Baptists and Prelacy

Every since the early to mid 1990s I've scoffed at African American Baptist pastors assuming the title of "bishop" with real jurisdictional powers. The case in point is the Full Gospel Baptist Fellowship, with a college of bishops including its only presiding bishop, Paul S. Morton, Sr. I remember being in my former church in Lansing, Michigan and some of the members talking about how "Baptists don't have bishops." Do they? Yes, and no.

Confessionaly, and most importantly, biblically, every Baptist church has at least one bishop. Note what the New Hampshire Declaration (confessed on paper by African American Baptists in general) states about church officers: the "only Scriptural officers are bishops, or pastors and deacons." Let's get one thing straight: there is an "or" in that statement, which indicates that the terms are interchangeable. Bishops are pastors, and pastors and bishops. We can also include the biblical term of elder in this equation. All refer to the same office. We come to this conclusion by reading 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1. The 1689 London Confession states that the officers of a church are "bishops (otherwise called elders) and deacons." It confesses the same as the New Hampshire. So yes, there are bishops in Baptist churches. In my church, we had three; but now only two.

There is the "no" answer. No, Baptists do not believe in bishops in the sense of prelacy. This is a little big word because most Christians aren't familiar with it. However, I received an email from Mt. Ararat Baptist Church announcing an upcoming conference hosted by an association this church is a member of. As I read this advertisement, I noticed that the association has a "presiding prelate." By definition, a prelate is a high-ranking church official. It assumes an episcopal government since only higher-ranking officials can bestow such on another. Can this occur in a Baptist church? No. Why not? Each Baptist church is independent. There can be no prelacy in independent and autonomous churches.

What we have here is what Jesus condemned: men going after the higher seats at gatherings. It sounds good to have the title of "bishop," or even "apostle." All of this type of posturing is unbiblical, and un-Baptist. For a reformation to occur within African American Baptist ranks we must pray that God will raise up men who seek the true office of a bishop in the spirit of 1 Timothy 3, Titus 1, and 1 Peter 5. Until then, we will continue to see men and women calling themselves into prelactic offices to the detriment of Christ's church.