Nobody Likes a Lone Ranger

The Lone Ranger may be a legend of the silver screen, but he’s not a very welcome figure around the church. Especially not a Presbyterian church.

That’s because we’re connectional. Many of the most important things that happen in the life of the congregation are always done in coordination with the Presbytery.

Why is that? Is the Presbytery just an annoying level of bureaucracy leaders in the local church must overcome, in order to accomplish anything substantial for the Lord?

It may seem that way, at times – at least, to the uninitiated. We’ve got a powerful home-rule tradition in our country, and sometimes that thinking leaches into the church.

The church is different, though. In the Presbyterian church, we’ve always had a healthy suspicion of sin and the havoc it can wreak in the common life of God’s people. The best way we’ve found to counter the ecclesiastical expressions of sin is by relying on groups of people, rather than individuals. Centuries of experience has shown that the guidance of the Holy Spirit is more reliably discerned through groups of people praying, discussing and deciding together.

That’s not to say there’s no such thing as visionary leaders. It’s just that we Presbyterians always want to make sure their vision is vetted and tested through the faithful discernment of elected governing bodies (Session, Presbytery, Synod, General Assembly).

Here – slightly adapted from the Clerk of Session manual of Pittsburgh Presbytery, are a dozen significant ways local churches must always act in concert with the Presbytery, along with a list of those who must be involved in the decision or action:

1) Application to Presbytery to take an inquirer for the Ministry under care of Presbytery
Session
Committee on Preparation for Ministry
Presbytery

2) All loans which use the church or its property as collateral and all sales of property
Session and Trustees (in most churches these days, Trustees are the same as the Session)
Trustees of Presbytery
Presbytery

3) All leases of church property for a period of more than five years, or use of the Sanctuary for worship for any length of time
Session
Trustees of Presbytery
Presbytery

4) All changes of church location or church name
Session
Congregation/Corporation
Trustees of Presbytery
Presbytery

5) All changes in terms of call for the pastor(s)
Session
Congregation
Committee on Ministry
Presbytery

6) All proposals for merger, dissolution, yoking of congregations
Session
Congregation
Trustees of Presbytery
Presbytery

7) All dissolutions of pastorates and calls for new pastors
Congregation
Committee on Ministry
Presbytery

8) Appointment of moderator of session, stated supply or interim pastor in the case of a vacant pulpit
Session
Committee on Ministry
Presbytery

9) Call a special session meeting
Two members of session, in writing

10) Call a special congregational meeting
Session, or
Presbytery, or
Session when requested in writing by 1/4 active members of the congregation

11) Session meeting when the pastor is ill or is out of town
Pastor grants permission and appoints a member of Presbytery as moderator pro tem

12) All waivers from the terms of election for church officers [G-14.0202]
Congregation
Presbytery