Principles of Presbyterian Polity, Updated Edition

Carlos E. Wilton

• Publisher: Geneva Press
• Year: 2022
• ISBN:
  9781646982127
• Topic: Teología y religión
• Subtopic: Denominaciones cristianas

Updated 2022 Edition Pastors, church leaders, and students of Presbyterian polity will find this a useful guide to Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) governance based on foundational principles. Recent changes in the PC(USA) Constitution have meant fewer rules and more flexibility in governance, making it imperative that leaders understand the historical principles that guide the church. Wilton explains the Book of Order's historic principles of church order in accessible language, providing readers with a lively appreciation of the revolutionary principles that guided the Presbyterian experiment in the New World and are still the beating heart of church life today. Principles of Presbyterian Polity is written from the conviction that it is not enough merely to know the "hat" of polity; a deep, intuitive understanding of the "why is just as vital. Church leaders will come away with a greater understanding of the Book of Order and have confidence using it in practical situations.

PART I

Preliminaries

Chapter 1

BECOMING FAMILIAR WITH THE BOOK

In order to become familiar with the Book of Order, it helps to understand the nature of its authority in the church and also to pick up some basic navigation tips and terminology. It is also useful to know what major changes came along in 2011 with the adoption of the present Form of Government.

You Can Tell This Book by Its Cover

The first thing to notice, upon picking up the Book of Order, is the cover. Along with the title there is a subtitle: The Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Part II. Part I is an entirely separate volume, the Book of Confessions.

How are the two volumes related to each other? Section F-2.02 aligns the Scriptures, the Confessions, and the Book of Order in order of priority: “These confessional statements are subordinate standards in the church, subject to the authority of Jesus Christ, the Word of God, as the Scriptures bear witness to him.”

No sentence in the Book of Order is more important than this one. It displays a clear hierarchy of authority. First, there is Jesus Christ the cornerstone, the living head of the church. Second comes the most foundational of the church’s documents, the Scriptures. Third comes Part I of the Constitution, the Book of Confessions—a digest of the theology expressed in the Scriptures as interpreted in the Reformed tradition. Finally, there is Part II of the Constitution, the Book of Order, which specifically applies Scripture and Confessions to guide the life of the church.

It is worth noting that the Constitution’s prominent mention of Jesus Christ as the living head of the church discourages any excessively literalist interpretation of the Scriptures. Literalist interpretations, while paying lip service to the lordship of Christ, tend in practice to lift the authority of the written Word of God over that of Christ the living Word.

The Book of Order’s cover also displays a range of two years, reflecting the General Assembly’s biennial meeting schedule. New editions of the book are necessary because each General Assembly recommends to the presbyteries that the Book of Order be amended in a variety of ways. Once those amendments have been ratified by a majority of the presbyteries, they are included in the next edition of the book, marked in boldface type. A new edition is prepared as soon as a majority of the presbyteries have spoken on all the amendments recommended by the previous Assembly.

Naming and Numbering

Opening the book’s cover and moving on to its Preface, we discover a brief description of the contents of Part I and Part II of the Constitution. The Preface lists each of the confessions included in the Book of Confessions and then explains that the Book of Order is divided into four sections:

– Foundations of Presbyterian Polity (F)

– Form of Government (G)

– Directory for Worship (W)

– Rules of Discipline (D)

The letters F, G, W, and D are prefixes that precede each numbered paragraph of the Book of Order. Readers who come upon a citation from the book can instantly find the section from which it comes.

The Book of Order contains page numbers for convenience, but serious students of polity consider the page numbers to be a secondary feature. The paragraph numbers are of greater importance, because they do not generally change as the book is amended. Also, the historic rulings of permanent judicial commissions gathered in the Annotated Book of Order specifically cite paragraph numbers.

The Annotated Book of Order, available from the Office of the General Assembly in both print and electronic versions, provides the full text of the book, interspersed with citations referring to judicial rulings and actions of the General Assembly.

On occasion, an amendment may remove an entire paragraph. In such a case, the other paragraphs are not renumbered. Typically, the old number is retained with no text beside it, other than a historical notation that begins: “[This section was stricken by . . .].” This is necessary because older citations in judicial decisions may direct readers to a paragraph that is no longer part of the book.

A final caution: paragraph numbers utilize decimal points after each principal section number, with further numbers added off to the right, as needed. Unlike decimalized numbers in mathematics, zeroes have value in this system. Thus, 1.0 precedes 1.9, but 1.10 follows 1.9 (in mathematics, the sequence world be 1.0, 1.10, 1.9).

Precision in Language

Next comes a brief glossary of commonly used words. Wherever these words appear within the book, they have a legally precise meaning. Readers are well advised to become thoroughly familiar with the specific definitions attached to each of these words, because they are applied consistently throughout the book:

– “Shall” and “is to be/are to be” signify practice that is mandated.

– “Should” signifies practice that is strongly recommended.

– “Is appropriate” signifies practice that is commended as suitable.

– “May” signifies practice that is permissible but not required.

– “Advisory handbook” signifies a handbook produced by agencies of the General Assembly to guide synods and presbyteries in procedures related to the oversight of ministry. Such handbooks suggest procedures that are commended but not required.

