Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Ecclesiastical polity is the government of a church. There are local (congregational) forms of organization as well as denominational. A church's polity may describe its ministerial offices or an authority structure between churches. Polity relates closely to ecclesiology, the theological study of the church.
The PCA maintains the presbyterian church government set forth in its Book of Church Order. Local church officers include teaching elders, ruling elders and deacons. The BCO is based on the PCUS Book of Church Order declared it in force on May 19, 1879. [96] The distinction between pastors and elders in the PCA is a mixture of two traditions.
This general ministry of the laity has at times also been called the "lay apostolate" [1] and the "lay vocation". [2] Included in this general lay ministry are several specific ministries designed to support the Church community, such as lector/reader, extraordinary minister of Holy Communion, catechist, sponsor/godparent, spouse, parent, etc.
It is performed by most Christians, although the early church recognised that "devotion to prayer and the ministry of the word" was a special part of the role of the apostles, [2] thus distinguishing general "ministry" from the "office of minister" to which specific individuals who feel a certain vocation. [3]
Pilgrims Going to Church, a 1867 depiction of Puritans in the New England colonies, by George Henry Boughton.. The Congregational tradition was brought to America in the 1620s and 1630s by the Puritans—a Calvinistic group within the Church of England that desired to purify it of any remaining teachings and practices of the Roman Catholic Church. [6]
David MacDonald – United Church of Canada minister and a former Canadian politician and author; Doug Martindale – politician in Manitoba, Canada; member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba since 1990, serving as a member of the New Democratic Party; ordained United Church minister
Presbyterian (or presbyteral) polity is a method of church governance ("ecclesiastical polity") typified by the rule of assemblies of presbyters, or elders.Each local church is governed by a body of elected elders usually called the session (or consistory), though other terms, such as church board, may apply.
Churches with an episcopal polity are governed by bishops, practising their authorities in the dioceses and conferences or synods.Their leadership is both sacramental and constitutional; as well as performing ordinations, confirmations, and consecrations, the bishop supervises the clergy within a local jurisdiction and is the representative both to secular structures and within the hierarchy ...