Government
The Reformed Presbyterian uses a Presbyterian form of Church government - members of each congregation elect elders (who must be male, as this is believed to be commanded in the Bible, and who must also be members of the congregation). These elders, along with the minister or pastor of the congregation make up the "Session" of a congregation. Ministers are known as "teaching elders", others are known as "ruling elders". The teaching elder is not in authority over the ruling elders; neither are the ruling elders in authority over the teaching elder.
Read more about this topic: Reformed Presbyterian Church (denominational Group)
Famous quotes containing the word government:
“Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves are its only safe depositories.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)
“It is a maxim of wise government to treat people not as they should be but as they actually are.”
—Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749–1832)
“We have passed the time of ... the laisser-faire [sic] school which believes that the government ought to do nothing but run a police force.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)