Dear HPF,

This is the first in a short series of letters to help our congregation get ready for beginning the election and ordination of our own local governing body, called the Session. If any or all of the words in that previous sentence are new and/or confusing to you, then these letters are for you!

Our church is part of a denomination called the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA). As such, we are different from other Christian denominations in 2 distinct ways: theology and government. This is not a letter about theology, but if you’ve been with us for some time hopefully you’ve gotten a good taste of what we believe about ‘Life, the Universe, and Everything’. But even if you’ve been around a while you may not have picked up much on how we organize ourselves, which is our form of government or ‘polity’. 

‘Presbyterian’ comes from a Greek word in the New Testament which usually translates in English to ‘elders’. We are a church who is ruled by elders. The other two major church governments are Bishop led (Anglican, Catholic) and congregational (Baptist and most non-denominational churches). In his New Testament letters to churches, the Apostle Paul often instructs the church to elect elders from among themselves. He gives explicit instructions as to the type of men these are to be (more on that next week). And to these elders, even more instruction and responsibility is laid in the New Testament writings. While there are no formal outlines in the Scriptures for the governing of a church, we can arrive at this structure through discernment and reason, which is why we practice leadership by locally elected elders from among the congregation. In this way, we are much like the United States government, in that we are governed by representatives. 

In the end, what we have are trained and ordained (set aside for a special purpose) elders who are elected by the congregation. When these men meet together on behalf of the church they form what we call the Session, whose job it is to oversee the worship, fellowship, and mission of the church. The elders are part of the regional governing body of our denomination, which is called a presbytery. Our presbytery runs from Lafayette, GA up to Morristown, TN and is called the Tennessee Valley Presbytery. We meet 4 times a year to do the business of the presbytery. And the elders of our denomination meet altogether once a year at our General Assembly to make decisions that affect the way we relate as presbyteries and individual churches.

While this may all feel dry and pointless, I would like to point out just one of the benefits of belonging to this denomination. Our church knows more than many others how important the structure of related churches can be in times of crisis. We have been helped and steadied by sister churches in our presbytery through financial contributions, loaned elders, pulpit supply, and strong relational support. If it weren’t for our denominational structures and relationships it is very likely that our church would have folded following the resignation of our founding pastor in January of 2023. Personally, as a pastor, I rely on the wisdom, prayers, and friendship of my fellow elders in our presbytery and in our national denomination. While there will always be parts of a large structure that present difficulties, I believe the benefits of our denomination far outweigh the liabilities.

Next week our Snapshot email will contain a letter concerning the character and qualifications for an elder in the local church. Below you will find a timeline of the process we will officially begin in January. Please feel free to reach out to me or our loaned elders, Greg and John, if you have any questions about our church or this process.

On behalf of the Session of HPF,

Pastor Corby Shields
corby@hpfellowship.org

Elders
Dr. John Forman: johnwformanmd@gmail.com
Greg Duble: cruiserking95@gmail.com

Timeline

January 5–19 Nominations Open
Week of January 20: Nominating Committee Meets
Week of January 27: First training meeting (1of 6)
February: weekly training meetings
February 8: Petition presbytery for particularization
Week of March 2: Final training meeting
Early March weekend: Whole Church Retreat
March 15: HPF Session tests candidates who have completed training
March 23: Congregation is presented with ballot of slate of elders
April 20: (Easter Sunday) congregational meeting to vote on slate of elders
May 4: Particularization Service in the evening