Church Government

Churches have split and denominations have formed over the issue of church government. While many Christians can explain their church's form of rule or defend it because of its "tried and true" traditions, few people understand their church's administrative customs from a biblical perspective.

Why does church government matter? In this book, Guy Prentiss Waters offers a brief and accessible introduction to Presbyterianism that shows how a well-ordered church fosters Christian lives lived well. In making the case that church government is critical to Christian discipleship, Waters presents an overview of the nature of the church (the body and its member) and its structures of authority (officers, assemblies, and ordination). He concludes by answering common questions people raise about church government.

In this book, Thomas Dwight Witherspoon lays out the core ideas of Presbyterian ecclesiology in five points, and sets forth the beauty of this biblical system of church government.

Here is the story of The Houston Five that shocked the nation in the fall of 2014. Attorneys for Annise Parker, at that time the openly gay mayor of the City of Houston, launched a campaign in an attempt to intimidate and silence Houston pastors from addressing LGBT issues from their pulpits. The attorneys selected five pastors to whom they sent subpoenas, demanding they release copies of their sermons and their notes regarding and conversations with church members on the topic.