In particular, it is important to fully internalize the difference in meaning between the frequently occurring words “shall” and “should” or “may.” The difference here is between mandatory and optional. The bottom line is this: “shall” allows absolutely no wiggle room, while either “should” or “may” opens a loophole that allows situational discretion.

Important Changes in Terminology

In 2011, a completely new, simplified Form of Government replaced the former edition, which had grown in size and complexity over the years as the result of numerous amendments. With the 2011–2013 edition, the following major changes in terminology came into effect:

– “Minister” or “minister of the Word and Sacrament” became “teaching elder” (with the 2017–2019 edition, that change was reversed).

– “Elder” became “ruling elder.”

– “Governing body” became “council.”

– “Commissioned lay pastor” became “ruling elder commissioned to pastoral service.”

– “Office” or “ordained office” became “ordered min­istry.”

– “Officer/s” became “[person/those in] ordered ministry.”

An explanation of the reason behind these changes is in order, since some of the older terms continue in everyday use among those reared on earlier editions of the Book of Order.

Two Types of Elders

The 2011 Form of Government’s most far-reaching terminological change was its substitution of “teaching elder” for “minister of the Word and Sacrament” and its corresponding substitution of “ruling elder” for “elder.” The change to “teaching elder” did not last long; “minister of the Word and Sacrament” once again became the term of choice with the 2017–2019 edition, although “teaching elder” is preserved as an alternate.

Throughout the history of the three principal antecedent denominations of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)—the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., the Presbyterian Church in the U.S., and the United Presbyterian Church of North America—there have been two different systems of nomenclature for presbyters. Prior to the 1983 reunion, the elder/minister pairing was stronger in churches whose heritage lay with the former northern denomination, the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. The teaching elder/ruling elder variation was favored in many churches of the former southern denomination, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.).

The title of “deacon”—an order of ministry that is optional, according to G-1.0201—continues to be used without controversy, although in some parts of the former Presbyterian Church in the U.S., the word was historically used for those overseeing the congregation’s financial affairs, rather than those exercising caring ministries of “compassion, witness and service” (G-2.0201). Both understandings of the distinctive diaconal functions grow out of Acts 6:1–7, in which seven men are set aside to “wait on tables” of the widows and orphans being fed by the church. The Greek original of that phrase can therefore be understood to refer to either face-to-face compassionate service or the management of the common purse that makes such service possible.

There are advantages and disadvantages to each. The “minister of the Word and Sacrament” title more accurately describes the tasks most commonly performed by those serving as pastors of congregations. Moreover, it reflects the two Reformed “marks” or “notes” of the church identified by Calvin: proclamation of the Word and celebration of the sacraments. The word “minister” is also the standard in most other churches of the Reformed tradition, including the Church of Scotland, and is more intelligible to ecumenical partners outside the Reformed tradition.

The disadvantage of the elder/minister pairing is that it can make the church more vulnerable to clericalism. Such language may lead some to give ministers of the Word and Sacrament priority in church governance, since both Calvinist marks of the church are included in their position’s title.

John Knox added a third mark of the church, the administration of ecclesiastical discipline, although this mark—being associated with councils rather than individuals—is not exclusively associated with the pastoral order of ministry. The teaching elder/ruling elder variant began not with Knox, but with the Scottish Reformation’s second-generation systematizer of Presbyterian governance, Andrew Melville. It never caught on in Scotland but achieved some popularity on this side of the Atlantic.

The chief advantage of the ruling elder/teaching elder formula is that it gives clear expression to an important principle of Presbyterian polity: the parity of the two orders of ministry that share governance responsibilities. According to this principle, church councils above the level of the session are composed of equal numbers of both.

Another advantage of the ruling elder/teaching elder pairing is that, by removing the word “minister” from any single order, it encourages its application to all three orders on an equal basis. This gives voice to the understanding that servant ministry (diakonia, in the Greek) is the motivating spirit behind all forms of Christian ministry.

The chief disadvantage of the ruling elder/teaching elder pairing is that it does not accurately describe the multitude of tasks performed by ministers. It raises one function—teaching—above all others. This is especially problematic with respect to the celebration of the sacraments.

Significantly, “teaching elder” does not reflect the trend of many decades of broadening the functioning of individuals ordained to that order of ministry. A century ago, nearly everyone ordained to this function served as the sole pastor of a local congregation, preaching frequently. In larger congregations today, there are associate pastors who seldom preach or teach. Presbytery rolls also include a multitude of specialized ministers (chaplains, counselors, administrators, and the like) for whom teaching is not central to their day-to-day functioning.

As far as the order of ruling elder is concerned, the adjective “ruling” has been retained, although it does require continual explanation and interpretation, in contrast to the plain sense of the term (see F-3.0202). Most casual observers today understand “ruling” to refer to either monarchical domination or a formal legal opinion issued by a judge. Each of these suggests an individual style of governance that does not reflect the collegial Presbyterian decision-making tradition.

Finally, it can be questione...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Foreword by Gradye Parsons
• Author’s Note
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Part 1: Preliminaries
• Part 2: Principles
• Afterword
• Index of Book of Order References