Chapter 7. Organizing New Congregations

The formal duties and responsibility of establishing new churches belong to the presbytery, which has the authority and prerogative to declare a new congregation to be organized. A new church-planting endeavor may be initiated by any number of persons petitioning the presbytery within whose boundaries they reside, or by the presbytery as it identifies needs or opportunities for a new work within its own boundaries. The ordinary progression of establishing a new congregation is from exploratory work to mission church to organized congregation, although this order is neither fixed nor required, and may not be necessary in every circumstance.

An exploratory work may consist of a Bible study, an evangelistic outreach, or a preaching station, without the structural organization of formal membership or locally elected leadership. A preaching station consists of a group of people who gather regularly for public worship. At this initial stage of church planting, there is greater flexibility regarding how the presbytery or a local session exercises oversight of the work. The presbytery may call one or more teaching elder(s) or licentiate(s) to serve as a church planter(s) for an exploratory work. When this is done, presbytery must take special care to ensure proper support and oversight of the church planter(s). A licentiate shall not perform the functions of an ordained officer.

Ordinarily, an exploratory work shall be actively nurtured by the presbytery or a local session until it is of sufficient strength to be established as a mission church. The mission church differs from an organized congregation in that it has no permanent governing body of its own. Therefore, the presbytery must give careful oversight to the mission church until it is sufficiently mature to become an organized congregation.

Because of its transitional nature, the mission church requires a temporary organization. A temporary governing body (TGB) of elders, appointed by the presbytery, oversees the mission church. This temporary governing body has authority to examine and receive new members, to exercise church discipline, to administer the sacraments, to conduct elections for church officers, to examine officers-elect in preparation for the mission church to become an organized congregation, and to oversee the financial affairs of the mission church.

The establishment of a mission church requires only a decision of presbytery or its Ad Interim Commission and the appointment of a TGB.

The temporary governing body (TGB) may be established by presbytery in one of the following ways: a. The presbytery may cooperate with the session of an existing congregation in arranging a parent-child relationship. The session of the parent congregation would be appointed by presbytery to serve as the TGB of the mission church. It is permissible for the appointed session to assign a subset of its members to the task of overseeing the mission church. b. The presbytery may appoint a commission to serve as the TGB of the mission church. If there are RPCNA elders involved in the prospective mission church, they should be considered for appointment to this commission.

One or more teaching elder(s) or licentiate(s) may be called to serve as the church planter(s) for the mission church either by the parent congregation (see 7a) or the commission (see 7b). The ordained church planter(s) would normally become a member(s) of the TGB.

Members received into a mission church become communicant or baptized members of the RPCNA. Mission churches shall maintain their own rolls of communicant and baptized members in the same manner as organized congregations. However, presbytery and synod financial assessments for an organized congregation may be waived for a mission church. Mission churches and their members shall have the full rights of judicial process of the courts of the church in appeal from their governing body, and shall enjoy the same status as organized congregations in relation to civil government. However, a TGB is not entitled to send delegates to presbytery or synod nor to vote on overtures. A church planter who is not a member of an organized congregation’s session is delegated to presbytery and synod by the presbytery.

When the TGB has identified at least two men as potential elders in the mission church and when the TGB determines that the mission church has reached sufficient strength to begin the process of becoming an organized congregation, the TGB may conduct an election for ruling elders and one or more teaching elder(s). Deacons may also be elected. Ruling elders-elect and deacons-elect shall be examined by the TGB. If teaching elders have been elected, provision shall be made for the presbytery or its Ad Interim Commission to review and approve the terms of the call and, if necessary, make arrangements for ordination examinations of the pastor(s)-elect. If at least two elders-elect are sustained, the temporary governing body shall petition presbytery for the organization of the congregation (Form 18). Upon granting the petition, presbytery shall communicate the edict of organization (Form 19) to the TGB, which is then responsible for arranging for the organization service.

