Search
Find text across standards, catechisms, the BCO, proof-linked material, and comparison-ready topics.
436 results for “Chapter 60: The Visitation of the Sick”
WCF
Westminster Confession of Faith
2
Of Christ the Mediator
This office the Lord Jesus did most willingly undertake; which that He might discharge, He was made under …
Of God’s Covenant with Man
This covenant was differently administered in the time of the law, and in the time of the gospel: …
WLC
Westminster Larger Catechism
3
Where is the moral law summarily comprehended?
The moral law is summarily comprehended in the ten commandments, which were delivered by the voice of God …
Which is the second commandment?
The second commandment is, Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything …
What are the reasons annexed to the second commandment, the more to …
The reasons annexed to the second commandment, the more to enforce it, contained in these words, For I …
WSC
Westminster Shorter Catechism
1
Which is the second commandment?
The second commandment is, Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything …
BCO
Book of Church Order (PCA)
430
60-1
60-1. The power of the prayer of faith is great, and Christians therefore should make entreaty for the …
3-2
3-2. Ecclesiastical power, which is wholly spiritual, is twofold. The officers exercise it sometimes severally, as in preaching …
8-3
8-3. It belongs to those in the office of elder, both severally and jointly, to watch diligently over …
48-7
48-7. Let the time not used for public worship be spent in prayer, in devotional reading, and especially …
43-2
43-2. A complaint shall first be made to the court whose act or decision is alleged to be …
9-2
9-2. It is the duty of the deacons to minister to those who are in need, to the …
9-7
9-7. It is often expedient that the Session of a church should select and appoint godly men and …
13-9
13-9. The Presbytery has power to receive and issue* appeals, complaints, and references brought before it in an …
13-10
13-10. When a Presbytery determines to dissolve a church, it shall give no less than sixty (60) days …
13-13
13-13. Ministers in good standing in other Presbyteries, or in any evangelical church, being present at any meeting …
15-2
15-2. Among the matters that may be properly executed by commissions are the taking of the testimony in …
24-7
24-7. Ordination to the offices of ruling elder or deacon is perpetual; nor can such offices be laid …
43-3
43-3. If, after considering a complaint, the court alleged to be delinquent or in error is of the …
52-2
52-2. Then, after singing a psalm, or hymn, it is proper that, before the sermon, there should be …
63-5
63-5. Parents should set an example of piety and consistent living before the family. Unnecessary private visits on …
38-4
38-4. When a member of a particular church has willfully neglected the church for a period of one …
1-1
1-1. The scriptural form of church government, which is representative or presbyterian, is comprehended under five heads: a. …
1-2
1-2. The Church which the Lord Jesus Christ has erected in this world for the gathering and perfecting …
1-3
1-3. The members of this visible Church catholic are all those persons in every nation, together with their …
1-4
1-4. The officers of the Church, by whom all its powers are administered, are, according to the Scriptures, …
1-5
1-5. Ecclesiastical jurisdiction is not a several, but a joint power, to be exercised by presbyters in courts. …
1-6
1-6. The ordination of officers is ordinarily by a court, except in the case of ordination by a …
1-7
1-7. This scriptural doctrine of Presbytery is necessary to the perfection of the order of the visible Church, …
2-1
2-1. The Visible Church before the law, under the law, and now under the Gospel, is one and …
2-2
2-2. This visible unity of the body of Christ, though obscured, is not destroyed by its division into …
2-3
2-3. It is according to scriptural example that the Church should be divided into many individual churches.
3-1
3-1. The power which Christ has committed to His Church vests in the whole body, the rulers and …
3-3
3-3. The sole functions of the Church, as a kingdom and government distinct from the civil commonwealth, are …
3-4
3-4. The power of the Church is exclusively spiritual; that of the State includes the exercise of force. …
3-5
3-5. The Church, with its ordinances, officers and courts, is the agency which Christ has ordained for the …
3-6
3-6. The exercise of ecclesiastical power, whether joint or several, has the divine sanction when in conformity with …
4-1
4-1. A particular church consists of a number of professing Christians, with their children, associated together for divine …
4-2
4-2. Its officers are its teaching and ruling elders and its deacons.
