Presbyterian church government: lecture by Dr. C.J. Kirk

Victoria's Chinese Presbyterian Church in Canada

PRESBYTERIAN GOVERNMENT - ( Part 2 of 2 Parts )

A lecture delivered by Dr. Cecil J. Kirk
at The Chinese Presbyterian Church Victoria, British Columbia
on Saturday, January 26, 2002

Acts 14. 23:  And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting, they committed them to the Lord in whom they believed.

Together with the minister the elders form the first court of the church, the Session.  The minister is the Moderator, or Chairman of the Session, and it cannot meet unless he presides, or unless he appoints another minister to take his place. A minister is not a member of any congregation - but he is a member of session, though he has no vote other than a casting vote in matter under discussion. The minister is called to a congregation by the people - but one thing is worth noting at this point; while the minister is called by the congregation he is placed in the pulpit by the Presbytery and is responsible to the Presbytery and not to the Session or the congregation. When a congregation extends a call to a minister both the call and the individual called must be approved by the Presbytery which then installs him or her.

While we have been speaking of the importance of the minister and the Session working together there is one area where the Session has no jurisdiction - and that is in the pulpit.

• the authority of the Session stops at the foot of the pulpit steps.

The minister enters the pulpit as the ambassador of Jesus Christ and is responsible to him as King and Head of the church for what he preaches there.

As we have already said, the Session is responsible for the spiritual welfare of the congregation. This includes such things as admission into the fellowship of the Church, the Christian Education of all church members, the discipline of members, the care of the poor, instruction in stewardship. And so each elder is given a district over which he or she acts as a shepherd - visiting counseling, encouraging and warning, as may be required.

It should be obvious, then, that the congregation cannot be effective without a dynamic session. Everything is shaped by the Session. If the Session is not functioning properly, the work of the whole congregation suffers and stagnates.

Within most congregations there is also a Board of Managers whose members are chosen by the congregation at its annual meeting and who normally serve for three years with one third of the members retiring each year by rotation. The duties of the Board relate more specifically to what we sometimes call the temporal, as opposed to the spiritual side of the congregation's life. The Board distributes the funds of the congregation and cares for the place or worship and the other buildings. Where the members of Session must be communicant members of the congregation, adherents may be elected to and serve on the Board of Managers. Clearly there is a need for close co-operation between these two bodies and it is frequently the case that joint meetings are held from time to time.

The congregation in a particular geographic area makes up the next highest court: the Presbytery. All active ministers are members of the Presbytery and each congregation also selects one of its elders to represent it at Presbytery meetings - in this way there are two persons from each congregation at the Presbytery. As we have already seen, the Presbytery exercises oversight over the ministers within its bounds. They are responsible to the Presbytery for the conduct of their ministry.

The Presbytery has many other duties:  to ordain and induct ministers; to supervise and support local congregations in their work; to organize or dissolve congregations; to hear and judge all cases regarding constitutional rights of church members, ministers or Session. Another important aspect of its authority is that changes in the constitution of the church which may have been passed by General Assemblies must be approved by a majority of Presbyteries before they can become law.

We form part of the Presbytery of Vancouver Island - a small Presbytery in terms of the number of congregations, only thirteen, but somewhat larger than many others in terms of the distance involved since those congregations stretch from Campbell River in the north to Victoria in the south. The Presbytery convenes for six regular meetings during the year though other special sessions may be called as the need demands. A large amount of its work is carried out by committees: Congregational Life, Ministry, Missions, Church and Society, Building and Property and Camps. Until 1993 the Presbytery, as the Session, was presided over by an ordained minister but in that year the General Assembly approved the election of lay persons to the moderatorship of Presbyteries, Synods and General Assemblies. All told, there are forty-six Presbyteries across the country ranging in size from very large Presbyteries like East Toronto with 80 ministers on the roll, to very small, like the Presbyteries of Newfoundland and Superior which have three and six congregations respectively, and including two which are made up entirely of Korean speaking congregations.

The Synod is the next highest court and includes all the Presbyteries within a specific geographic area. At the Synod again each congregation is represented by its minister and an elder. The Synod helps presbyteries with their mission as well as having responsibilities of its own in this field. We are part of the Synod of British Columbia, a large geographical area covering most of the province and including the Presbyteries of Kamloops, Kootenay, Westminster and Vancouver Island. While many Synods run church camps, the nature of the congregations within this Synod and the fact that many of them are widely separated from one another points to the need for fellowship and encouragement and this is where the major work of the Synod is carried out. Altogether there are eight Synods across the country and while Presbyteries generally meet on a monthly basis the Synods meet once annually and these meetings are always held in October.

The highest court of the church is the General Assembly which, in effect, is the national governing body. It meets annually in the first week of June and is made up of an equal number of minister and elder commissioners chosen by each Presbytery on the basis of one minister and the one elder for every six congregations in the Presbytery. It is the supreme legislative, executive and judicial authority of the church. It is presided over by a Moderator, nominated by the ministers and elders at Presbytery level, but elected by the commissioners.

The General Assembly maintains a permanent office and staff in Toronto and has board and committees for doing its work. The membership of these bodies is decided upon each year and one is normally elected to one of these for a three year period. The major boards or committees deal with Administration, Christian Education, World Mission, Church Doctrine, the Colleges, Ministry and Congregational Life.

Decisions made at the General Assembly are sent to Presbyteries and local congregation for study and/or implementations. If the law of the Church is to be changed this is where it is done but it is the right and duty of every Presbytery and every member of Presbytery to take part in the legislation of the Church by approving or disapproving of overtures transmitted by the General Assembly. Under the terms of an edict known as the Barrier Act which was adopted in 1876 any action contemplating a change in the law of the Church in relation to matters of doctrine, discipline, church government or worship must be submitted to the Presbyteries for consideration. If a majority of Presbyteries express their approval and this majority of Presbyteries constitutes an actual majority of ministers, diaconal ministers and elders on the constituent roll of all presbyteries then the following Assembly may pas the proposed changes into law. It is clear, then, that under our system of church government, it is impossible for an interest group to hijack the agenda of the Church and push through legislation that does not met with the approval of the Church at large.

It should also be pointed out that the General Assembly is the final court of appeal in our Church. For example, if a Session makes a decision which is not approved of by an individual or a group within a congregation that decision may be appealed through the Presbytery and Synod to the General Assembly but when that body makes its decision its verdict is final. It is a measure of the level of democracy within the Church, however, to realize that each individual has the right of approach to even the highest court of the Church.

Here then is our church:  about 1,000 congregations in 46 Presbyteries and 8 Synods, stretching from ocean to ocean. It is ruled over by a hierarchy - not of individuals - but of courts.

We sometimes say that we are a democratic church and in many ways we are much more democratic than many others.  But democracy really means "rule by the people" and that, strictly speaking, is not true in our case.  We are ruled over by Sessions, at the local level. Ina democracy the decisions are made by all the people, but we have chosen elders and placed them in a position of spiritual authority and called on them to govern the church. But over all the church, reigning supreme as king and Head, sits Jesus Christ. The church is not a human institution - it is created by God. - it is nothing less than the body of Christ. If we think of the church as a living organism, we shall be saved from many errors.

The genius of the Presbyterian Church lies in the fact that it is not based on the minister but on the laity. Through the eldership it has a means of caring for its members and creating fellowship. But the church can only prosper and be efficient when every member of every congregation becomes responsible and informed and dedicated. Do you care enough for this congregation that you will do that? Do you love Jesus Christ enough that you will accept that challenge? Truly to love Jesus Christ means that you will also love his church.

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