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PCA Book of Church Order - 1998
Chapters 1-20
Original Introduction to Electronic Version of 1993 BCO on the Valley Presbyterian Church Site
The electronic BCO is taken from the version of The Book of Church Order as amended by the Presbyterian Church in America General Assembly in 1993. Minor modifications have been made since that time (and will be revised accordingly later), but the essential tenets of ecclesiology are clearly set forth in this document. The text was provided by Center for the Advancement of Paleo Orthodoxy and reformated by Valley Presbyterian Church to make it a searchable web document.
Introduction to the 1998 Electronic Version of BCO
This 1998 electronic BCO, updated by Woodruff Road Presbyterian Church, is taken from the 1993 electronic version found on the Valley Presbyterian Church site with the inclusion of the 1994 - 1998 BCO amendments adopted by the General Assembly (taken from the 1998 published Fifth Edition of the BCO). The Rules of Assembly Operation (as amended by the 23rd General Assembly) and the Manual of SJC (as of June 1997) have also been added. You may Download the 1998 PCA book of Church Order as a Microsoft Worddocument.
1998 BCO
Click here to access the Operating Manual for the Standing Judicial Commission
I.
THE KING AND HEAD OF THE CHURCH
Jesus Christ, upon whose shoulders the government rests, whose name is called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace; of the increase of whose government and peace there shall be no end; who sits upon the throne of David, and upon His kingdom to order it and to establish it with judgment and justice from henceforth, even forever (Isaiah 9:6-7); having all power given unto Him in heaven and in earth by the Father, who raised Him from the dead and set Him at His own right hand, far above all principality and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come, and has put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the Head over all things to the Church, which is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all (Ephesians 1:20-23); He, being ascended up far above all heavens, that He might fill all things, received gifts for His Church, and gave all offices necessary for the edification of His Church and the perfecting of His saints (Ephesians 4:10-13).
Jesus, the Mediator, the sole Priest, Prophet, King, Saviour, and Head of the Church, contains in Himself, by way of eminency, all the offices in His Church, and has many of their names attributed to Him in the Scriptures. He is Apostle, Teacher, Pastor, Minister, Bishop and the only Lawgiver in Zion.
It belongs to His Majesty from His throne of glory to rule and teach the Church through His Word and Spirit by the ministry of men; thus mediately exercising His own authority and enforcing His own laws, unto the edification and establishment of His Kingdom.
Christ, as King, has given to His Church officers, oracles and ordinances; and especially has He ordained therein His system of doctrine, government, discipline and worship, all of which are either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary inference may be deducted therefrom; and to which things He commands that nothing be added, and that from them naught be taken away.
Since the ascension of Jesus Christ to heaven,
He is present with the Church by His Word and Spirit, and the
benefits of all His offices are effectually applied by the Holy
Ghost.
The Presbyterian Church in America, in setting
forth the form of government founded upon and agreeable to the
Word of God, reiterates the following great principles which have
governed the formation of the plan:
1. God alone is Lord of the conscience and has left it free from any doctrines or commandments of men (a) which are in any respect contrary to the Word of God, or (b) which, in regard to matters of faith and worship, are not governed by the Word of God. Therefore, the rights of private judgment in all matters that respect religion are universal and inalienable. No religious constitution should be supported by the civil power further than may be necessary for protection and security equal and common to all others.
2. In perfect consistency with the above principle, every Christian Church, or union or association of particular churches, is entitled to declare the terms of admission into its communion and the qualifications of its ministers and members, as well as the whole system of its internal government which Christ has appointed. In the exercise of this right it may, notwithstanding, err in making the terms of communion either too lax or too narrow; yet even in this case, it does not infringe upon the liberty or the rights of others, but only makes an improper use of its own.
3. Our blessed Saviour, for the edification of the visible Church, which is His body, has appointed officers not only to preach the Gospel and administer the Sacraments, but also to exercise discipline for the preservation both of truth and duty. It is incumbent upon these officers and upon the whole Church in whose name they act, to censure or cast out the erroneous and scandalous, observing in all cases the rules contained in the Word of God.
4. Godliness is founded on truth. A test of truth is its power to promote holiness according to our Saviour's rule, "By their fruits ye shall know them" (Matthew 7:20). No opinion can be more pernicious or more absurd than that which brings truth and falsehood upon the same level. On the contrary, there is an inseparable connection between faith and practice, truth and duty. Otherwise it would be of no consequence either to discover truth or to embrace it.
5. While, under the conviction of the above principle, it is necessary to make effective provision that all who are admitted as teachers be sound in the faith, there are truths and forms with respect to which men of good character and principles may differ. In all these it is the duty both of private Christians and societies to exercise mutual forbearance towards each other.
6. Though the character, qualifications and authority of church officers are laid down in the Holy Scriptures, as well as the proper method of officer investiture, the power to elect persons to the exercise of authority in any particular society resides in that society.
7. All church power, whether exercised by the body in general, or by representation, is only ministerial and declarative since the Holy Scriptures are the only rule of faith and practice. No church judicatory may make laws to bind the conscience. All church courts may err through human frailty, yet it rests upon them to uphold the laws of Scripture though this obligation be lodged with fallible men.
8. Since ecclesiastical discipline must be purely moral or spiritual in its object, and not attended with any civil effects, it can derive no force whatever, but from its own justice, the approbation of an impartial public, and the countenance and blessing of the great Head of the Church.
If the preceding scriptural principles be steadfastly
adhered to, the vigor and strictness of government and discipline, applied
with pastoral prudence and Christian love, will contribute to the glory
and well-being of the Church.
The Constitution of the Presbyterian Church in
America, which is subject to and subordinate to the Scriptures of
the Old and New Testaments, the inerrant Word Of God, consists of
its doctrinal standards set forth in the Westminster
Confession of Faith, together with the Larger and Shorter
Catechisms, and the Book of Church Order, comprising
the Form of Government, the Rules of Discipline and the Directory
for Worship; all as adopted by the Church.
The Doctrine of Church Government.
1-1. The scriptural form of church
government, which is representative or presbyterian, is
comprehended under five heads: a. The church; b. Its members; c.
Its officers; d. Its courts; e. Its orders.
1-2. The Church which the Lord Jesus
Christ has erected in this world for the gathering and perfecting
of the saints is His visible kingdom of grace, and is one and the
same in all ages.
1-3. The members of this visible Church
catholic are all those persons in every nation, together with
their children, who make profession of their faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ and promise submission to His laws.
1-4. The officers of the church, by whom
all its powers are administered, are, according to the
Scriptures, teaching and ruling elders and deacons.
1-5. Ecclesiastical jurisdiction is not
a several, but a joint power, to be exercised by presbyters in
courts. These courts may have jurisdiction over one or many
churches, but they sustain such mutual relations as to realize
the idea of the unity of the Church.
1-6. The ordination of officers is
ordinarily by a court, except in the case of ordination by a
presbytery's evangelist (see BCO 8-6).
1-7. This scriptural doctrine of
Presbytery is necessary to the perfection of the order of the
visible Church, but is not essential to its existence.
The Visible Church Defined.
2-1. The visible Church before the law,
under the law, and now under the Gospel, is one and the same and
consists of all those who make profession of their faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ, together with their children.
2-2. This visible unity of the body of
Christ, though obscured, is not destroyed by its division into
different denominations of professing Christians; but all of
these which maintain the Word and Sacraments in their fundamental
integrity are to be recognized as true branches of the Church of
Jesus Christ.
2-3. It is according to scriptural
example that the Church should be divided into many individual
churches.
The Nature and Extent of Church Power.
3-1. The power which Christ has
committed to His Church vests in the whole body, the rulers and
those ruled, constituting it a spiritual commonwealth. This
power, as exercised by the people, extends to the choice of those
officers whom He has appointed in His Church.
3-2. Ecclesiastical power, which is
wholly spiritual, is twofold. The officers exercise it sometimes
severally, as in preaching the Gospel, administering the
Sacraments, reproving the erring, visiting the sick, and
comforting the afflicted, which is the power of order; and they
exercise it sometimes jointly in Church courts, after the form of
judgment, which is the power of jurisdiction.
3-3. The sole functions of the Church,
as a kingdom and government distinct from the civil commonwealth,
are to proclaim, to administer, and to enforce the law of Christ
revealed in the Scriptures.
3-4. The power of the Church is exclusively spiritual; that of the State includes the exercise of force. The constitution of the Church derives from divine revelation; the constitution of the State must be determined by human reason and the course of providential events. The Church has no right to construct or modify a government for the State, and the State has no right to frame a creed or polity for the Church. They are as planets moving in concentric orbits: "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's" (Matthew 22:21).
3-5. The Church, with its ordinances,
officers and courts, is the agency which Christ has ordained for
the edification and government of His people, for the propagation
of the faith, and for the evangelization of the world.
3-6. The exercise of ecclesiastical
power, whether joint or several, has the divine sanction when in
conformity with the statutes enacted by Christ, the Lawgiver, and
when put forth by courts or by officers appointed thereunto in
His Word.
The Particular Church.
4-1. A particular church consists of a
number of professing Christians, with their children, associated
together for divine worship and godly living, agreeable to the
Scriptures, and submitting to the lawful government of Christ's
kingdom.
