Clerks do clerical work. What does that mean for clerks of ecclesiastical judicatories?

Introduction

A. History/Etymology

The word “clerk” was first in use before the twelfth century in the sense of “cleric,” “clergy.” It was used in the sense of “one employed to keep records” by the middle of the sixteenth century, as its use as a verb is found as early as 1551. Middle English “clerk” is from the Anglo-French “clerk” and Old English “cleric,” “clerc,” both of which are from the Late Latin “clericus,” from the Late Greek “klērikos, κληρίκος” from the Greek “klēros, κλήρος” meaning “lot,” “inheritance” (an allusion to Deuteronomy 18:2), strictly “a stick of wood” (as used to cast lots); akin to Greek “klan, κλαν” “to break.”[1] Chaucer’s clerk (“The Clerk’s Tale” in Canterbury Tales) is a clergyman.

B. Remember:

The clerk is a servant. He serves the Lord, his judicatory, and the whole church. As such, he is clothed with limited, delegated authority.

I. The Clerk

So, who may be the clerk?

A. Who?

The Form of Government of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (FG) says, “Every judicatory shall choose a clerk from among those who are or those eligible to be its members to serve for such a term as the judicatory may determine.”[2] In any judicatory of the OPC, this necessarily means a minister or a ruling elder. Clerks of session are usually ruling elders, but ministers may certainly serve there, even if also moderating (as in the case of a small session). Ministers more commonly serve as stated clerks of presbytery, but ruling elders may also serve there. Both ministers and ruling elders have served as stated clerks of general assemblies.

The question may arise, in light of the qualification, “those eligible to be its members,” whether an inactive ruling elder may serve as clerk. It would appear from the “Form of Government” that an inactive ruling elder (i.e., one not actively serving on a session) could not serve as stated clerk of a general assembly (GA) or of a presbytery (although an inactive ruling elder might be used by a general assembly or a presbytery in some other capacities).[3] It may be that a session, however, might use as its clerk a ruling elder who is presently inactive but has been previously active on that session and is otherwise eligible to serve; that is, if the by-laws of the congregation do not require action of the congregation to reactivate him.[4] A retired minister or ruling elder might serve as clerk for the session which he had served, or its presbytery, or a GA.[5] A ruling elder who has served another congregation of the OPC or other church in the North American Presbyterian and Reformed Council (NAPARC) may be used by the session on committees, but not as a commissioner to presbytery or general assembly nor as clerk of session because he is not eligible until the congregation calls him.[6]

The clerk should be a competent writer; familiar with the resources listed below at III (Resources); a capable organizer of information, inclined to give attention to detail, and able to keep track of various documents, bits of information, and assorted tasks. Since at least the 1990s, he should be able to use digital technology. It should go without saying that he should be responsible, diligent, discreet, and trustworthy. And he should be able to give time to the tasks when the tasks demand it.

Clerks are officers of the judicatory they serve and are to be chosen by that judicatory, by election or, in small sessions, by unanimous (or general) consent.[7]

B. Assistants

It has become customary for stated clerks of general assemblies to ask a minister or ruling elder to serve as assistant to the stated clerk. Provision for this is made in the “Standing Rules of the General Assembly” (“Standing Rules”), where the duties of the assistant clerk are enumerated.[8] He is to record the daily minutes of the assembly and prepare them for approval and otherwise assist the stated clerk as determined from time to time.

Some presbyteries have provided for the appointment or election of assistant stated clerks. Generally, where these are found, they assist the stated clerk of the presbytery in recording and, perhaps, preparation of minutes.

Although it is not customary for sessions to have an assistant clerk, there is no reason why they might not do so. Church secretaries may be employed by some sessions to assist in the formal preparation of minutes and, at the direction of the session, in other aspects of the clerk’s work that do not require the presence of the secretary at session meetings. Such assistance should, of course, not involve the secretary in matters which call for involvement of ordained officers only.

II. The Work

The work of the clerk is the work of the judicatory he serves.[9] The responsibilities of the clerk are listed in Robert’s Rules of Order, Newly Revised (RONR), the Book of Church Order (BCO), the “Standing Rules” of the GA of the OPC, and generally in presbytery by-laws and congregational by-laws.[10] Some of these responsibilities are highlighted below.

A. Records

The most obvious task of the clerk is the preparing, presenting, and keeping of records.