When presbytery receives a petition for organization of a congregation (Form 18), due notice shall be given and an opportunity to be heard shall be afforded to any congregation that might be affected, including those of sister denominations. If the petition is granted, the presbytery shall appoint a time and place and prepare an edict (Form 19) to proceed with the organization. If necessary, the presbytery may appoint an organizing commission.

At the appointed time and place, an elder shall constitute the court of the presbytery (or the organizing commission) with prayer. The steps taken to this point shall be narrated followed by a service of worship which shall include a sermon. The court shall then determine the communicant members that will make up the roll of the new congregation. Baptized children of those received shall be placed on the baptized roll of the new congregation.

After the roll has been determined, all the communicant members of the new congregation shall stand and give assent to the Covenant of Communicant Membership and to this additional pledge: “Do you solemnly covenant with God and with one another that you will live together in brotherly unity as an organized congregation on the basis of the Constitution of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America; that you will be obedient to the courts that are over you in the Lord; and that you will, by a godly life, seek to promote the purity, peace, and prosperity of the church as a whole?”

Members of the new congregation shall sign the Covenant of Communicant Membership. An elder shall offer prayer constituting the congregation in the name and by the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, the King and Head of the Church. The moderator shall then declare the congregation officially organized.

In the same meeting, the presbytery shall proceed to ordain and/or install those officers who have been previously elected by the mission church, and examined and sustained by the TGB, or in the case of a teaching elder, examined and sustained by the presbytery. If civil law requires trustees for the congregation, these can be appointed at this time, if not done prior to the organizational meeting. In exceptional cases, the congregation may elect its officers in this same meeting, and if appropriate, the readings of necessary edicts waived in order that those chosen may immediately be examined, ordained, and installed. All proceedings shall be recorded in the minutes of both the presbytery and the session of the new congregation.

An independent congregation or a congregation from another denomination desiring to unite with the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America shall make formal application to the appropriate presbytery. Presbytery shall make full investigation of the situation of the petitioning congregation, and shall satisfy itself that the motives and procedures involved will promote the purity and peace of Christ’s Church, both for the RPCNA branch and that branch from which the congregation is coming. Under normal circumstances, the presbytery should not act hastily and should adhere closely to proper ecclesiastical order. Diligent efforts ought to be made to communicate the benefits and responsibilities belonging to members and congregations in the RPCNA. The presbytery shall arrange for appropriate discussions and examinations of all the communicant members of the church on the basis of the Covenant of Communicant Membership, and the ordained officers on the basis of the vows related to their respective offices. The teaching elder of the congregation shall apply for membership in the presbytery (DCG: 3.II.D.4.b). A service of reception shall be planned and conducted by the presbytery or, if necessary, by a commission appointed by the presbytery, with due notice given to the congregations/sessions within its bounds. (Suggested Form 20)

At the appointed time and place, an elder shall constitute the court of the presbytery (or the organizing commission) with prayer. The steps taken to this point shall be narrated followed by a service of worship which shall include a sermon. The court shall then determine the communicant members that will make up the roll of the new congregation. Baptized children of those received shall be placed on the baptized roll of the new congregation.

After the roll has been determined, all the communicant members of the congregation being received shall stand and give assent to the Covenant of Communicant Membership and to this additional pledge: “Do you solemnly covenant with God and with one another that you will live together in brotherly unity as an organized congregation on the basis of the Constitution of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America; that you will be obedient to the courts that are over you in the Lord; and that you will, by a godly life, seek to promote the purity, peace, and prosperity of the church as a whole?”

Members of the newly received congregation shall sign the Covenant of Communicant Membership. The appropriate vows will then be presented to the congregation’s ordained officers for acceptance, and the vows shall be signed. A member of the presbytery will lead in a prayer of reception of the congregation in the name and by the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, the King and Head of the Church. The moderator shall then declare the congregation officially received by the presbytery. An address to the newly-received congregation shall be presented by a presbyter, and the court will be adjourned in prayer. The congregation’s pastor may be asked to pronounce the benediction.

Following a congregation’s reception, the presbytery shall give particular attention to the settling and assimilating of the new congregation into the life and fellowship of the presbytery and denomination.