BCO: D - Church Courts Flashcards
Name the courts of the church.
BCO 10-2 These courts are church Sessions, Presbyteries, and the General Assembly.
What is the proper or original jurisdication of each?
BCO 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. Each court exercises original jurisdiction over its own business (i.e., people).
What officers must each court have?
Moderator
Clerk
How are the officers of a court chosen?
Except for the moderator of the session (which is the pastor by prudence of his office) they are elected by the body, which they will serve.
Who are the members of the church session?
BCO 12-1 The church Session consists of the pastor, associate pastor(s), if there be any, and the ruling elders of a church. If there are three or more ruling elders, the pastor and two ruling elders shall constitute a quorum. If there are fewer than three ruling elders, the pastor and one ruling elder shall constitute a quorum. Assistant pastor or pastors, although not members of the Session, may be invited to attend and participate in discussion without vote.
What are the main duties of the session?
BCO 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.
Who are the members of presbytery?
BCO 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.
To what church does a minister belong?
BCO 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.
How is an ordained minister received into a presbytery?
BCO 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.
How is a church received into a presbytery?
BCO 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.
What are the main duties and responsibilities of the presbytery?
BCO 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:
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.
What are the main duties and responsibilites of the General Assembly?
BCO 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.
What are the permanent committees and agencies of the General Assembly?
- Committee on Mission to North America
- Committee on Mission to the World
- Committee on Reformed University Ministries.
What is a committee of comissioners?
BCO 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
How do a committee of commissioners and a permanent commitee or agency differ?
- A permanent committee reports to an appointing body to conclude business.
- A committee of commissioners is charged with the concluding of business.
