July 04, 2025
From Pennsylvania to Church Polity
On this Independence Day, I would like to bring attention to a very important figure in America’s history, William Penn. William Penn (1644-1718) was born in England, the son of a prominent naval officer. As a young man, he converted to the Quaker faith and befriended the founder of the Quakers, George Fox. Penn’s Quaker faith was illegal in England at the time, a quarter century before the Toleration Act of William and Mary. For his faith, Penn was imprisoned.
Once freed, King Charles II gave Penn a tract of land in the new land Britain was colonizing in North America, payment for money he owed Penn’s father. Penn wanted to start a colony for religious outsiders, such as the Quakers, to demonstrate what fair, just and independent rule might look like. This became Pennsylvania, often referred to as the “Quaker State.”
Penn was an erudite man and wrote many books. At the same time, he was involved in religion and politics, as well as the politics of religion. He was an early advocate for the unification of the colonies, and created some ground breaking models for self-rule that became the template for our Constitution, including its advocacy for personal and religious liberties and democratic rule by the people.
All that being said, the way Quakers themselves were organized and made decisions was quite distinct. When making a decision the leader would discern the “sense of the meeting” or the direction it was going. They understood unanimity, not as unanimous agreement—though that was their ideal—but what the vast majority believed to be God’s will. No votes were taken, instead the leader and the people discerned the movement of the Spirit in their midst.
How different this is from our church polity. Our Church Council is established to make and execute some decisions, where other decisions are made by the entire congregation. Our denomination’s highest authority is the will of the delegates convened at the annual meeting. In the last two weeks I have attended both. And neither, especially “Gather,” our domination’s annual meeting, fit the Quaker model.
At last week’s meeting in Orlando, a resolution was proposed that would have rebuked the US government for its elimination of funds for USAID, as well as for the way this process took place—with no warning and with immediate consequences. It was approved for the agenda to be later discussed and considered. When it came up on the agenda, people spoke out both for and against the resolution. One person who oversees MENA (Middle East and North Africa) for Covenant World Relief, commented how much USAID supports their work, and how hard it has been since it was shut off. Others commented on how inefficient and corrupt the agency is, while still others commented that this resolution seems to place our denomination in a ‘political camp’, and we should have no resolutions that critique our government in a partisan way for that reason.
Then an amendment was made to revise the document taking out specific references to the United States and USAID, and instead say that as a denomination we oppose the reduction in aid for needy people by any government or institution. The amendment was voted upon and passed by the slimmest of margins. The amended resolution was then voted upon and then passed by a comfortable margin.
Our polity is much more organizational than the organic process of the early Quakers. In the example above we found a middle ground by compromise that may better reflect where we are as a denomination as a whole. It also became a reference point for every congregation, including ours, to help them compare their congregation’s perspective to the perspective of this resolution. As a Covenant denomination, we seek unity within diversity, trusting compromise and good will to move us forward. This would apply for our congregation as well. Penn himself acknowledged the need for compromise to unite the colonies, not seeing the same work of the Spirit in that political process.
May we, however, trust the Spirit is drawing us together here at First Covenant—though we may differ in many ways—that we might embody a community who is centered in new life in Christ and reaches out in many directions and ways in Christ’s name.
Celebrating our freedom and independence in Christ,
~ Pastor Todd