The Historical Development of the Book of Church Order

Chapter 5 : The Organization of a Particular Church

Paragraph 1 :

5-1. A mission church may be properly described in the same manner as the particular church is described in BCO 4-1. It is distinguished from a particular church in that it has no permanent governing body, and thus must be governed or supervised by others. However, its goal is to mature and be organized as a particular church as soon as this can be done decently and in good order.

DIGEST : The former text of BCO 5-1 remained largely unchanged from 1984 through 2010. When first presented, it employed "paragraph" instead of "BCO". Such minor differences aside, the current first seven paragraphs of chapter 5 had their beginning with Overture 7 from Southwest Presbytery, as brought before the Ninth General Assembly (M9GA, 9-10, B, p. 48). That Overture requested clarification and instruction in the BCO regarding mission churches and the status of their members. In the MNA Report to the Tenth General Assembly (M10GA, Appendix F, p. 250), the text of a proposed chapter 5, paragraphs 1 through 7, was presented in reply to Overture 7. The matter was next sent to the Committee on Judicial Business (M11GA, 11-9, D, p. 56), and then presented under the Report of the Committee of Commissioners on Mission to North America (11-61, III.4, p. 122). The proposed text was adopted by the Eleventh General Assembly and sent down to the Presbyteries for their advise and consent. The Presbyteries affirmed the proposed amendment to Chapter 5 by unanimous vote, and the amendment received final approval at the Twelfth General Assembly (M12GA, 12-14, Item 1, pp. 83-85).]

BACKGROUND & COMPARISON:
PCA 1984, 5-1 (M12GA, 12-14, Item 1, pp. 83-85)
A mission church may be properly described in the same manner as the particular church is described in paragraph 4-1. It is distinguished from a particular church in that it has no permanent governing body, and thus must be governed or supervised by others. However, its goal is to mature and be organized as a particular church as soon as this can be done decently and in good order.

No comparable text for these editions:
PCA 1973, Adopted text, as printed in the Minutes of General Assembly
Continuing Presbyterian Church 1973, Proposed text
PCUS 1879
PCUS 1869 draft
PCUS 1867 draft

COMMENTARY :
F.P. Ramsay, Exposition of the Book of Church Order
(1898)
[no comparable text for discussion]