A session (from the Latin word sessio , which means "to sit", as in sitting to deliberate or talk about something; sometimes called consistory or church board ) is a body of elected elders governing a particular church within presbyterian polity .
21-768: These groups of elders make decisions for the local parish through a ruling body called the Kirk session ( Latin . sessio from sedere "to sit"), sometimes the Session , church session, or (in Continental Reformed usage) consistory . The members of the session are the pastor (Teaching Elder) of that congregation, and the other ruling elders (sometimes called " lay elders"). Elders are ordained for life, so if they are subsequently elected or appointed to Sessions at later points in their lives, they are inducted, there being no second ordination. In most denominations,
42-555: A proper noun , the Kirk is an informal name for the Church of Scotland , the country's national church and this term is frequently used in the media, in everyday speech and in the church's own literature. The Kirk of Scotland was in official use as the name of the Church of Scotland until the 17th century. Kirk Session is still the standard term in church law for the court of elders in
63-581: A part of spoken Gaelic in the Highlands or Ireland. When the element appears in placenames of the former British empire, a distinction can be made between those where the element is productive ( named after a church) or transferred – from a place in Britain. Kirkland , a city in the United States, is an exception, being named after the surname of an English settler, Peter Kirk . The element kirk
84-486: A separate "Congregational Board", "Deacons' court" or "Management Committee" which deals with financial details and the maintenance of the property. The financial board thus relieves the Session of much routine responsibility but remains under the direction of the Session. Kirk Sessions remains the first court of the presbyterian church. They are under the jurisdiction of the presbytery of the bounds to which they commission
105-548: Is also used in anglicisations of continental European place names, originally formed from one of the continental Germanic cognates. Dunkirk ( French Flanders ) is a rendering of Dutch West-Flemish dialect of Duunkerke or standard Dutch form of Duinkerke . Kirk is also in use as both a surname and a male forename. For lists of these, see Kirk (surname) and Kirk (given name) , and also Kirkby (disambiguation) . Parallels in other languages are far rarer than with placenames, but English Church and German Kirch can also be
126-647: The Anglican Communion . The first court of Presbyterian polity where the Elders of a particular congregation gather as a Session or meeting to govern the spiritual and temporal affairs of the church. The verb to kirk , meaning 'to present in church', was probably first used for the annual church services of some Scottish town councils, known as the Kirking of the Council . Since the re-establishment of
147-553: The Church of Scotland , the Scottish national church that developed from the 16th-century Reformation . Many place names and personal names are derived from kirk . As a common noun , kirk (meaning 'church') is found in Scots , Scottish English , Ulster-Scots and some English dialects , attested as a noun from the 14th century onwards, but as an element in placenames much earlier. Both words, kirk and church , derive from
168-519: The High Kirk of Glasgow , and St. Giles' Cathedral , as well as the High Kirk of Edinburgh . The term "High Kirk", however, should be used with some caution. Several towns have a congregation known as the High Kirk that were never pre-Reformation cathedrals. Examples include: There is no connection between the term 'High Kirk' and the term ' High Church ', which is a type of Churchmanship within
189-597: The Koine Greek κυριακόν (δωμα) (kyriakon (dōma)) meaning Lord's (house) , which was borrowed into the Germanic languages in late antiquity, possibly in the course of the Gothic missions . (Only a connection with the idiosyncrasies of Gothic explains how a Greek neuter noun became a Germanic feminine). Whereas church displays Old English palatalisation , kirk is a loanword from Old Norse and thus retains
210-569: The Moderator of the Kirk Session sits as a chairman of the elders primus inter pares . The person who takes minutes for the Session and maintains all of the church's ledgers of membership, births, baptisms, deaths, and elders is known as the Clerk of Session . However, the role takes on a special significance well beyond its stated duties. In leadership and influence across the congregation,