4-2. Its officers are its teaching and
ruling elders and its deacons.
4-3. Its jurisdiction, being a joint
power, is lodged in the church Session, which consists of its
pastor, pastors, its associate pastor(s) and its ruling elders.
4-4. The ordinances established by
Christ, the Head, in His Church are prayer; singing praises;
reading, expounding and preaching the Word of God; administering
the Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper; public solemn
fasting and thanksgiving; catechizing; making offerings for the
relief of the poor and for other pious uses; and exercising
discipline; the taking of solemn vows, and the ordination to
sacred office.
4-5. Churches without teaching elders
ought not to forsake the assembling of themselves together, but
should be convened by the Session on the Lord's Day, and at other
suitable times, for prayer, praise, the presenting and expounding
of the Holy Scriptures, and exhortation, or the reading of a
sermon of some approved minister. In like manner, Christians
whose lot is cast in destitute regions ought to meet regularly
for the worship of God.
The Organization of a Particular Church.
A. Mission Churches
5-1. A mission church may be properly
described in the same manner as the particular church is
described in BCO 4-1. It is distinguished from a
particular church in that it has no permanent governing body, and
thus must be governed or supervised by others. However, its goal
is to mature and be organized as a particular church as soon as
this can be done decently and in good order.
5-2. Ordinarily, the responsibility for
initiation and oversight of a mission church lies with
Presbytery, exercised through its committee on Mission to North
America, or by a Session, in cooperation with presbytery's
Committee on Mission to North America. However, if the mission
church is located outside the bounds of Presbytery, the
responsibility may be exercised through the General Assembly's
Committee on Mission to North America.
5-3. The mission church, because of its transitional condition, requires a temporary system of government. Depending on the circumstances and at its own discretion, Presbytery may provide for such government in one of several ways:
1. Appoint an evangelist as prescribed in BCO 8-6.
2. Cooperate with the Session of a particular church in arranging a mother-daughter relationship with a mission church. The Session may then serve as the temporary governing body of the mission church.
3. Appoint a commission to serve as a temporary
Session of the mission church.
5-4. At the discretion of the temporary
governing body, members may be received into the mission church
as prescribed in BCO 12. These persons then become
communicant or non-communicant members of the Presbyterian Church
in America.
5-5. Mission churches and their members
shall have the right of judicial process to the court having
oversight of their temporary governing body.
5-6. Mission churches shall maintain a
roll of communicant and non-communicant members, in the same
manner as, but separate from, other particular churches.
5-7. It is the intention of the
Presbyterian Church in America that mission churches enjoy the
same status as particular churches in relation to civil
government.
B. The Organization of a
Particular Church
5-8. A new church can be organized only by the authority of Presbytery. The Presbytery may proceed with the organization directly, or through an especially appointed commission, or through an evangelist to whom the Presbytery has entrusted the power to organize churches. In the organization of a church, whatever be the way in which the matter originated, the procedure shall be as follows:
1. The Presbytery shall receive and approve a petition subscribed to by those persons seeking to be organized into a congregation of the Presbyterian Church in America, appointing a time and date for a service of organization.
2. At the service and following the preaching of the Word, testimonials shall be presented to the Presbytery by such persons as are members of the church, if there be any, and applicants for admission to the church on profession of faith in Christ shall, on satisfactory examination, be received.
3. These persons shall in the next place be
required to enter into covenant, by answering the following
question affirmatively, with uplifted hand:
Do you, in reliance on God for strength,
solemnly promise and covenant that you will walk together as an
organized church, on the principles of the faith and order of the
Presbyterian Church in America, and that you will be zealous and
faithful in maintaining the purity and peace of the whole body?
4. The presiding minister shall then say:
I now pronounce and declare that you are
constituted a church according to the Word of God and the faith
and order of the Presbyterian Church in America. In the name of
the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
5. Action shall be taken to secure, as soon as
practicable, the regular administration of the Word and
Sacraments.
5-9. The following procedures shall be used in nominating and training ruling elders prior to organization and the election of a Session:
1. All men of the mission church (unless they decline) shall receive instruction in the qualifications and work of the office of ruling elder by the organizing commission or the evangelist.
2. These men shall be examined by the organizing commission or the evangelist concerning their Christian experience, their knowledge and acceptance of the constitutional standards of the church, and their willingness to assume the responsibility of the office of ruling elder according to the qualifications set forth in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1. The organizing commission or the evangelist shall present a list of all who are found qualified to be nominated.
3. Not less than thirty (30) days prior to the date of election, petitioners shall submit, from the list of all those found qualified, nominations of members for the office of ruling elder to the Presbytery designated organizing commission or evangelist.
4. The congregation will determine the number of ruling elders following procedures outlined in BCO 24-3 & 24-4
5. At the organizing meeting ordination and installation shall follow the procedure set forth in BCO 24-5.
6. Those elected, ordained and installed ruling
elders should meet as soon as is practicable to elect a moderator
and a clerk. The moderator may be one of their own number or any
teaching elder of the Presbytery with Presbytery's approval.
5-10. If deacons are elected, follow the
procedures of (1) through (5) above. If deacons are not elected,
the duties of the office shall devolve upon the ruling elders.
5-11. The following procedures may be used in the selection of a pastor in a newly organized congregation:
1. Not less than thirty (30) days prior to the date of organization the petitioners shall elect from their own body a Pulpit Nominating Committee. This election shall take place at a meeting of the petitioners announced at least one week in advance. Only those who have made a written commitment to membership in the new church are eligible to vote at this meeting.
2. The Pulpit Committee may report at the organizational meeting of the congregation, or any subsequent congregational meeting called for that purpose.
3. If at the organizational meeting a pastor is
called who is a member of the organizing Presbytery, he may be
installed at that time by the Presbytery or a Commission
authorized by the Presbytery to do so. If the pastor elect is not
a member of the organizing Presbytery, his call must be
prosecuted under the provisions of BCO 21.
Church Members.
6-1. The children of believers are,
through the covenant and by right of birth, noncommuning members
of the church. Hence they are entitled to Baptism, and to the
pastoral oversight, instruction and government of the church,
with a view to their embracing Christ and thus possessing
personally all benefits of the covenant.
6-2. Communing members are those who
have made a profession of faith in Christ, have been baptized,
and have been admitted by the Session to the Lord's Table. (See BCO
46-4 for associate members).
6-3. All baptized persons are entitled
to the watchful care, instruction and government of the church,
even though they are adults and have made no profession of their
faith in Christ.
6-4. Those only who have made a
profession of faith in Christ, have been baptized, and admitted
by the Session to the Lord's Table, are entitled to all the
rights and privileges of the church. (See BCO 58-4)
Church Officers-General Classification.
7-1. Under the New Testament, our Lord
at first collected His people out of different nations, and
united them to the household of faith by the ministry of
extraordinary officers who received extraordinary gifts of the
Spirit and who were agents by whom God completed His revelation
to His Church. Such officers and gifts related to new revelation
have no successors since God completed His revelation at the
conclusion of the Apostolic Age.
7-2. The ordinary and perpetual classes of office in the Church are elders and deacons. Within the class of elder are the two orders of teaching elders and ruling elders. The elders jointly have the government and spiritual oversight of the church, including teaching. Only those elders who are specially gifted, called and trained by God to preach may serve as teaching elders. The office of deacon is not one of rule, but rather of service both to the physical and spiritual needs of the people. In accord with Scripture, these offices are open to men only.
7-3. No one who holds office in the
church ought to usurp authority therein, or receive any official
titles of spiritual preeminence, except such as are employed in
the Scriptures.
The Elder.
8-1. This office is one of dignity and
usefulness. The man who fills it has in Scripture different
titles expressive of his various duties. As he has the oversight
of the flock of Christ, he is termed bishop or pastor.
As it is his duty to be grave and prudent, an example to the
flock, and to govern well in the house and Kingdom of Christ, he
is termed presbyter or elder. As he expounds the
Word, and by sound doctrine both exhorts and convinces the
gainsayer, he is termed teacher. These titles do not
indicate different grades of office, but all describe one and the
same office.
8-2. He that fills this office should
possess a competency of human learning and be blameless in life,
sound in the faith and apt to teach. He should exhibit a sobriety
and holiness of life becoming the Gospel. He should rule his own
house well and should have a good report of them that are outside
the church.
8-3. It belongs to the office of elder,
both severally and jointly, to watch diligently over the flock
committed to their charge, that no corruption of doctrine or of
morals enter therein. They must exercise government and
discipline, and take oversight not only of the spiritual
interests of the particular church, but also the church generally
when called thereunto. They should visit the people at their
homes, especially the sick. They should instruct the ignorant,
comfort the mourner, nourish and guard the children of the
church. They should set a worthy example to the flock entrusted
to their care by their zeal to evangelize the unconverted and
make disciples. All those duties which private Christians are
bound to discharge by the law of love are especially incumbent
upon them by divine vocation, and are to be discharged as
official duties. They should pray with and for the people, being
careful and diligent in seeking the fruit of the preached Word
among the flock.
8-4. As the Lord has given different gifts to men and has committed to some special gifts and callings, the church is authorized to call and appoint some to labor as teaching elders in such works as may be needful to the church. When a teaching elder is called to such needful work, it shall be incumbent upon him to make full proof of his ministry by disseminating the Gospel for the edification of the church. He shall make a report to the Presbytery at least once each year.
