The Historical Development of the Book of Church Order

Chapter 25 : Congregational Meetings

Paragraph 6 : Of Trustees and Their Duties

25-6. A particular church which is not incorporated, desiring to elect trustees, may select from among its membership trustees or officers of like nature who shall have the power and authority:
a. to buy, sell, or mortgage property for the church,
b. to accept and execute deeds as such trustees,
c. to hold and defend titles to the same, and
d. to manage any permanent special funds entrusted to them for the furtherance of the purposes of the church.
In the fulfillment of their duties, such trustees shall be subject always to the authority, and shall act solely under the instructions of the congregation which they serve as trustees. The powers or duties of such trustees must not infringe upon the powers or duties of the Session or of the Board of Deacons. Such trustees shall be elected in regularly constituted congregational meetings.

DIGEST: The current PCA text dates to the Proposed BCO (1973) and was a new paragraph to that edition, no corollary being found in PCUS 1933. The current PCA text as shown above was detailed under points a. through d. for greater legibility. That feature was added in ______.

BACKGROUND & COMPARISON:
PCA 1973, 26-6, Adopted text, as printed in the Minutes of General Assembly, p. 143
and
Continuing Presbyterian Church 1973, 26-6, Proposed text, p. 36
A particular church which is not incorporated, desiring to elect trustees, may select from among its membership trustees or officers of like nature who shall have the power and authority to buy, sell, or mortgage property for the church, to accept and execute deeds as such trustees, to hold and defend titles to the same, to manage any permanent special funds entrusted to them for the furtherance of the purposes of the church. In the fulfillment of their duties such trustees shall be subject always to the authority, and shall act solely under the instructions of the congregation which they serve as trustees. The powers and duties of such trustees must not infringe upon the powers or duties of the Session or of the Board of Deacons. Such trustees shall be elected in regularly constituted congregational meetings.

No comparable text in the following editions:
1. PCUS 1933
2. PCUS 1925
3. PCUS 1879
4. PCUS 1869 draft
5. PCUS 1867 draft

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