Book of Church Order

Part 1 – The Form of Government

Includes all amendments approved up to and including the 51st General Assembly held in Richmond, Virginia, June 11-14, 2024

CHAPTER 1 The Doctrine of Church Government.

CHAPTER 2 The Visible Church Defined

CHAPTER 3 The Nature and Extent of Church Power

CHAPTER 4 The Particular Church

CHAPTER 5 The Organization of a Particular Church

CHAPTER 6 Church Members

CHAPTER 7 Church Officers-General Classification

CHAPTER 8 The Elder

CHAPTER 9 The Deacon

CHAPTER 10 Church Courts in General

CHAPTER 11 Jurisdiction of Church Courts

CHAPTER 12 The Church Session

CHAPTER 13 The Presbytery

CHAPTER 14 The General Assembly

CHAPTER 15 Ecclesiastical Commissions

CHAPTER 16 Church Orders – The Doctrine of Vocation

CHAPTER 17 Doctrine of Ordination

CHAPTER 18 Candidates for the Gospel Ministry

CHAPTER 19 The Licensure of Candidates for the Gospel Ministry and Internship

CHAPTER 20 The Election of Pastors

CHAPTER 21 The Ordination and Installation of Ministers

CHAPTER 22 The Pastoral Relations

CHAPTER 23 The Dissolution of the Pastoral Relation

CHAPTER 24 Election, Ordination and Installation of Ruling Elders and Deacons

CHAPTER 25 Congregational Meetings

CHAPTER 26 Amending the Constitution of the Church

CHAPTER ONE

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.

CHAPTER TWO

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.

CHAPTER THREE

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.

CHAPTER FOUR

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.

CHAPTER FIVE

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, mission churches are established by Presbyteries within their boundaries.

a. Initiatives to which the Presbytery may respond in establishing a mission church include, but are not limited to, the following:

i. The Presbytery establishes a mission church at its own initiative.

ii. The Presbytery responds to the initiative of a Session of a particular church.

iii. The Presbytery responds to the petition of an independent gathering of believers who have expressed their desire to become a congregation by submitting to the Presbytery a written request.

b. In the event an existing non-PCA church is interested in coming into the PCA, the Presbytery shall work with the church leadership to determine whether the church should come into the PCA as a mission church or seek Presbytery approval to be received under the provisions of BCO 13-8.

c. Should it become necessary, the Presbytery may dissolve the mission church.  Church members enrolled should be cared for according to the procedures of 13-10.

d. If the mission church is located outside the bounds of a Presbytery, the responsibility may be exercised through the General Assembly’s Committee on Mission to North America or Committee on Mission to the World, as the case may be, according to the Rules of Assembly Operations. In such a case the powers of the Presbytery in the following provisions shall be exercised by the General Assembly through its appropriate committee.

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:

a. Appoint an evangelist as prescribed in BCO 8-6.

b. 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.

c. Appoint a BCO 15-1 commission to serve as a temporary Session of the mission church. When a minister of the Presbytery has been approved to serve as pastor of the mission church, he shall be included as a member of the commission and serve as its moderator.

The temporary system of government shall record and submit its records to Presbytery for annual review in the same manner as Sessions of particular churches.

5-4. Pastoral ministry for the mission church may be provided:

a. by a minister of the Presbytery called by Presbytery to serve as pastor, or

b. by stated, student, or ruling elder supply (BCO 22-5, -6), or

c. by a series of qualified preachers approved by the temporary government (BCO 12-5.e).

5-5. The temporary government shall receive members (BCO 12-5.a) into the mission church according to the provisions of BCO 57 so far as they may be applicable. As members of the mission church those received are communing or non-communing members of the Presbyterian Church in America.

a. If there is a minister approved by Presbytery to serve the mission church as its pastor (BCO 5-4.a), each member so received shall be understood to assent to the call of that minister and to affirm the promises made to the pastor in BCO 21-10.

b. Meetings of the members of the mission church shall be governed according to the provisions of BCO 25 so far as they may be applicable.

5-6. Mission churches and their members shall have the right of judicial process to the court having oversight of their temporary governing body. 

5-7. Mission churches shall maintain a roll of communicant and non-communicant members, in the same manner as, but separate from, other particular churches.

5-8. 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

5-9. A new church can be organized only by the authority of Presbytery.

a. A Presbytery should establish standing rules setting forth the prerequisites that qualify a mission church to begin the organization process, e.g., the minimum number of petitioners and the level of financial support to be provided by the congregation. The number of officers sufficient to constitute the quorum for a session shall be necessary to complete the organization process.

b. The temporary government of the mission church shall oversee the steps necessary for organization.

c. When the temporary government determines that among the members of the mission congregation there are men who appear qualified as officers, the nomination process shall begin and the election conclude following the procedures of BCO 24 so far as they may be applicable.

d. The election of officers shall normally take place at least two weeks prior to the date of the organization service. However, the effective date of service for the newly elected officers shall be upon the completion of the organization service.

e. If deacons are not elected, the duties of the office shall devolve upon the session, until deacons can be secured.

f. If there is a minister approved by Presbytery to serve the mission church as its pastor, and members of the mission church have been received according to BCO 5-5, the temporary session shall call a congregational meeting at which the congregation may, by majority vote, call the organizing pastor to be their pastor without the steps of BCO 20. If no such minister has been appointed, or the minister or congregation choose not to continue the pastoral relationship of the newly organized church, a pastor shall be called as follows:

(1) The temporary government shall oversee the election of a pastor according the provisions of BCO 20 so far as they are applicable. If a candidate is to be proposed before the organization, the congregational meeting to elect a pastor shall take place early enough for Presbytery to consider and approve the pastor’s call prior to the service of organization. This may be the same meeting called for the election of other officers.

