Editing Congregational polity (section)

=== Baptist churches ===
{{more citations needed|section|date=January 2021}}
Most [[Baptists]] hold that no denominational or ecclesiastical organization has inherent authority over an individual Baptist church. Churches can properly relate to each other under this polity only through voluntary cooperation, never by any sort of coercion. Furthermore, this Baptist polity calls for freedom from governmental control.<ref>{{cite web |last=Pinson |first=William M. Jr. |year=2005 |title=Trends in Baptist Polity |url=http://www.baptisthistory.org/contissues/pinson.htm |url-status=dead |publisher=Baptist History and Heritage Society |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071013130242/http://baptisthistory.org/contissues/pinson.htm |archive-date=13 October 2007}}</ref> Exceptions to this local form of local governance include the [[Episcopal Baptist]]s that have an [[episcopal polity|episcopal system]].

[[Independent Baptist]] churches have no formal organizational structure above the level of the local congregation. More generally among [[Baptists]], a variety of [[Parachurch organization|parachurch]] agencies and [[Evangelicalism|evangelical]] educational institutions may be supported generously or not at all, depending entirely upon the local congregation's customs and predilections. Usually doctrinal conformity is held as a first consideration when a church makes a decision to grant or decline financial contributions to such agencies, which are legally external and separate from the congregations they serve. These practices also find currency among non-denominational fundamentalist or [[Charismatic (Christians)|charismatic]] fellowships, many of which derive from Baptist origins, culturally if not theologically.

Most [[Southern Baptist Convention|Southern Baptist]] and [[National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc.|National Baptist]] congregations, by contrast, generally relate more closely to external groups such as mission agencies and educational institutions than do those of independent persuasion. However, they adhere to a very similar [[ecclesiology]], refusing to permit outside control or oversight of the affairs of the local church.