It should be remembered that all records kept by clerks are “public,” at least in the sense that they may be seen by reviewers in broader judicatories, or by appellate judicatories, and may be requested as testimony or evidence by the civil magistrate (e.g., IRS, civil lawsuit, criminal trial). Additionally, they are historical records. For these reasons, care should be taken that records are orderly, accurate, in accordance with applicable standards, and intelligible to a reader from outside the judicatory or a reader distant in time. They should be complete for the purposes, but discrete, containing no extraneous matter. This last point is a matter for the discretion of the judicatory. It should be remembered that the records are not “the clerk’s.” They belong to the judicatory.

1. Minutes

The minutes of meetings are the most obvious records of those to be kept by the clerk. The bulk of these are generally the minutes of regular, “stated,” meetings, but include all other meetings of the judicatory as well. Minutes should be kept in continuously paginated form, kept in permanent binders, signed by the clerk who took the record (i.e., by the clerk pro tempore, when the case requires) at the end of the minutes of each meeting.[11] The clerk must provide for the storage of approved minutes in a safe place. Today, minutes are generally kept in electronic form as well; but, while this practice is a safeguard against catastrophic loss, it does not make it unnecessary for the official record to be kept in permanent binders.

Minutes should conform to a standard format. By-laws, “Instruments of the GA,” and “the Form of Government” will indicate items which are required to be included in the minutes of every meeting and particular items which must be recorded whenever they occur.[12] Beyond those matters required, nothing should be included in the minutes except by direction of the judicatory, which direction should be recorded in the minutes as an action taken by the judicatory. In addition to relevant portions of other governing documents, the current edition of RONR will dictate the language to be used in the minutes (see III.C, Resources: Robert’s Rules of Order, below).

a. Stated Meetings

Stated meetings are those regularly planned, generally by way of a pattern. A general assembly regularly meets once a year, the dates and place determined at the previous assembly. Presbyteries regularly meet two, three, or four times a year, usually depending on the geographical size of the regional church, smaller presbyteries generally meeting more often. Regular meetings of presbyteries are usually determined for a calendar year in the fall of the previous year. Examples of such patterns are the first Friday and Saturday of March and October; or the third Saturday of January, April, September, and November. Minutes of each regularly scheduled presbytery meeting should indicate that the meeting is “stated.” Sessions generally meet monthly or twice monthly and may be scheduled at each meeting. Minutes of congregational meetings (which must occur at least annually) should be kept with minutes of the session, inserted at the chronological point where they occur.[13]

b. Adjourned Meetings

An adjourned meeting is a continuation of another meeting, whether stated, adjourned, or special. It is continued to complete business which was docketed for the meeting from which this meeting is adjourned. It is scheduled at the meeting from which it was adjourned, the minutes of which meeting should indicate that the “meeting was adjourned to meet on [date] at [time] at [place].” The minutes of the subsequent adjourned meeting should indicate that the meeting is an “adjourned” meeting. This is significant because an adjourned meeting is treated as a continuation of the previous meeting, allowing some actions which are not permitted by RONR at successive meetings, such as a motion to reconsider an action previously taken.

c. Special Meetings

A special meeting is called specially; that is, neither a stated meeting nor an adjourned meeting. It may be called and scheduled by the judicatory at a regular or adjourned meeting, or it may be called by the moderator or stated clerk at the request of the number of ministers and ruling elders specified for the relevant judicatory in the “Form of Government” (generally, a quorum of the judicatory).[14] Only business specified in the call to the meeting may be transacted. The minutes of the special meeting should indicate that the meeting is special, include the purpose(s) for which the meeting is called, and record that the call to the meeting is found to be in order by those in attendance.

d. Trials

Meetings of trials are separate and distinct from regular, adjourned, or special meetings, even if they occur within the time frame of such a meeting. They have their own rules of proceeding and their own requirements for record-keeping. (The Book of Discipline should be consulted for these rules and requirements.)[15] Minutes of meetings of trials should be kept in the book of minutes with the minutes of other meetings and may be incorporated into the minutes of another meeting if the trial occurs within the time frame of such a meeting, as long as they are distinguishable as minutes of a meeting of trial.

