Evotional.com - Mark Batterson

We become a "sovereign" church tomorrow as we adopt bylaws that will govern us a church body. It's one of those "one small step one giant leap" moments. We never want to become bureaucratic. In fact, these bylaws are written to guard against that. NCC is a movement. But a good policy keeps you from making the same decisions over and over again. I think these bylaws are written in a way that will protect our church culture and allow us to continue to be who we are.

I met with Dr. Rhoden today and I loved his analogy. I told him it's a little "scary" adopting governing bylaws and it's a little outside our personality as a church. We've never focused on the mechanics. We've always focused on the mission. We're about reaching the unchurched and dechurched and discipling them. We don't want anything to sidetrack us from our mission. But he said these kinds of organizational things are like renewing your driver's license or filing your taxes. You do it to keep yourself "in the system" but they aren't part of your day in and day out life. Bylaws keep us in the system and allow us to enjoy the benefits of being part of a great network of churches.