The Church: Church Organization

For this reason I left you in Crete, that you should set in order the things that are lacking and appoint elders in every city as I commanded you.—Titus 1:5

I am and have been for years much distressed about the tendency to over-organize the Christian community, and I have for that reason had it charged against me that I do not believe in organization. The truth is quite otherwise.

The man who would oppose organization in the church must needs be ignorant of the facts of life. Art is organized beauty; music is organized sound; philosophy is organized thought; science is organized knowledge; government is merely society organized. And what is the true church of Christ but organized mystery?... Many church groups have perished from too much organization, even as others from too little. Wise church leaders will watch out for both extremes. A man may die as a result of having too low blood pressure as certainly as from having too high, and it matters little which takes him off. He is equally dead either way. The important thing in church organization is to discover the scriptural balance between two extremes and avoid both. God Tells the Man Who Cares, 30.

"Give us wisdom, Lord, to operate with good organization and wise business practices. But keep us from being so organized that the Holy Spirit has no room to work. Amen."