Paragraph 11 :

5-11. The following procedures may be used in the selection of a pastor in a newly organized congregation:
1. Not less than thirty (30) days prior to the date of organization the petitioners shall elect from their own body a Pulpit Nominating Committee. This election shall take place at a meeting of the petitioners announced at least one week in advance. Only those who have made a written commitment to membership in the new church are eligible to vote at this meeting.
2. The Pulpit Committee may report at the organizational meeting of the congregation, or any subsequent congregational meeting called for that purpose.
3. If at the organizational meeting a pastor is called who is a member of the organizing Presbytery, he may be installed at that time by the Presbytery or a Commission authorized by the Presbytery to do so. If the pastor elect is not a member of the organizing Presbytery, his call must be prosecuted under the provisions of BCO 21.

[Historical Summary : The first seven paragraphs of the current chapter 5 of the BCO had their beginning with Overture 7 from Southwest Presbytery, as brought before the Ninth General Assembly (M9GA, 9-10, B, p. 48). That Overture requested clarification and instruction in the BCO regarding mission churches and the status of their members. In the MNA Report to the Tenth General Assembly (M10GA, Appendix F, p. 250), the proposed amendments were presented in reply to Overture 7. The matter was next sent to the Committee on Judicial Business (M11GA, 11-9, D, p. 56), and then presented under the Report of the Committee of Commissioners on Mission to North America (11-61, III.4, p. 122). The proposed text was adopted by the Eleventh General Assembly and sent down to the Presbyteries for their advise and consent. The Presbyteries affirmed the proposed Chapter 5 by unanimous vote, and the amendment received final approval at the Twelfth General Assembly (M12GA, 12-14, Item 1, pp. 83-85).]

BACKGROUND & COMPARISON:
No comparable text in these editions:
PCA 1973, Adopted text, as printed in the Minutes of General Assembly
Continuing Presbyterian Church 1973, Proposed text
PCUS 1879
PCUS 1869 draft
PCUS 1867 draft


COMMENTARY :
F.P. Ramsay, Exposition of the Book of Church Order (1898)
[no comparable text for discussion]