(31) Of Synods and Councils

Should leaders from one church gather with leaders from other churches to consider matters of common concerns? You might have an opinion on that question. Or you might think it to be both uninteresting and irrelevant. What does church government have to do with my personal walk with the Lord?

But what if inter-congregational meetings could be for "the good of the church"? What if the most obvious Scriptural example of such a meeting—the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15—is not exceptional but normative? Most Christians will never attend a meeting like that. But it is good for us to know how broader assemblies, or leadership meetings that involve more churches than our own, can be used by God for the building-up of Christ's church.