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Text of the page (random words):
ty is constructed on specific assumptions about the form of the government intended by the bible bishop koine greek episkopos and elder koine greek presbyteros are in this view synonymous terms episkopos means literally overseer and describes the function of the elder rather than the maturity of the officer a bishop holds the highest office of the church there is no patriarch prelate 6 or pope 7 over bishops preaching the ministry of the word and the administration of the sacraments is ordinarily entrusted to specially trained elders known as ministers of the word and sacrament 8 sometimes called teaching elders in each local congregation approved for these tasks by a governing presbytery or classis and called by the local congregation 9 in addition to these ministers there are also others with gifts for government commonly call ed elders 8 or ruling elders pastoral care church discipline leadership and legislation are committed to the care of ruling assemblies of presbyters among whom the ministers and ruling elders are equal participants all christian people together are the priesthood see priesthood of all believers on behalf of whom the elders are called to serve by the consent of the congregation presbyterianism uses a conciliar method of church government that is leadership by the group or council thus the ministers and elders govern together as a group and at all times the office is for the service of the congregation to pray for them and to encourage them in the faith the elders together exercise oversight episcopacy over the local congregation with superior groups of elders gathered on a regional basis exercising wider oversight presbyterians typically have viewed this method of government as approximating that of the new testament and earliest churches presbyterianism is also distinct from congregationalism in that individual congregations are not independent but are answerable to the wider church through its governing bodies presbyteries synods and assemblies 10 11 moreover the ordained ministry possesses a distinct responsibility for preaching and sacraments congregational churches are sometimes called presbyterian if they are governed by a council of elders but the difference is that every local congregation is independent and its elders are accountable to its members and congregationalism s wider assemblies are not ordinarily empowered to enforce discipline thus these are ruled by elders only at the level of the congregations which are united with one another by covenants of trust offices edit elder edit the ordination of elders in a scottish kirk by john henry lorimer 1891 national gallery of scotland there are two types of elder the teaching elder see minister below and the ruling elder an excerpt from miller 1831 expands this 12 chapter 1 in every church completely organized that is furnished with all the officers which christ has instituted and which are necessary for carrying into full effect the laws of his kingdom there ought to be three classes of officers viz at least one teaching elder bishop or pastor a bench of ruling elders and deacons the first to minister in the word and doctrine and to dispense the sacraments the second to assist in the inspection and government of the church and the third to serve tables that is to take care of the church s funds destined for the support of the poor and sometimes to manage whatever relates to the temporal support of the gospel and its ministers depending upon the specific denomination teaching elders may also be referred to with terms such as minister of word and sacrament 13 the elders are persons chosen from among the congregation and ordained for this service beyond that practices vary sometimes elders are elected by the congregation 14 sometimes appointed by the session in some denominations elders serve for life others have fixed terms and some churches appoint elders on a rotation from among willing members in good standing in the church citation needed however in many churches ruling elders retain their ordination for life even though they serve fixed terms even after the end of their terms they may be active in presbyteries or other bodies and may serve communion 15 in addition to sitting on the session and other church courts ruling elders have duties as individuals again miller 1831 explains 12 chapter 9 it is their duty to have an eye of inspection and care over all the members of the congregation and for this purpose to cultivate a universal and intimate acquaintance as far as may be with every family in the flock of which they are made overseers minister edit see also holy orders presbyterian churches in some denominations they are called ministers of word and sacrament and in others they are called teaching elders ministers called to a particular congregation are called pastors and serve a function analogous to clergy in other denominations 8 because ruling elders are often ordained in a fashion nearly identical to teaching elders the distinction between lay and clergy is not as clear under the presbyterian system as in others 12 the terms lay and clergy are not properly used in presbyterian polity ministers may be considered equal in status with the other elders but they have a distinct ordination and distinct function they are the primary preachers and teachers celebrants of sacraments there are sometimes further distinctions between the minister and the other elders some presbyterian denominations enroll ministers as members of their respective congregations while others enroll the minister as a member of the regional presbytery the presbyteries are responsible for the ordination of the ministers until the 20th century only men had been eligible for ordination as elders or ministers of the word and sacrament this is widely not the case any longer although it is usually considered a demarcation issue distinguishing liberal from conservative presbyterian denominations in north america the reformed church in america christian reformed church in north america both of dutch reformed heritage cumberland presbyterian church eco a covenant order of evangelical presbyterians evangelical presbyterian church presbyterian church in canada and presbyterian church u s a are denominations with presbyterian polity which allow for the ordination of women the general assembly of a denomination often decides on what grounds a person may be ordained but the ordination of ministers is the right of the presbytery or classis and the right to extend a call to a minister is the privilege of the members of the parish or congregation 8 14 notes 2 deacon edit the office of deacon has different meanings among different presbyterian churches in some churches deacons exercise responsibility for practical matters of finance and fabric either separately or together with the elders in some cases deacons administer the welfare matters of the congregation while a separate board of management or trustees administers the other material business temporalities of the congregation such as its endowments salaries and buildings governing bodies edit this section needs more citations please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources unsourced material may be challenged and removed find sources presbyterian polity news newspapers books scholar jstor january 2021 learn how and when to remove this message session edit main article session presbyterian a session is a corporate body of teaching and ruling elders elected by a particular church sessio from sedere to sit sometimes the kirk session church session or in continental reformed usage consistory in some continental reformed churches deacons are members of the consistory others such as the christian reformed church in north america distinguish between the consistory comprising the pastor and elders and the council which comprises the pastor s the elders and the deacons 16 in most denominations the pastor serves as moderator and presides over the session primus inter pares in which all elders have an equal vote 12 chapter 9 in some denominations the pastor is not given a vote however in a sitting body of an even number or with a quorum of the session counted they can break a tie by a casting vote in the polity of the presbyterian church u s a the pastor and associate pastor s if elected by the congregation and installed to a permanent pastorate by the presbytery have votes as members of the session on any and all matters 17 however often they refrain from voting except in tie situations the pastor is not a voting member of the congregation 18 with the session there is one person usually an elder but not always who will be given the title clerk of session this person is more or less the secretary for session they take notes on each meeting and are responsible for records of the congregation in addition they find a wide area of responsibility including responsibility for conduct of worship should a minister suddenly not be available although it is the responsibility of the moderator minister session clerks often have the ability to assist in keeping meetings on track due to skills which are received from experience and the holy spirit presbytery edit presbytery flags of the presbyterian church of vanuatu in presbyterianism congregations are united in accountability to a regional body called the presbytery or in continental reformed terminology the classis which comes from the latin word for fleet presbyteries are made up of all the teaching and ruling elders in a particular geographic region in some dutch reformed bodies a classis serves as a delegated body which ceases to exist in between meetings whereas a presbytery exists perpetually the officers of a presbytery are a moderator and a stated or principal clerk the moderator acts as chair of presbytery meetings as with the moderators of synods and assemblies the moderatorship is a primus inter pares position appointed by the presbytery itself the moderator is addressed as moderator during meetings but their position has no bearing outside of the presbytery meeting and affords him her no special place in other courts although typically the moderator especially if a member of the clergy will conduct worship and oversee ordinations and installations of ministers as a liturgical bishop and other ordinances which are seen as acts of the presbytery the stated or principal clerk takes minutes and deals with the correspondence of the presbytery and is often appointed for an indefinite term presbytery clerks are the ecclesiastical administrators and generally regarded as substantially influential due to their greater experience of the governance of the church and their ordering of the business of the presbytery they are thus very much more than secretaries and often in fact are the lynch pin of the organisation presbyteries meet at a regularity between monthly and quarterly some half yearly synod edit in denominations too large for all the work of the denomination to be done by a single presbytery the parishes may be divided into several presbyteries under synods and general assemblies the synod being the lower court of the two in the united church of canada this is referred to as conferences and general council however the united church of canada does not bear the formal ecclesiastical structure of classic presbyterianism often all members of the constituent presbyteries are members of the synod like the commissioners to presbyteries the commissioners to synods do not act on instruction from their congregations or presbyteries but exercise their own judgement a synod also has a moderator and clerk and generally meet less often than the presbytery some presbyterian churches like the church of scotland orthodox presbyterian church and presbyterian church in america have no intermediate court between the presbytery and the general assembly general assembly edit the general assembly or general synod is the highest court of presbyterian polity each presbytery selects a number of its members to be commissioners to the general assembly the general assembly is chaired by its own moderator who is usually elected to a single term the moderator presides over meetings of the assembly and may be called on in a representative function for the remainder of the year the moderator has no special place in other courts the stated clerk and deputy clerk of the general assembly administer the minutes correspondence and business of the assembly in some cases a separate business convenor is appointed to deal with the agenda general assemblies meet less regularly than their subordinate courts often annually or in the case of the presbyterian church usa every other year the general assembly also has members serve as advisory delegates there are four different types of advisory delegates each with a focus on a different area in the presbyterian church like young adult theological student missionary and ecumenical the role of an advisory delegate is to speak about issues or topics that commissioners would usually not worry about or care to speak about during a general assembly meeting advisory delegates may not present motions or vote in meetings of the general assembly 19 the powers of the general assembly are usually wide ranging however they may be limited by some form of external review for example the rules of the church of scotland include the barrier act which requires that certain major changes to the polity of the church be referred to the presbyteries before being enacted by the general assembly there may be issues arising between annual general assemblies which require urgent attention in these cases some presbyterian churches have a commission of assembly who will deal with the issue and refer it to the next general assembly for homologation regions edit see also presbyterianism regions british isles edit the word presbyterianism when capitalized often refers specifically to churches founded on principles of presbyterian polity in the british isles and their derivatives in other countries 20 france edit huguenot cross in france presbyterianism was represented by the église réformée de france there are also lutherans and evangelicals the logo is a huguenot cross croix huguenote with the burning bush italy edit the origins of the waldensian evangelical church lie in the medieval waldensian movement for religious reform the waldensians adopted calvinist theology during the reformation and became the italian branch of the reformed churches in 1975 the waldensian church joined with the italian methodist church to form the union of waldensian and methodist churches which is a member of the world council of churches the world communion of reformed churches and the world methodist council cultural references edit robert burns published a brief irreverent poem on a celebrated ruling elder as an elegy for a scottish presbyterian 21 see also edit reformed christianity portal christian...