The Historical Development of the Book of Church Order

Chapter 46 : Jurisdiction

Paragraph 3 : On the Orderly Transfer of Members

46-3. Members of one church dismissed to join another shall be held to be under the jurisdiction of the Session dismissing them until they form a regular connection with that to which they have been dismissed.

DIGEST: The current PCA text remains unchanged from that of PCUS 1925. PCUS 1879 has only a minor difference of one word. The earlier PCUS drafts are interesting in that they speak as if jurisdiction were assigned to the congregation, rather than the Session of the church.

BACKGROUND & COMPARISON:
1. PCA 1973, RoD, 20-3, Adopted text, as printed in the Minutes of General Assembly, p. 155
2. Continuing Presbyterian Church 1973, RoD, 20-3, Proposed text, p. 61
3. PCUS 1933, RoD, XV-§299
4. PCUS 1925, RoD, XV-§299
Members of one church dismissed to join another shall be held to be under the jurisdiction of the Session dismissing them
until they form a regular connection with that to which they have been dismissed.

PCUS 1879, Rules of Discipline, XV-3
Members of one church dismissed to join another shall be held to be under the jurisdiction of the Session dismissing them,
till they form a regular connection with that to which they have been dismissed.

PCUS 1869 draft, Canons of Discipline, XV-3
Members of one Congregation dismissed to join another, shall be held to be under the jurisdiction of the congregation dismissing them,
till they form a regular connexion with that to which they have been dismissed.

PCUS 1867 draft, Canons of Discipline, XV-3
Members of one congregation dismissed to join another shall be held to be under the jurisdiction of the congregation dismissing them,
till they form a regular connexion with that to which they have been dismissed.

COMMENTARY:
F.P. Ramsay, Exposition of the Book of Church Order (1898, pp. 261-262),
§278—XV-3:
The Session may dismiss to one church, or to one of several, or to one of a certain description, within or without this Church, according to the request of the member and the discretion of the Session.
Since dismission is an act of the Session, the Session may refuse dismission for sufficient reasons, of which it must judge, subject to correction by a superior court. Nor can any member demand as a right, dismission to a court without having his residence in the bounds of the court, which must be another court of this Church or of a Church in correspondence with this Church, or, at least, of some evangelical church, and being himself not under censure or under charges.