(2) The ordination and/or installation shall be according to the provisions of BCO 21 so far as they are applicable. The service may take place at the service of organization.

g. In order to proceed to organization as a particular church the members of the mission church shall sign a petition to Presbytery requesting the same.

h. Upon Presbytery’s approval of the petition, Presbytery shall appoint an organizing commission and shall set the date and time of the organization service.

i. At the service of organization the following elements shall be included in the order deemed by the organizing commission to be appropriate:

(1) The organizing commission shall ordain and/or install ruling elders and/or deacons according to the provisions of BCO 24-6 so far as they may be applicable.

(2) If a pastor is being ordained and/or installed at the service, the organizing commission shall act according to the provisions of BCO 21 so far as they may be applicable.

(3) A member of the organizing commission shall require communicant members of the mission church present 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 a particular 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) A member of the organizing commission 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 Spirit. Amen.

5-10. Upon organization, the newly elected session should meet as soon as is practicable to elect a stated clerk and formulate a budget. If there is no pastor, the session may elect as moderator one of their own number or any teaching elder of the Presbytery with Presbytery’s approval. Further, if there is no pastor, action shall be taken to secure, as soon as practicable, the regular administration of Word and Sacraments.

CHAPTER SIX

Church Members

6-1. The children of believers are, through the covenant and by right of birth, non-communing 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 57-4 and 58-4)

CHAPTER SEVEN

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. Furthermore, unordained people shall not be referred to as, or given the titles of, the ordained offices of pastor/elder, or deacon.

CHAPTER EIGHT

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 spiritually fruitful, dignified, 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 conform to the biblical requirement of chastity and sexual purity in his descriptions of himself, and in his convictions, character, and conduct. 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 those in the office of elder, both severally and jointly, to watch diligently over the flock committed to his 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, make disciples, and demonstrate hospitality. 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 in foreign countries or where there are no other PCA churches within a reasonable distance, he is commissioned for a renewable term of twelve months to preach the Word, to administer the Sacraments, to receive and dismiss members of mission churches, and to train potential officers. By separate actions the Presbytery may in extraordinary situations commission him to examine, ordain and install ruling elders and deacons and organize churches.

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. (See BCO 20-1.)

8-8. A Presbytery may, at its discretion, approve the call of a teaching elder to work as a Chaplain whether military or civilian, 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 reports at least annually on his work. The Chaplain may be appointed to the work of an evangelist when serving as a Chaplain. Teaching elders ministering as paid or volunteer chaplains are strongly encouraged to seek and obtain their Ecclesiastical Endorsement from the endorsing agency authorized by the General Assembly for such purpose.

8-9. 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, who are called ruling elders.

8-10. 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.

CHAPTER NINE

The Deacon

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, conforming to the biblical requirement of chastity and sexual purity in their descriptions of themselves and in their convictions, character, and conduct.

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. These assistants to the deacons are not officers of the church (BCO 7-2) and, as such, are not subjects for ordination (BCO 17).

CHAPTER TEN

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; he, 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.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

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 especially 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

CHAPTER TWELVE

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 four or more ruling elders, the pastor and two ruling elders shall constitute a quorum.  If there are fewer than four ruling elders, the pastor and one ruling elder shall constitute a quorum.  Assistant 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 the pastor’s absence, if any emergency should arise requiring immediate action, the Session may elect one of its members to preside, the quorum for such emergency meeting being as in the case of a church with no pastor in 12-1.  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 non-communing, 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 ensure that the Word of God is preached only by such men as are sufficiently qualified (BCO 4-4, 53-2, 1 Timothy 2:11-12); 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.  The Session, in its discretion, may for itself and its subordinate committees, commissions, adopt rules determining when videoconference or tele-communication arrangements may be used for meetings and regulating how meetings using telecommunications arrangements shall be conducted.

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 non-communing members, and of the deaths and dismissions of church members.

12-9. Meetings of the Sessions shall be opened and closed with prayer.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

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 ruling elders as elected by their Session.  Each congregation is entitled to two (2) 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.

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.  A minister without call shall make or file a report to his Presbytery at least once each year.

[EDITORIAL COMMENT:  The provision for a minister to hold his membership in the presbytery within whose geographical bounds he resides 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 (which may include a teleconference or videoconference place), 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.

The Presbytery, in its discretion, may for itself and its subordinate committees, commissions, adopt rules determining when videoconference or telecommunication arrangements may be used for meetings and regulating how meetings using telecommunications arrangements shall be conducted.

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.  In such cases deemed necessary, which may include the case of a minister without call whose circumstances appear to require relocation within the bounds of that Presbytery, the time allotment of BCO 13-2 shall be counted from the day the minister was first continued on the roll without call in any Presbytery.

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. Presbyteries shall also require ordained ministers coming from other denominations to state the specific instances in which they may differ with the Confession of Faith and Catechisms in any of their statements and/or propositions, which differences the court shall judge in accordance with BCO 21-4 (see BCO 21-4.f-g).

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.  In cases in which the Session cannot exercise its authority, it shall have power to assume original jurisdiction.  It has power:

* [Editor’s note: “Issue” means “settling the issue of the case.”]

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 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 time as the person is received by a church the Presbytery shall continue to provide pastoral oversight; 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 time as either a new congregation can be formed or such persons are dismissed to membership in another church.

13-11. The Presbytery shall keep a full and accurate record of its proceedings, and shall send it up to the General Assembly annually for review.  It shall report to the General Assembly every year, all the important changes which may have taken place, such as licensures, ordinations, the receiving or dismissing of members, the removal of members by death, the union and the division of churches, and the formation of new ones.

13-12. The Presbytery shall meet at least twice a year on its own adjournment.  The Moderator shall call a special meeting at the request or with the concurrence of three teaching elders and three ruling elders from at least three different churches.  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 three teaching elders and three ruling elders of at least three different churches shall have power to call a meeting.  However, any Presbytery may prescribe in its rules its own requirements for calling a special meeting, provided that those requirements are not less than those stated in this section.  Notice of the special meeting shall be sent not less than ten days in advance to each teaching elder and to the Clerk of Session of every church.  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.