4-3
4-3. Its jurisdiction, being a joint power, is lodged in the church Session, which consists of its pastor, …
4-4
4-4. The ordinances established by Christ, the Head, in His Church are prayer; singing praises; reading, expounding and …
4-5
4-5. Churches without teaching elders ought not to forsake the assembling of themselves together, but should be convened …
5-1
5-1. A mission church may be properly described in the same manner as the particular church is described …
5-2
5-2. Ordinarily, mission churches are established by Presbyteries within their boundaries. a. Initiatives to which the Presbytery may …
5-3
5-3. The mission church, because of its transitional condition, requires a temporary system of government. Depending on the …
5-4
5-4. Pastoral ministry for the mission church may be provided: a. by a minister of the Presbytery called …
5-5
5-5. The temporary government shall receive members (BCO 12-5.a) into the mission church according to the provisions of …
5-6
5-6. Mission churches and their members shall have the right of judicial process to the court having oversight …
5-7
5-7. Mission churches shall maintain a roll of communicant and non- communicant members, in the same manner as, …
5-8
5-8. It is the intention of the Presbyterian Church in America that mission churches enjoy the same status …
5-9
5-9. A new church can be organized only by the authority of Presbytery. a. A Presbytery should establish …
5-10
5-10. Upon organization, the newly elected session should meet as soon as is practicable to elect a stated …
6-1
6-1. The children of believers are, through the covenant and by right of birth, non-communing members of the …
6-2
6-2. Communing members are those who have made a profession of faith in Christ, have been baptized, and …
6-3
6-3. All baptized persons are entitled to the watchful care, instruction and government of the church, even though …
6-4
6-4. Those only who have made a profession of faith in Christ, have been baptized, and admitted by …
7-1
7-1. Under the New Testament, our Lord at first collected His people out of different nations, and united …
7-2
7-2. The ordinary and perpetual classes of office in the Church are elders and deacons. Within the class …
7-3
7-3. No one who holds office in the Church ought to usurp authority therein, or receive any official …
8-1
8-1. This office is one of dignity and usefulness. The man who fills it has in Scripture different …
8-2
8-2. He that fills this office should possess a competency of human learning and be blameless in life, …
8-4
8-4. As the Lord has given different gifts to men and has committed to some special gifts and …
8-5
8-5. When a man is called to labor as a teaching elder, it belongs to his order, in …
8-6
8-6. When a teaching elder is appointed to the work of an evangelist in foreign countries or where …
8-7
8-7. A Presbytery may, at its discretion, approve the call of a teaching elder to work with an …
8-8
8-8. A Presbytery may, at its discretion, approve the call of a teaching elder to work as a …
8-9
8-9. As there were in the Church under the law, elders of the people for the government thereof, …
8-10
8-10. Elders being of one class of office, ruling elders possess the same authority and eligibility to office …
9-1
9-1. The office of deacon is set forth in the Scriptures as ordinary and perpetual in the Church. …
9-3
9-3. To the office of deacon, which is spiritual in nature, shall be chosen men of spiritual character, …
9-4
9-4. The deacons of a particular church shall be organized as a Board, of which the pastor shall …
9-5
9-5. Deacons may properly be appointed by the higher courts to serve on committees, especially as treasurers. It …
9-6
9-6. The deacons may, with much advantage, hold conference from time to time for the discussion of the …
10-1
10-1. The Church is governed by various courts, in regular gradation, which are all, nevertheless, Presbyteries, as being …
10-2
10-2. These courts are church Sessions, Presbyteries, and the General Assembly.
10-3
10-3. The pastor is, for prudential reasons, moderator of the Session. The moderator of the Presbytery may be …
10-4
10-4. A clerk or clerks shall be elected by the Session, Presbytery, and General Assembly to serve for …
10-5
10-5. Every meeting of the Session, Presbytery and General Assembly shall be opened and closed with prayer, and …
10-6
10-6. The expenses of ministers and ruling elders in their attendance on the courts shall be defrayed by …
11-1
11-1. These assemblies are altogether distinct from the civil magistracy, and have no jurisdiction in political or civil …
11-2
11-2. The jurisdiction of Church courts is only ministerial and declarative, and relates to the doctrines and precepts …
11-3
11-3. All Church courts are one in nature, constituted of the same elements, possessed inherently of the same …
11-4
11-4. For the orderly and efficient dispatch of ecclesiastical business, it is necessary that the sphere of action …
12-1
12-1. The church Session consists of the pastor, associate pastor(s), if there be any, and the ruling elders …
12-2
12-2. The pastor is, by virtue of his office, the moderator of the Session. In the pastor’s absence, …
12-3
12-3. When a church is without a pastor, the moderator of the Session may be either a minister …
12-4
12-4. Associate or assistant pastors may substitute for the pastor as moderator of the Session at the discretion …
12-5
12-5. The church Session is charged with maintaining the spiritual government of the church, for which purpose it …
12-6
12-6. The Session shall hold stated meetings at least quarterly. Moreover, the pastor has power to convene the …
12-7
12-7. Every Session shall keep an accurate record of its proceedings, which record shall be submitted at least …
12-8
12-8. Every Session shall keep an accurate record of baptisms, of communing members, of non-communing members, and of …
12-9
12-9. Meetings of the Sessions shall be opened and closed with prayer.
