There are multiple places where the bylaws reference the council for decisions. The council, however, will not work using votes and majority rule. Instead, issues taken to the council should be given to council members with specific authority for decision making. For example, if there is an issue of doctrine, that issue could be raised before the Council, but would be directed to the elders for resolution. The balance of the council may express their thoughts, but the ultimate decision rests with the elders. The bylaws in Article V Section 5 state “The role of the church council is to provide coordination, integration, and strategic planning, so that a plurality of leadership exists among all aspects of the church. It is to ensure synergy and cooperation among all aspects of the church and to address general issues not otherwise addressed: to receive and direct such issues to appropriate entities for consideration and resolution.” This last sentence is a critical part of the church council’s role. As was stated in the all-church meeting, there may be some issues where the council specifically makes a decision, but it is expected that those items will be limited and restricted. Finally, it is hoped that very few items are brought to the Church Council. It is always best when the decision makers and stakeholders can work together outside of the Church Council.

We can assure you that this consideration was given a great deal of prayer, discussion and research before the elder’s decision to delegate some responsibilities for Church operations. The Governance team along with the Tteam and Pastors (which included all elders) built their recommendation on Acts 6 where the Apostles delegated some operational and ministry responsibilities to leaders in the body so that they (the Apostles) could devote their attention to prayer and the ministry (Act 6:3-4, “Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word."). We believe that there is a strong biblical basis for the delegation and shared leadership model that is incorporated into our new governance structure.

We understand your thoughts on this but we refer you back to item 2.  The elders, like the Apostles, wish to focus their attention to prayer, ministry and doctrine within the church.  The elders have not given that responsibility or authority away.  What has been removed from the responsibility of the elders are similar kinds of activities that the disciples gave to leaders in the body.  The elders will remain focused on the Scriptures to ensure that all activities within the church adhere to biblical principles.  Please remember that the church today has significantly more elements to it than the 1^stcentury Church.  We have federal and state legal requirements, employment requirements, buildings, security issues, schools, etc. that were not part of the 1^stcentury church.   Under our previous governance structure, the elders were overwhelmed in dealing with operational and administrative issues and had very little time to focus on prayer and ministry.  One last point, the elders will still be responsible that all of the activities of the Church remain Biblical.