THE INDIVIDUAL CHRISTIAN VS. THE CHURCH: A Helpful Distinction

Basically, the reason for the distinction (in my head at least) is to protect the consciences of individual church members. My logic:

1a. Each individual member is responsible in some way before the Lord for what his/her church teaches (both explicitly and implicitly). This is a congregational distinctive I know, but I see it in the Bible--Galatians with false teachers, Acts 6 with deacons, Matthew 18 and 1 Cor. 5 with discipline, etc.

1b. When a local church teaches on anything publicly--whether it's explicit teaching, or implicit through endorsing certain programs, 'causes' the church might be involved in, etc.--that church is speaking (in part at least) for her members.

2. Therefore it's safe for churches to teach on/endorse topics that are:
a) clearly discussed in the Bible or,
b) not so clearly discussed, but that require a stance in order to practically run a peaceful church (such as baptism or issues of polity).

3. The Bible talks about the Gospel. The Bible doesn't talk about specifics for how to take care of the 21st Century homeless in a democratic state (or to pick up one of Wright's pets, third-world debt)--it doesn't even come close.

4. Therefore, in order to protect the consciences of individual members of local churches--saints who are tied to these bodies and responsible for their teaching--a church, to the best of its ability, should be incredibly slow to teach on or endorse any idea that the Bible doesn't speak to at least implicitly.

Individual Christians however, can endorse lots and lots and lots of ideas that aren't explicitly/implicitly spoken to in the Bible. I've been under the care of elders who had drastically different thoughts on politics--fiscal policy in particular--and at one point even debated against one another on the floor of United States Senate. These men had very different perspectives on how Christians should solve this particular matter, but they both realized the Bible doesn't speak to it directly and therefore they could IN NO WAY make a decision on this issue binding on the consciences of their sheep, which is exactly what they would be doing if they had been representing their church.