13-13. 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.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

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 Discipleship Ministries, Committee on Mission to North America, Committee on Mission to the World, and Committee on Reformed University Fellowship.

The Administrative Committee of General Assembly (AC) shall consist of twenty (20) 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. Committee on Discipleship Ministries (CDM);

2. Covenant College (CC);

3. Covenant Theological Seminary (CTS);

4. Mission to North America (MNA);

5. Mission to the World (MTW);

6. PCA Foundation (PCAF);

7. Geneva Benefits Group, Inc. (Geneva);

8. Reformed University Fellowship (RUF);

9. Ridge Haven Conference Center (RH).

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 Discipleship Ministries, Committee on Mission to North America, Committee on Mission to the World, and Committee on Reformed University Fellowship shall consist of fifteen (15) men divided into five classes of three men each, with two men being TEs and one RE or two men being REs and one TE on alternate years, elected to serve five-year terms. Committees on Discipleship Ministries, Mission to North America, Mission to the World, and Reformed University Fellowship 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 therefor;

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.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

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. 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, the date of the submission being the date of “the meeting of the court” for filing requirements under the rules of discipline, with exception of the “notification” dates of BCO 42-4 and 43-3. The effective date of dismissal of a commission of Session or Presbytery shall be not before the time allowed for the filing of a complaint or appeal against that commission’s decision has expired. Any complaint or appeal so timely filed, shall be adjudicated by that commission until the matter is settled by that commission or a higher court. When a commission is appointed to serve as an interim Session, its actions are the actions of a Session, not a Presbytery. 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 ministers, 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 quorum shall be one more than half its membership unless otherwise determined by the Presbytery. 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 hear a case, with or without process (BCO 31-38), a reference (BCO 41), an appeal (BCO 42), a complaint (BCO 43), a BCO 40-5 proceeding, or a request to assume original jurisdiction (BCO 33-1) properly before it, or it may of its own motion commit such a 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 judgment of the commission shall be the decision of the Presbytery, and the statement of the case and judgment printed in its minutes.

15-4. The General Assembly shall elect a Standing Judicial Commission to which it shall commit all matters governed by the Rules of Discipline, except for the annual review of Presbytery records, which may come before the Assembly. 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 in 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 of the Standing Judicial Commission, to the General Assembly.  In each instance “file” shall be understood as defined by the Operating Manual for Standing Judicial Commission.

(2)  No such reference* from the Standing Judicial 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:  It was the opinion of the 26th General Assembly that “reference” is NOT to be understood as the technical term “reference” 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.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

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.

16-4. Officers in the Presbyterian Church in America must be above reproach in their walk and Christlike in their character. While office bearers will see spiritual perfection only in glory, they will continue in this life to confess and to mortify remaining sins in light of God’s work of progressive sanctification. Therefore, to be qualified for office, they must affirm the sinfulness of fallen desires, the reality and hope of progressive sanctification, and be committed to the pursuit of Spirit-empowered victory over their sinful temptations, inclinations, and actions.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

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.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

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 (see BCO 21-4); and where such consent is given the Presbytery shall record the fact and the reasons therefore.

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 (see BCO 19-1).

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 or at the request of his Session, be allowed to withdraw from the care of the Presbytery. But in such a case sufficient reasons (and any actions taken) must be reported to 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 therefore to the candidate and to the Session of his church. In all cases of a removal or withdrawal of a candidate, the sufficient reason for the action shall be recorded in the minutes of Presbytery.

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.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

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 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. 

e. While our Constitution does not require the applicant’s affirmation of every statement and/or proposition of doctrine in our Confession of Faith and Catechisms, it is the right and responsibility of the Presbytery to determine if the applicant is out of accord with any of the fundamentals of these doctrinal standards and, as a consequence, may not be able in good faith sincerely to receive and adopt the Confession of Faith and Catechisms of this church as containing the system of doctrine taught in the Holy Scriptures (cf. BCO 19-3, Q.2).

f. Therefore, in examining an applicant for licensure, the Presbytery shall inquire not only into the candidate’s knowledge and views in the areas specified above, but also shall require the candidate to state the specific instances in which he may differ with the Confession of Faith and Catechisms in any of their statements and/or propositions. The court may grant an exception to any difference of doctrine only if in the court’s judgment the applicant’s declared difference is not out of accord with any fundamental of our system of doctrine because the difference is neither hostile to the system nor strikes at the vitals of religion.

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:

a. his Christian experience,

b. his call to preach the Gospel,

c. his views 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 in 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 may repeat any portion of the previous Presbytery’s examination it desires.

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.

CHAPTER TWENTY

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 also 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 pulpit committee shall, after consultation and deliberation, recommend to the congregation a pastoral candidate who, in its judgment, fulfills the Constitutional requirements of that office (e.g., BCO 8, 13-6 and 21) and is most suited to be profitable to the spiritual interests of the congregation (cf. BCO 20-6).

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 or ruling elder 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 votes cast (excluding blanks and abstentions) 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 beneficial 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.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

The Ordination and Installation of Ministers

21-1. No minister, licentiate or candidate shall receive a call from a church but by the permission of his Presbytery. When a call has been presented to the Presbytery, if found in order and the Presbytery deems it for the good of the Church, they shall place it in the hands of the person to whom it is addressed.

Ordinarily a candidate or licentiate may not be granted permission by the Presbytery to move on to the field to which he has been called, prior to his examination for licensure or ordination. Likewise an ordained minister from another Presbyterian Church in America Presbytery or another denomination, ordinarily shall not move on to the field to which he has been called until examined and received by Presbytery.

21-2. When an intern has completed his internship to the satisfaction of the Presbytery, and has accepted a call, the Presbytery shall take immediate steps for his ordination.

