Church Polity, and the Different Views on How We Christians Govern Ourselves

Much animated discussion of church polity this past week has me wanting to delve into what the various general arrangements in Christendom are, where they come from, and what we should make of them. In this episode, I should like to share several resources with you - from the Encyclopedia Britannica, The Gospel Coalition, Theopedia, and GotQuestions.org - concerning the various schools of thought and traditions surrounding the government and organization of the church. As we examine Episcopal, Presbyterian, Congregational, Single Elder-Led, and Plural-Elder Led models, what we will find is that there are several forks in the road where the same or similar terms are used differently, or where different terms largely add up to the same thing while being related to and arranged differently. Which of these are correct, and are any of them more correct Biblically than others? There's only one way to find out, and that is by digging in and doing the work of studying and examining in light of God's Word.