The Historical Development of the Book of Church Order

Chapter 25 : Congregational Meetings

Paragraph 4 : Of the Moderator

25-4. The pastor shall be the moderator of congregational meetings by virtue of his office. If it should be impracticable or inexpedient for him to preside, or if there is no pastor, the Session shall appoint one of their number to call the meeting to order and to preside until the congregation shall elect their presiding office, who may be a minister of the Presbyterian Church in America, or any male member of that particular church.

DIGEST: Apart from the named denomination and minor differences of capitalization, the current PCA text remains that of PCA 1973 and its predecessors, PCUS 1933 and 1925. PCUS 1879 and earlier drafts did not have a chapter regarding congregational meetings.

BACKGROUND & COMPARISON:
PCA 1973, 26-4, Adopted text, as printed in the Minutes of General Assembly, p. 143
The Pastor shall be the Moderator of congregational meetings by virtue of his office. If it should be impracticable or inexpedient for him to preside, or if there is no Pastor, the Session shall appoint one of their number to call the meeting to order and to preside until the congregation shall elect their presiding office, who may be a Minister of the National Presbyterian Church, or any male member of that particular church.

Continuing Presbyterian Church 1973, 26-4, Proposed text, p. 35
The Pastor shall be the Moderator of congregational meetings by virtue of his office. If it should be impracticable or inexpedient for him to preside, or if there is no Pastor, the Session shall appoint one of their number to call the meeting to order and to preside until the congregation shall elect their presiding office, who may be a Minister of the ________________________, or any male member of that particular church.

PCUS 1933, XXVIII, § 155
and
PCUS 1925, XXVII, § 155
The Pastor shall be the Moderator of congregational meetings by virtue of his office. If it should be impracticable or inexpedient for him to preside, or if there is no Pastor, the Session shall appoint one of their number to call the meeting to order and to preside until the congregation shall elect their presiding office, who may be a Minister of the Presbyterian Church in the United States, or any male member of that particular church.

No comparable text in the following editions:
1. PCUS 1879
2. PCUS 1869 draft
3. PCUS 1867 draft

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