21-3. No Presbytery shall ordain any intern to the office of minister of the Word with reference to his laboring within the bounds of another Presbytery, but shall furnish him with the necessary testimonials, and require him to repair to the Presbytery within whose bounds he expects to labor, that he may submit himself to its authority, according to the Constitution of the Church.

21-4. Ordination Requirements and Procedures

a. An intern applying for ordination shall be required to present a diploma of Bachelor or Master from some approved college or university, and also a diploma of Bachelor or Master from some approved theological seminary or authentic testimonials of having completed a regular course of theological studies, or a certificate of completion of and endorsement from a theological study program as approved by the General Assembly and one of the Presbyteries of the Presbyterian Church in America. No Presbytery shall omit any of these educational requirements except in extraordinary cases, and then only with a three-fourths (3/4) approval of the Presbytery. Whenever a Presbytery shall omit any of these educational requirements, it shall always make a record of the reasons for such omission and the parts omitted. The intern shall also present satisfactory testimonials as to the completion and approval of his internship in the practice of the ministry.

b. Every candidate for ordination shall ordinarily have met the requirements of the Assembly’s approved curriculum. Ordinarily, the intern shall have been examined in most of the following trials when he was licensed. If the Presbytery previously approved all parts of the licensure examination, it need not re-examine the intern in those areas at this time. If there were areas of weakness, which the Presbytery noted, or if any member of the Presbytery desires to do so, the intern may be examined on particular points again. Additionally, the intern shall be examined on any parts required for ordination which were not covered in his examination for licensure. In all cases, he should be asked to indicate whether he has changed his previous views concerning any points in the Confession of Faith, Catechisms, and Book of Church Order of the Presbyterian Church in America.

c. Trials for ordination shall consist of:

(1) A careful examination as to:

(a) his acquaintance with experiential religion, especially his personal character and family management (based on the qualifications set out in 1 Timothy 3:1-7, and Titus 1:6-9),

(b) his knowledge of the Greek and Hebrew languages,

(c) Bible content,

(d) theology,

(e) the Sacraments,

(f) Church history,

(g) the history of the Presbyterian Church in America, and

(h) the principles and rules of the government and discipline of the church.

A Presbytery may accept a seminary degree which includes study in the original languages in lieu of an oral examination in the original languages.

(2) He shall prepare a thesis on some theological topic assigned by Presbytery.

(3) The candidate shall prepare an exegesis on an assigned portion of Scripture, requiring the use of the original language or languages.

(4) He shall further be required to preach a sermon before the Presbytery or committee thereof, upon three-fourths (3/4) vote.

No Presbytery shall omit any of these parts of trial for ordination except in extraordinary cases, and then only with three-fourths (3/4) approval of Presbytery.

d. Whenever a Presbytery shall omit any of these parts, it shall always make a record of the reasons for such omissions and of the trial parts omitted.

e. In the examination of the candidate’s personal character, the presbytery shall give specific attention to potential notorious concerns. Careful attention must be given to his practical struggle against sinful actions, as well as to persistent sinful desires. The candidate must give clear testimony of reliance upon his union with Christ and the benefits thereof by the Holy Spirit, depending on this work of grace to make progress over sin (Psalm 103:2-5, Romans 8:29) and to bear fruit (Psalm 1:3, Gal. 5:22-23). While imperfection will remain, when confessing sins and sinful temptations publicly, the candidate must exercise great care not to diminish the seriousness of those sins in the eyes of the congregation, as though they were matters of little consequence, but rather should testify to the work of the Holy Spirit in his progress in holiness (1 Cor. 6:9-11).

f. While our Constitution does not require the candidate’s affirmation of every statement and/or proposition of doctrine in our Confession of Faith and Catechisms, it is the right and responsibility of the Presbytery to determine if the candidate is out of accord with any of the fundamentals of these doctrinal standards and, as a consequence, may not be able in good faith sincerely to receive and adopt the Confession of Faith and Catechisms of this Church as containing the system of doctrine taught in the Holy Scriptures (cf. BCO 21-5, Q.2; 24-6, Q.2).

g. Therefore, in examining a candidate for ordination, the Presbytery shall inquire not only into the candidate’s knowledge and views in the areas specified above, but also shall require the candidate to state the specific instances in which he may differ with the Confession of Faith and Catechisms in any of their statements and/or propositions. The court may grant an exception to any difference of doctrine only if in the court’s judgment the candidate’s declared difference is not out of accord with any fundamental of our system of doctrine because the difference is neither hostile to the system nor strikes at the vitals of religion.

h. The Presbytery, being fully satisfied of his qualifications for the sacred office, shall appoint a day for his ordination, which ought, if practicable, to be in that church of which he is to be the pastor.

i. The extraordinary clauses should be limited to extraordinary circumstances of the church or proven extraordinary gifts of the man.  Presbyteries should exercise diligence and care in the use of these provisions in order that they not prevent the ordination of a candidate for whom there are truly exceptional circumstances, nor ordain (nor receive from other denominations (BCO 13-6) a person who is inadequately prepared for the ministry.

21-5. The day appointed for the ordination having come, and the Presbytery being convened, a sermon suitable for the occasion shall be preached by a person appointed or invited by the Presbytery. The Presbytery member appointed to preside shall afterwards briefly recite from the pulpit the proceedings of the Presbytery preparatory to the ordination; he shall point out the nature and importance of the ordinance, and endeavor to impress the audience with a proper sense of the solemnity of the transaction.

Questions for Ordination¹ 

¹ For an assistant minister, only questions 1-7 shall be used.

Then, addressing himself to the candidate, he shall propose to him the following questions:

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 Scriptures; and do you further promise that if at any time you find yourself out of accord with any of the fundamentals of this system of doctrine, you will on your own initiative, make known to your Presbytery the change which has taken place in your views since the assumption of this ordination vow?

3. Do you approve of the form of government and discipline of the Presbyterian Church in America, in conformity with the general principles of Biblical polity?

