Ecclesiastical polity

Ecclesiastical polity is the government of a church. There are local (congregational) forms of organization as well as denominational. A church's polity may describe its ministerial offices or an authority structure between churches. Polity relates closely to ecclesiology, the theological study of the church.

Questions of church government were documented early on in the first chapters of the Acts of the Apostles and "theological debate about the nature, location, and exercise of authority, in the church" has been ongoing ever since. The first act recorded after the Ascension of Jesus Christ was the election of Saint Matthias as one of the Twelve Apostles, to replace Judas Iscariot.

During the Protestant Reformation, reformers asserted that the New Testament prescribed an ecclesiastical government different from the episcopal polity maintained by the Catholic Church, and consequently different Protestant bodies organized into different types of polities. During this period Richard Hooker wrote Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity, the first volumes of which were published in 1594, to defend the polity of the Church of England against Puritan objections. It is from the title of this work that the term ecclesiastical polity may have originated.^{[citation needed]} With respect to ecclesiology, Hooker preferred the term polity to government as the former term "containeth both [the] government and also whatsoever besides belongeth to the ordering of the Church in public."

There are four general types of polity: episcopal, connexional, presbyterian, and congregational.

Churches having episcopal polity are governed by bishops. The title bishop comes from the Greek word epískopos, which translates as overseer. In the Catholic Church, bishops have authority over the diocese, which is both sacramental and political; as well as performing ordinations, confirmations, and consecrations, the bishop supervises the clergy of the diocese and represents the diocese both secularly and in the hierarchy of church governance.

Bishops may be subject to higher ranking bishops (variously called archbishops, metropolitans or patriarchs, depending upon the tradition; see article Bishop) They also meet in councils or synods. These synods, subject to precedency by higher ranking bishops, may govern the dioceses which are represented in the council, though the synod may also be purely advisory. In episcopal polity, presbyter (elder) refers to a priest.

Churches governed by episcopacy do not simply adhere to a chain of command. Instead, some authority may be held by synods and colleges of bishops, and other authority by lay and clerical councils. Patterns of authority are subject to a wide variety of historical rights and honours which may cut across simple lines of authority.

Episcopal polity is the predominant pattern in Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Anglican churches. It is common in some Methodist and Lutheran churches, as well as amongst some of the African-American Pentecostal traditions such as the Church of God in Christ and the Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship.