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Presbyterian Church Government |
The Presbyterian Church gets its name, not from our
doctrine or beliefs, but rather from how we govern ourselves.
Presbyterian takes its name from the Greek word, presbuteros,
which means elder. Presbyter, an English word derived from this
Greek word, refers both to ministers of the Word and Sacrament and
elders who govern the church.
The Presbyterian Church, as a whole, is governed by
representative bodies composed of presbyters. These representative
bodies are the session, the presbytery, the synod, and the General
Assembly. Each of the larger governing bodies above the session
are composed of presbyters, ministers of the Word and Sacrament and
Elders, who are chosen from the particular congregations to go as
commissioners to the larger governing bodies.
Each particular congregation is governed by a group of
presbyters, who are elected by their own congregation to serve on the
session, which is the governing body of a particular Presbyterian
church, and who are called to make all the important decisions for that
particular church. All active installed elders and the pastor(s) are members of the session.
They have the right to speak and vote on church related matters in session
meetings. Finley's twelve active elders are elected to three year terms,
with four officers being elected each year, in a three year cycle. The
pastor serves as the moderator of the session meeting.
The way we as Presbyterians govern ourselves says much
about our theology, our beliefs, and how we are called to live. We
believe our form of government is biblical, but this is not to say that
other forms of government are non-biblical. Taken from biblical
references, there are several guiding principles on which we have built
our form of government.
| 1. |
Christ alone is head of the Church.
All others are subordinate to Christ. All elected presbyters
are called to seek first to represent Jesus Christ, and to be guided
by the Holy Spirit on all the decision making of the Church.
Only secondary are they to consider their constituents. |
| 2. |
Scripture alone is our only rule of
faith and life. It is Scripture alone which provides
Christians with authority and responsibility one for another, but no
one form of government is mandated for all by scripture. |
| 3. |
We believe in the priesthood of all
believers in which all believers are called to be ministers in the
Church equally serving as priests for each other. There is no
hierarchy of spiritual power except that which honors Christ and
upholds the responsibility of every believer for one another. |
| 4. |
All church power must be administered
"decently and in order" giving glory to God and in service our Lord
Jesus Christ. |
| 5. |
We are a connectional Church whereby
our unity derives from the Holy Spirit who unites us with Christ and
with each other through our representative assemblies, the larger
governing bodies having oversight over the smaller governing bodies,
rather than through a hierarchy or through mass democratic rule.
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| 6. |
God's people, gathered in a
congregation, have the right to elect their own leadership,
including pastor(s) and elders and deacons. No person can be
placed in a permanent office in a congregation or in a governing
body of the church except by the election of that body. |
| 7. |
There must be a parity of ministry
among the elected leaders. In the Presbyterian Church's
governing bodies, except for the session, there is to be an equal
number of Elders and Ministers of the Word and Sacraments. |
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