8-5. When a man is called to labor as a
teaching elder, it belongs to his order, in addition to those
functions he shares with all other elders, to feed the flock by
reading, expounding and preaching the Word of God and to
administer the Sacraments. As he is sent to declare the will of
God to sinners, and to beseech them to be reconciled to God
through Christ, he is termed ambassador. As he bears glad
tidings of salvation to the ignorant and perishing, he is termed evangelist.
As he stands to proclaim the Gospel, he is termed preacher.
As he dispenses the manifold grace of God, and the ordinances
instituted by Christ, he is termed steward of the
mysteries of God.
8-6. When a teaching elder is appointed
to the work of an evangelist, he is commissioned to preach the
Word and administer the Sacraments in foreign countries or the
destitute parts of the church. The Presbytery may by separate
acts from that by which it commissioned him, entrust to the
evangelist for a period of twelve months the power to organize
churches, and, until there is a Session in the church so
organized, to instruct, examine, ordain, and install ruling
elders and deacons therein, and to receive or dismiss members.
8-7. A Presbytery may, at its
discretion, approve the call of a teaching elder to work with an
organization outside the jurisdiction of the Presbyterian Church
in America, provided that he be engaged in preaching and teaching
the Word, that the Presbytery be assured he will have full
freedom to maintain and teach the doctrine of our Church, and
that he report at least annually on his work. As far as possible,
such a teaching elder shall be a member of the Presbytery within
whose bounds he labors.
8-8. As there were in the Church under
the law, elders of the people for the government thereof, so in
the Gospel church, Christ has furnished others besides ministers
of the Word with gifts and commission to govern when called
thereunto, which are called ruling elders.
8-9. Elders being of one class of
office, ruling elders possess the same authority and eligibility
to office in the courts of the church as teaching elders. They
should, moreover, cultivate zealously their own aptness to teach
the Bible and should improve every opportunity of doing so.
9-1. The office of deacon is set forth
in the Scriptures as ordinary and perpetual in the Church. The
office is one of sympathy and service, after the example of the
Lord Jesus; it expresses also the communion of saints, especially
in their helping one another in time of need.
9-2. It is the duty of the deacons to minister to those who are in need, to the sick, to the friendless, and to any who may be in distress. It is their duty also to develop the grace of liberality in the members of the church, to devise effective methods of collecting the gifts of the people, and to distribute these gifts among the objects to which they are contributed. They shall have the care of the property of the congregation, both real and personal, and shall keep in proper repair the church edifice and other buildings belonging to the congregation. In matters of special importance affecting the property of the church, they cannot take final action without the approval of the Session and consent of the congregation.
In the discharge of their duties the deacons
are under the supervision and authority of the Session. In a
church in which it is impossible for any reason to secure
deacons, the duties of the office shall devolve upon the ruling
elders.
9-3. To the office of deacon, which is
spiritual in nature, shall be chosen men of spiritual character,
honest repute, exemplary lives, brotherly spirit, warm
sympathies, and sound judgment.
9-4. The deacons of a particular church shall be organized as a Board, of which the pastor shall be an advisory member. The Board shall elect a chairman and a secretary from their number and a treasurer to whom shall be entrusted the funds for the current expenses of the church. It shall meet separately at least once a quarter, and whenever requested by the Session. The Board of each church shall determine the number necessary for a quorum.
The Board shall keep a record of its proceedings, and of all funds and their distribution, and shall submit its minutes to the Session regularly, and at other times upon request of the Session.
It is desirable that the Session and the Board
of Deacons meet in joint session once a quarter to confer on
matters of common interest.
9-5. Deacons may properly be appointed
by the higher courts to serve on committees, especially as
treasurers. It is suitable also that they be appointed trustees
of any fund held by any of the Church courts. It may also be
helpful for the church courts, when devising plans of church
finance, to invite wise and consecrated deacons to their
councils.
9-6. The deacons may, with much
advantage, hold conference from time to time for the discussion
of the interests committed to them. Such conferences may include
representatives of churches covering areas of smaller or larger
extent. Any actions taken by these conferences shall have only an
advisory character.
9-7. It is often expedient that the
Session of a church should select and appoint godly men and women
of the congregation to assist the deacons in caring for the sick,
the widows, the orphans, the prisoners, and others who may be in
any distress or need.
Church Courts in General.
10-1. The church is governed by various courts, in regular gradation, which are all, nevertheless, Presbyteries, as being composed exclusively of presbyters.
10-2. These courts are church Sessions, Presbyteries, and the General Assembly.
10-3. The pastor is, for prudential reasons, moderator of the Session. The moderator of the Presbytery may be elected at each stated meeting of the court, or for a period of time up to one year. The moderator of the General Assembly shall be chosen at each stated meeting. The moderator, or in case of his absence the last moderator present or the oldest minister longest a member of the court, shall open the next meeting with a sermon unless it is impracticable, and shall hold the chair until a new moderator be chosen.
The moderator has all authority necessary for
the preservation of order and for the proper and expeditious
conduct of all business before the court, and for convening and
adjourning the court according to its own ruling. In any
emergency, he may by circular letter change the time or place, or
both, of meeting to which the court stands adjourned, giving
reasonable notice thereof.
10-4. A clerk or clerks shall be elected by the Session, Presbytery, and General Assembly to serve for a definite period as determined by the court.
It is the duty of the clerk, besides recording
the transactions, to preserve the records carefully, and to grant
extracts from them whenever properly required. Such extracts
under the hand of the clerk shall be evidence to any
ecclesiastical court, and to every part of the Church.
10-5. Every meeting of the Session,
Presbytery and General Assembly shall be opened and closed with
prayer, and in closing the final session a psalm or hymn may be
sung and the benediction pronounced.
10-6. The expenses of ministers and
ruling elders in their attendance on the courts shall be defrayed
by the bodies which they respectively represent.
Jurisdiction of Church Courts.
11-1. These assemblies are altogether distinct from the civil magistracy, and have no jurisdiction in political or civil affairs. They have no power to inflict temporal pains and penalties, but their authority is in all respects moral or spiritual.
11-2. The jurisdiction of church courts is only ministerial and declarative, and relates to the doctrines and precepts of Christ, to the order of the Church, and to the exercise of discipline.
First, they can make no laws binding the conscience; but may frame symbols of faith, bear testimony against error in doctrine and immorality in practice, within or without the church, and decide cases of conscience.
Secondly, they have power to establish rules for the government, discipline, worship, and extension of the Church, which must be agreeable to the doctrines relating thereto contained in the Scriptures, the circumstantial details only of these matters being left to the Christian prudence and wisdom of church officers and courts.
Thirdly, they possess the right to
require obedience to the laws of Christ. Hence, they admit those
qualified to sealing ordinances and to their respective offices,
and they exclude the disobedient and disorderly from such offices
or from sacramental privileges. The highest censure to which
their authority extends is to cut off the contumacious and
impenitent from the congregation of believers. Moreover, they
possess all the administrative authority necessary to give effect
to these powers.
11-3. All church courts are one in
nature, constituted of the same elements, possessed inherently of
the same kinds of rights and powers, and differing only as the
Constitution may provide. When, however, according to Scriptural
example, and needful to the purity and harmony of the whole
Church, disputed matters of doctrine and order arising in the
lower courts are referred to the higher courts for decision, such
referral shall not be so exercised as to impinge upon the
authority of the lower court.
11-4. For the orderly and efficient dispatch of ecclesiastical business, it is necessary that the sphere of action of each court should be distinctly defined. The Session exercises jurisdiction over a single church, the Presbytery over what is common to the ministers, Sessions, and churches within a prescribed district, and the General Assembly over such matters as concern the whole Church. The jurisdiction of these courts is limited by the express provisions of the Constitution.
Every court has the right to resolve questions
of doctrine and discipline seriously and reasonably proposed, and
in general to maintain truth and righteousness, condemning
erroneous opinions and practices which tend to the injury of the
peace, purity, or progress of the church. Although each court
exercises exclusive original jurisdiction over all matters
specially belonging to it, the lower courts are subject to the
review and control of the higher courts, in regular gradation.
These courts are not separate and independent tribunals, but they
have a mutual relation, and every act of jurisdiction is the act
of the whole church performed by it through the appropriate
organ.
The Church Session.
12-1. The church Session consists of the pastor, associate pastor(s), if there be any, and the ruling elders of a church. If there are three or more ruling elders, the pastor and two ruling elders shall constitute a quorum. If there are fewer than three ruling elders, the pastor and one ruling elder shall constitute a quorum. Assistant pastor or pastors, although not members of the Session, may be invited to attend and participate in discussion without vote.
When a church has no pastor and there are five or more ruling elders, three shall constitute a quorum; if there are less than five ruling elders, two shall constitute a quorum; if there is only one ruling elder, he does not constitute a Session, but he should take spiritual oversight of the church, should represent it at Presbytery, should grant letters of dismission, and should report to the Presbytery any matter needing the action of a church court.
Any Session, by a majority vote of its members,
may fix its own quorum, provided that it is not smaller than the
quorum stated in these paragraphs.