e. Executive Sessions

Executive sessions held during a meeting are essentially a tool for discussion of sensitive matters in secret, excluding non-members (except upon invitation) from the discussion. No action may be taken in executive session, except the determination to arise from executive session. Actions upon matters discussed in executive session must be taken in open session. Accordingly, minutes should not be taken in executive session, although the action to enter executive session and the fact of the exit from executive session (together with times of entrance and exit) should be recorded in the minutes of the meeting during which executive session was entered.[16]

f. Committee of the Whole

A judicatory may determine in the course of a meeting to go into committee of the whole or in quasi committee of the whole, which allows less formal discussion of a matter. Since, technically, the body in such a case is not the judicatory, but a committee thereof, the committee of the whole or quasi committee may vote on recommendations, which recommendations will be “reported” to the judicatory for final decision and disposition. This will require the clerk to record the determination to go into a committee of the whole or in quasi committee (with the time of entrance), the fact of the rising and report of the committee (with the time of rising), and the text of any recommendation(s) brought by the committee, but otherwise no minutes of the committee should be recorded.[17]

2. Membership Rolls and Directories

The records of the judicatory for which the clerk is responsible include the roll(s) of members of the body over which the judicatory has original or immediate jurisdiction.[18] Membership rolls, directories, and attendance rolls or records are not interchangeable terms, although the clerk will track, create, and keep all three. Each type of judicatory has its distinctive membership.

The membership of a general assembly necessarily changes from year to year as a GA is “dissolved” at the end of the assembly’s meetings and a new assembly is elected for the next year. The stated clerk of the GA will maintain the attendance at a given assembly, which will include all those commissioned by their presbyteries who actually attend, as well as the moderator and stated clerk of the previous assembly, the stated clerk of the current assembly, as well as fraternal delegates and representatives of the various committees who are in attendance and seated as corresponding members of that assembly. (The action to seat corresponding members at a meeting of any judicatory should be recorded in the minutes of the meeting.) The membership of the assembly is the ministers and elders commissioned by presbyteries and the assembly officers mentioned above. The membership of the assembly (with the presbytery represented by each commissioner) and the attendance at the assembly will be included in the minutes of the assembly. The stated clerk of the GA also publishes and distributes annually a directory, with contact information, of all the ministers and congregations presently in the OPC.

The stated clerk of a presbytery will, at a meeting of the presbytery, keep track of and record in minutes the attendance by ministers and ruling elders commissioned by their sessions, as well as any alternate ruling elder commissioners and fraternal delegates who may be in attendance and seated as corresponding members. All the ministers and all the ruling elders of the congregations of the regional church are members of the presbytery, without respect to attendance.[19] The stated clerk will keep a record of the membership of the presbytery as well as any members at large of the regional church.[20] The stated clerk of the presbytery will also keep a separate list of licentiates and men under care of the presbytery, having recorded in the minutes their reception as men under care, licensure, ordination, and/or dismissal, as would be done with reception and/or dismissal of ministers from/to another presbytery or other denomination. Additionally, the stated clerk of the presbytery may maintain and publish a directory of the ministers and ruling elder members of the presbytery, men under care and licentiates, fraternal contacts, and members at large of the regional church.

The clerk of session may maintain and publish a directory of members of the congregation he serves, and possibly, with permission, regular attenders. He will record in the minutes attendance at session meetings and at meetings of the congregation. He will record in the minutes of session meetings the reception of members (both communicant and non-communicant), with their full names (including maiden names), dates of birth, and the date of actual reception of each. He will also record in minutes the removal from membership of any member together with the reason for removal and the effective date, as well as the movement of any member from the roll of non-communicants to the roll of communicant members together with the effective date of change (the date of public profession). These minutes may form the basis for the formation of the rolls of the congregation, which rolls include the record of past and present members, noting full names, dates of reception, dates of birth, dates of baptism, dates of censures, dates of restoration, dates of death, and dates of removal from membership in the congregation. Members of the congregation worshiping with a mission work shall be included and designated.[21]

3. Statistical Reports

The clerk of session is requested and the stated clerk of a presbytery is required to report annually to the general assembly certain statistical data and important changes which have taken place in the past year within the jurisdiction of the judicatory they serve.[22] The information in minutes and rolls described above will be the source for reporting the non-statistical (and some of the statistical) information that is to be reported. The GA’s statistician provides a form for reporting this information. Some presbytery by-laws require that a copy of each year’s completed form is to be included in the session’s minute book at the end of the minutes of the year; some other summary information may also be required by the presbytery for inclusion at the end of the minutes of the year.

4. Other Items

The clerk may be asked to record or keep track of (even temporarily) other matters, as directed by the moderator, the judicatory, or others.[23] Such other matters may or may not be recorded in minutes or otherwise kept permanently.

