Unauthorized Standards
Question.— Can a pastor, a local church board, or a committee, rightfully establish new requirements or standards for church membership?
Ques.— Has a pastor the power or right to set up requirements in matters of faith or conduct which the denomination has not adopted?
Answer.—No. No minister, church board, or conference committee has the right to establish new and unauthorized standards or requirements for church membership. If there is to be any new standard of church discipline touching faith or conduct, it should be set by the denomination in General Conference or Council session, and not by a pastor, a local conference committee, or a union committee. No individual or sectional group may properly require a person coming into the church to subscribe to requirements to which the denomination does not ask him to subscribe. The principle is clear.
O. Montgomery
