Staff members and voting?

[Notthemama1984]

I had a discussion with someone yesterday and they mentioned that the pastor does not have a vote in elder meetings. Is this common practice among the various denominations or just something unique they do?

Just curious.

Thanks in advance

 

[SeanPatrickCornell]

Reformed Baptist here:

Our church has a "Board" comprised of all the elders (currently three, Pastor included) and deacons (currently one, but soon to be two).

Some things are decided by the board. Each man on the board gets one equal vote.

Some things are decided by the congregation. Each member of the "board" is also a member of the congregation, and each gets one equal vote, Pastor included.

 

[Edward]

In most Presbyterian denominations, the senior Pastor would be chairing the meeting and should get a tie-breaking vote. (With a caveat that they should seriously reconsider if they should take an action if the rest of the board is evenly split). Not having the teaching elder as a full member of the board sounds like it must just be a Baptist thing.

 

[Guido's Brother]

In Reformed churches, the minister is a member of the consistory and therefore votes on every issue that comes before it (unless there's a conflict of interest).

 

[GulfCoast Presbyterian]

The EPC BOO 18-2.A.1 says, “The Pastor shall be the Moderator and is a voting member of the Session.” However, the Pastor casting a vote was always considered a bit of a "no-no," and the Pastor would generally not vote unless there was a tie. Which leads to the maxim: "if it’s going to be a tie we probably aren’t of one mind and we need to talk about it more, and not vote right now." So, in my experience in PCUSA (for what that is worth) and the EPC, the Pastor certainly "may" vote, but typically does not. your mileage may vary.