13-1
13-1. The Presbytery consists of all the teaching elders and churches within its bounds that have been accepted …
13-2
13-2. A minister shall be required to hold his membership in the Presbytery within whose geographical bounds he …
13-3
13-3. Every ruling elder not known to the Presbytery shall produce a certificate of his regular appointment from …
13-4
13-4. Any three ministers belonging to the Presbytery, together with at least three ruling elders, being met at …
13-5
13-5. Ordinarily, only a minister who receives a call to a definite ecclesiastical work within the bounds of …
13-6
13-6. Ministers seeking admission to a Presbytery from other Presbyteries in the Presbyterian Church in America shall be …
13-7
13-7. The Presbytery shall cause to be transcribed, in some convenient part of the book of records, the …
13-8
13-8. The Presbytery, before receiving into its membership any church, shall designate a commission to meet with the …
13-11
13-11. The Presbytery shall keep a full and accurate record of its proceedings, and shall send it up …
13-12
13-12. The Presbytery shall meet at least twice a year on its own adjournment. The Moderator shall call …
14-1
14-1. The General Assembly is the highest court of this Church, and represents in one body all the …
14-2
14-2. The General Assembly, which is a permanent court, shall meet at least annually upon its own adjournment. …
14-3
14-3. When an emergency shall require a meeting of the General Assembly earlier than the time to which …
14-4
14-4. Each commissioner, before his name shall be enrolled as a member of the Assembly, shall produce appropriate …
14-5
14-5. Any one hundred (100) of these commissioners, of whom half shall be teaching elders and half ruling …
14-6
14-6. The General Assembly shall have power: a. To receive and issue* all appeals, references, and complaints regularly …
14-7
14-7. Actions of the General Assembly pursuant to the provision of BCO 14-6 such as deliverances, resolutions, overtures, …
14-8
14-8. The whole business of the Assembly being finished, and the vote taken for final adjournment, the moderator …
15-1
15-1. A commission differs from an ordinary committee in that while a committee is appointed to examine, consider, …
15-3
15-3. Presbytery as a whole may hear a case, with or without process (BCO 31-38), a reference (BCO …
15-4
15-4. The General Assembly shall elect a Standing Judicial Commission to which it shall commit all matters governed …
15-5
15-5. a. In the cases committed to it, the Standing Judicial Commission shall have the judicial powers and …
15-6
15-6. The General Assembly shall have power to commit to a commission, consisting of not less than three …
16-1
16-1. Ordinary vocation to office in the Church is the calling of God by the Spirit, through the …
16-2
16-2. The government of the Church is by officers gifted to represent Christ, and the right of God’s …
16-3
16-3. Upon those whom God calls to bear office in His Church He bestows suitable gifts for the …
16-4
16-4. Officers in the Presbyterian Church in America must be above reproach in their walk and Christlike in …
17-1
17-1. Those who have been called to office in the Church are to be inducted by the ordination …
17-2
17-2. Ordination is the authoritative admission of one duly called to an office in the Church of God, …
17-3
17-3. As every ecclesiastical office, according to the Scriptures, is a special charge, no man shall be ordained …
18-1
18-1. A candidate for the ministry is a member of the Church in full communion who, believing himself …
18-2
18-2. Every applicant for the ministry must put himself under the care of Presbytery, which should ordinarily be …
18-3
18-3. The applicant shall appear before the Presbytery in person, and shall be examined by the Presbytery on …
18-4
18-4. The candidate continues to be a private member of the church and subject to the jurisdiction of …
18-5
18-5. For the development of his Christian character, for the service he can render, and for his more …
18-6
18-6. The Presbytery shall require every candidate for the ministry under its care to make a report to …
18-7
18-7. The Presbytery may, upon application of the candidate, give a certificate of dismission to another Presbytery. The …
18-8
18-8. An applicant coming as a candidate from another denomination must present testimonials of his standing in that …
19-1
19-1. To preserve the purity of the preaching of the Gospel, no man is permitted to preach in …
19-2
19-2. Examination for Licensure. The examination for licensure shall be as follows: a. Give a statement of his …
19-3
19-3. Questions for Licensure. If the Presbytery be satisfied with the trials of the applicant, it shall then …
19-4
19-4. The applicant having answered these questions in the affirmative, the moderator shall offer a prayer suitable for …
19-5
19-5. When any licentiate shall have occasion to remove from the bounds of his Presbytery into those of …
19-6
19-6. The license to preach the Gospel shall expire at the end of four years. The Presbytery may, …
19-7
19-7. The Holy Scriptures require that some trial be previously made of those who are to be ordained …
19-8
19-8. An applicant for internship must be a candidate and may be a licentiate in the Presbytery in …
19-9
19-9. Examination for Internship. Before the applicant begins his period of internship, he shall give to the Presbytery …
19-10
19-10. When an applicant is approved for internship, the moderator of the Presbytery shall offer a prayer suitable …
19-11
19-11. When any intern shall have occasion, while his internship is in progress, to remove from the bounds …
19-12
19-12. Presbyteries should require interns to devote themselves diligently to the trial of their gifts; and no one …
19-13
19-13. At the end of the period of time set by the Presbytery for his internship, an intern …
19-14
19-14. An intern, who, during his internship, is to serve a congregation in the capacity of the minister …
19-15
19-15. Restrictions. The intern may be asked by the moderator of a Session temporarily to chair the meeting …
19-16
19-16. Where circumstances warrant, a Presbytery may approve previous experience which is equivalent to internship. This equivalency shall …
20-1
20-1. Before a candidate, or licentiate, can be ordained to the office of the ministry, he must receive …
20-2
20-2. Every church should be under the pastoral oversight of a minister, and when a church has no …
20-3
20-3. When a congregation is convened for the election of a pastor it is important that they should …
20-4
20-4. Method of voting: The voters being convened, and prayer for divine guidance having been offered, the moderator …
20-5
20-5. On the election of a pastor, if it appears that a large minority of the voters are …
20-6
20-6. Form of call: The terms of the call shall be approved by the congregation in the following …
20-7
20-7. If any church shall choose to designate its ruling elders and deacons, or a committee to sign …
20-8
20-8. Prosecution of call: One or more commissioners shall be appointed by the church to present and prosecute …
20-9
20-9. When a pastor desires to accept a call to another Presbytery, he must be examined and approved …
20-10
20-10. A congregation desiring to call a pastor from his charge, shall, by its commissioners to the Presbytery, …
20-11
20-11. If the congregation or other field of labor to which a minister, licentiate, or candidate is called, …
20-12
20-12. A candidate or licentiate found fit and called (in accordance with BCO 20-1) for missionary service by …
20-13
20-13. A missionary who is an ordained teaching elder in another denomination found fit and called (in accordance …
21-1
21-1. No minister, licentiate or candidate shall receive a call from a church but by the permission of …
21-2
21-2. When an intern has completed his internship to the satisfaction of the Presbytery, and has accepted a …
21-3
21-3. No Presbytery shall ordain any intern to the office of minister of the Word with reference to …
21-4
21-4. Ordination Requirements and Procedures a. An intern applying for ordination shall be required to present a diploma …
21-5
21-5. The day appointed for the ordination having come, and the Presbytery being convened, a sermon suitable for …
21-6
21-6. The candidate having answered these questions in the affirmative, the presiding minister shall propose to the church …
21-7
21-7. The people having answered these questions in the affirmative, by holding up their right hands, the candidate …
21-8
21-8. After the installation, the heads of families of the congregation then present, or at least the ruling …
21-9
21-9. In the installation of an ordained minister, the following questions are to be substituted for those addressed …
21-10
21-10. The candidate having answered these question in the affirmative, the presiding minister shall propose to the church …
21-11
21-11. In the ordination of interns as evangelists the same questions are to be propounded as in the …
22-1
22-1. The various pastoral relations are pastor, associate pastor, and assistant pastor.
