THE CLERK'S CORNER

By Rev. Scott DeCaro

What’s a Presbyterian Anyway?

Immediately after reading that title, you’ve probably got an answer that’s already formed in your mind.

What’s a Presbyterian anyway? If you’re reading this, chances are that you are a Presbyterian, and that

means something to you. It might mean a set of beliefs – we are Presbyterians because of what we

believe about justice, about salvation, or about discipleship. It could mean a certain theology – because

I am a Presbyterian, I understand certain things to be true about God. You could call yourself

Presbyterian because of what you are not – I am not evangelical, I am not non-denominational, I am

not… Fill in the blank. Or it could be because of what you are – I am connectional, I am Protestant, I

am… Fill in the blank here as well. There is probably some truth in whatever your answer is, but all of

those answers are missing one important element that is at the heart of who we are as Presbyterians.

Simply put, we are Presbyterian because of our church government.

Believe it or not, being Presbyterian has very little to do with what you believe to be true about God or

your theology – at the heart of our denomination is our form of government. We would not be the

Presbyterian Church U.S.A. and you would not be Presbyterian if you did not participate in that form of

government. While our theology and beliefs may shape the direction we move in as a denomination

and our shared values, at the heart of who we are is how we govern ourselves as the Church. We don’t

have bishops or cardinals. We don’t have a conference. We don’t have our pastors running our

churches and making every decision pertaining to the life a congregation. That’s not who we are in

terms of our government. So, who are we, exactly? If it is our form of government that is at the heart

of who we are as Presbyterians, what does that mean for us as we live into being a newly merged

Presbytery? What does it mean to be Presbyterian beyond our beliefs and our theology?

Simply put, we are governed by our councils. Those councils are made up of Elders, which is where we

get our denomination’s name (the Greek word we take our name from is presbuteros, which is

translated as “elder”). A congregation is governed by the Session, which is formed from a group of

Ruling Elders who are elected by the congregation and usually moderated by a Teaching Elder. Our

Presbytery is governed by both Ruling Elders who are elected as commissioners from each of our

churches and by Teaching Elders. If we look at higher councils (Synod and Generally Assembly), they too

are governed by Ruling Elders and Teaching Elders who have been elected as Commissioners by the

Presbyteries. That’s incredibly different from most other denominations, which either have a top-down

model (bishops and cardinals, for example) or a congregational approach, in which just about every

decision is determined by a vote from the congregation.

When it was formed, Mountain Laurel Presbytery’s standing rules and bylaws were written intentionally

with this governmental understanding in mind. Our Presbytery is designed to have parity between

voting members in terms of Ruling Elders and Teaching Elders. Furthermore, we created a number of

committees to do the work of the entire Presbytery between Assemblies, and much like each church has

a Session which is elected to serve as the church’s governing body, our Presbytery has a Council which is

designed to handle matters of governance between Assemblies. Both the Presbytery Council and the

Presbytery’s Committees are elected with your voice and with votes from each church’s commissioners.

While different Presbyteries may handle business between assemblies in different ways, we have

chosen to place it in the hands of our Council based on our overall structure and governance – in much

the same way our churches are governed and in much the same way the Synods and General Assembly

conduct their business between meetings. Our structure and governance were intentionally designed so

that we can be better together.

As always, if you have any questions about our structure or how our business is conducted, please reach

out to me. Nothing about our structure is meant to be secretive, nor is it designed to keep people out –

it is meant to allow us to grow and serve in Christ.

In Grace and Peace,

Rev. Scott DeCaro

Stated Clerk – Mountain Laurel Presbytery