Stephen Orchard Moderator United Reformed Church General Assembly 2007

The moderator of the General Assembly is the

chairperson The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a Board of directors, board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by ...

of a

General Assembly A general assembly or general meeting is a meeting of all the members of an organization or shareholders of a company. Specific examples of general assembly include: Churches * General Assembly (presbyterian church), the highest court of presby ...

, the highest court of a

Presbyterian 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 ''Pr ...

Reformed Reform is beneficial change. Reform, reformed or reforming may also refer to: Media * ''Reform'' (album), a 2011 album by Jane Zhang * Reform (band), a Swedish jazz fusion group * ''Reform'' (magazine), a Christian magazine Places * Reform, Al ...

church.

Kirk session A session (from the Latin word ''sessio'', which means "to sit", as in sitting to deliberate or talk about something; sometimes called ''consistory'' or ''church board'') is a body of elected elders governing a particular church within presbyte ...

s and presbyteries may also style the chairperson as moderator. The Oxford Dictionary states that a Moderator may be a "Presbyterian minister presiding over an ecclesiastical body". Presbyterian churches are ordered by a

presbyterian 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 ...

, including a hierarchy of councils or courts of elders, from the local church (kirk) Session through presbyteries (and perhaps

synod A synod () is a council of a Christian denomination, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. The word '' synod'' comes from the Ancient Greek () ; the term is analogous with the Latin word . Originally, ...

s) to a General Assembly. The moderator presides over the meeting of the court, much as a

convener The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a Board of directors, board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by ...

presides over the meeting of a church committee. The moderator is thus the chairperson, and is understood to be a member of the court acting . The moderator calls and constitutes meetings, presides at them, and closes them in prayer. The moderator has a casting, but not a deliberative vote. During a meeting, the title ''moderator'' is used by all other members of the court as a form of address, but this may not be continued outside the meetings. Thus this convention expresses deference to the authority of the court rather than an honour for the moderator as an individual. Many moderators act as ambassadors for their general assembly when it is not sitting, and visit many of the local churches in their denomination..

Examples

A principal example of a Moderator of the General Assembly is that of the

Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland (CoS; ; ) is a Presbyterian denomination of Christianity that holds the status of the national church in Scotland. It is one of the country's largest, having 245,000 members in 2024 and 259,200 members in 2023. While mem ...

, the current

Moderator of the General Assembly The moderator of the General Assembly is the Chair (official), chairperson of a General Assembly (presbyterian church), General Assembly, the highest court of a Presbyterian or Calvinism, Reformed church. Kirk sessions and presbytery (church pol ...

is Lord Wallace of Tankerness. According to the Church of Scotland

''"The Moderator—who moderates, or chairs, the annual General Assembly—is nominated by a committee which consists of 15 representatives elected by the General Assembly. The Moderator must also be formally elected by commissioners at the start of the Assembly. The honorary office is held for one year only. Following the week of the General Assembly, the Moderator acts as an ambassador for the Church of Scotland, frequently being invited to represent the Church at official events at home and abroad."''

Additionally, within the Church of Scotland, there are individual positions for Moderator at Kirk and Presbytery level (see

Moderators and clerks in the Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland maintains a presbyterian polity and is thus governed by a hierarchy of bodies known as church courts. Each of these courts has a moderator and a clerk. Moderators The moderator presides over the meeting of the court, much as ...

). In another example, in the

Presbyterian Church in Ireland The Presbyterian Church in Ireland (PCI; ; Ulster Scots dialects, Ulster-Scots: ''Prisbytairin Kirk in Airlann'') is the largest Presbyterian denomination in the Republic of Ireland, and the largest Protestant denomination in Northern Ireland. ...

, the

Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland The moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland is the most senior office-bearer within the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, which is Northern Ireland's largest Protestant denomination. Role of moderator The moderato ...

is nominated and elected by the Church's 19 regional presbyteries. The official role involves acting as the Moderator or Chairman of the General Assembly, overseeing the debates and allowing resolutions to be put to the church house for voting. The Moderator serves as the primary public representative for both the General Assembly and the entire church. Other national examples, with equivalent elected chairs in united churches with Presbyterian roots, include the

Moderator of the United Church of Canada The Moderator of the United Church of Canada is the most senior elected official within the United Church of Canada. He or she may be a lay person or a member of the clergy, Order of Ministry and is elected to a three-year term by commissioners ...

and the President of Assembly of the

Uniting Church in Australia The Uniting Church in Australia (UCA) is a united church in Australia. The church was founded on 22 June 1977 when most Wiktionary:congregation, congregations of the Methodist Church of Australasia, about two-thirds of the Presbyterian Church o ...

United churches

In each of the

united Church A united church, also called a uniting church, is a denomination formed from the merger or other form of church union of two or more different Protestantism, Protestant Christian denominations, a number of which come from separate and distinc ...

es of South India, of North India, of Pakistan and of Bangladesh (which all have Presbyterian roots), one of the diocesan bishops is elected Moderator of the Synod (i.e. the national governing body) for a fixed term — another is elected Vice-Moderator. The Moderator (for their term) is ranked with Moderator of the General Assembly in the Presbyterian Churches and with the national primates of Anglican churches. It is styled ''

The Most Reverend The Most Reverend (abbreviated as The Most Revd or The Most Rev) is an honorific style (form of address), style given to certain (primarily Western Christian, Western) Christian clergy and Christian minister, ministers. It is a variant of the mor ...

''.

References

Sources

*{{CathEncy, wstitle=Presbyterianism, first=J. A., last=McHugh

External links

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 ...

, 1645 ''"The Form of Presbyterial Church-Government"'' online a
reformed.org
Presbyterian Church organisation Ecclesiastical titles Presbyterian ministers

Examples

United churches

See also

References

Sources

External links