22-2
22-2. The pastor and associate pastor are elected by the congregation using the form of call in BCO …
22-3
22-3. An assistant pastor is called by the Session, by the permission and approval of Presbytery, under the …
22-4
22-4. The relationship of the associate pastor to the church is determined by the congregation. The relationship of …
22-5
22-5. In order to provide necessary changes in pastorates, a temporary relation may be established between a church …
22-6
22-6. Such temporary relationships can take place at the invitation of the church Session to the minister of …
23-1
23-1. When any minister shall tender the resignation of his pastoral charge to his Presbytery, the Presbytery shall …
23-2
23-2. The Presbytery may designate a minister as honorably retired when the minister by reason of age wishes …
23-3
23-3. A minister, being medically disabled or honorably retired, may be elected pastor emeritus by a congregation which …
24-1
24-1. Every church shall elect persons to the offices of ruling elder and deacon in the following manner: …
24-2
24-2. The pastor is, by virtue of his office, moderator of congregational meetings. If there is no pastor, …
24-3
24-3. All communing members in good and regular standing, but no others, are entitled to vote in the …
24-4
24-4. The voters being convened, the moderator shall explain the purpose of the meeting and then put the …
24-5
24-5. On the election of a ruling elder or deacon, if it appears that a large minority of …
24-6
24-6. The day having arrived, and the Session being convened in the presence of the congregation, a sermon …
24-8
24-8. When a ruling elder or deacon who has been released from his official relation is again elected …
24-9
24-9. When a ruling elder or deacon cannot or does not for a period of one year perform …
24-10
24-10. When a deacon or ruling elder by reason of age or infirmity desires to be released from …
25-1
25-1. The congregation consists of all the communing members of a particular church, and they only are entitled …
25-2
25-2. Whenever it may seem for the best interests of the church that a congregational meeting should be …
25-3
25-3. The quorum of the congregational meeting shall consist of one-fourth (1/4) of the resident communing members, if …
25-4
25-4. The pastor shall be the moderator of congregational meetings by virtue of his office. If it should …
25-5
25-5. A clerk shall be elected by the congregation to serve at that meeting or for a definite …
25-6
25-6. A particular church which is not incorporated, desiring to elect trustees, may select from among its membership …
25-7
25-7. If a particular church is incorporated, the provisions of its charter and bylaws must always be in …
25-8
25-8. The corporation of a particular church, through its duly elected trustees or corporation officers, (or, if unincorporated, …
25-9
25-9. All particular churches shall be entitled to hold, own and enjoy their own local properties, without any …
25-10
25-10. The provisions of this BCO 25 are to be construed as a solemn covenant whereby the Church …
25-11
25-11. While a congregation consists of all the communing members of a particular church, and in matters ecclesiastical …
25-12
25-12. If a church is dissolved by the Presbytery at the request of the congregation and no disposition …
26-1
26-1. The Constitution of the Presbyterian Church in America, which is subject to and subordinate to the Scriptures …
26-2
26-2. Amendments to the Book of Church Order may be made only in the following manner: 1. Approval …
26-3
26-3. Amendments to the Confession of Faith and the Larger and Shorter Catechisms may be made only in …
26-4
26-4. In voting upon an amendment to the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church in America, the Presbyteries may …
26-5
26-5. Full organic union and consolidation of the Presbyterian Church in America with any other ecclesiastical body can …
26-6
26-6. If by reason of the failure of a number of Presbyteries to act, or to report action, …
27-1
27-1. Discipline is the exercise of authority given the Church by the Lord Jesus Christ to instruct and …
27-2
27-2. All baptized persons, being members of the Church are subject to its discipline and entitled to the …
27-3
27-3. The exercise of discipline is highly important and necessary. In its proper usage discipline maintains: a. the …
27-4
27-4. The power which Christ has given the Church is for building up, and not for destruction. It …
27-5
27-5. Scriptural law is the basis of all discipline because it is the revelation of God’s Holy will. …
28-1
28-1. The spiritual nurture, instruction and training of the children of the Church are committed by God primarily …
28-2
28-2. The home and the Church should also make special provision for instructing the children in the Bible …
28-3
28-3. The Church should maintain constant and sympathetic relations with the children. It also should encourage them, on …
28-4
28-4. Adult non-communing members, who receive with meekness and appreciation the oversight and instruction of the Church, are …
28-5
28-5. All non-communing members shall be deemed under the care of the church to which their parents belong, …
29-1
29-1. An offense, the proper object of judicial process, is anything in the doctrines or practice of a …
29-2
29-2. Offenses are either personal or general, private or public; but all of them being sins against God, …
29-3
29-3. Personal offenses are violations of the divine law, considered in the special relation of wrongs or injuries …
29-4
29-4. Private offenses are those which are known only to a few persons. Public offenses are those which …
30-1
30-1. The censures, which may be inflicted by church courts, are admonition, suspension from the Sacraments, excommunication, suspension …
30-2
30-2. Admonition is the formal reproof of an offender by a church court, warning him of his guilt …
30-3
