The Historical Development of the Book of Church Order
Chapter 13 : The Presbytery
Paragraph 11 : On Record Keeping
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13-11. The Presbytery shall keep a full and accurate record of its proceedings, and shall sent it up to the General Assembly annually for review. It shall report to the General Assembly every year, all the important changes which may have taken place, such as licensures, ordinations, the receiving or dismissing of members, the removal of members by death, the union and the division of churches, and the formation of new ones. [DIGEST: In 1986, the 14th General Assembly amended this paragraph by striking from the text that had stood from 1973 the words "the condition and progress of religion within its bounds during the year; and" [cf. M14GA, 14-19, p. 87].[Definition: Fair record; fair register; fair copy: The older term "fair" should not be misunderstood as "approximate" or "even-handed"; rather, the phrase "shall keep a fair record" or the variation, "shall keep a fair register" are both expressions that reach back to the late 1700's and which are still in use today in political and legal documents. Similarly, a "fair copy" is essentially a technical phrase, meaning basically, "a clean copy of a corrected draft."] BACKGROUND & COMPARISON: PCA 1986, 13-10 The Presbytery shall keep a full and fair record of its proceedings, and shall send it up to the General Assembly annually for review. It shall report to the General Assembly every year the important changes which may have taken place, such as the licensures, the ordinations, the receiving or dismissing of members, the removal of members by death, the union and the division of churches, and the formation of new ones. PCA 1973, 14-1, Adopted text, as printed in the Minutes of General Assembly, Continuing Presbyterian Church 1973, 14-8, Proposed text, p. 15 The Presbytery shall keep a full and fair record of its proceedings, and shall send it up to the General Assembly annually for review. It shall report to the General Assembly every year the condition and progress of religion within its bounds during the year; and all the important changes which may have taken place, such as the licensures, the ordinations, the receiving or dismissing of members, the removal of members by death, the union and the division of churches, and the formation of new ones. PCUS 1933, PCUS 1879, The Presbytery shall keep a full and fair record of its proceedings, and shall send it up to the Synod annually for review. It shall report to the Synod and the General Assembly every year the condition and progress of religion within its bounds during the year; and all the important changes which may have taken place, such as the licensures, the ordinations, the receiving or dismissing of members, the removal of members by death, the union and the division of churches and the formation of new ones. PCUS 1869 draft, V-4-1 PCUS 1867 draft, V-4-1 Northern Tradition : PCUSA 1821, 10-2 OPC 2003, 14-1 – 3 BPC 2003, 9-1 COMMENTARY : F.P. Ramsay, Exposition of the Book of Church Order, on Chapter V., Section IV, paragraph 7: 78—VII. The Presbytery shall keep a full and fair record of its proceedings, and shall send it up to the Synod annually for review. It shall report to the Synod and the General Assembly every year the condition and progress of religion within its bounds during the year; and all the important changes which may have taken place, such as the licensures, the ordinations, the receiving or dismissing of members, the removal of members by death, the union and the division of churches and the formation of new ones. The records are sent up to Synod in order that the Synod may be able to discharge its function of review and control; and the examination and criticism of these records should be thorough. The reports to Synod and Assembly are for information, and especially for the tabulation of statistical information. It is striking that no report of the dissolution of churches is called for. Does the Constitution assume that a church cannot cease? (Cf. par. 77. 12.) |