Form of Governance
The Reformed Churches of New Zealand hold to the system of Presbyterian church governance. Each church has a ruling Session composed of elders, one of whom is the church’s minister (also known as the teaching elder). Churches which have no minister are said to be vacant. Each church also has deacons who are charged with maintaining the temporal well-being of church members and with alleviating social distress. In larger churches deacons meet in their own Deacons’ Courts, while in smaller churches they meet together with the rest of the Session. Only men are eligible to serve in the offices of minister, elder, and deacon.
Churches belong to one of three regional Presbyteries which meet three times per year to discuss matters of common interest and to provide mutual oversight. Churches also meet in General Synod once every three years to discuss matters of joint interest and to manage activities pertaining to the denomination. Rights of appeal are available to presbytery and synod.
Read more about this topic: Reformed Churches Of New Zealand
Famous quotes containing the words form of, form and/or governance:
“The most brutal, ugly, desperate, vicious form of expression it has been my misfortune to hear.”
—Frank Sinatra (b. 1915)
“The most absurd apology for authority and law is that they serve to diminish crime. Aside from the fact that the State is itself the greatest criminal, breaking every written and natural law, stealing in the form of taxes, killing in the form of war and capital punishment, it has come to an absolute standstill in coping with crime. It has failed utterly to destroy or even minimize the horrible scourge of its own creation.”
—Emma Goldman (1869–1940)
“He yaf me al the bridel in myn hand,
To han the governance of hous and land,
And of his tonge and his hand also;”
—Geoffrey Chaucer (1340?–1400)