30-3. Suspension from Sacraments is the temporary exclusion from those ordinances, and is indefinite as to its duration. …
30-4
30-4. Excommunication is the excision of an offender from the communion of the Church. This censure is to …
30-5
30-5. Deposition is the degradation of an officer from his office, and may or may not be accompanied …
31-1
31-1. Original jurisdiction (the right first or initially to hear and determine) in relation to ministers of the …
31-2
31-2. It is the duty of all church Sessions and Presbyteries to exercise care over those subject to …
31-3
31-3. The original and only parties in a case of process are the accuser and the accused. The …
31-4
31-4. Every indictment shall begin: “In the name of the Presbyterian Church in America,” and shall conclude, “against …
31-5
31-5. An injured party shall not become a prosecutor of personal offenses without having tried the means of …
31-6
31-6. When the offense is general, the case may be conducted either by any person appearing as prosecutor …
31-7
31-7. When the prosecution is instituted by the court, the previous steps required by our Lord in the …
31-8
31-8. Great caution ought to be exercised in receiving accusations from any person who is known to indulge …
31-9
31-9. Every voluntary prosecutor shall be previously warned, that if he fail to show probable cause of the …
31-10
31-10. When a member of a church court is under process, all his official functions may be suspended …
31-11
31-11. In the discussion of all questions arising in his own case, the accused shall exercise the rights …
32-1
32-1. It is incumbent on every member of a court of Jesus Christ engaged in a trial of …
32-2
32-2. Process against an offender shall not be commenced unless some person or persons undertake to make out …
32-3
32-3. It is appropriate that with each citation the moderator or clerk call the attention of the parties …
32-4
32-4. The citation shall be issued and signed by the moderator or clerk by order and in the …
32-5
32-5. In drawing the indictment, the times, places and circumstances should, if possible, be particularly stated, that the …
32-6
32-6. a. When an accused person shall refuse to obey a citation, he shall be cited a second …
32-7
32-7. The time which must elapse between the serving of the first citation on the accused person, and …
32-8
32-8. When the offense with which an accused person stands charged took place at a distance, and it …
32-9
32-9. When an offense, alleged to have been committed at a distance, is not likely otherwise to become …
32-10
32-10. Before proceeding to trial, courts ought to ascertain that their citations have been duly served.
32-11
32-11. In every process, if deemed expedient there may be a committee appointed, which shall be called the …
32-12
32-12. When the trial is about to begin, it shall be the duty of the moderator solemnly to …
32-13
32-13. In order that the trial may be fair and impartial, the witnesses shall be examined in the …
32-14
32-14. On all questions arising in the progress of a trial, the discussion shall first be between the …
32-15
32-15. When a court of first resort proceeds to the trial of a case, the following order shall …
32-16
32-16. Either party may, for cause, challenge the right of any member to sit in the trial of …
32-17
32-17. Pending the trial of a case, any member of the court who shall express his opinion of …
32-18
32-18. Minutes of the trial shall be kept by the clerk, which shall exhibit the charges, the answer, …
32-19
32-19. No professional counsel shall be permitted as such to appear and plead in cases of process in …
32-20
32-20. The accused or a member of the court may object to the consideration of a charge, for …
32-19
32-19. In any instances involving a personal offense (BCO 29-3), the court shall attempt to inform the …
33-1
33-1. Process against all church members, other than ministers of the Gospel, shall be entered before the Session …
33-2
33-2. When an accused person is found contumacious (cf. 32-6), he shall be immediately suspended from the sacraments …
33-3
33-3. If after further endeavor by the court to bring the accused to a sense of his guilt, …
33-4
33-4. When it is impracticable immediately to commence process against an accused church member, the Session may, if …
34-1
34-1. Process against a minister shall be entered before the Presbytery of which he is a member. However, …
34-2
34-2. As no minister ought, on account of his office, to be screened in his sin, or slightly …
34-3
34-3. If any one knows a minister to be guilty of a private offense, he should warn him …
34-4
34-4. a. When a minister accused of an offense is found contumacious (cf. 32-6), he shall be immediately …
34-5
34-5. Heresy and schism may be of such a nature as to warrant deposition; but errors ought to …
34-6
34-6. If the Presbytery find on trial that the matter complained of amounts to no more than such …
34-7
34-7. When a minister, pending a trial, shall make confession, if the matter be base and flagitious, such …
34-8
34-8. A minister under indefinite suspension from his office or deposed for scandalous conduct shall not be restored, …
34-9
34-9. When a minister is deposed, his pastoral relation shall be dissolved; but when he is suspended from …
34-10
34-10. Whenever a minister of the Gospel shall habitually fail to be engaged in the regular discharge of …
35-1
35-1. All persons of proper age and intelligence are competent witnesses, except such as do not believe in …
35-2
35-2. The accused party is allowed, but shall not be compelled, to testify; but the accuser shall be …
35-3
35-3. A court may, at the request of either party, or at its own initiative, make reasonable accommodation …
35-4
35-4. The testimony of more than one witness shall be necessary in order to establish any charge; yet …
35-5
35-5. It belongs to the court to judge the degree of credibility to be attached to all evidence.