12-2. The pastor is, by virtue of his
office, the moderator of the Session. In his absence, if any
emergency should arise requiring immediate action, the Session
may elect one of its members to preside. Should prudential
reasons at any time make it advisable for a minister other than
the pastor to preside, the pastor may, with the concurrence of
the Session, invite a minister of the same Presbytery to perform
this service.
12-3. When a church is without a pastor,
the moderator of the Session may be either a minister appointed
for that purpose by the Presbytery, with consent of the Session,
or one invited by the Session to preside on a particular
occasion, or one of its own members elected to preside. In
judicial cases, the moderator shall be a minister of the
Presbytery to which the church belongs.
12-4. Associate or assistant pastors may
substitute for the pastor as moderator of the Session at the
discretion of the pastor and Session.
12-5. The church Session is charged with maintaining the spiritual government of the church, for which purpose it has power:
a. To inquire into the knowledge, principles and Christian conduct of the church members under its care; to censure those found delinquent; to see that parents do not neglect to present their children for Baptism; to receive members into the communion of the church; to remove them for just cause; to grant letters of dismissal to other churches, which when given to parents, shall always include the names of their noncommuning baptized children;
b. To examine, ordain, and install ruling elders and deacons on their election by the church, and to require these officers to devote themselves to their work; to examine the records of the proceedings of the deacons; to approve and adopt the budget;
c. To approve actions of special importance affecting church property;
d. To call congregational meetings when necessary; to establish and control Sunday schools and Bible classes with special reference to the children of the church; to establish and control all special groups in the church such as Men in the Church, Women in the Church and special Bible study groups; to promote World missions; to promote obedience to the Great Commission in its totality at home and abroad; to order collections for pious uses;
e. To exercise in accordance with the Directory for Worship, authority over the time and place of the preaching of the Word and the administration of the Sacraments, over all other religious services, over the music in the services, and over the uses to which the church building and associated properties may be put; to take the oversight of the singing in the public worship of God; to assemble the people for worship when there is no minister; to determine the best measures for promoting the spiritual interests of the church and congregation;
f. To observe and carry out the lawful
injunctions of the higher courts; and to appoint representatives
to the higher courts, who shall, on their return, make report of
their diligence.
12-6. The Session shall hold stated
meetings at least quarterly. Moreover, the pastor has power to
convene the Session when he may judge it requisite; and he shall
always convene it when requested to do so by any two of the
ruling elders. When there is no pastor, it may be convened by two
ruling elders. The Session shall also convene when directed so to
do by the Presbytery.
12-7. Every Session shall keep an
accurate record of its proceedings, which record shall be
submitted at least once in every year to the inspection of the
Presbytery.
12-8. Every Session shall keep an
accurate record of baptisms, of communing members, of
noncommuning members, and of the deaths and dismissions of church
members.
12-9. Meetings of the Sessions shall be
opened and closed with prayer.
The Presbytery.
13-1. The Presbytery consists of all the teaching elders and churches within its bounds that have been accepted by the Presbytery. When the Presbytery meets as a court it shall comprise all teaching elders and one ruling elder from each congregation. Additional ruling elders may represent their churches on the following basis: One ruling elder for the first three hundred fifty (350) communing members, plus one additional ruling elder for each additional five hundred (500) communing members or fraction thereof.
When a Presbytery has fifty percent (50%) more
teaching elders on its roll than the number of churches on its
roll, each church may be represented by two ruling elders for the
first three hundred fifty (350) communing members or fraction
thereof.
13-2. A minister shall be required to
hold his membership in the Presbytery within whose geographical
bounds he resides, unless there are reasons which are
satisfactory to his Presbytery why he should not do so. When a
minister labors outside the geographical bounds of, or in a work
not under the jurisdiction of his Presbytery, at home or abroad,
it shall be only with the full concurrence of and under
circumstances agreeable to his Presbytery, and to the Presbytery
within whose geographical bounds he labors, if one exists. When a
minister shall continue on the rolls of his Presbytery without a
call to a particular work for a prolonged period, not exceeding
three years, the procedure as set forth in BCO 34-10 shall
be followed.
(EDITORIAL COMMENT: This provision, does not
apply to the non-geographical Korean Language Presbyteries as
long as the General Assembly mandates their existence.)
13-3. Every ruling elder not known to
the Presbytery shall produce a certificate of his regular
appointment from the Session of the church which he represents.
13-4. Any three ministers belonging to the Presbytery, together with at least three ruling elders, being met at the time and place appointed, shall be a quorum competent to proceed to business.
However, any Presbytery, by a majority vote of
those present at a stated meeting, may fix its own quorum
provided it is not smaller than the quorum stated in this
paragraph.
13-5. Ordinarily, only a minister who
receives a call to a definite ecclesiastical work within the
bounds of a particular Presbytery may be received as a member of
that Presbytery except in cases where the minister is already
honorably retired, or in those cases deemed necessary by the
Presbytery, subject to the review of the General Assembly.
13-6. Ministers seeking admission to a
Presbytery from other Presbyteries in the Presbyterian Church in
America shall be examined on Christian experience, and also
touching their views in theology, the Sacraments, and church
government. If applicants come from other denominations, the
Presbytery shall examine them thoroughly in knowledge and views
as required by BCO 21-4 and require them to answer in the affirmative
the questions put to candidates at their ordination. Ordained
ministers from other denominations being considered by Presbyteries
for reception may come under the extraordinary provisions set forth
in BCO 21-4.
13-7. The Presbytery shall cause to be
transcribed, in some convenient part of the book of records, the
obligations required of ministers at their ordination, which
shall be subscribed by all admitted to membership, in the
following form:
I, _______________, do sincerely receive and
subscribe to the above obligation as a just and true exhibition
of my faith and principles, and do resolve and promise to
exercise my ministry in conformity thereunto.
13-8. The Presbytery, before receiving
into its membership any church, shall designate a commission to
meet with the church's ruling elders to make certain that the
elders understand and can sincerely adopt the doctrines and
polity of the Presbyterian Church in America as contained in its
Constitution. In the presence of the commission, the ruling
elders shall be required to answer affirmatively the questions
required of officers at their ordination.
13-9. The Presbytery has power to receive and issue appeals, complaints, and references brought before it in an orderly manner. [Editor's note: "Issue" means "settling the issue of the case."] In cases in which the Session cannot exercise its authority, it shall have power to assume original jurisdiction. It has power:
a. To receive under its care candidates for the ministry; to examine and license candidates for the holy ministry; to receive, dismiss, ordain, install, remove and judge ministers;
b. To review the records of church Sessions, redress whatever they may have done contrary to order and take effectual care that they observe the Constitution of the Church;
c. To establish the pastoral relation and to dissolve it at the request of one or both of the parties, or where the interest of religion imperatively demands it;
d. To set apart evangelists to their proper work; to require ministers to devote themselves diligently to their sacred calling and to censure the delinquent;
e. To see that the lawful injunctions of the higher courts are obeyed;
f. To condemn erroneous opinions which injure the purity or peace of the Church; to visit churches for the purpose of inquiring into and redressing the evils that may have arisen in them; to unite or divide churches, at the request of the members thereof; to form and receive new churches; to take special oversight of churches without pastors; to dissolve churches; to dismiss churches with their consent;
g. To devise measures for the enlargement of the Church within its bounds; in general, to order whatever pertains to the spiritual welfare of the churches under its care;
h. And, finally, to propose to the Assembly
such measures as may be of common advantage to the Church at
large.
13-10. When a Presbytery determines
to dissolve a church, it shall give no less than sixty (60)
days notice of such a dissolution to the local church. With
such notice, Presbytery shall communicate to the members
their responsibility to transfer their membership to other
particular or mission churches. In addition, Presbytery shall:
1. transfer membership to existing churches, with the
consent of the individuals and the Sessions of the receiving
churches; or
2. grant a letter of dismissal to an individual so requesting,
testifying that the individual was a member in good standing of
the local church at the date of dissolution (see BCO 46-7).
Until such a time as the person is received by a church the
Presbytery shall continue to provide pastoral oversite; or
3. place individuals under the oversight of a commission of
Presbytery acting as a session (BCO 15-2), for up to one year,
renewable, until such a time as either a new congregation can
be formed or such persons are dismissed to membership in
another church.
13-11. The Presbytery shall meet at
least twice a year on its own adjournment. When any emergency
shall require a meeting earlier than the time to which the
Presbytery stands adjourned, the moderator shall, at the request
or with the concurrence of two teaching elders and two ruling
elders from at least three different churches, call a special
meeting. Should the moderator be for any reason unable to act,
the stated clerk shall, under the same requirements, issue the
call. If both moderator and stated clerk are unable to act, any
two teaching elders and two ruling elders of at least three
different churches shall have power to call a meeting. Notice of
the special meeting shall be sent not less than ten days in
advance to each minister and to the Session of every church
without a pastor. In the notice, the purpose of the meeting shall
be stated, and no business other than that named in the notice is
to be transacted. The Presbytery also shall convene when directed
to do so by the General Assembly, for the transaction of
designated business only.
13-12. Ministers in good standing in
other Presbyteries, or in any evangelical church, being present
at any meeting of Presbytery, may be invited to sit as visiting
brethren. It is proper for the moderator to introduce these
brethren to the Presbytery. This provision shall also apply to
the General Assembly.
