The Historical Development of the Book of Church Order

Chapter 13 : The Presbytery

Paragraph 2 : Of Ministering Out of Bounds

13-2. A minister shall be required to hold his membership in the Presbytery within whose geographical bounds he resides, unless there are reasons which are satisfactory to his Presbytery why he should not do so. When a minister labors outside the geographical bounds of, or in a work not under the jurisdiction of his Presbytery, at home or abroad, it shall be only with the full concurrence of and under circumstances agreeable to his Presbytery, and to the Presbytery within whose geographical bounds he labors, if one exists. When a minister shall continue on the rolls of his Presbytery without a call to a particular work for a prolonged period, not exceeding three years, the procedure as set forth in BCO 34-10 shall be followed. A minister without call shall make or file a report to his Presbytery at least once each year.

DIGEST: The last amendment to BCO 13-2 was adopted in 2017. Prior amendments to this paragraph were adopted in 1984 [M12GA, 12-14, Item 2, p. 85] and 1985 [M13GA, 13-18, Item 3, p. 76]. NOTE: The geographical aspect of BCO 13-2 does not apply to the non-geographical Korean Language Presbyteries as long as the General Assembly mandates their existence.

BACKGROUND & COMPARISON:
Previous text:
13-2.
A minister shall be required to hold his membership in the Presbytery within whose geographical bounds he resides, unless there are reasons which are satisfactory to his Presbytery why he should not do so. When a minister labors outside the geographical bounds of, or in a work not under the jurisdiction of his Presbytery, at home or abroad, it shall be only with the full concurrence of and under circumstances agreeable to his Presbytery, and to the Presbytery within whose geographical bounds he labors, if one exists. When a minister shall continue on the rolls of his Presbytery without a call to a particular work for a prolonged period, not exceeding three years, the procedure as set forth in BCO 34-10 shall be followed.

PCA 1973, 14-2, Adopted text, as printed in the Minutes of General Assembly, pp. 134
A Minister shall be required to hold his membership in the Presbytery within whose bounds he resides, unless there are reasons which are satisfactory to his Presbytery why he should not do so. When a Minister labors outside the bounds of his Presbytery, at home or abroad, it shall be only with the full concurrence of and under circumstances agreeable to the Church court in which his membership is held, and any corresponding Church court with which an affiliate relationship may be established satisfactory to both courts.

Continuing Presbyterian Church 1973, 14-2, Proposed text, p. 14
A Minister shall be required to hold his membership in the Presbytery within whose bounds he resides, unless there are reasons which are satisfactory to his Presbytery why he should not do so.

No comparable text in these editions:
1. PCUS 1933, XV
2. PCUS 1925, XV
3. PCUS 1879, V

4. PCUS 1869 draft, V
5. PCUS 1867 draft, V-4-1

COMMENTARY:

F.P. Ramsay, Exposition of the Book of Church Order
(1898)
[No comparable text in this chapter for discussion]