Montanablue
Puritan Board Doctor
One of the things that has always appealed to me about the various Presbyterian denominations is the form of government. I'm wary of church leaders abusing their power and being able to appeal the decisions of sessions before one's presbytery really appeals to me. Lately though, I've been wondering how often this actually happens and if the theory actually works in practice. Do any of you have any insights or experience with this?
A real life situation (of course) has brought on my question. I have a friend who was a member of a presbyterian church (I won't say what denomination, but everyone here would recognize it as legitimate, reformed, and biblical). In a certain situation, she feels that she was wrongly rebuked and disciplined by the session. (I won't go into details and I don't know all of them, but she does seem to have legitimate concerns about the way she was treated). She wanted to bring the issue up before the presbytery, not only to clear her own name, but also because she was concerned for others, but has been unable to do so - and its been almost a year. First, her session would not tell her the process that she needed to take. Then, after figuring it out via the church's book of church order, she was warned that she risked soiling her reputation even if she was found to be without blame. Other obstacles also seemed to be put in her way. The end result has been that she finally just gave up, deciding that it wasn't worth it, especially since she moved to another state and had joined another church in a different presbyterian denomination.
So, how difficult to you think it is to bring a charge against your session before the presbytery? How often does it happen? Can sessions block this sort of thing? It seems as though in some denominations one almost has to have the consent of the session to bring up a charge against them - which I would think could be problematic!
I would be interested in hearing about the process from people from a variety of denominations. I've never been a member of a presbyterian church (among geographic issues, I'm not paedobaptist), but I've always been interested in joining one. I love the organization, but now I wonder if the system doesn't always match up with its design.
Edit: Oh dear, I mean to post this in church order, not church office. If a mod sees this and would charitable enough to move it, I would appreciate it. Sorry guys.
A real life situation (of course) has brought on my question. I have a friend who was a member of a presbyterian church (I won't say what denomination, but everyone here would recognize it as legitimate, reformed, and biblical). In a certain situation, she feels that she was wrongly rebuked and disciplined by the session. (I won't go into details and I don't know all of them, but she does seem to have legitimate concerns about the way she was treated). She wanted to bring the issue up before the presbytery, not only to clear her own name, but also because she was concerned for others, but has been unable to do so - and its been almost a year. First, her session would not tell her the process that she needed to take. Then, after figuring it out via the church's book of church order, she was warned that she risked soiling her reputation even if she was found to be without blame. Other obstacles also seemed to be put in her way. The end result has been that she finally just gave up, deciding that it wasn't worth it, especially since she moved to another state and had joined another church in a different presbyterian denomination.
So, how difficult to you think it is to bring a charge against your session before the presbytery? How often does it happen? Can sessions block this sort of thing? It seems as though in some denominations one almost has to have the consent of the session to bring up a charge against them - which I would think could be problematic!
I would be interested in hearing about the process from people from a variety of denominations. I've never been a member of a presbyterian church (among geographic issues, I'm not paedobaptist), but I've always been interested in joining one. I love the organization, but now I wonder if the system doesn't always match up with its design.
Edit: Oh dear, I mean to post this in church order, not church office. If a mod sees this and would charitable enough to move it, I would appreciate it. Sorry guys.
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