Understanding the Presbyterians – November 9, 2008

The Cumberland Presbyterian Church is governed using the presbyterian form of government. The term comes from the Greek work “presbuteros”, meaning elders and it used to describe church government by elders. The congregation only votes on two issues: (one) the elders who will serve on the church board – called the session, and (two) the length of time and elder is elected to serve on the session.

The session consists of these elected elders (who are called “rulling” elders) and an ordained minister (called a “teaching elder”) serving as moderator.

Elders also come together by delegation, in larger groups called “presbytery”, “synod” and “general assembly.” Since all authority really belongs to Christ, the only king and head of the Church, no church assembly can have any ultimate authority. Ultimate authority belongs to the Lord alone and this in turn means that the Bible alone is the supreme standard for the church.

Some churches are congregational in government. Churches with this form of government do not recognize any governing authority except what exists in the local church. The great weakness in this form of government is that there is no right of appeal against decisions made in a local church if they are unbiblical. We believe this conflicts with the clear teaching of Acts chapter 15. This portion of the Bible proves that there was the right of appeal in the apostolic church. The general assembly had the authority to settle matters which could not settled in the local church.

There are also hierarchical churches. In this form of church government many congregations are bound together under the authority of an ascending series of officers, such as priests, bishops, archbishops, etc. It will be evident that the authority of the local church, in this form of government, is drastically reduced. Since all decisions come from the top down—in this type of government—there is no right of appeal. For example, to whom would a Roman Catholic appeal against a decision of the Pope?

The Presbyterian form of church government is the only system that safeguards these two important principles: (1) each part of the church is in due subjection, in the Lord, to the whole church; yet (2) no part of the church is given supremacy over any other.
God Bless You – Pastor John