Status Quo

Hope is a Mission Church. That means we are governed by a group of elders from our presbytery (regional body of government). Hope started as a Mission Church in March of 2008. We are a Church Plant of Westminster Reformed Presbyterian Church in Suffolk, VA. While Hope does govern the normal day-to-day issues of our church, major decisions are currently made by the group of elders given to us by Presbytery.

Getting Our Own Elders

The Scriptures state that Jesus gives elders to his Church to lead, watch over, and care for the members of his Church through preaching and teaching God’s word, administering the Sacraments, exercising government and discipline, and setting an example to those under their care. Elders can lead and serve as Teaching Elders or as Ruling Elders. Teaching Elders are ordained ministers while Ruling Elders are members of the church, gifted and called to govern the church. Churches without ruling elders in the Presbyterian Church in America (hereafter, PCA) are called Mission churches. Hope is a Mission church. Mission churches are churches without a permanent governing body. That is, they don’t have what the PCA calls a Session (collection of duly elected elders). Hope is currently governed by a commission from Presbytery (which is our regional body of elders). Since the governing structure of a mission church is temporary, one of the goals of a mission church is to elect Ruling Elders that will, with the Teaching Elders, make up the Session. When this happens, the mission church can be organized into a particular (self-governing) church by the Presbytery.

Training, Nominating, and Electing Ruling Elders

Prior to electing men to serve as ruling elders, the men must be trained and nominated. The process for doing so is described, in detail, in one part of the PCA’s constitution, The Book of Church Order (which can be found at www.pcaac.org, hereafter, BCO). A summary of the process for a mission church only, taken from BCO chapter 5, section 9, follows: “All men of the mission church (unless they decline) shall receive instruction in the qualifications and work of the office of ruling elder.” Men that have completed the training and desire to be examined will be examined by a group of teaching and ruling elders from the Presbytery on these subjects:

Their Christian experience, their knowledge of the Bible, their knowledge and acceptance of the BCO, especially related to the systems of government and discipline in the church. Their knowledge and acceptance of the system of doctrine found in the Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechism. Their knowledge and acceptance of the duties of the office of ruling elder. Their willingness to assent to the questions required for ordination, found in BCO, chapter 24, sec. 5. A list of the men found qualified will then be submitted to the members of the church. From that list, members (people who have actually joined Hope) will nominate men they believe should serve the church as ruling elders. At a congregational meeting, the members present will vote on the nominees. Those receiving a majority vote of those members present will be elected to the office of ruling elder. Once a church elects a permanent governing body, the church is no longer a mission church and is now considered a particular church.

Service of Organization

Once ruling elders are elected and a minister called, the ruling elders will need to be ordained and installed and the minister will need to be installed. This takes place in a service of organization The Church will also be organized into a particular congregation of the PCA at this service.

Your Responsibility

Your responsibilities include these things; first, pray for our Church and for those who are going to be our Elders. Second, participate in the process. You can’t participate in the process if you are not a member of Hope. If you’ve been putting off joining, put it off no longer. You don’t want to miss being a part of this. Third, when the times comes, nominate those men who would watch over our congregation with Biblical wisdom, and when the time comes to vote, vote for those who would make great Elders. This process has already started at Hope. Our training for prospective Elders ends in April and we may be ready to choose our own Elders as soon as May! Please pray for Hope as we more toward becoming a self-sustaining, self-governing Church.