Majority Rules

I have been thinking a lot about how a church makes decisions. In the New Testament, the spiritual gift of discernment seemed to help the apostles make wise decisions. The decision to begin a second tier of leadership in Acts 6, the choice to send out missionaries in Acts 13 and the decisions at the Jerusalem conference in Acts 15 seems to point to the apostles relying on spiritual wisdom and discernment in their decision making. Unfortunately many churches have given up on spiritual wisdom and discernment for the flawed practice of majority rules. If the majority agrees then that must be the right decision. However the practice of "Majority Rules" is open to politics, posturing and pressure from influential families or parties. There are several examples from scripture that remind us the majority is not necessarily right...

• The majority thought it was wise not to get into the Ark.
• The majority thought everything was great in Sodom.
• The majority thought it was acceptable to sell a brother into slavery.
• The majority refused to enter the Promise Land.
• The majority wanted a king in Israel.
• The majority stayed in tents while David faced a giant.
• The majority missed Jesus birth in Bethlehem. 
• The majority refused to to get out of the boat and walk on water.
• The majority yelled crucify, crucify!
• The majority left Jesus at the cross.  

As you can see the majority is not always right, in fact the majority opinion was often outside the will of God. Leaders, it is important for churches to return to wisdom and discernment in decision making. Majority rules is a great way of choosing where to go eat or select a movie for Friday night, but it is a recipe for disaster when it comes to decision making in the church.