The Church Order
An Introduction
The Protestant Reformed Churches use the Church Order adopted by the Synod of Dordt, modified in harmony with the principles of the Church Order itself, to serve the needs of the churches in North America and in modern life.
The church order is an application of scriptural and confessional principles and doctrine to the life of the churches. These doctrinal principles themselves do not change. The circumstances of life however are subject to change. The church order was designed from the beginning to be able to be modified to fit the needs of the church in the world.
The church order is the mutually agreed upon order of practice in the life of the churches, the rules governing church fellowship, and the means for the maintaining of good order and unity in the life of the churches.
While the Reformed church order is similar to the Westminster standards in doctrine, and is presbyterial in church government, there are also subtle differences in application and approach. This is particularly true in the development in history of the church order through the various trials of secession and denominational separation that have been found among both reformed churches and presbyterian churches.
Perhaps the most notable difference is that the local consistory in a Reformed church is the original authoritative presbytery. It is not a session of a broader regional presbytery. The regional assembly in reformed churches is the Classis which is a broader gathering of the churches, having derived authority. The same is true of the broader assembly, the synod. This issue comes to expression in the doctrinal principle of the autonomy of the local church, or congregation, as the original body of elders.
Articles of the Church Order
(As revised by synod of 2000)
Divided by sections