Ask the Clerk
Below is a list of FAQs that may help you in your service as the Clerk of Session for the congregation.
At least once a week, I receive emails and phone calls asking me some question about our Presbyterian Church polity and constitution. Here are a few which might interest you. If you have any questions, you can email them to me or call me at 312-488-3000, extension 4.
Or you can fill out our online form for further questions.
Q & As
Should the pastor/moderator of session be considered a voting member?
Thank you for your question about a Session Moderator and voting at a Session meeting.
Our Book of Order / Constitution has this provision (text bolded by Ken):
G-3.02 THE SESSION
G-3.0201 Composition and Responsibilities
The session is the council for the congregation. It shall be composed of those persons elected by the congregation to active serviced as ruling elders, together with all installed pastors and associate pastors. All members of the session are entitled to vote. The pastor shall be the moderator of the session, and the session shall not meet without the pastor or designated moderator. If there is no installed pastor, or if the installed pastor is unable to invite another moderator, the presbytery shall make provisions for a moderator. Presbyteries shall provide by rule for moderators when the session is without a moderator for reasons of vacancy or inconvenience.
According to this provision, a minister who is called by the congregation and installed by the presbytery – as a pastor or associate pastor – is a member of the session and therefore has the right to vote. Such ministers are in an “installed pastoral relationship” with a congregation. In our shorthand language, we call these ministers “called and installed.”
Ministers who are invited by the session and approved by the presbytery to serve a congregation without an installed pastor – these ministers are in a “temporary pastoral relationship” with a congregation, and may be serving as an interim pastor or as a stated supply pastor. Such ministers in a temporary pastoral relationship are not members of the session, and therefore they do not have vote on the Session. They are most often appointed by the presbytery to serve as the moderator of the Session, but without a vote on the Session.
Interesting history here – in the past, prior to 1983, installed pastors of congregations in Chicago Presbytery and other “northern” presbyteries, were never members of the session, and so never had a vote on a session.
This changed during the 1983 Reunion of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of American – the UPCUSA (the “Northern” stream) and the Presbyterian Church in the United States – the PCUS (the “Southern” stream). In the PCUS Southern Stream, installed pastors were voting members of the session. Not so in the Northern Stream.
So in the 1983 Plan for Reunion, a compromise was reached, and the reunited church – our Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) went with the southern stream tradition, allowing installed pastors and installed associate pastors a vote on the session (even though these ministers serving are not members of the congregations they serve, but are members of the presbytery).
The pastor and clerk of session received a resignation letter from an active ruling elder, which was accepted and approved by session. According to the Book of Order (G-2.0406, Release from Ministry as a Ruling Elder or Deacon), it appears the resigning elder loses their title and becomes a regular church member. However, some on the session believe the resigning elder retains the title (elder). Could you please clarify?
Resigning from membership on a session is simply that – this ruling elder, for various reasons, does not or cannot continue to serve their term / class on the session.
The individual would remain a ruling elder and, of course, a member of the congregation.
Ordination stays / remains with the individual. Once a ruling elder, always an elder. (And the same applies to deacons and teaching elders.)
Now, if a ruling elder wants “to be released from the ordered ministry of ruling elder” (and uses that exact language) – or if a person wants to “renounce the jurisdiction of the church” (and uses that exact language) — then there are other steps to be taken (which we can discuss as needed) as stipulated in G-2.0406 or G-2.0407.
Is it still necessary for the Session to hold a meeting once a year with the Deacons?
No, this is no longer a requirement in our Form of Government. However, Sessions may hold such a meeting. And if there is a meeting, be sure to take the minutes for that meeting, and have them approved by the Session and the Deacons.
Who holds title to the property and building of a Presbyterian Church?
All church property is held in trust for the use and benefit of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) as a tool for mission.
Chapter 4 of the Form of Government in the Book of Order (G-4.01 through G-4.02) contains the provisions for church property and church incorporation. Most church property decisions require the support of the Session, the Congregation, and the Presbytery.
Who has the authority to approve celebrations of Baptism and Communion?
The Session of a congregation has the authority to authorize the celebrations of Baptism and Communion.
Requests for Baptism often come from the Pastor — to the Session for their approval. A yearly schedule for the celebration of Communion / The Lord’s Supper is ordinarily approved by the Session before the start of the new year.
Do commissioners from a congregation have a term limit as a commissioner to the Presbytery?
Ruling Elder Commissioners to the meetings of the Presbytery of Chicago Assembly are elected by the Session, and such Commissioners can serve as the Session determines. Some Sessions elect them to serve for a year at a time. Other Sessions elect them to serve for a particular upcoming Assembly meeting. It is all up to the Session to determine.
Ruling Elders who rotate off active service on the Session can also serve as Ruling Elders Commissioners to the POC Assembly, again – as elected by the Session.
There is no provision in our Book of Order for how long or how many years a Ruling Elder can serve as a Commissioner to Presbytery Assembly meetings. Session could decide. And in general, we seem as a whole church to like the 3-year, max of 6-year term limits.
