You wouldn’t think that the governance of the nation’s Baptist churches would offer a direction on how to revamp American public education and make parents lead decision-makers in schools. But a closer look at how congregations run their own churches shows why families can — and must — be trusted with information needed to make smart decisions for their children.
This observation comes courtesy of a sermon on the fundamental aspects of the Baptist faith given yesterday by Rev. Dr. Howard-John Wesley, the pastor of the Alfred Street Baptist Church, one of the nation’s most-prominent African-American religious institutions. Part of a series he is giving on the underlying reasons why Baptists conduct religious services and pursue evangelism as they do, Wesley focused on why Baptist churches “elect” pastors, don’t have (and aren’t supposed to have) bishops that govern their affairs, and operate autonomously (save for their affiliations with a particular convention, or group of Baptist churches) at the direction of the membership. This autonomy differs greatly from the episcopal hierarchies of priests, bishops, and prelates that dominate Catholic, Anglican, Eastern Orthodox, and Presbyterian denominations.
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