231-1114: The Scottish Parliament in 1999, the Kirking of the Parliament has become a fixed ceremony at the beginning of a session. Historically a newly married couple would attend public worship as husband and wife for the first time at their kirking. In Nova Scotia, Kirking of the Tartan ceremonies have become an integral part of most Scottish Festivals and Highland Games. Kirk is found mainly as an element in many placenames of Scotland , England and countries of large British expatriate communities. Scottish examples include Falkirk , Kirkwall and numerous Kirkhills and Kirktons . Examples in England are Ormskirk and Kirkby in Lancashire, and Kirkstall , Kirklees and Kirklevington in Yorkshire. Newkirk, Oklahoma state of
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#1732783910666252-578: The Disruption in 1843, when about a third of the Auld Kirk of Scotland left to form the Free Kirk. The Free Kirkers, who had sometimes given up homes as well as church buildings and started financially from scratch, were taunted with the rhyme: “ The Free Kirk, the wee Kirk, the Kirk without the steeple ”. This rhyme linking the Free Kirk with the derogatory diminutive "wee" was offensive, and a reply
273-607: The Session Clerk is a partner with the Minister and often speaks for the Congregation and Elders in offering words of guidance and encouragement to the Minister as well as being the key to marshalling resources and support to implement the Minister's projects. Kirk Kirk is a Scottish and former Northern English word meaning 'church'. The term the Kirk is often used informally to refer specifically to
294-580: The United States, is another example. The element only found in place names of Anglo-Saxon origin but also in Anglo-Gaelic Southern Scottish names such as Kirkcudbright , a place around a Cudbright church. Here, the Gaelic element cil- (coming from a monk's cell) might have been expected to go with the Gaelic form of Cuthbert . The reason appears to be that kirk was borrowed into local Galwegian , it does not seem to have been
315-454: The congregation and their families. In the pastoral function, elders rarely bring issues to Session meetings, resolving them privately or with the aid of the minister or other counsellor. In executive function a number of Sessions have complete authority (under presbytery) for the ordering of all business, spiritual and temporal, of their congregation. This condition is known in the Church of Scotland as " quoad omnia ". Other congregations have
336-472: The local congregation, both in the Church of Scotland and in any of the other Scottish Presbyterian denominations. Even more commonly, The Free Kirk is heard as an informal name for the Free Church of Scotland , the remnant of an evangelical presbyterian church formed in 1843 when its founders withdrew from the Church of Scotland. See: A pair of rhyming jibes remain from the time of the heated split of
357-524: The minister and at least one ruling elder. The minister is not a member of the congregation but of the presbytery, thus he or she is under the spiritual oversight of the presbytery. The members of the congregation, including the ruling elders, are under the spiritual oversight of the Kirk Session. This is a practical manifestation of the Protestant doctrine of the priesthood of all believers and as all elders are ordained, some to rule and others to teach,
378-474: The original mainland Germanic consonants. Compare cognates : Icelandic & Faroese kirkja ; Swedish kyrka (where the first ‘k’ was later palatalized as well); Norwegian ( Nynorsk ) kyrkje ; Danish and Norwegian ( Bokmål ) kirke ; Dutch and Afrikaans kerk ; German Kirche (reflecting palatalization before unstressed front vowel); West Frisian tsjerke ; and borrowed into non-Germanic languages Estonian kirik and Finnish kirkko . As
399-403: The pastor and associate pastor have a vote as members of the session on any matters. However, the pastor will often refrain from voting except in tie situations. The Pastor is not a voting member of the congregation. The elders who are members of Session have both executive powers as a group and pastoral responsibility. Many elders will be in regular pastoral contact with a group of the members of
420-646: The pastor serves as Moderator of the Session and thus convenes or presides over the session. All elders have an equal vote in the session. In some denominations, the pastor is given no vote. However, in a sitting body of an even number or with a quorum of the session counted, the pastor can break a tie with a casting vote. In the Polity of the Presbyterian Church (USA) and the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (United States) ,
441-562: Was devised in: The Auld Kirk, the cauld Kirk. The Kirk wi’out the people . High Kirk is the term sometimes used to describe a congregation of the Church of Scotland that uses a building that had been a cathedral prior to the Reformation . As the Church of Scotland is not governed by bishops , it has no cathedrals in the episcopal sense of the word. In more recent times, the traditional names have been revived, so that in many cases both forms can be heard: Glasgow Cathedral , as well as
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