The General Assembly.
14-1. The General Assembly is the
highest court of this Church, and represents in one body all the
churches thereof. It bears the title of The General Assembly of
the Presbyterian Church in America, and constitutes the bond of
union, peace and correspondence among all its congregations and
courts.
Principles for the Organization of the Assembly
1. The Church is responsible for carrying out the Great Commission.
2. The initiative for carrying out the Great Commission belongs to the Church at every court level, and the Assembly is responsible to encourage and promote the fulfillment of this ministry by the various courts.
3. The work of the Church as set forth in the Great Commission is one work, being implemented at the General Assembly level through equally essential committees.
4. It is the responsibility of every member and every member congregation to support the whole work of the denomination as they be led in their conscience held captive to the Word of God.
5. It is the responsibility of the General Assembly to evaluate needs and resources, and to act on priorities for the most effective fulfillment of the Great Commission.
6. The Church recognizes the right of individuals and congregations to labor through other agencies in fulfilling the Great Commission.
7. The Assembly's committees are to serve and not to direct any Church judicatories. They are not to establish policy, but rather execute policy established by the General Assembly.
8. The committees serve the Church through the duties assigned by the General Assembly.
9. The Assembly's committees are to include proportionate representation of all presbyteries, wherever possible.
10. The committees are to be established on the basis of an equal number between teaching and ruling elders.
11. A Nominating Committee shall be comprised of one representative elected by each Presbytery in the following manner. Each Presbytery shall be assigned to a class by the stated clerk based on its date of formation. The members shall serve in classes of three year terms, alternating between ruling and teaching elders. When necessary, unexpired terms shall be filled by an elder of the same class, teaching or ruling.
This committee is to present all nominations for which it is responsible to the next meeting of the Assembly from a slate of men nominated by the Presbyteries. Presbyteries shall utilize the nominating forms provided by the stated clerk for their nominations. Each presbytery may present one teaching elder and one ruling elder for each committee or agency.
In addition to nominees for expired terms, the Committee shall nominate for each permanent committee one ruling and one teaching elder as alternates to fill any vacancies that may occur during the year. Each alternate should attend each meeting and fill any vacancy necessary to meet a quorum. In addition to the new nominees from the Presbyteries, alternates not assuming any vacancies during a year will be automatically considered by the Nominating Committee as candidates for nomination to that same committee.
12. The Assembly permanent committees are the Administrative Committee of General Assembly, Committee on Christian Education and Publications, Committee on Mission to North America, and Committee on Mission to the World.
The Administrative Committee of General Assembly shall consist of nineteen (19) members:
a. Eleven Members in classes elected through the standard nomination and election procedure,
b. One member each from the following program committees or agencies:
1. Christian Education and Publication;
2. Covenant College;
3. Covenant Theological Seminary;
4. Insurance, Annuities and Relief;
5. Mission to North America;
6. Mission to the World;
7. PCA Foundation;
8. Ridge Haven Conference Center.
The eleven members at large shall serve a term of four years. The chairman of the Administrative Committee shall be one of its members at large.
Each program committee and agency shall designate its member each year at the last meeting of the committee or board before the meeting of General Assembly. The chief administrative officers of the program committees and agencies may attend any meeting of the Administrative Committee. They shall be entitled to the privilege of the floor but shall not have a vote and must be excluded when an executive session is called.
Committee on Christian Education and Publications, Committee on Mission to North America, and Committee on Mission to the World shall consist of fourteen (14) men divided into four classes of three men each on odd years and four men each on even years, elected to serve four-year terms. Committees on Christian Education and Publications, Mission to North America, and Mission to the World shall have one ruling and one teaching elder as alternates to fill any vacancy that may occur during the year.
Persons who have served for a full term, or for at least two years of a partial term, on one of the Assembly's permanent committees or agencies shall not be eligible for re-election to an Assembly committee until one year has elapsed. (Exceptions may be permitted in agency bylaws approved by the Assembly).
13. The General Assembly establishes personnel salaries after hearing recommendations from the appropriate committee.
14. The Assembly shall elect a six-man Theological Examining Committee (three teaching elders and three ruling elders of three classes of two men each). Nominations for this Committee will be presented by the Assembly's Nominating Committee.
This committee shall examine all first and second level administrative officers of committees, boards and agencies, and those acting temporarily in these positions who are being recommended for first time employment. They are to be examined in the areas of:
a. Christian experience,
b. Theology,
c. The Sacraments,
d. Church government,
e. Bible content,
f. Church history, and the
g. History of the Presbyterian Church in America.
No person will begin work or move on the field
without prior examination and approval by the General Assembly's
Theological Examining Committee. No first level administrative
officer will be presented to the Assembly for election who has
not met the approval of this committee.
15. All business shall ordinarily come to the floor of the Assembly for final action through committees of commissioners, except reports of the Standing Judicial Commission, the Committee on Constitutional Business, the Committee on Review of Presbytery Records, the Nominating Committee and Ad Interim committees, which shall come directly to the Assembly.
14-2. The General Assembly, which is a
permanent court, shall meet at least annually upon its own
adjournment. It shall consist of all teaching elders in good
standing with their Presbyteries, and ruling elders as elected by
their Session. Each congregation is entitled to two ruling elder
representatives for the first 350 communing members or fraction
thereof, and one additional ruling elder for each additional 500
communing members or fraction thereof.
14-3. When an emergency shall require a meeting of the General Assembly earlier than the time to which it stands adjourned, the moderator shall issue a call for a special meeting at the request or with the concurrence of ten percent (10%) of the commissioners who had seats in the Assembly at its preceding meeting, of whom at least ten shall be teaching elders and at least ten ruling elders, representing at least one-third (1/3) of the Presbyteries. Should the moderator be for any reason unable to act, the stated clerk shall under the same requirements issue the call.
The members of the special meeting shall be the
commissioners elected to the preceding meeting of the Assembly or
their alternates. A Session, however, shall have the right to
elect a commissioner or alternate in the stead of one who had
died since the last meeting of the Assembly, or of one who has
notified the moderator of the Session of his inability to serve.
Notice of the special meeting shall be sent not less than twenty
(20) days in advance to each commissioner and to the moderator of
each Presbytery. In the notice the purpose of the meeting is to
be stated and no other business is to be transacted.
14-4. Each commissioner, before his name
shall be enrolled as a member of the Assembly, shall produce
appropriate credentials.
14-5. Any one hundred (100) of these
commissioners, of whom half shall be teaching elders and half
ruling elders, representing at least one-third (1/3) of the
Presbyteries, being met on the day and at the place appointed,
shall be a quorum for the transaction of business.
14-6. The General Assembly shall have power:
a. To receive and issue all appeals, references, and complaints regularly brought before it from the lower courts; to bear testimony against error in doctrine and immorality in practice, injuriously affecting the Church; to decide in all controversies respecting doctrine and discipline; [Editor's note: "Issue" means "settling the issue of the case"]
b. To give its advice and instruction, in conformity with the Constitution, in all cases submitted to it;
c. To review the records of the Presbyteries, to take care that the lower courts observe the Constitution; to redress whatever they may have done contrary to order;
d. To devise measures for promoting the prosperity and enlargement of the Church;
e. To erect new Presbyteries, and unite and divide those which were erected with their consent;
f. To institute and superintend the agencies necessary in the general work of evangelization; to appoint ministers of such labors as fall under its jurisdiction;
g. To suppress schismatical contentions and disputations, according to the rules provided therefore;
h. To receive under its jurisdiction, with the consent of three-fourths (3/4) of the Presbyteries, other ecclesiastical bodies whose organization is conformed to the doctrine and order of this Church; to authorize Presbyteries to exercise similar power in receiving bodies suited to become constituents of those courts, and lying within their geographical bounds respectively;
i. To superintend the affairs of the whole Church;
j. To correspond with other churches; to unite with other ecclesiastical bodies whose organization is conformed to the doctrines and order of this Church, such union to be effected by a mode of procedure defined in BCO 26; and
k. In general to recommend measures for the
promotion of charity, truth and holiness through all the churches
under its care.
14-7. Actions of the General Assembly
pursuant to the provision of BCO 14-6 such as
deliverances, resolutions, overtures, and judicial decisions are
to be given due and serious consideration by the Church and its
lower courts when deliberating matters related to such action.
Judicial decisions shall be binding and conclusive on the parties
who are directly involved in the matter being adjudicated, and
may be appealed to in subsequent similar cases as to any
principle which may have been decided. (See BCO 3-5 and 6,
and WCF 31:3).
14-8. The whole business of the Assembly being finished, and the vote taken for final adjournment, the moderator shall say from the chair:
By virtue of the authority delegated to me by the Church, I do now declare that the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America is adjourned, to convene at __________ on the _________ day of __________________A. D.
After which he shall pray and return thanks,
and pronounce or cause to be pronounced on those present the
apostolic benediction.
Ecclesiastical Commissions.
