Delegating or Abdicating Authority

I have said that one way of describing a Congregational Church is that the Church members -- who govern the Church -- delegate authority, but do not abdicate authority. There is a critical difference. When one delegates authority, one says, “We instruct you to ...” but when one abdicates authority, one says, “We grant you authority to ...” As soon as authority is abdicated, as in the second case, one has lost Congregationalism, and one has something else instead. OBSERVATION: Usually it is not hard to tell the difference. In Congregationalism, it is a spiritual principle which underlies the authority of the members.