Chapter 37: The Removal of Censure

37-1. A person who has been definitely suspended from office shall be
restored by the court at the end of the term of his suspension by declaring
words of the following import to him:
Whereas, you ____________________ have been debarred
from the office of teaching elder, (or ruling elder, or deacon), but
have now fulfilled the time of your censure, we, of the
__________________ Presbytery (or Church Session) do hereby,
in the name and by the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, absolve
you from the sentence of suspension and do restore you to the
exercise of your said office, and all the functions thereof.

37-2. After any person has been indefinitely suspended from the
Sacraments, it is proper that the rulers of the church should frequently converse
with him as well as pray with him and for him, that it would please God to give
him repentance.

37-3. When the court shall be satisfied as to the reality of the repentance of
an indefinitely suspended offender, he shall be admitted to profess his
repentance, either in the presence of the court alone or publicly. At this time
the offender shall be restored to the Sacraments of the Church, and/or to his
office, if such shall be the judgment of the court. The restoration shall be
declared to the penitent in the words of the following import:
Whereas, you, ______________, have been debarred from
the Sacraments of the Church (and/or from the office of teaching
elder, or ruling elder, or deacon), but have now manifested such
repentance as satisfies the church, we, the _______________
Church Session (or Presbytery), do hereby, in the name and by
the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, absolve you from the said
sentence of suspension from the Sacraments (and/or your office)
and do restore you to the full communion of the Church (and/or
the exercise of your said office, and all the functions thereof).
After which there shall be prayer and thanksgiving.

37-4. When an excommunicated person shall be so affected with his state as
to be brought to repentance, and to desire to be readmitted to the communion
of the church, the Session, having obtained sufficient evidence of his sincere
penitence, shall proceed to restore him. This may be done in the presence of
the court, or of the congregation as seems best to the Session.
On the day appointed for his restoration, the minister shall call upon
the excommunicated person and propose to him in the presence of the court or
the congregation the following questions:
1. Do you, from a deep sense of your great wickedness, freely
confess your sins in thus rebelling against God, and in refusing
to hear His Church; and do you acknowledge that you have
been in justice and mercy cut off from the communion of the
Church?
Answer, I do.
2. Do you now voluntarily profess your sincere repentance and
contrition for your sin and obstinacy; and do you humbly ask
the forgiveness of God and His Church?
Answer, I do.
3. Do you sincerely promise, through divine grace, to live in all
humbleness of mind and circumspection; and to endeavor to
adorn by a holy life the doctrine of God our Saviour?
Answer, I do.

Here the minister shall give the penitent a suitable exhortation,
encouraging and comforting him. Then he shall pronounce the sentence of
restoration in the following words:
Whereas, you ____________________, have been shut out from
the communion of the church, but now have manifested such
repentance as satisfies the Church; in the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ, and by His authority, we, the Session of this church, do
declare you absolved from the sentence of excommunication
formerly pronounced against you, and we do restore you to the
communion of the Church, that you may be a partaker of all the
benefits of the Lord Jesus to your eternal salvation.
The whole shall be concluded with prayer and thanksgiving.

37-5. The restoration of a deposed officer, after public confession has been
made in a manner similar to that prescribed in the case of the removal of
censure from an excommunicated person, shall be announced to him by the
Moderator in the following form, namely:
Whereas, you, ______________ , formerly a teaching elder of this
Presbytery (or a ruling elder or deacon of this church), have been
deposed from your office, but have now manifested such
repentance as satisfies the Church; in the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ, and by His authority, we, the _______________ Presbytery
(or Church Session) do declare you absolved from the said
sentence of deposition formerly pronounced against you; and we
do furthermore restore you to your said office, and to the exercise
of all the functions thereof, whenever you may be orderly called
thereto.
After this there shall be prayer and thanksgiving, and the members of
the court shall extend to him the right hand of fellowship.

37-6. When a ruling elder or deacon has been absolved from the censure of
deposition, he cannot be allowed to resume the exercise of his office in the
church without re-election by the people. The removal of deposition requires
a three-fourths (3/4) vote of the court inflicting the censure, or a three-fourths
(3/4) vote of the court to which the majority of the original court delegates that
authority.

37-7. When a person under censure shall reside at such a distance from the
court by which he was sentenced as to make the continued exercise of spiritual
oversight impractical (cf. BCO 37-2), it shall be lawful for the court, with the
acquiescence of the offender and the concurrence of the receiving court, to
transmit a certified copy of its proceedings to the court where the delinquent
resides, which shall assume jurisdiction, take up the case, and proceed with it
as though it had originated with itself.

37-8. In the restoration of a minister who is under indefinite suspension from
the Sacraments, and/or his office, or has been deposed, it is the duty of the
Presbytery to proceed with great caution. It should first admit him to the
Sacraments, if he has been debarred from them. Afterwards it should grant
him the privilege of preaching on probation for a time, so as to test the sincerity
of his repentance and prospect of his usefulness. When satisfied in these
respects, the Presbytery shall take steps to restore him to his office. But the
case shall always be under judicial consideration until the declaration of
restoration has been pronounced.