Together
Pride makes us much more touchy about our rights than our responsibilities. It is easy to be rather vocal when we think our rights are being ignored and strangely quiet in the face of our neglected responsibility. For that reason, we'll spend more of this article on what we are most inclined to bypass.

Responsibilities

In any Christian church there are many God-given responsibilities that the members have toward each other. We are to be kind to one another, forgive one another, love one another, bear on another's burdens, exhort one another, provoke one another to good works, comfort one another. To be technically correct about church-government and yet neglect the basics gives a disfigured impression of what the body of Christ is meant to be like in the midst of a needy world in darkness. Nevertheless, we do need to look at responsibilities towards the government of the church.

A. Learning
A fundamental mark of the genuine convert is discipleship. He wants to follow and so he wants to learn in order to follow.

If you want to follow Christ, you will make every effort to be present when the Word is being expounded, not just to "support the minister", but because you want to be there and you feel the need to be there. You are not doing God a favour; He is doing you one by giving you the opportunity to learn. The converts at Lystra accepted teaching
(Acts 14:21), and so should we. When any of the elders counsel you from the Word, a willingness to listen should be evident.

B. Submission
"Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls..."
(Hebrews 13:17).

In all matters which are the proper concern of the church, you should submit to the decisions of the eldership of the church. Even if you think they may not have made the best decision, provided no sin is involved, fall in line to the glory of God and for the peace and order of the church. Too many uproars in churches are over trivia where no matter of real Biblical principle is involved.

As far as possible, uphold the good name of the members of session. Avoid those social situations where people delight in expressing indignation at the latest misdemeaour of a minister or elder.

C. Support of the Testimony
If the session is making efforts to bring the Gospel to the people of the district, give your wholehearted support. Put other things to one side, even other Christian activities if possible. Join with them in "striving together for the faith of the Gospel," (Philippians 1:27). Even the Apostle Paul appreciated the presence of fellow Christians in his testimony to the truth. When he was brought to Rome, some of the brethren came to meet him, "whom when Paul saw, he thanked God and took courage" (Acts
28:15).

D. Support of Biblical Discipline
If the elders find it necessary to exercise discipline, the members should help the effectiveness of that discipline, not undermine it. The main aim of such discipline is the good of the offender, to bring him to repentance. You must encourage him towards such repentance. Urge him to heed to the exhortation of the minister and elders. Don't be two faced, giving verbal agreement that the session's action is biblical in one situation and yet agreeing in the presence of the offender that he's had a raw deal. Assure him of your love, but love him wisely. Take the flack to the glory of God and for the good of his soul. This must be done even when family ties are involved.

E. Prayer
Strengthening The Disciples Failure to pray is either failure to believe or failure to care. You either don't believe the minister and elders need the Lord's help or you don't care whether they have it. If you don't pray for them and you are tempted to criticise them, don't. Your words will not proceed from a right motive and are likely to have a purely negative, wounding effect without any positive benefit.

Rights

There are privileges that all the people of God should have within the body of Christ. Fellowship in Christ in corporate worship and witness and mutual care for one another are among these. But what about members rights as far as the office-bearers are concerned?

You are not necessarily entitled to brilliance in the pulpit but you are entitled to hear an honest attempt to expound the Scriptures week by week. You should have opportunity to join in all the ordinances of worship the Lord has appointed in His Word. You should receive pastoral care from your session and Biblical answers to your questions, if possible. In more formal terms, church members' rights include the following

A. Sacraments
If you are a Christian, walking with the Lord, you should be baptised (if not already), your children should be baptised and you should be admitted to the Lord's Supper for your encouragement and strengthening in the faith.

B. Election of Officers
In history, presbyterians have been prepared even to defy the civil courts rather than have ministers forced upon a congregation against their will. Election of local office-bearers is a right Christ has bestowed upon the congregational membership, subject to ordination by session or presbytery.

C. Access to the Eldership Bodies
In Acts 15:1-2, a disagreement in the Antioch church was referred to a wider eldership body. In the Reformed Presbyterian Church every member has the right to bring matters to the session. If not satisfied, he then has the right to bring a matter to the presbytery and synod. Such access to the higher eldership bodies is something for which to be thankful, though to be used with restraint and where a real issue of Biblical principle is to be resolved. This reference to the wider church can reduce the number of unnecessary divisions in churches.

Sometimes Presbyterians have made church government seem a very complex affair and it would be naive to assume that we as a denomination have entirely escaped this. Perhaps sometimes the biblical concepts get lost in a sea of ecclesiastical jargon. Nevertheless, behind all the "presby-speak", there are principles that are Biblical and beneficial and these should be prized.

Presbyterianism should express, in a non-hierarchical way, the unity of the whole body. Even so, the right form of church-government alone will never preserve the unity. Let us pray for our church and for the unity of the Spirit within it. Pray for a God-given reviving among us that the time for the Lord to favour Zion may come. (Psalm 102:13).