15-1. A commission differs from an
ordinary committee in that while a committee is appointed to
examine, consider and report, a commission is authorized to
deliberate upon and conclude the business referred to it,
except in the case of judicial commissions of a Presbytery
appointed under BCO 15-3. A commission shall keep a
full record of its proceedings, which shall be submitted to
the court appointing it. Upon such submission this record shall
be entered on the minutes of the court appointing, except in the
case of a presbytery commission serving as a session or a judicial
commission as set forth in BCO 15-3. Every commission of
a Presbytery or Session must submit complete minutes and a report
of its activities at least once annually to the court which
commissioned it.
15-2. Among the matters that may be properly executed by commissions are the taking of the testimony in judicial cases, the ordination of minister, the installation of ministers, the visitation of portions of the church affected with disorder, and the organization of new churches.
Every commission appointed by Presbytery shall
consist of at least two teaching elders and two ruling elders,
and the Presbytery at the time of the appointment of the
commission shall determine what the quorum shall be. However,
should a Presbytery clothe a commission with judicial powers and
authority to conduct judicial process, or with power to ordain or
install a teaching elder of the Gospel, the quorum of such
commission shall not be less than two teaching elders and two
ruling elders. The quorum for a commission appointed as an
interim session need not conform to the requirements of a
judicial commission, but only to those of a session (BCO 12-1).
When the ordination of a minister is committed to a commission,
the Presbytery itself shall conduct the previous examination.
15-3. Presbytery as a whole may try a
judicial case within its jurisdiction (including the right to
refer any strictly constitutional issue to a study committee with
options listed below), or it may of its own motion commit any
judicial case to a commission. Such a commission shall be
appointed by the Presbytery from its members other than members
of the Session of the church from which the case comes up. The
commission shall try the case in the manner presented by the
Rules of Discipline and shall submit to the Presbytery a full
statement of the case and the judgment rendered. The Presbytery
without debate shall approve or disapprove of the judgment, or
may refer, (a debatable motion), any strictly constitutional
issue(s) to a study committee. In case of referral, the
Presbytery shall either dismiss some or all of the specific
charges raised in the case or decide the case only after the
report of the study committee has been heard and discussed. If
Presbytery approves, the judgment of the commission shall be
final and shall be entered on the minutes of Presbytery as the
action. If Presbytery disapproves, it shall hear the case as a
whole, or appoint a new commission to hear the case again.
15-4. The General Assembly shall elect
a Standing Judicial Commission to which it shall commit all
judicial cases within its jurisdiction. This commission shall
consist of twenty-four (24) members divided into four classes
of three teaching elders and three ruling elders in each class.
Each class shall serve a four year term and each subsequent
Assembly shall declare the Standing Judicial Commission as a
whole to be its commission. Nominations and vacancies shall
be filled according to BCO 14-1(11), with nominations allowed from
the floor. No person may be elected if there is already a
member of the commission from the same Presbytery; but if a
person is elected and changes Presbytery, he may continue to
serve his full term. No person may serve concurrently on the
General Assembly’s Standing Judicial Commission and any of the
General Assembly’s permanent committees.
15-5.a. In the cases committed to it,
the Standing Judicial Commission shall have the judicial powers
and be governed by the judicial procedures of the General Assembly.
The decision of the Standing Judicial Commission shall be the
final decision of the General Assembly except as set forth below,
to which there may be no complaint or appeal. Members of the
Standing Judicial Commission may file concurring or dissenting
opinions, or a minority report as set forth in (c) below.
The General Assembly may direct the Standing Judicial Commission
to retry a case if upon the review of its minutes exceptions
are taken with respect to that case.
b. In each case the Standing Judicial Commission shall issue a summary of the facts, a statement of the issues, its judgment and its reasoning, together with any concurring or dissenting opinions, all of which shall be entered on the minutes of the General Assembly and shall be reported by the Stated Clerk to the next General Assembly. The judgment shall be effective from the time of its announcement to the parties.
c.(1) If, within twenty-four (24) hours
of the time of adjournment of a Standing Judicial Commission
meeting at which a final decision was rendered on a case, at
least one-third (1/3) of the voting members of the Standing
Judicial Commission file written notice of their intention to
file a minority decision with the Stated Clerk of the General
Assembly, and within twenty (20) days from the adjournment do
file such a minority decision, such minority decision shall be
considered a minority report and shall be referred, with the
report to the Standing Judicial Commission, to the General
Assembly. In each instance “file” shall be understood as
defined by the Manual of the Standing Judicial Commission.
(2) No such reference* from the Judicial Standing Commission shall be considered by the General Assembly unless the report of the Standing Judicial Commission and the minority report have been mailed to the clerk of Session of each church at least thirty (30) days prior to the meeting of the General Assembly.
(3) The Assembly shall act upon such a reference* from the Standing Judicial Commission, in each case without question, discussion, debate, or amendment, as follows:
* [NOTE: the 26th GA determined that here “reference” is not to be understood as the technical term “reference” as in BCO 41-1]
a. The Standing Judicial Commission shall have 30 minutes to present its decision to the Assembly.
b. The minority shall have 30 minutes to present its decision to the Assembly.
c. The Standing Judicial Commission shall have 10 minutes to reply to the minority report.
d. The decision of the minority shall be proposed and the General Assembly shall, without question, discussion, debate, or amendment approve or disapprove of the minority report.
e. If the General Assembly disapproves the minority report, the General Assembly shall take up the decision of the Standing Judicial Commission and without question, discussion, debate, or amendment, approve or disapprove of the decision of the Standing Judicial Commission.
(4) If the General Assembly approves of a proposed decision,
it shall be the decision of the General Assembly, and printed in
its minutes. There may be no complaint or appeal from such a
final decision of the General Assembly. If the General Assembly
finally disapproves of both proposed decisions, it must set the
case for hearing before the General Assembly or a special
commission appointed by it, and in either instance the case
shall be tried on the record as delivered to the Stated Clerk.
Any such special commission shall then proceed to consider
the case and shall report its decision, in like manner, to the
General Assembly for its approval or disapproval. In any event,
the full record of the case, including written testimony of
witnesses, all documents, exhibits and papers shall be delivered
to the Stated Clerk for permanent preservation.
15-6. The General Assembly shall have
power to commit to a commission, consisting of not less than
three elders, the task of forming a provisional Presbytery in a
foreign country where there exists no compatible indigenous
presbyterian and reformed church. Such a commission shall have
authority to act as the Presbytery in all matters pertaining to
the establishment and ordering of a national church and shall
report annually to the General Assembly. The commission shall be
dissolved when there are at least three national teaching elders
and three organized churches under its care, and these shall then
constitute a separate national church.
Church Orders -- The Doctrine of Vocation.
16-1. Ordinary vocation to office in the church
is the calling of God by the Spirit, through the inward testimony
of a good conscience, the manifest approbation of God's people,
and the concurring judgment of a lawful court of the church.
16-2. The government of the church is by
officers gifted to represent Christ, and the right of God's
people to recognize by election to office those so gifted is
inalienable. Therefore no man can be placed over a church in any
office without the election, or at least the consent of that
church.
16-3. Upon those whom God calls to bear office
in His Church He bestows suitable gifts for the discharge of
their various duties. And it is indispensable that, besides
possessing the necessary gifts and abilities, natural and
acquired, every one admitted to an office should be sound in the
faith, and his life be according to godliness. Wherefore every
candidate for office is to be approved by the court by which he
is to be ordained.
Doctrine of Ordination.
17-1. Those who have been called to
office in the church are to be inducted by the ordination of a
court.
17-2. Ordination is the authoritative
admission of one duly called to an office in the Church of God,
accompanied with prayer and the laying on of hands, to which it
is proper to add the giving of the right hand of fellowship.
17-3. As every ecclesiastical office,
according to the Scriptures, is a special charge, no man shall be
ordained unless it be to the performance of a definite work.
Candidates for the Gospel Ministry.
18-1. A candidate for the ministry is a
member of the church in full communion who, believing himself to
be called to preach the Gospel, submits himself to the care and
guidance of the Presbytery in his course of study and of
practical training to prepare himself for this office.
18-2. Every applicant for the ministry must put himself under the care of Presbytery, which should ordinarily be the Presbytery that has jurisdiction of the church of which he is a member. The endorsement of his Session must be given to the Presbytery, consisting of testimonials regarding his Christian character and promise of usefulness in the ministry. The endorsement should also describe the activities of ministry the applicant has participated in with brief evaluation.
Every applicant for care shall be a member of the congregation whose session provides an endorsement for at least six months before filing his application, except in those cases deemed extraordinary by the Presbytery.
Every applicant must file his application with
the clerk of the Presbytery at least one month before the meeting
of the Presbytery. An applicant for care may not be received
under care and examined for ordination at the same meeting of the
Presbytery, since he must serve a period of at least one year of
internship prior to ordination (see BCO 19-7 and 21-4). An
applicant for internship is obliged to be under care and may be
licensed to preach the Gospel; further, one who is not already
under care may be taken under care, be licensed to preach the
Gospel, and become an intern at the same meeting of Presbytery.
18-3. The applicant shall appear before the Presbytery in person, and shall be examined by the Presbytery on experiential religion and on his motives for seeking the ministry.
If the testimonials and the examination prove satisfactory, the Presbytery shall receive him under its care after the following manner:
The moderator shall propose to the applicant these questions:
1. Do you promise in reliance upon the grace of God to maintain a becoming Christian character, and to be diligent and faithful in making full preparation for the sacred ministry?