35-6
35-6. No witness afterwards to be examined, unless a member of the court, shall be present during the …
35-7
35-7. Witnesses shall be examined first by the party introducing them; then cross-examined by the opposite party; after …
35-8
35-8. The oath or affirmation to a witness shall be administered by the Moderator in the following or …
35-9
35-9. All testimony shall be recorded (transcription, audiotape, videotape, or some other electronic means) and witnesses informed of …
35-10
35-10. The records of a court or any part of them, whether original or transcribed, if regularly authenticated …
35-11
35-11. In like manner, testimony taken by one court and regularly certified shall be received by every other …
35-12
35-12. When it is not convenient for a court to have the whole or perhaps any part of …
35-13
35-13. A member of the court shall not be disqualified from sitting as a judge by having given …
35-14
35-14. An officer or private member of the church refusing to testify may be censured for contumacy.
35-15
35-15. If after trial before any court new testimony be discovered, which the accused believes important, it shall …
35-16
35-16. If, in the prosecution of an appeal, new evidence be offered which, in the judgment of the …
36-1
36-1. When any member or officer of the Church shall be found guilty of an offense the court …
36-2
36-2. Church censures and the modes of administering them should be suited to the nature of the offenses. …
36-3
36-3. The Censure of Admonition should be administered in private by one or more members of the court …
36-4
36-4. Definite suspension from office should be administered in the presence of the court alone or in open …
36-5
36-5. Indefinite suspension from office or the Sacraments should be administered after the manner prescribed for definite suspension, …
36-6
36-6. Excommunication is to be administered according to one or other of the two modes laid down for …
36-7
36-7. The censure of deposition shall be administered by the moderator in the words following: Whereas, ____________________, a …
37-1
37-1. A person who has been definitely suspended from office shall be restored by the court at the …
37-2
37-2. After any person has been indefinitely suspended from the Sacraments, it is proper that the rulers of …
37-3
37-3. When the court shall be satisfied as to the reality of the repentance of an indefinitely suspended …
37-4
37-4. When an excommunicated person shall be so affected with his state as to be brought to repentance, …
37-5
37-5. The restoration of a deposed officer, after public confession has been made in a manner similar to …
37-6
37-6. When a ruling elder or deacon has been absolved from the censure of deposition, he cannot be …
37-7
37-7. When a person under censure shall reside at such a distance from the court by which he …
37-8
37-8. In the restoration of a minister who is under indefinite suspension from the Sacraments, and/or his office, …
37-9
37-9. In the case of the removal of censures from, or the restoration of, a minister, jurisdiction shall …
38-1
38-1. When any person shall come forward and make his offense known to the court, a full statement …
38-2
38-2. A minister of the Gospel against whom there are no charges, if fully satisfied in his own …
38-3
38-3. a. When a member or officer in the Presbyterian Church in America shall attempt to withdraw from …
39-1
39-1. The acts and decisions of a lower court are brought under the supervision of a higher court …
39-2
39-2. When the proceedings of a lower court are before a higher court, the members of the lower …
39-3
39-3. While affirming that the Scripture is “the supreme judge by which all controversies of religion are to …
40-1
40-1. It is the right and duty of every court above the Session to review, at least once …
40-2
40-2. In reviewing records of a lower court the higher court is to examine: 1. Whether the proceedings …
40-3
40-3. It is ordinarily sufficient for the higher court merely to record in its own minutes and in …
40-4
40-4. Courts may sometimes entirely neglect to perform their duty, by which neglect heretical opinions or corrupt practices …
40-5
40-5. When any court having appellate jurisdiction shall receive a credible report with respect to the court next …
40-6
40-6. In process against a lower court, the trial shall be conducted according to the rules provided for …
41-1
41-1. A reference is a written representation and application made by a lower court to a higher for …
41-2
41-2. Among proper subjects for reference are matters that are new, delicate or difficult; or on which the …
41-3
41-3. In making a reference the lower court may ask for advice only, or for final disposition of …
41-4
41-4. A reference may be presented to the higher court by one or more representatives appointed by the …
41-5
41-5. Although references are sometimes proper, in general it is better that every court should discharge the duty …
41-6
41-6. When a court makes a reference, it ought to have all the testimony and other documents duly …
42-1
42-1. An appeal is the transfer to a higher court of a judicial case on which judgment has …
42-2
42-2. The only parties entitled to an appeal are those who have submitted to a regular trial, those …
42-3
42-3. The grounds of appeal are such as the following: any irregularity in the proceedings of the lower …
42-4
42-4. Notice of appeal may be given the court before its adjournment. Written notice of appeal, with supporting …
42-5
42-5. It shall be the duty of the clerk of the lower court to file with the clerk …
42-6
42-6. Notice of appeal shall have the effect of suspending the judgment of the lower court until the …
42-7
42-7. If a lower court shall neglect to send up “the Record of the Case” or any part …
42-8
42-8. After a higher court has decided that an appeal is in order and should be entertained by …
42-9
42-9. The decision of the higher court may be to affirm in whole or in part; to reverse …
42-10
42-10. An appellant may represent himself or be represented as provided in BCO 32-19.
