Thus, local church governance varies widely throughout the denomination.

Congregational churches with their congregation-based system of church governance.

But as so often in religious history, the deeper issue is one of church governance.

At different levels of the church's structure, laity, clergy and bishops meet together with prayer to deliberate over church governance.

It was the highest office in churches with synodal church governance.

This structure of church governance is known as episcopal polity.

Their form of church governance is known as presbyterian polity.

Through most of American history, the laity has been excluded from church governance, with some exceptions.

They sought for "objective news and open discussion of issues in order to achieve the representative type of church governance that it claims".

The term "congregationalist polity" describes a form of church governance that is based on the local congregation.