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Form Of Presbyterial Church Government
''The Form of Presbyterial Church Government'' is a document drawn up by the Westminster Assembly dealing with Presbyterian polity. It forms part of the Westminster Standards, and was adopted by the Church of Scotland in 1645. Contents Church officers ''The Form of Presbyterial Church Government'' describes four church officers: pastors, teachers/doctors, elders, and deacons. The pastor is a "Minister (Christianity), minister of the gospel", while the doctor is a minister who "doth more excel in exposition of scripture, in teaching sound doctrine and convincing gainsayers than he doth in application". The doctors are thus essentially theological professors, "of most excellent use in schools and universities". The Elder (Christianity), elder is distinguished from the minister, and has the role of church governance, while the deacon is "to take special care in distributing to the necessities of the poor." Church structure ''The Form of Presbyterial Church Government'' describes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Church (congregation)
A church (or local church) is a religious organization or congregation that meets in a particular location, often for Christian worship, worship. Many are formally organized, with constitutions and by-laws, maintain offices, are served by clergy or lay leaders, and, in nations where this is permissible, often seek non-profit corporate status. Local churches often relate with, affiliate with, or consider themselves to be constitutive parts of Christian denomination, denominations, which are also called churches in many traditions. Depending on the tradition, these organizations may connect local churches to larger church traditions, ordination, ordain and defrock clergy, define terms of membership and exercise church discipline, and have organizations for cooperative ministry such as educational institutions and Christian mission, missionary societies. Non-denominational churches are not part of denominations, but may consider themselves part of larger church movements without i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Presbyterian Church Organisation
Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Presbyterian'' is applied to churches that trace their roots to the Church of Scotland or to English Dissenter groups that were formed during the English Civil War, 1642 to 1651. Presbyterian theology typically emphasises the sovereignty of God, the authority of the Scriptures, and the necessity of grace through faith in Christ. Scotland ensured Presbyterian church government in the 1707 Acts of Union, which created the Kingdom of Great Britain. In fact, most Presbyterians in England have a Scottish connection. The Presbyterian denomination was also taken to North America, Australia, and New Zealand, mostly by Scots and Scots-Irish immigrants. Scotland's Presbyterian denominations hold to the Reformed theology of John Calvin and his im ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
17th-century Christian Texts
The 17th century lasted from January 1, 1601 (represented by the Roman numerals MDCI), to December 31, 1700 (MDCC). It falls into the early modern period of Europe and in that continent (whose impact on the world was increasing) was characterized by the Baroque cultural movement, the latter part of the Spanish Golden Age, the Dutch Golden Age, the French '' Grand Siècle'' dominated by Louis XIV, the Scientific Revolution, the world's first public company and megacorporation known as the Dutch East India Company, and according to some historians, the General Crisis. From the mid-17th century, European politics were increasingly dominated by the Kingdom of France of Louis XIV, where royal power was solidified domestically in the civil war of the Fronde. The semi-feudal territorial French nobility was weakened and subjugated to the power of an absolute monarchy through the reinvention of the Palace of Versailles from a hunting lodge to a gilded prison, in which a greatly exp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Hooker
Richard Hooker (25 March 1554 – 2 November 1600) was an English priest in the Church of England and an influential theologian.''The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church'' by F. L. Cross (Editor), E. A. Livingstone (Editor) Oxford University Press, USA; 3 edition p.789 (13 March 1997) He was one of the most important English theologians of the sixteenth century.Breward, Ian. "Hooker, Richard" in J. D. Douglas. ''The New International Dictionary of the Christian Church'' Exeter: The Paternoster Press (1974) His defence of the role of redeemed reason informed the theology of the seventeenth-century Caroline Divines and later provided many members of the Church of England with a theological method which combined the claims of revelation, reason and tradition. Scholars disagree regarding Hooker's relationship with what would later be called "Anglicanism" and the Reformed theological tradition. Traditionally, he has been regarded as the originator of the Anglican '' via med ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ministers And Elders Of The Church Of Scotland