4. Do you promise subjection to your brethren in the Lord?

5. Have you been induced, as far as you know your own heart, to seek the office of the holy ministry from love to God and a sincere desire to promote His glory in the Gospel of His Son?

6. Do you promise to be zealous and faithful in maintaining the truths of the Gospel and the purity and peace and unity of the Church, whatever persecution or opposition may arise unto you on that account?

7. Do you engage to be faithful and diligent in the exercise of all your duties as a Christian and a minister of the Gospel, whether personal or relational, private or public; and to endeavor by the grace of God to adorn the profession of the Gospel in your manner of life, and to walk with exemplary piety before the flock of which God shall make you overseer?

8. Are you now willing to take the charge of this church, agreeable to your declaration when accepting their call?  And do you, relying upon God for strength, promise to discharge to it the duties of a pastor?

Questions to Congregation²

²For assistant minister, address the Session omitting the last phrase of questions 1 and 2.

21-6. The candidate having answered these questions in the affirmative, the presiding minister shall propose to the church the following questions:

1. Do you, the people of this congregation, continue to profess your readiness to receive _________________, whom you have called to be your pastor?

2. Do you promise to receive the word of truth from his mouth with meekness and love, and to submit to him in the due exercise of discipline?

3. Do you promise to encourage him in his labors, and to assist his endeavors for your instruction and spiritual edification?

4. Do you engage to continue to him while he is your pastor that competent worldly maintenance which you have promised, and to furnish him with whatever you may see needful for the honor of religion and for his comfort among you?

21-7. The people having answered these questions in the affirmative, by holding up their right hands, the candidate shall kneel, and the presiding minister shall, with prayer and the laying on of hands of the Presbytery, according to the apostolic example, solemnly set him apart to the holy office of the Gospel ministry.  Prayer being ended, he shall rise from his knees; and the minister who presides shall first, followed by all members of the Presbytery, take him by the right hand, saying, in words to this effect:

We give you the right hand of fellowship, to take part in this ministry with us.

The presiding minister shall then say:

I now pronounce and declare that __________________ has been regularly elected, ordained, and installed pastor of this congregation, agreeable to the Word of God, and according to the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church in America; and that as such he is entitled to all support, encouragement, honor, and obedience in the Lord:  In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.  Amen.

After which the minister presiding, or some other teaching or ruling elder appointed for the purpose, shall give a solemn charge to the pastor and to the congregation, to persevere in the discharge of their reciprocal duties, and then after prayer and the singing of a psalm, or hymn, the congregation shall be dismissed with the benediction.  The Presbytery shall duly record its proceedings.³ 

³For assistant minister, add the word ‘assistant’ before ‘pastor’, and charge the Session rather than the congregation

21-8. After the installation, the heads of families of the congregation then present, or at least the ruling elders and deacons, should come forward to their pastor, and give him their right hand, in token of cordial reception and affectionate regard.

Questions for Installation⁴

⁴For assistant minister, substitute the word ‘serve’ for ‘take charge of’, and add the word ‘assistant’ before ‘pastor’.

21-9. In the installation of an ordained minister, the following questions are to be substituted for those addressed to a candidate for ordination, namely:

1. Are you now willing to take charge of this congregation as their pastor, agreeable to your declaration in accepting its call?

2. Do you conscientiously believe and declare, as far as you know your own heart, that, in taking upon you this charge, you are influenced by a sincere desire to promote the glory of God and the good of the Church?

3. Do you solemnly promise that, by the assistance of the grace of God, you will endeavor faithfully to discharge all the duties of a pastor to this congregation, and will be careful to maintain a deportment in all respects becoming a minister of the Gospel of Christ, agreeable to your ordination engagements?

Questions to Congregation⁵

⁵For assistant minister, address the Session omitting the last phrase of questions 1 and 2.

21-10. The candidate having answered these question in the affirmative, the presiding minister shall propose to the church the following questions:

1. Do you, the people of this congregation, continue to profess your readiness to receive ________________, whom you have called to be your pastor?

2. Do you promise to receive the word of truth from his mouth with meekness and love, and to submit to him in the due exercise of discipline?

3. Do you promise to encourage him in his labors, and to assist his endeavors for your instruction and spiritual edification?

4. Do you engage to continue to him while he is your pastor that competent worldly maintenance which you have promised, and to furnish him with whatever you may see needful for the honor of religion and for his comfort among you?

21-11. In the ordination of interns as evangelists the same questions are to be propounded as in the ordination of pastors, with the exception of the eighth, for which the following shall be substituted:

Do you now undertake the work of an evangelist, and do you promise, in reliance on God for strength, to be faithful in the discharge of all the duties incumbent on you as a minister of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ?

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

The Pastoral Relations

22-1. The various pastoral relations are pastor, associate pastor, and assistant pastor.

22-2. The pastor and associate pastor are elected by the congregation using the form of call in BCO 20-6.  An existing assistant pastor may be elected by the congregation as an associate pastor at the recommendation of the Session without the election of a pulpit committee. Being elected by the congregation, they become members of the Session.

22-3. An assistant pastor is called by the Session, by the permission and approval of Presbytery, under the provisions of BCO 20-1 and 13-2, with Presbytery membership being governed by the same provisions that apply to pastors.  He is not a member of the Session, but may be appointed on special occasions to moderate the Session under the provisions of BCO 12-4.

22-4. The relationship of the associate pastor to the church is determined by the congregation.  The relationship of the assistant pastor to the church is determined by the Session.  The dissolution of the relationship of both is governed by the provision of BCO 23.

22-5. In order to provide necessary changes in pastorates, a temporary relation may be established between a church and a minister called Stated Supply.  If a church is unable to secure a regular pastor or a Stated Supply, then the Session with approval of Presbytery may establish a temporary relation between the church and a licentiate called Student Supply or Ruling Elder Supply.

