The Be in Christ Church has historically defined its polity around the concept often referred to as a brotherhood model. The brotherhood term was intended to communicate the concept of an egalitarian community although it is now recognized as anachronistic. The goal was to define a polity that was connectional in nature and representative in government. That is, on levels beyond the congregation, the church is governed by its elected representatives. Each congregation has considerable authority to decide its own affairs, but general decisions and policies are made at the denominational level by representatives from the congregations and church leadership.

Often people ask, because most denominations fall into one category or the other, are you ‘Episcopalian’ or ‘Congregational’ in your governance structure? The answer is yes. Meaning that we are both. Some parts of our governance are congregational in form representing the brotherhood values mentioned earlier on this webpage. In other ways the denominational leaders, or church board leaders, have the responsibility and authority to act on behalf of the organization as a whole. If anything, we tip the scales more towards Episcopalian in overall function. This approach might represent a significant difference from your past experience so it is important to read our various documents so you understand how the denomination functions in particular functions. Below are specific areas where our polity is different from many other denominations.

CHURCH GOVERNANCE

In accordance with our governance documents, local congregations function under the oversight of denominational leadership and, therefore, denominational leaders are welcomed partners in the healthy functioning of each local congregation. As ministry partners, denominational leaders are welcome to meet with a local congregation’s governing board, pastoral leaders, and the congregation at large, in order to resource, encourage and counsel pastors, governing boards and congregations as deemed necessary by the denomination.

LOCAL CHURCH PROPERTY OWNERSHIP

The historical Anabaptist movement held a value or ideal identified as “all things in common” based on the Acts 2 description of the formation of the early church. This value of mutual care for one another led the BIC denomination to adopt a joint ownership model for church properties. By contrast, the BIC rejected the Baptist ideal of the autonomy of the local congregation. As an example of the brotherhood model towards property ownership, there was a period when neither church nor parishioner would carry property insurance because their insurance was the brotherhood. Where one person experienced a loss, the entire group would step in and fill the need. 

Therefore, in our federated model, the buildings belong to “all of us” as a church family in the way the Parliament buildings belong to all Canadians. This model has some practical implications. One, this means that the valuation of the property should not be listed as a congregational asset on the local church financial statements. Second, this model requires that a denominational leader would sign any real estate documents and legal transaction documents for a church unless the church is incorporated. 

The congregation is responsible for the day to day upkeep of the church building and property, including providing the necessary finances. If a building is sold the money comes back to the BIC where it is held in trust for the church until they need it again for a capital project. Our policy does not allow for a church to use the selling of capital assets for operational costs.

PASTORAL CREDENTIALS

As a pastor with BIC it is important that you understand that in BIC structure, it is the denomination that provides ministerial credentials to a pastor and not the local church.  Although a church can make a decision to hire a pastor it is not guaranteed that the hired pastor will be granted credentials and the title of pastor or a marriage license until you receive credentials from the denomination. For information about how the credentialing process works, visit the Credentialing section on the menu.

PASTORAL REVIEW

As a pastor with the BIC, the denominational leadership will conduct reviews with your church board every five years. This is provided for the benefit of the pastor and church. For more information on how the Pastoral Review process functions, visit the Pastoral Review section on the menu.