2. Do you promise to submit yourself to the
proper supervision of the Presbytery in matters that concern your
preparation for the ministry?
If these questions be answered in the affirmative, the moderator, or someone appointed by him, shall give the candidate a brief charge; and the proceeding shall close with prayer.
The name of the applicant is then to be
recorded on the Presbytery's roll of candidates for the ministry.
18-4. The candidate continues to be a
private member of the church and subject to the jurisdiction of
the Session, but as respects his preparatory training for the
ministry he is under the oversight of the Presbytery. It shall be
the duty of the Presbytery to show a kindly and sympathetic
interest in him, and to give him counsel and guidance in regard
to his studies, his practical training, and the institutions of
learning he should attend. In no case may a candidate omit from
his course of study any of the subjects prescribed in the Form of
Government as tests for ordination without obtaining the consent
of Presbytery; and where such consent is given the Presbytery
shall record the fact and the reasons therefor.
18-5. For the development of his Christian character, for the service he can render, and for his more effective training, the candidate, when entering on his theological studies, should be authorized and encouraged by the Presbytery to conduct public worship, to expound the Scriptures to the people, and to engage in other forms of Christian work. These forms of service should be rendered under the direction of Presbytery, and also with the sanction and under the guidance of the candidate's instructors during the time of his being under their instruction. A candidate should not undertake to serve a church which is without a pastor as regular supply unless he has been licensed and approved for that supply by the Presbytery having jurisdiction of the church.
18-6. The Presbytery shall require every
candidate for the ministry under its care to make a report to it
at least once a year; and it shall secure from his instructors an
annual report upon his deportment, diligence, and progress in
study.
18-7. The Presbytery may, upon application
of the candidate, give a certificate of dismission to another
Presbytery. The candidate may be allowed to retain membership in
his home church upon the request of his Session and the approval
of both Presbyteries involved. A candidate shall, at his request,
be allowed to withdraw from the care of the Presbytery. The
Presbytery may also, for sufficient reasons, remove the name of
the candidate from its roll of candidates; but in such a case
it shall report its actions and the reasons therefor to the
candidate and to the Session of his church.
18-8. An applicant coming as a candidate
from another denomination must present testimonials of his
standing in that body and must become a member of a congregation
in the Presbyterian Church in America. He shall then fulfill the
requirements of applicants listed under BCO 18-2, as well
as requirements placed upon those desiring to be licensed or to
become an intern as set forth in BCO 19.
Licensure and Internship
A. Licensure
19-1. To preserve the purity of the
preaching of the Gospel, no man is permitted to preach in the
pulpits of the Presbyterian Church in America on a regular basis
without proper licensure from the Presbytery having jurisdiction
where he will preach. An ordained teaching elder who is a member
in good standing of another Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church
in America may be licensed after being examined as to his views,
according to the provision of BCO 13-6. This license shall
immediately become void if the minister’s own Presbytery
administers against him a censure of suspension from office or
the sacraments, or deposition from office, or of excommunication
(in the event of such censures, the Presbytery with jurisdiction
shall always notify the licensing Presbytery). A ruling elder, a
candidate for the ministry, a minister from some other denomination,
or some other man may be licensed for the purpose of regularly
providing the preaching of the Word upon his giving satisfaction
to the Presbytery of his gifts and passing the licensure examination.
(See also BCO 22-5 and 22-6.)
19-2. Examination for Licensure.
The examination for licensure shall be as follows:
a. Give a statement of his Christian experience and inward call to preach the Gospel in written form and/or orally before the Presbytery (at the discretion of the Presbytery):
b. Be tested with a written and/or oral examination by the Presbytery (at the discretion of the Presbytery) for his:
1. basic knowledge of Biblical doctrine as outlined in the Confession of Faith and Larger and Shorter Catechisms of the Presbyterian Church in America.
2. practical knowledge of the Bible content.
3. basic knowledge of the government of the Presbyterian Church in America as defined in The Book of Church Order.
c. Be examined orally before Presbytery for his views in the areas outlined in part b above.
d. Provide his written sermon on an assigned passage of Scripture embodying both explanation and application, and present orally his sermon or exhortation before Presbytery or before a committee of Presbytery.
No Presbytery shall omit any of these parts of
examination except in extraordinary cases; and whenever a
Presbytery shall omit any of these parts, it shall always make a
record of the reasons therefor, and of the trial parts omitted.
19-3. Questions for Licensure.
If the Presbytery be satisfied with the trials of the applicant, it shall then proceed to license him in the following manner:
The moderator shall propose to him the following questions, namely:
1. Do you believe the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, as originally given, to be the inerrant Word of God, the only infallible rule of faith and practice?
2. Do you sincerely receive and adopt the Confession of Faith and the Catechisms of this Church as containing the system of doctrine taught in the Holy Scripture?
3. Do you promise to strive for the purity, peace, unity and edification of the Church?
4. Do you promise to submit yourself, in the
Lord, to the government of this Presbytery, or of any other into
the bounds of which you may be called?
19-4. The applicant having answered
these questions in the affirmative, the moderator shall offer a
prayer suitable for the occasion, and shall address the applicant
as follows:
In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by
that authority which He has given to the church for its
edification, we do license you to preach the Gospel in this
Presbytery wherever God in His providence may call you; and for
this purpose may the blessing of God rest upon you, and the
Spirit of Christ fill your heart. Amen.
Record shall be made of the licensure in the
following or like form:
At_____________, the __________day
of_______________, the ____________________Presbytery, having
received testimonials commending _________________________,
proceeded to submit him to the prescribed examination for
licensure, which was met to the approval of the Presbytery.
Having satisfactorily answered the questions for licensure,
_____________________ was licensed by the Presbytery to preach
the Gospel within the bounds of this Presbytery.
19-5. When any licentiate shall have occasion to remove from the bounds of his Presbytery into those of another, the latter Presbytery may, at its discretion, on his producing proper testimonials from the former, repeat any portion of the previous Presbytery's examination it desires. The Presbytery into whose bounds the licentiate is moving, however, must at least examine the man concerning his:
a. Christian experience,
b. call to preach the Gospel,
c. view in theology,
d. Bible content,
e. church government.
This Presbytery then may license him to preach
within its bounds.
19-6. The license to preach the Gospel
shall expire at the end of four years. The Presbytery may, if it
thinks proper, renew it without further examination. The
licentiate must apply for renewal prior to expiration. If the
license expires, the stated clerk shall report the expiration
to the Presbytery and to the individual's Session, and such action
shall be recorded in the minutes. The procedures of BCO 19-2 must
be followed for re-licensure and such fact shall be recorded in
the minutes. The license may be terminated at any time by a simple
majority vote of the issuing Presbytery. The Presbytery shall
always record its reasons for this action in its minutes.
B. Internship
19-7. The Holy Scriptures require that some trial be previously made of those who are to be ordained to the ministry of the Word, both concerning their gifts and concerning their ability to rule as teaching elders, in order that this sacred office may not be degraded by being committed to weak or unworthy men, and that the Church may have an opportunity to form a better judgment respecting the gifts of those to whom this sacred office is to be committed. To provide for such a period of trial, a candidate for ordination must serve an internship. This period of internship shall be at least one year in length, and may be longer at the discretion of the Presbytery so as to give sufficient time for the Presbytery to judge the candidate's qualifications and service. This period of internship may occur during or after the candidate's formal theological education. When it occurs during his formal theological education, it may include an intern year in addition to his time of academic training or it may run concurrent with his academic training. The nature of the internship shall be determined by the Presbytery, but it should involve the candidate in full scope of the duties of any regular ministerial calling approved by the Presbytery. It is to be both a time of practical instruction and testing by the
Presbytery, and may be in any work which the
Presbytery deems to be a suitable ministry to test the intern's
gifts. The intern should be closely supervised by the Presbytery
throughout this trial period.
19-8. An applicant for internship must
be a candidate and may be a licentiate in the Presbytery in which
he is seeking to become an intern. He may, however, become a
candidate, and an intern at the same meeting of Presbytery. If an
applicant for internship is already a candidate in another
Presbytery, that Presbytery should dismiss him as a candidate to
the Presbytery which he is seeking to become an intern.
19-9. Examination for Internship.
Before the applicant begins his period of
internship, he shall give to the Presbytery a written and/or an
oral statement (at the discretion of the Presbytery) of his
inward call to the ministry of the Word.
19-10. When an applicant is approved for
internship, the moderator of the Presbytery shall offer a prayer
suitable for the occasion, and shall address the applicant, if
present, as follows:
In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by
that authority which He has given to the Church for its
edification, we do declare you to be an intern of this Presbytery
as a means of testing your gifts for the holy ministry wherever
God in His providence may call you; and for this purpose may the
blessing of God rest upon you, and the Spirit of Christ fill your
heart. Amen.
Record shall be made of the internship in the
following or like form, namely:
At _________________, the ________ day of
________________________, the _____________________ Presbytery,
having received testimonials commending ___________, having
received him as a candidate for the ministry, has placed him
under internship at his request in order to test his gifts for
the holy ministry.