22-6. Such temporary relationships can take place at the invitation of the church Session to the minister of the Word, the licentiate, or the ruling elder.  The length of the relationship will be determined by the Session and the minister, the licentiate, or the ruling elder, with the approval of the Presbytery.  Stated supply, student supply, or ruling elder supply relationships will be for no longer than one year, renewable at the request of the Session and at the review of the Presbytery.  (See also BCO 19-1).

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

The Dissolution of the Pastoral Relation and

The Procedure for Honorable Retirement

23-1. When any minister shall tender the resignation of his pastoral charge to his Presbytery, the Presbytery shall cite the church to appear by its commissioners, to show cause why the Presbytery should or should not accept the resignation.  If the church fails to appear, or if its reasons for retaining its pastor be deemed insufficient, his resignation shall be accepted and the pastoral relation dissolved.

If any church desires to be relieved of its pastor, a similar procedure shall be observed.  But whether the minister or the church initiates proceedings for a dissolution of the relation, there shall always be a meeting of the congregation called and conducted in the same manner as the call of the pastor.  In any case, the minister must not physically leave the field until the Presbytery or its commission empowered to handle uncontested requests for dissolution has dissolved the relation.

The associate or assistant pastors may continue to serve a congregation when the pastoral relation of the senior pastor is dissolved, but they may not normally succeed the senior pastor without an intervening term of service in a different field of labor.  However a congregation by a secret ballot with four-fifths (4/5) majority vote may petition Presbytery for an exception which by a three-fourths (3/4) majority vote Presbytery may grant.  Presbytery needs to determine if the dissolution of the pastoral relationship with the senior pastor was brought about in Christian love and good order on the part of the parties concerned.

23-2. The Presbytery may designate a minister as honorably retired when the minister by reason of age wishes to be retired, or as medically disabled when by reason of infirmity is no longer able to serve the church in the active ministry of the Gospel.  A minister medically disabled or honorably retired shall continue to hold membership in his Presbytery.  He may serve on committees or commissions if so elected or appointed.

23-3. A minister, being medically disabled or honorably retired, may be elected pastor emeritus by a congregation which seeks to honor his past earnest labors among them.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Election, Ordination and Installation of Ruling Elders and Deacons

Election

24-1. Every church shall elect persons to the offices of ruling elder and deacon in the following manner: At such times as determined by the Session, communicant members of the congregation may submit names to the Session, keeping in mind that each prospective officer should be an active male member who meets the qualifications set forth in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1. Nominees for the office of ruling elder and/or deacon shall receive instruction in the qualifications and work of the office.  Each nominee shall be examined in:

a. his Christian experience, especially his personal character and family management (based on the qualifications set out in 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:6-9),

b. his knowledge of Bible content,

c. his knowledge of the system of doctrine, government, discipline contained in the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church in America (BCO Preface III, The Constitution Defined),

d. the duties of the office to which he has been nominated, and

e. his willingness to give assent to the questions required for ordination. (BCO 24-6).

In the examination of the nominee’s personal character, the Session shall give specific attention to potential notorious concerns. Careful attention must be given to his practical struggle against sinful actions, as well as to persistent sinful desires. The nominee must give clear testimony of reliance upon his union with Christ and the benefits thereof by the Holy Spirit, depending on this work of grace to make progress over sin (Psalm 103:2-5, Romans 8:29) and to bear fruit (Psalm 1:3, Gal. 5:22-23). While imperfection will remain, when confessing sins and sinful temptations publicly, the nominee must exercise great care not to diminish the seriousness of those sins in the eyes of the congregation, as though they were matters of little consequence, but rather should testify to the work of the Holy in his progress in holiness (1 Cor. 6:9-11).

Notwithstanding the above, the Session may render a decision on Christian experience at any point in the process, and based on that decision, may judge him ineligible for that election.

If there are candidates eligible for the election, the Session shall report to the congregation those eligible, giving at least thirty (30) days prior notice of the time and place of a congregational meeting for elections.

If one-fourth (1/4) of the persons entitled to vote shall at any time request the Session to call a congregational meeting for the purpose of electing additional officers, it shall be the duty of the Session to call such a meeting on the above procedure. The number of officers to be elected shall be determined by the congregation after hearing the Session’s recommendation.

24-2. The pastor is, by virtue of his office, moderator of congregational meetings. If there is no pastor, 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, who may be a minister or ruling elder of the Presbyterian Church in America or any male member of that particular church.

24-3. All communing members in good and regular standing, but no others, are entitled to vote in the election of church officers in the churches to which they respectively belong. A majority vote of votes cast (excluding blanks and abstentions) is required for election.

24-4. The voters being convened, the moderator shall explain the purpose of the meeting and then put the question:

Are you now ready to proceed to the election of additional ruling elders (or deacons) from the slate presented?

If they declare themselves ready, the election may proceed by private ballot without nomination. In every case a majority of all the votes cast (excluding blanks and abstentions) shall be required to elect.

24-5. On the election of a ruling elder or deacon, if it appears that a large minority of the voters are averse to a candidate, and cannot be induced to concur in the choice, the moderator shall endeavor to dissuade the majority from prosecuting it further; but if the electors are nearly or quite unanimous, or if the majority insist upon their right to choose their officers, the election shall stand.

Ordination and Installation

24-6. The day having arrived, and the Session being convened in the presence of the congregation, a sermon shall be preached after which the presiding minister shall state in a concise manner the warrant and nature of the office of ruling elder, or deacon, together with the character proper to be sustained and the duties to be fulfilled. Having done this, he shall propose to the candidate, in the presence of the church, 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 Scriptures; and do you further promise that if at any time you find yourself out of accord with any of the fundamentals of this system of doctrine, you will, on your own initiative, make known to your Session the change which has taken place in your views since the assumption of this ordination vow?

3. Do you approve of the form of government and discipline of the Presbyterian Church in America, in conformity with the general principles of biblical polity?

4. Do you accept the office of ruling elder (or deacon, as the case may be) in this church, and promise faithfully to perform all the duties thereof, and to endeavor by the grace of God to adorn the profession of the Gospel in your life, and to set a worthy example before the Church of which God has made you an officer?

