Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Lesson 04 - Tradition - What is a Presbyterian?


Presbyterian – what does it mean and where did the word come from?

‘Presbyterian’ is a name given to specific Christians who are Reformed Protestants. It can also refer to the type of church where Reformed traditions are practiced.
e.g.        People who join Erin Church are called Presbyterians.
                Erin Church is part of the PC(USA) Presbyterian denomination.
        People at Erin Presbyterian Church worship God according to Reformed practices.

The word ‘Presbyterian’ has its roots in an old word ‘presbuteros,’ which is the original New Testament Greek word for ‘elder’. Presbyterian churches usually have elders who both lead and serve the congregation to which they belong. At Erin, we have many people who have served as elders. Our Session has currently 20 elders – 19 ruling elders, including the Session Clerk, and one teaching elder – the Pastor.

How many elders in our church can you name?
________________________________________
________________________________________
________________________________________
________________________________________
________________________________________
________________________________________    

What do you think that a ruling elder does?
__________________________________________

What do you think that a teaching elder does?
____________________________________________
At Erin, our elders meet once per month on the third Thursday evening in the Heritage Room to discuss what’s happening in our church and to make decisions on behalf of the congregation. The pastor chairs the meeting and is called the Moderator of the Session.

What kind of decisions do you think our elders make at the Session meeting? Why is it important to have a group of people make decisions for the whole church?
_________________________________________________

Handout the Booklet: History of the Presbyterian Church

Presbyterians began as a protesting movement against the Roman Catholic Church in the 16th century. A Frenchman, John Calvin, began the movement, which was originally called “Calvinism.” He suggested that local churches could rule themselves without bishops, cardinals, or popes. Groups of these churches in the same region could meet together on a regular basis to support one another. 

These meetings were called Presbyteries. Erin Presbyterian is part of the Presbytery of East Tennessee.

Let’s watch a video of the Presbytery of East Tennessee

According to the video, what is Presbytery and what does it do?
­­­­­­­_________________________________________________________

Presbyteries that group together to meet twice a year are called Synods. We are in the Synod of the Living Waters. Here is a map of the Synod


Our Synod meets twice per year to discuss mission projects mainly connected to supplying clean water in different parts of our country and around the world.

General Assembly

The largest meeting of elders in our denomination takes place every two years at a different location. Hundreds of ruling and teaching elders gather together to make important decisions about the Church’s life, work, and ministry in our nation and throughout the world. Youth delegates from each Presbytery are also chosen to attend the meeting and their opinions about the whole church are very important for the future of our denomination.

Let’s watch a video of how our system as Presbyterians in the PCUSA actually works:

The Constitution of the PC(USA) is made up of two books:
The Book of Confessions
The Book of Common Order

So, what is a Presbyterian?
­­­­­­_________________________________________
___________________________________________
___________________________________________


­­­­­­­­­­­­­Any other questions?

Your Bible assignment for this week is to read the chapters 7 & 8 of the Gospel of Mark, as well as completing the question sheet. Bring it back to our next meeting. Our next meeting takes place on Sunday February 28 at 4:45PM.

Finish with prayer.


No comments:

Post a Comment