19-11. When any intern shall have occasion, while his internship is in progress, to remove from the bounds of his own Presbytery into those of another, the latter Presbytery may, at its discretion, on his producing proper testimonials from the former, take up his internship at the point at which it was left, and conduct it to a conclusion in the same manner as if it had been commenced by itself. Presbytery shall repeat any portion of the previous Presbytery's examination it desires, but it must at least examine the intern on his:
a. his Christian experience,
b. his call to the ministry,
c. his views in theology, and
d. Church government.
When God gives the intern the providential
opportunity to serve the church and to receive part of his
training within the bounds of a Presbytery other than the one in
which he has been declared an intern, the Presbyteries involved
may develop a cooperative agreement to assure the proper training
of the intern. In such cases the home Presbytery retains the
final responsibility for and authority over the internship, but
may rely to any extent considered necessary and proper in the
circumstances, on the assistance of the sister Presbytery. When
regular preaching of the Word is involved, care must be taken to
comply with BCO 19-1.
19-12. Presbyteries should require
interns to devote themselves diligently to the trial of their
gifts; and no one should be ordained to the work of the ministry
of the Word until he has demonstrated the ability both to edify
and to rule in the Church. Reports on every intern in the
Presbytery should be presented at each stated meeting of the
Presbytery by the committee of Presbytery charged with the
oversight of interns, and these reports shall become a part of
the minutes of Presbytery. The Presbytery shall also require
every intern himself to make a report to it at least once a year
describing his ministerial experiences. If the intern is still in
school, the Presbytery shall secure from his instructors an
annual report upon his deportment, diligence, and progress in
study.
19-13. At the end of the period of time
set by the Presbytery for his internship, an intern shall have
his internship either approved or disapproved. Even if it is
approved, he cannot be ordained without a call to some specific
work. If the internship is disapproved, the Presbytery may either
extend it for another definite period of time or it may
completely rescind his intern status and may revoke his
internship. If the intern shall devote himself unnecessarily to
such pursuits as interfere with a full trial of his gifts, it
shall be the duty of the Presbytery to rescind his intern status,
and to record its reasons therefor in the Minutes of Presbytery.
19-14. An intern, who, during his
internship, is to serve a congregation in the capacity of the
minister of the Word must be called by the congregation in the
same way that a regular minister is called. A congregation may
later call such a man as its pastor. This call must be approved
by Presbytery prior to the time of ordination. In the event a
congregation does not desire to call such a man as its pastor as
determined by a congregational vote, notice should be given as
early as possible. Interns may be called to serve as assistants
to ministers during their internship, by the Session of a church
with approval of the call by Presbytery.
19-15. Restrictions.
The intern may be asked by the moderator of a
Session temporarily to chair the meeting of the Session. In such
cases the moderator shall supervise this activity and may
overrule the intern or re-assume the chair at will. The intern is
not a member of Session and may not vote in the meetings unless
he has previously been ordained a Ruling Elder and elected to the
Session by the congregation. Normally, he shall serve in an
advisory capacity to the Session and Diaconate when he has been
called to work out his internship by a congregation. He shall
have the right to conduct funerals. An intern may not administer
the Sacraments. He may serve on committees of the church he
serves.
19-16. Where circumstances warrant, a Presbytery may approve previous experience which is equivalent to internship. This equivalency shall be decided by a three-fourths (3/4) vote of Presbytery at any of its regular meetings. Such equivalent experience shall be decided only after the Presbytery's internship committee has determined and reported that the candidate has met the following requirements:
a. he has had at least one (1) year of experience in comparable ministry;
b. he has satisfactorily performed the full scope of ministerial duties;
c. he has the manifest approbation of God's
people in a local church as having the requisite gifts for the
pastoral ministry.
The Election of Pastors.
20-1. Before a candidate, or licentiate, can be ordained to the office of the ministry, he must receive a call to a definite work. Ordinarily the call must come from a church, Presbytery, or the General Assembly of this denomination. If the call comes from another source, the Presbytery shall always make a record of the reasons why it considers the work to be a valid Christian ministry. (See BCO 8-7 and 21-1).
A proper call must be written and in the hands
of the Presbytery prior to being acted upon by a Presbytery. It
must include financial arrangements (such as salary, vacation,
insurance, retirement, etc.) between those calling and the one
called, and assurance that the definite work will afford the
liberty to proclaim and practice fully and freely the whole
counsel of God, as contained in the Scriptures and understood in
the Westminster Confession of Faith. It shall be in accord
with the BCO 8.
20-2. Every church should be under the pastoral oversight of a minister, and when a church has no pastor it should seek to secure one without delay.
A church shall proceed to elect a pastor in the following manner: The Session shall call a congregational meeting to elect a pulpit committee which may be composed of members from the congregation at large or the Session, as designated by the congregation (see BCO 25).
The Session shall order a congregational
meeting to convene at the regular place of worship. Public notice
of the time, place, and purpose of this meeting shall be given at
least one week prior to the time of the meeting.
20-3. When a congregation is convened
for the election of a pastor it is important that they should
elect a minister of the Presbyterian Church in America to
preside, but if this be impracticable, they may elect any male
member of that church. The Session shall appoint one of their
number to call the meeting to order and to preside until the
congregation shall elect their presiding officer. All communing
members in good and regular standing, but no others, are entitled
to vote in the churches to which they are respectively attached.
20-4. Method of voting: The voters being
convened, and prayer for divine guidance having been offered, the
moderator shall put the question:
Are you ready to proceed to the election of
a pastor?
If they declare themselves ready, the moderator
shall call for nominations, or the election may proceed by ballot
without nominations. In every case a majority of all the voters
present shall be required to elect.
20-5. On the election of a pastor, if it
appears that a large minority of the voters are averse to the
candidate who has received a majority of votes, and cannot be
induced to concur in the call, the moderator shall endeavor to
dissuade the majority from prosecuting it further; but if the
electors be nearly or quite unanimous, or if the majority shall
insist upon their right to call a pastor, the moderator shall
proceed to draw a call in due form, and to have it subscribed by
them, certifying at the same time in writing the number of those
who do not concur in the call, and any facts of importance, all
of which proceedings shall be laid before the Presbytery,
together with the call.
20-6. Form of call: The terms of the call shall be approved by the congregation in the following or like form:
The ____________________ Church being on sufficient grounds well satisfied of the ministerial qualifications of you, ____________, and having good hopes from our knowledge of your labors that your ministrations in the Gospel will be profitable to our spiritual interests, do earnestly call you to undertake the pastoral office in said congregation, promising you, in the discharge of your duty, all proper support, encouragement and obedience in the Lord. That you may be free from worldly cares and avocations, we hereby promise and oblige ourselves to pay you the sum of $___________ a year in regular monthly (or quarterly) payments, and other benefits, such as, manse, retirement, insurance, vacations, moving expenses etc., during the time of your being and continuing the regular pastor of this church.
In testimony whereof we have respectively subscribed our names this ___________day of____________________, A.D.________.
Attest: I, having moderated the
congregational meeting which extended a call to ______________
for his ministerial services, do certify that the call has been
made in all respects according to the rules laid down in the Book
of Church Order, and that the persons who signed the
foregoing call were authorized to do so by vote of the
congregation.
_________________________________
.......................
Moderator of the Meeting
................................................
20-7. If any church shall choose to
designate its ruling elders and deacons, or a committee to sign
its call, it shall be at liberty to do so. But it shall, in such
case, be fully certified to the Presbytery by the minister or
other person who presided, that the persons signing have been
appointed for that purpose by a public vote of the church, and
that the call has been in all other respects prepared as above
directed.
20-8. Prosecution of call: One or more
commissioners shall be appointed by the church to present and
prosecute the call before their Presbytery.
20-9. When a pastor desires to accept a
call to another Presbytery, he must be examined and approved by
the Presbytery for the pastorate to which he is being called, and
must be released for transfer by his present Presbytery from his
pastorate.
20-10. A congregation desiring to call a pastor from his charge, shall, by its commissioners, to the Presbytery prosecute the call before its Presbytery. The Presbytery, having heard all the parties, may, upon viewing the whole case, either recommend them to desist from prosecuting the call; or may order it to be delivered to the minister to whom it is addressed, with or without advice; or may decline to place the call in his hands; as it shall appear most for the peace and edification of the Church at large.
No pastor shall be transferred without his own
consent, if the parties are not ready to have the matter decided
at the meeting then in progress, a written citation shall be
given the minister and his church to appear before the Presbytery
at its next meeting, which citation shall be read from the pulpit
during a regular service, at least two weeks before the intended
meeting.
20-11. If the congregation or other
field of labor to which a minister, licentiate, or candidate is
called, be under the jurisdiction of a different Presbytery, on
his acceptance of a call he shall be furnished with the proper
testimonials, and required to repair immediately to the
Presbytery, in order that he may be regularly inducted into his
office. (See BCO 21).
20-12. A candidate or licentiate found
fit and called (in accordance with BCO 20-1) for
missionary service by a missionary agency or Presbytery shall be
examined by Presbytery for ordination. If approved the Presbytery
shall proceed to his ordination.
20-13. A missionary who is an ordained teaching elder in another denomination found fit and called (in accordance with BCO 20-1) for missionary service by a missionary agency or Presbytery shall be examined by Presbytery for admission to Presbytery in accordance with BCO 13-6. If approved he shall be enrolled as a member of Presbytery.
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