Presbyterian Polity 101
The Constitution of the PCUSA comes in two volumes: the Book of Confessions and the Book of Order. The Book of Order (BO) is composed of three parts abbreviated by the use of capital letters: G – Form of Government; W – Directory for Worship and D – Rules of Discipline. Chapters and sections in each part of the Book of Order are represented by decimal numbers in the form (0.0000).
In the Book of Order, W-4.9001 stands for Directory of Worship, Chapter 4, section .9000, part .0001.
A session is a congregation’s council made up of the pastor(s) of the church (teaching elder[s]) and all elders (ruling elders) elected and installed to active service.
A presbytery is formed by all the congregations and the teaching elders in a geographic area together with elders selected (proportional to congregation size) from each of the congregations.
The General Assembly (GA) is the highest council of the PCUSA. It consists of commissioners elected by presbyteries, and its voting membership is proportioned with parity between teaching elders and ruling elders.
Overtures are pieces of legislation sent to the General Assembly to revise the Book of Confessions and the Book of Order and may include non-legislative issues of theological or social justice concern to the wider church.
Overture Hearings are public hearings on the overtures in General Assembly committees.
Overture Advocates are representatives chosen by the presbytery to advocate for their overtures in General Assembly committees.
A simple majority of the presbyteries is needed to ratify (approve) an amendment (change) to the Book of Order. A two-thirds majority is needed to make changes to the Book of Confessions.
LGBT Related Overtures
Pro-LGBT Overtures | Oppositional Overtures
Presbyterian Church (USA) Tracking of Overtures
Track All Overtures:
PC-Biz Overture Search (click "search" at PC-Biz)
Track by Committee:
PC-Biz Committee Search (click committee name at left at PC-Biz)
Key committees to watch include:
[05] Mid Councils Review
[06] Church Polity
[07] Church Orders and Ministry
[08] Authoritative Interpretation Review
[13] Civil Union and Marriage Issues
[18] Confessions of the Church
[20] Board of Pensions, Foundation, Presbyterian Publishing
