you can bring your concern to the spiritual authority to which the elders submit themselves.
If the denominational leadership doesn’t listen, then it’s time to leave. However, even then, I would expect some Christians to feel called to stay and be a light of truth in a church whose leadership has strayed.
Finally, there are times when, even though the disagreement isn’t over an essential, leaving may be warranted. For example, someone may believe that the Bible teaches that women can and should be pastors even though they are part of a church that believes the Bible teaches otherwise. Although I think there’s beauty in unity when such a disagreement isn’t cause for separation, it’s understandable that this might be an issue where the individual decides to find a church that more aligns with their view on a non-essential matter.
In situations like this, the goal should be for both parties to bless the other as they part ways.