42-11
42-11. An appellant shall be considered to have abandoned his appeal if he fails to appear before the …
42-12
42-12. If an appellant manifests a litigious or otherwise un-Christian spirit in the prosecution of his appeal, he …
43-1
43-1. A complaint is a written representation made against some act or decision of a court of the …
43-4
43-4. Notice of complaint shall not have the effect of suspending the action against which the complaint is …
43-5
43-5. The court against which complaint is made shall appoint one or more representatives to defend its action …
43-6
43-6. It shall be the duty of the clerk of the lower court to file with the clerk …
43-7
43-7. The complainant shall be considered to have abandoned his complaint if he fails to appear before the …
43-8
43-8. Subject to the provisions below, after the higher court has decided that the notice filed with its …
43-9
43-9. At the hearing, after all the papers bearing on the complaint have been read, the complainant and …
43-10
43-10. The higher court has power, in its discretion, to annul the whole or any part of the …
45-1
45-1. Any member of a court who had a right to vote on a question, and is not …
45-2
45-2. A dissent is a declaration on the part of one or more members of a minority, expressing …
45-3
45-3. A protest is a more solemn and formal declaration by members of a minority, bearing their testimony …
45-4
45-4. An objection is a declaration by one or more members of a court who did not have …
45-5
45-5. If a dissent, protest, or objection be couched in temperate language, and be respectful to the court, …
46-1
46-1. When a church member shall remove his residence beyond the bounds of the congregation of which he …
46-2
46-2. When a church member shall remove his residence beyond the bounds of the church of which he …
46-3
46-3. Members of one church dismissed to join another shall be held to be under the jurisdiction of …
46-4
46-4. Associate members are those believers temporarily residing in a location other than their permanent homes. Such believers …
46-5
46-5. (Vacated) [see 38-4]
46-6
46-6. When a Presbytery shall dismiss a minister, licentiate or candidate, the name of the Presbytery to which …
46-7
46-7. No certificate of dismission from either a Session or a Presbytery shall be valid testimony of good …
46-8
46-8. When a Presbytery shall divest a minister of his office without censure, or depose him without excommunication, …
47-1
47-1. Since the Holy Scriptures are the only infallible rule of faith and practice, the principles of public …
47-2
47-2. A service of public worship is not merely a gathering of God’s children with each other, but …
47-3
47-3. The end of public worship is the glory of God. His people should engage in all its …
47-4
47-4. Public worship is Christian when the worshippers recognize that Christ is the Mediator by whom alone they …
47-5
47-5. Public worship must be performed in spirit and in truth. Externalism and hypocrisy stand condemned. The forms …
47-6
47-6. The Lord Jesus Christ has prescribed no fixed forms for public worship but, in the interest of …
47-7
47-7. Public worship differs from private worship in that in public worship God is served by His saints …
47-8
47-8. It behooves God’s people not only to come into His presence with a deep sense of awe …
47-9
47-9. The Bible teaches that the following are proper elements of worship service: reading of Holy Scripture, singing …
48-1
48-1. “The fourth commandment requireth the keeping holy to God such set times as he hath appointed in …
48-2
48-2. God commanded His Old Testament people to keep holy the last day of the week, but He …
48-3
48-3. It is the duty of every person to remember the Lord’s Day; and to prepare for it …
48-4
48-4. The whole day is to be kept holy to the Lord; and to be employed in the …
48-5
48-5. Let the provisions for the support of the family on that day be so ordered that others …
48-6
48-6. Let every person and family, in the morning, by secret and private prayer, for themselves and others, …
49-1
49-1. When the congregation is to meet for public worship, the people (having before prepared their hearts thereunto) …
49-2
49-2. Let the people assemble at the appointed time, that all being present at the beginning they may …
49-3
49-3. Let the people upon entering the church take their seats in a decent and reverent manner, and …
49-4
49-4. All who attend public worship are expected to be present in a spirit of reverence and godly …
50-1
50-1. The public reading of the Holy Scriptures is performed by the minister as God’s servant. Through it …
50-2
50-2. The reading of the Holy Scriptures in the congregation is a part of the public worship of …
50-3
50-3. The Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments shall be read from a good translation, not …
50-4
50-4. How large a portion shall be read at once is left to the discretion of every minister; …
51-1
51-1. Praising God through the medium of music is a duty and a privilege. Therefore, the singing of …
51-2
51-2. In singing the praises of God, we are to sing in the spirit of worship, with understanding …
51-3
51-3. It is recommended that Psalms be sung along with the hymns of the Church, but that caution …
51-4
51-4. The leadership in song is left to the judgment of the Session, who should give careful thought …
51-5
51-5. The proportion of the time of public worship given to praise is left to the judgment of …
52-1
52-1. It is proper to begin the public worship in the sanctuary with the Doxology followed by a …
52-3
52-3. Ordinarily there should be prayer after the sermon having relation to the subject that has been treated …
52-4
52-4. Ministers are not to be confined to fixed forms of prayer for public worship, yet it is …
52-5
52-5. All prayer is to be offered in the language of the people.