5. Do you promise subjection to your brethren in the Lord?

6. Do you promise to strive for the purity, peace, unity and edification of the Church?

The ruling elder or deacon elect having answered in the affirmative, the minister shall address to the members of the church the following question:

Do you, the members of this church, acknowledge and receive this brother as a ruling elder (or deacon), and do you promise to yield him all that honor, encouragement and obedience in the Lord to which his office, according to the Word of God and the Constitution of this Church, entitles him?

The members of the church having answered this question in the affirmative, by holding up their right hands, the candidate shall then be set apart, with prayer by the minister or any other Session member and the laying on of the hands of the Session, to the office of ruling elder (or deacon).  Prayer being ended, the members of the Session (and the deacons, if the case be that of a deacon) shall take the newly ordained officer by the hand, saying in words to this effect:

We give you the right hand of fellowship, to take part in this office with us.

The minister shall then say:

I now pronounce and declare that ____________________ has been regularly elected, ordained and installed a ruling elder (or deacon) in this church, agreeable to the Word of God, and according to the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church in America; and that as such he is entitled to all encouragement, honor and obedience in the Lord: In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.  Amen.

After which the minister or any other member of the Session shall give to the ruling elder (or deacon) and to the church an exhortation suited to the occasion.

24-7. Ordination to the offices of ruling elder or deacon is perpetual; nor can such offices be laid aside at pleasure; nor can any person be degraded from either office but by deposition after regular trial; yet a ruling elder or deacon may have reasons which he deems valid for being released from the active duties of his office. In such a case the Session, after conference with him and careful consideration of the matter, may, if it thinks proper, accept his resignation and dissolve the official relationship which exists between him and the church.

The ruling elder or deacon, though chargeable with neither heresy nor immorality, may become unacceptable in his official capacity to a majority of the church which he serves.  In such a case the church may take the initiative by a majority vote at a regularly called congregational meeting, and request the Session to dissolve the official relationship between the church and the officer without censure.  The Session, after conference with the ruling elder or deacon, and after careful consideration, may use its discretion as to dissolving the official relationship.  In either case the Session shall report its action to the congregation.  If the Session fails or refuses to report to the congregation within sixty (60) days from the date of the congregational meeting or if the Session reports to the congregation that it declined to dissolve such relationship, then any member or members in good standing may file a complaint against the Session in accordance with the provisions of BCO 43.

24-8. When a ruling elder or deacon who has been released from his official relation is again elected to his office in the same or another church, he shall be installed after the above form with the omission of ordination.

24-9. When a ruling elder or deacon cannot or does not for a period of one year perform the duties of his office, his official relationship shall be dissolved by the Session and the action reported to the congregation.

24-10. When a deacon or ruling elder by reason of age or infirmity desires to be released from the active duties of the office, he may at his request and with the approval of the Session be designated deacon or elder emeritus.  When so designated, he is no longer required to perform the regular duties of his office, but may continue to perform certain of these duties on a voluntary basis, if requested by the Session or a higher court.  He may attend Diaconate or Session meetings, if he so desires, and may participate fully in the discussion of any issues, but may not vote.

Editorial Comment:  The General Assembly explicitly provided that those Elders and Deacons granted emeritus status prior to June 22, 1984, retain the privilege of vote.  (By order of the Fifteenth General Assembly 15-83, III, 31).

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Congregational Meetings

25-1. The congregation consists of all the communing members of a particular church, and they only are entitled to vote.

25-2. Whenever it may seem for the best interests of the church that a congregational meeting should be held, the Session shall call such meeting and give public notice of at least one week.  No business shall be transacted at such meeting except what is stated in the notice.  The Session shall always call a congregational meeting when requested in writing to do so:

a. by one-fourth (1/4) of the communing members of a church of not more than one hundred (100) such members,

b. by one-fifth (1/5) of the communing members of a church of more than one hundred (100) and not more than three hundred (300) such members,

c. by one-sixth (1/6) of the communing members of a church of more than three hundred (300) and not more than five hundred (500) such members,

d. by one-seventh (1/7) of the communing members of a church of more than five hundred (500) members but not more than seven hundred (700) such members,

e. by one hundred (100) of the communing members of a church of more than seven hundred (700) such members.

Upon such a proper request, if the Session cannot act, fails to act or refuses to act, to call such a congregational meeting within thirty (30) days from the receipt of such a request, then any member or members in good standing may file a complaint in accordance with the provisions of BCO 43.

25-3. The quorum of the congregational meeting shall consist of one-fourth (1/4) of the resident communing members, if the church has not more than one hundred (100) such members, and of one-sixth (1/6) of the resident communing members if a church has more than one hundred (100) such members.

25-4. The pastor shall be the moderator of congregational meetings by virtue of his office.  If it should be impracticable or inexpedient for him to preside, or if there is no pastor, 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, who may be a minister or ruling elder of the Presbyterian Church in America, or any male member of that particular church.

25-5. A clerk shall be elected by the congregation to serve at that meeting or for a definite period, whose duty shall be to keep correct minutes of the proceedings and of all business transacted and to preserve these minutes in a permanent form, after they have been attested by the moderator and the clerk of the meeting.  He shall also send a copy of these minutes to the Session of the church.

25-6. A particular church which is not incorporated, desiring to elect trustees, may select from among its membership trustees or officers of like nature who shall have the power and authority:

a. to buy, sell, or mortgage property for the church,

b. to accept and execute deeds as such trustees,

c. to hold and defend titles to the same, and

d. to manage any permanent special funds entrusted to them for the furtherance of the purposes of the church.

In the fulfillment of their duties, such trustees shall be subject always to the authority, and shall act solely under the instructions of the congregation which they serve as trustees.  The powers or duties of such trustees must not infringe upon the powers or duties of the Session or of the Board of Deacons.  Such trustees shall be elected in regularly constituted congregational meetings.

