Church members have varying opinions about their church’s constitution. One of our members showed me that she keeps a copy in her Bible case. Many members, I suspect, forget that the constitution even exists, despite the fact that they were forced to read though it when they joined. Then there are those members who scrutinize the constitution so they can police the minutia of church meetings. Perhaps they hadn’t thought about it for a long time, but a contentious issue provoked their attention.
As leaders, we recognize the value of our church’s constitution. It articulates our collective beliefs and practices. Nevertheless, it’s members who have the authority to approve and amend a constitution, and so they should care about it being rightly ordered.
In the past decade, my church has undergone two changes to our constitution. Through the first change, I served as a staff pastor; during the second, a non-staff elder. The first change was a major transition from being deacon-led to elder-led; the second dealt with a number of important church practices (e.g., voting, membership, discipline, articulations about societal issues, etc.).
As leaders, we did some things well and some things poorly in both changes. I think we
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