(To be continued)

Endnotes

[1] “Clerk,” Merriam Webster, accessed December 22, 2023, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/clerk.

[2] Stated Clerk of the General Assembly, The Form of Government, in The Book of Church Order of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (FG, The Committee on Christian Education of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, 2020), 19.

[3] Stated Clerk, FG, 19.

[4] He would not, however, be entitled to vote or count in achieving a quorum.

[5] See Stated Clerk, FG, 26.6–7.

[6] NAPARC is an ecumenical organization of which the OPC is a member.

[7] The term “common consent,” which is commonly used in the sense of “general consent” and “unanimous consent,” is not recognized in current editions of Robert’s Rules of Order, Newly Revised (RONR).

[8] Standing Rules and Instruments of the General Assembly of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, The Orthodox Presbyterian Church (SRGA), last modified 2024–2025, https://opc.org/GA/StandingRules2024-2025.pdf; see SRGA, 3.B.3–4.a, and 3.B.6 within the document.

[9] The clerk’s work is done by him on behalf of the judicatory. Someone must do the work that the clerk does because the judicatory is responsible for the work. Although the clerk does not do all the work of the presbytery, all his work is the presbytery’s work. When he acts as clerk, he represents the presbytery. The requirement for a clerk and the qualification of a clerk set forth in “The Form of Government,” 19 (see footnote 3), discussed above, are the consequence of this fact.

[10] See the index under “secretary” in the current edition of RONR; Stated Clerk, FG, 19 and its index under “clerks;” https://opc.org/GA/StandingRules2024-2025.pdf; particularly SRGA, 3.B.4–6, within the document.

[11] With the advent of technology that permits document sharing, it is possible for members of a judicatory, particularly a session, to compose and edit minutes during a meeting and approve them at the end of the same meeting. This is not recommended for at least two reasons: 1) it is the responsibility of the clerk to prepare the minutes in final form, not the responsibility of the other members of the judicatory; and 2) most, if not all, presbytery by-laws require minutes of session meetings (unlike those of congregational meetings or meetings of General Assembly) to be approved at the next regular meeting. This allows for proper review by the judicatory. Generally, a draft of minutes should be sent to members of the judicatory before the meeting at which they are to be reviewed so that corrections may be made before the meeting at which they are presented for approval. See below at II.B.1 (Reporting: To Your Judicatory).

[12] Regarding recording dissents and protests and answers to protests in minutes, also note Stated Clerk of the General Assembly, BD 8, 118.

[13] Stated Clerk, FG 16.1, 26.

[14] Stated Clerk, for session, see FG 13.5, 17; for presbytery, see FG 14.7, 21; for General Assembly, see FG 15.5, 24.

[15] Stated Clerk, BD 4.A.2, 103.

[16] See RONR 12th Edition (Hachette Book Group, 2020), §§9:24–9:27, 86–88; or RONR 11th Edition (Da Capo Press, 2011), §9, 95–96.

[17] See RONR: 12th Edition, §52, 503–14; or Henry M. Robert III, et. al. eds., RONR: 11th Edition, §52, 529–42.

[18] Stated Clerk, FG 13.8, 18; 14. 6, 21; 15.2–3, 23; SRGA (last modified 2024–2025), https://opc.org/GA/StandingRules2024-2025.pdf; see SRGA 3.B.4.b–c, 4–5 and B.5.n, 5 within that document.

[19] Stated Clerk, FG 14.2, 20.

[20] Stated Clerk, FG 29.A.1, 81; and 4.a, 82.

[21] Stated Clerk, FG 13.8, 18.

[22] Stated clerk, FG 14.6, 21; SRGA, last modified 2024–2025, https://opc.org/GA/StandingRules2024-2025.pdf; see SRGA 3.C.1, 4 within that document.

[23] For example, see Henry M. Robert III, et. al. eds., RONR: 11th edition, §61, paragraphs on “‘Naming’ an Offender,” 646, lines 20–25, and 647, lines 28–31; or in Henry M. Robert III, et. al. eds., RONR: 12th edition, §61, paragraphs on “‘Naming’ an Offender,” 611, paragraph 61:12 and 612, paragraph 61:17.

John W. Mallin, a minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, is an independent counselor, and has served as stated clerk of the Presbytery of Connecticut and Southern New York for more than twenty years. Ordained Servant Online, November, 2024.