What is the presbytery meeting? It is a meeting of regional leadership to do the business of the church. Voting members of presbytery are composed of the teaching elders (pastors) who hold their credentials and membership in the presbytery as well as the ruling elders who are sent by their churches are representatives. At presbytery meeting “presbyters” (the participating elders) give and hear important reports relating the ministries of the presbytery and their churches, deal with church discipline, examine candidates for gospel ministry, and deal with other important matters. Many also gather for times of worship, prayer, and fellowship as part of the meetings.
Most Presbyterian denominations distinguish between teaching and ruling elders but would emphasize that they are both part of the same office: that of elder. In other words, there is a parity of authority that inheres in the office – both teaching and ruling elders exercise governance over a local church. In addition to parity, there is a plurality within the leadership of the church. Biblically speaking, a local church ought to have more than one elder (preferably several) forming a governing body called a session. The session gives oversight to the church, is nominated and elected by the members, and is responsible for shepherding and caring for the spiritual needs of the flock.
Much could be said about Presbyterianism, but I hope this is a good summary to put the presbytery meeting into context. Usually, there are several presbytery meetings per year and they generally choose a different location each meeting.
The most recent presbytery meeting of the Presbyterian Church in Belize took place at St. Andrews Presbyterian Church in Belize City on Saturday, January 27th. We heard a report from the hosting church which was given by Pastor Ernest Betson in which he shared about the wonderful things the Lord is doing in their midst and updated us on prayer requests and some of their needs.
Other news included how God is working to open a new work in the capital city of Belmopan. The session of St. Andrews has taken steps to start a church plant there. There is a core group of people who have been meeting for about a year and a half on Thursday evenings for prayer and Bible study. God has amazingly provided property in a great location in the city and they have already placed a storage building with bathrooms and a tent on the already existing foundation as a place for them to worship. They hope to begin worship services on Sunday afternoons soon. They are facing some delays having to do with paperwork and city regulations, but hopefully they will work that out quickly. Please pray for Pastor Betson and for our MTW teammates John and Karen Stodghill as they are deeply involved.
Another significant development was a report by the presbytery´s commission on education. I am part of the board of RLIB (Reformed Leadership Institute of Belize), which is the denomination´s effort at fostering theological education. Among other things, we have been working with the commission on education to develop a list of curriculum necessary for future candidates to gospel ministry (aspiring pastors) to fulfill before coming for ordination exams. Praise God that we are making progress and presented our “rough draft” to the presbytery. They gave good feedback and now we will continue to develop the curriculum and our plans to help our current candidate proceed in his studies.
Please be praying for the work of the Lord through the ongoing ministries of church revitalization, church planting, and theological education.