A Church of Scotland congregation is led by its minister and elders. Both of these terms are also used in other Christian denominations: see Minister (Christianity) and Elder (Christianity). This article discusses the specific understanding of their roles and functions in the Scottish Church. Terminology The Greek term , used in the New Testament as a designation for the leaders of the Early Church (e.g. Acts 11.30), has three different equivalents in English: ''elder'', '' presbyter'' and ''priest''. ''Priest'' is the oldest, a borrowing into Old English via Latin, ''elder'' (first attested 1526) is a translation of the underlying meaning of the Greek word, and ''presbyter'' (1597) is a learned correction of the loan-word. However, the semantics of ''priest'' are complicated by the fact that it is traditionally used also as the translation of a different New Testament Greek word, , which refers to those who perform sacrificial rites in the Jerusalem temple and in paga ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ordination
Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform various religious rites and ceremonies. The process and ceremonies of ordination vary by religion and denomination. One who is in preparation for, or who is undergoing the process of ordination is sometimes called an ordinand. The liturgy used at an ordination is commonly found in a book known as an Order of Mass, Ordinal which provides the ordo (ritual and rubrics) for celebrations. Christianity Catholic, Orthodox, Lutheran and Anglican churches In Catholicism and Orthodoxy, ordination is one of the seven sacraments, variously called holy orders or ''Christian laying on of hands, cheirotonia'' ("Laying on of Hands"). Apostolic succession is considered an essential and necessary concept ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Presbytery (church Polity)
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.For example, the Church of the Nazarene, which subscribes to a body of religious doctrines that are quite distinct from those of most properly named Presbyterian denominations (and which instead descends historically from the Wesleyan Holiness Movement), employs a blend of congregationalist, episcopal, and presbyterian polities; its local churches are governed by an elected body known as the church board or simply "board members"; the term elder in the Nazarene Church has a different use entirely, referring to an ordained minister of that denomination. Groups of local churches are governed by a higher assembly of elders known as the presbytery or classis; presby ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Westminster Assembly
The Westminster Assembly of Divines was a council of Divinity (academic discipline), divines (theologians) and members of the English Parliament appointed from 1643 to 1653 to restructure the Church of England. Several Scots also attended, and the Assembly's work was adopted by the Church of Scotland. As many as 121 ministers were called to the Assembly, with nineteen others added later to replace those who did not attend or could no longer attend. It produced a new Form of Presbyterial Church Government, Form of Church Government, a Westminster Confession of Faith, Confession of Faith or statement of belief, two catechisms or manuals for religious instruction (Westminster Shorter Catechism, Shorter and Westminster Larger Catechism, Larger), and a liturgical manual, the ''Directory for Public Worship'', for the Churches of England and Scotland. The Confession and catechisms were adopted as doctrinal standards in the Church of Scotland and other Presbyterian churches, where they ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Deacon
A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian denominations, such as the Catholic Church, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, the Eastern Orthodox Church, Lutheranism, Presbyterianism, Methodism, and Anglicanism, view the diaconate as an order of ministry. Permanent deacons (or distinctive deacons) are those who do not later transition to another form of ministry, in contrast to those continuing their formation who are then often called transitional deacons. Origin and development The word ''deacon'' is derived from the Greek word (), which is a standard ancient Greek word meaning "servant", "waiter", "minister", or "messenger". Recent research has highlighted the role of the deacon "as a co-operator" and "go-between," emphasizing their intermediary position in early Christian communities. It is generally assum ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elder (Christianity)
In Christianity, an elder is a person who is valued for wisdom and holds a position of responsibility and authority in a Christian group. In some Christian traditions (e.g., Eastern Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism, Anglicanism, Methodism) an ''elder'' is an ordained person who serves a local church or churches and who has been ordained to a ministry of word, sacrament and order, filling the preaching and pastoral offices. In other Christian traditions (e.g., Presbyterianism, Churches of Christ, Plymouth Brethren), an elder may be a lay person serving as an administrator in a local congregation, or be ordained and serving in preaching (teaching during church gatherings) or pastoral roles. There is a distinction between ordained elders and lay elders. The two concepts may be conflated in everyday conversation (for example, a lay elder in the Baptist tradition may be referred to as "clergy", especially in America). In non-Christian world cultures the term elder refers to age and exper ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