53-1
53-1. The preaching of the Word is an ordinance of God for the salvation of men. Serious attention …
53-2
53-2. The subject of a sermon should be some verse or verses of Scripture, and its object, to …
53-3
53-3. Preaching requires much study, meditation, and prayer, and ministers should prepare their sermons with care, and not …
53-4
53-4. As a primary design of public ordinances is to unite the people in acts of common worship …
53-5
53-5. By way of application of the sermon the minister may urge his hearers by commandment or invitation …
53-6
53-6. No person should be invited to preach in any of the churches under our care without the …
54-1
54-1. The Holy Scriptures teach that God is the owner of all persons and all things and that …
54-2
54-2. It is both a privilege and a duty, plainly enjoined in the Bible, to make regular, weekly, …
54-3
54-3. It is appropriate that the offerings be dedicated by prayer.
55-1
55-1. It is proper for the congregation of God’s people publicly to confess their faith, using creeds or …
56-1
56-1. Baptism is not to be unnecessarily delayed; not to be administered, in any case, by any private …
56-2
56-2. It is not to be privately administered, but in the presence of the congregation under the supervision …
56-3
56-3. After previous notice is given to the minister, the child to be baptized is to be presented, …
56-4
56-4. Before baptism, the minister is to use some words of instruction, touching the institution, nature, use, and …
56-5
56-5. The minister shall then read the covenant promises: For to you is the promise, and to your …
57-1
57-1. Believers’ children within the Visible Church, and especially those dedicated to God in Baptism, are non-communing members …
57-2
57-2. The time when young persons come to understand the Gospel cannot be precisely fixed. This must be …
57-3
57-3. When unbaptized persons apply for admission into the Church, they shall, ordinarily, after giving satisfaction with respect …
57-4
57-4. It is recommended, as edifying and proper, that baptized persons, when admitted by the Session to the …
57-5
57-5. The time having come for the making of a public profession, and those who have been approved …
57-6
57-6. Persons received from other churches by letters of dismissal as well as those being received by reaffirmation …
58-1
58-1. The Communion, or Supper of the Lord, is to be observed frequently; the stated times to be …
58-2
58-2. The ignorant and scandalous are not to be admitted to the Lord's Supper.
58-3
58-3. It is proper that public notice should be given to the congregation, at least the Sabbath before …
58-4
58-4. On the day of the observance of the Lord's Supper, when the sermon is ended, the minister …
58-5
58-5. The table, on which the elements are placed, being decently covered, and furnished with bread and wine, …
58-6
58-6. Since believers are to act personally in all their covenanting with the Lord, it is proper that …
58-7
58-7. The minister may, in a few words, put the communicants in mind: Of the grace of God, …
58-8
58-8. As past custom has been found in many parts of the Presbyterian Church, our congregations are urged …
59-1
59-1. Marriage is a divine institution though not a sacrament, nor peculiar to the Church of Christ. It …
59-2
59-2. Christians should marry in the Lord; therefore it is fit that their marriage be solemnized by a …
59-3
59-3. Marriage is only to be between one man and one woman (Gen. 2:24, 25; Matt. 19:4-6, 1 …
59-4
59-4. The parties should be of such years of discretion as to be capable of making their own …
59-5
59-5. Parents should neither compel their children to marry contrary to their inclinations, nor deny their consent without …
59-6
59-6. Marriage is of a public nature. The welfare of civil society, the happiness of families, and the …
59-7
59-7. The minister should keep a proper register of the names of all persons whom he marries, and …
61-1
61-1. The services proper for such an occasion are: a. The singing of appropriate psalms or hymns; b. …
61-2
61-2. The funeral services are to be left largely to the discretion of the minister performing them, but …
62-1
62-1. The observance of days of fasting and of thanksgiving, as the dispensations of Divine Providence may direct, …
62-2
62-2. Fasting and thanksgiving may be observed by individual Christians; by families; by particular congregations; by a number …
62-3
62-3. It should be left to the judgment and discretion of every Christian and family to determine when …
62-4
62-4. Public notice should be given a sufficient time before the appointed day of fasting or thanksgiving, that …
62-5
62-5. There should be public worship upon all such days; and the prayers, psalms or hymns, the selection …
62-6
62-6. On days of fasting, the minister should point out the authority and providences calling for the observance; …
62-7
62-7. On days of thanksgiving, he should give information respecting the authority and providences which call for the …
63-1
63-1. In addition to public worship, it is the duty of each person in secret, and of every …
63-2
63-2. Secret worship is most plainly enjoined by our Lord. In this duty everyone, apart, should spend some …
63-3
63-3. Family worship, which should be observed by every family, consists in prayer, reading the Scriptures, and singing …
63-4
63-4. Parents should instruct their children in the Word of God, and in the principles of our holy …
63-6
63-6. In the supreme task of religious education, parents should co-operate with the Church by setting their children …