Chapter 24: Election, Ordination and Installation of Ruling Elders and Deacons

24-1. Every church shall elect persons to the offices of ruling elder and deacon
in the following manner: At such times as determined by the Session,
communicant members of the congregation may submit names to the Session,
keeping in mind that each prospective officer should be an active male member
who meets the qualifications set forth in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1. Nominees for
the office of ruling elder and/or deacon shall receive instruction in the
qualifications and work of the office. Each nominee shall be examined in:
a. his Christian experience, especially his personal character and family
management (based on the qualifications set out in 1 Timothy 3:1-7
and Titus 1:6-9),
b. his knowledge of Bible content,
c. his knowledge of the system of doctrine, government, discipline
contained in the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church in America
(BCO Preface III, The Constitution Defined),
d. the duties of the office to which he has been nominated, and
e. his willingness to give assent to the questions required for ordination.
(BCO 24-6).
In the examination of the nominee’s personal character, the Session
shall give specific attention to potential notorious concerns. Careful attention
must be given to his practical struggle against sinful actions, as well as to
persistent sinful desires. The nominee must give clear testimony of reliance
upon his union with Christ and the benefits thereof by the Holy Spirit,
depending on this work of grace to make progress over sin (Psalm 103:2-5,
Romans 8:29) and to bear fruit (Psalm 1:3, Gal. 5:22-23). While imperfection
will remain, when confessing sins and sinful temptations publicly, the nominee
must exercise great care not to diminish the seriousness of those sins in the
eyes of the congregation, as though they were matters of little consequence,
but rather should testify to the work of the Holy in his progress in holiness
(1 Cor. 6:9-11).
Notwithstanding the above, the Session may render a decision on
Christian experience at any point in the process, and based on that decision,
may judge him ineligible for that election.
If there are candidates eligible for the election, the Session shall report to
the congregation those eligible, giving at least thirty (30) days prior notice of
the time and place of a congregational meeting for elections.

If one-fourth (1/4) of the persons entitled to vote shall at any time
request the Session to call a congregational meeting for the purpose of electing
additional officers, it shall be the duty of the Session to call such a meeting on
the above procedure. The number of officers to be elected shall be determined
by the congregation after hearing the Session’s recommendation.

24-2. The pastor is, by virtue of his office, moderator of congregational
meetings. If there is no pastor, the Session shall appoint one of their number to
call the meeting to order and to preside until the congregation shall elect their
presiding officer, who may be a minister or ruling elder of the Presbyterian
Church in America or any male member of that particular church.

24-3. All communing members in good and regular standing, but no others, are
entitled to vote in the election of church officers in the churches to which they
respectively belong. A majority vote of votes cast (excluding blanks and
abstentions) is required for election.

24-4. The voters being convened, the moderator shall explain the purpose of
the meeting and then put the question:
Are you now ready to proceed to the election of additional ruling
elders (or deacons) from the slate presented?
If they declare themselves ready, the election may proceed by private
ballot without nomination. In every case a majority of all the votes cast
(excluding blanks and abstentions) shall be required to elect.

24-5. On the election of a ruling elder or deacon, if it appears that a large
minority of the voters are averse to a candidate, and cannot be induced to concur
in the choice, the moderator shall endeavor to dissuade the majority from
prosecuting it further; but if the electors are nearly or quite unanimous, or if the
majority insist upon their right to choose their officers, the election shall stand.
Ordination and Installation

24-6. The day having arrived, and the Session being convened in the
presence of the congregation, a sermon shall be preached after which the
presiding minister shall state in a concise manner the warrant and nature of the
office of ruling elder, or deacon, together with the character proper to be
sustained and the duties to be fulfilled. Having done this, he shall propose to
the candidate, in the presence of the church, the following questions, namely:

1. Do you believe the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, as
originally given, to be the inerrant Word of God, the only infallible
rule of faith and practice?
2. Do you sincerely receive and adopt the Confession of Faith and the
Catechisms of this Church, as containing the system of doctrine
taught in the Holy Scriptures; and do you further promise that if
at any time you find yourself out of accord with any of the
fundamentals of this system of doctrine, you will, on your own
initiative, make known to your Session the change which has taken
place in your views since the assumption of this ordination vow?
3. Do you approve of the form of government and discipline of the
Presbyterian Church in America, in conformity with the general
principles of biblical polity?
4. Do you accept the office of ruling elder (or deacon, as the case may
be) in this church, and promise faithfully to perform all the duties
thereof, and to endeavor by the grace of God to adorn the
profession of the Gospel in your life, and to set a worthy example
before the Church of which God has made you an officer?
5. Do you promise subjection to your brethren in the Lord?
6. Do you promise to strive for the purity, peace, unity and
edification of the Church?
The ruling elder or deacon elect having answered in the affirmative, the
minister shall address to the members of the church the following question:
Do you, the members of this church, acknowledge and receive this
brother as a ruling elder (or deacon), and do you promise to yield
him all that honor, encouragement and obedience in the Lord to
which his office, according to the Word of God and the
Constitution of this Church, entitles him?
The members of the church having answered this question in the
affirmative, by holding up their right hands, the candidate shall then be set
apart, with prayer by the minister or any other Session member and the laying
on of the hands of the Session, to the office of ruling elder (or deacon). Prayer
being ended, the members of the Session (and the deacons, if the case be that
of a deacon) shall take the newly ordained officer by the hand, saying in words
to this effect:
We give you the right hand of fellowship, to take part in this office
with us.
The minister shall then say:

I now pronounce and declare that ____________________ has been
regularly elected, ordained and installed a ruling elder (or deacon)
in this church, agreeable to the Word of God, and according to the
Constitution of the Presbyterian Church in America; and that as
such he is entitled to all encouragement, honor and obedience in the
Lord: In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost. Amen.
After which the minister or any other member of the Session shall give
to the ruling elder (or deacon) and to the church an exhortation suited to the
occasion.

24-7. Ordination to the offices of ruling elder or deacon is perpetual; nor can
such offices be laid aside at pleasure; nor can any person be degraded from
either office but by deposition after regular trial; yet a ruling elder or deacon
may have reasons which he deems valid for being released from the active
duties of his office. In such a case the Session, after conference with him and
careful consideration of the matter, may, if it thinks proper, accept his
resignation and dissolve the official relationship which exists between him and
the church.
The ruling elder or deacon, though chargeable with neither heresy nor
immorality, may become unacceptable in his official capacity to a majority of
the church which he serves. In such a case the church may take the initiative
by a majority vote at a regularly called congregational meeting, and request
the Session to dissolve the official relationship between the church and the
officer without censure. The Session, after conference with the ruling elder or
deacon, and after careful consideration, may use its discretion as to dissolving
the official relationship. In either case the Session shall report its action to the
congregation. If the Session fails or refuses to report to the congregation
within sixty (60) days from the date of the congregational meeting or if the
Session reports to the congregation that it declined to dissolve such
relationship, then any member or members in good standing may file a
complaint against the Session in accordance with the provisions of BCO 43.

24-8. When a ruling elder or deacon who has been released from his official
relation is again elected to his office in the same or another church, he shall be
installed after the above form with the omission of ordination.

24-9. When a ruling elder or deacon cannot or does not for a period of one
year perform the duties of his office, his official relationship shall be dissolved
by the Session and the action reported to the congregation.