25-7. If a particular church is incorporated, the provisions of its charter and bylaws must always be in accord with the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church in America.  All the communing members on the roll of that church shall be members of the corporation.  The officers of the corporation, whether they be given the title trustee or some other title, shall be elected from among the members of the corporation in a regularly constituted congregational meeting.  The powers and duties of such officers must not infringe upon the powers and duties of the Session or the Board of Deacons.

All funds collected for the support and expense of the church and for the benevolent purposes of the church shall be controlled and disbursed by the Session and the Board of Deacons as their relative authorities may from time to time be established and defined.

To the officers of the corporation may be given by the charter and bylaws of the corporation any or all of the following responsibilities: 

a. the buying, selling and mortgaging of property for the church,

b. the acquiring and conveying title to such property, the holding and defending title to the same,

c. the managing of any permanent special funds entrusted to them for the furtherance of the purposes of the church, provided that such duties do not infringe upon the powers and duties of the Session or of the Board of Deacons. 

In buying, selling, and mortgaging real property such officers shall act solely under the authority of the corporation, granted in a duly constituted meeting of the corporation.

25-8. The corporation of a particular church, through its duly elected trustees or corporation officers, (or, if unincorporated, through those who are entitled to represent the particular church in matters related to real property) shall have sole title to its property, real, personal, or mixed, tangible or intangible, and shall be sole owner of any equity in any real estate, or any fund or property of any kind held by or belonging to any particular church, or any board, society, committee, Sunday school class or branch thereof.  The superior courts of the Church may receive monies or properties from a local church only by free and voluntary action of the latter.

25-9. All particular churches shall be entitled to hold, own and enjoy their own local properties, without any right of reversion whatsoever to any Presbytery, General Assembly or any other courts hereafter created, trustees or other officers of such courts.

25-10. The provisions of this BCO 25 are to be construed as a solemn covenant whereby the Church as a whole promises never to attempt to secure possession of the property of any congregation against its will, whether or not such congregation remains within or chooses to withdraw from this body.  All officers and courts of the Church are hereby prohibited from making any such attempt.

25-11. While a congregation consists of all the communing members of a particular church, and in matters ecclesiastical the actions of such local congregation or church shall be in conformity with the provisions of this Book of Church Order, nevertheless, in matters pertaining to the subject matters referred to in this BCO 25, including specifically the right to affiliate with or become a member of this body or a Presbytery hereof and the right to withdraw from or to sever any affiliation of connection with this body or any Presbytery hereof, action may be taken by such local congregation or local church in accordance with the civil laws applicable to such local congregation or local church; and as long as such action is taken in compliance with such applicable civil laws, then such shall be the action of the local congregation or local church.

It is expressly recognized that each local congregation or local church shall be competent to function and to take actions covering the matters set forth herein as long as such action is in compliance with the civil laws with which said local congregation or local church must comply, and this right shall never be taken from said local congregation or local church without the express consent of and affirmative action of such local church or congregation.

Particular churches need remain in association with any court of this body only so long as they themselves so desire.  The relationship is voluntary, based upon mutual love and confidence, and is in no sense to be maintained by the exercise of any force or coercion whatsoever.  A particular church may withdraw from any court of this body at any time for reasons which seem to it sufficient, provided, however, the congregation is given at least thirty-days’ notice of any meeting where the congregation is to vote on a proposed withdrawal from the Presbyterian Church in America.

25-12. If a church is dissolved by the Presbytery at the request of the congregation and no disposition has been made of its property by those who hold the title to the property within six months after such dissolution, then those who held the title to the property at the time of such dissolution shall deliver, convey and transfer to the Presbytery of which the church was a member, or to the authorized agents of the Presbytery, all property of the church; and the receipt and acquittance of the Presbytery, or its proper representatives, shall be a full and complete discharge of all liabilities of such persons holding the property of the church.  The Presbytery receiving such property shall apply the same or the proceeds thereof at its discretion.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Amending the Constitution of the Church

26-1. 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.

26-2. Amendments to the Book of Church Order may be made only in the following manner:

1. Approval of the proposed amendment by majority of those present and voting in the General Assembly, and its recommendation to the Presbyteries.

2. The advice and consent of two-thirds (2/3) of the Presbyteries.

3. The approval and enactment by a subsequent General Assembly by a majority of those present and voting.

26-3. Amendments to the Confession of Faith and the Larger and Shorter Catechisms may be made only in the following manner:

1. Approval of the proposed amendment by three-fourths (3/4) of those present and voting in the General Assembly, and its recommendation to the Presbyteries.

2. The advice and consent of three-fourths (3/4) of the Presbyteries.

3. The approval and enactment by a subsequent General Assembly by three-fourths (3/4) of those present and voting.

This paragraph (BCO 26-3) can be amended only by the same method prescribed for the amendment of the Confession of Faith and Catechisms of the church.

26-4. In voting upon an amendment to the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church in America, the Presbyteries may not divide the parts of the amendment except as directed by the General Assembly which has recommended its adoption.

26-5. Full organic union and consolidation of the Presbyterian Church in America with any other ecclesiastical body can be effected only in the following manner:

1. The approval of the proposed union by three-fourths (3/4) of those present and voting in the General Assembly and its recommendation to the Presbyteries.

2. The advice and consent of three-fourths (3/4) of the Presbyteries.

3. The approval and consummation by a subsequent General Assembly by three-fourths (3/4) vote of those present and voting.

This paragraph (BCO 26-5) can be amended only by the same method prescribed for the amendment of the Confession of Faith and Catechisms of the church.

26-6. If by reason of the failure of a number of Presbyteries to act, or to report action, on any proposed amendment to the Standards and the response of the Presbyteries is not satisfactory to the succeeding General Assembly, it may defer action for one year.  In that event the General Assembly shall urge the delinquent Presbyteries to report their judgment to the next Assembly, which shall take final action on the proposed amendment.