The presbyterian structure of a church is one where the members elect the leaders, but there is still centralized administration. I am a member of a Wesleyan church, which is structured this way. A simple explanation of the structure is that there is a general church over the districts who then support the local churches. Our church is considered a developing church, so it is run by a pastor and an advisory team (rather than a local church board).
A few disadvantages of this structure may be as follows:
· 1. Bureaucracy and Hierarchy: there could exist communication gaps between the various levels of the church government, so that local church members, for example, are not aware of what happens at the district level and vice versa. The members are the various hierarchical level may not be completely aware of the desires and issues present at the other levels.
· 2. Division: Each local church and each district essentially govern within their own entities, so their way of doing things may be different than that of other entities, which could cause division.
The following are some advantages to this structure:
· 1. Accountability: the local pastor is accountable to the local board, and both are accountable to the district and so on. There are rules, meetings, reports, etc., in place with required approvals that ensure each entity is operating according to the church’s Discipline.
· 2. Clear order of authority: the structure lends itself to clarify for each level and each entity to know where to go for answers or support up and down the structure.
· 3. Local church and congregational care: since the pastor has help and support from both the local board and the district, he or she can focus more on caring for the congregation and its needs. A few months ago, I had the opportunity to interview a Wesleyan pastor, and she stated that the help of the district is invaluable to the local church. She stated that she couldn’t imagine a local church being able to operate and stand on its own without the many ways the district provides support.