Pastoral Team & Administration

In Craigy Hill Presbyterian Church the spiritual oversight of the congregation is the responsibility of a group of leaders collectively known as the Kirk Session. These are elected from the congregation to have authority over the members of the church in areas of church priveleges, leadership and worship. They share in an "ordained" ministry in that they generally serve for life, and are chaired or "moderated" by the minister whom the congregation will have called to pastor and teach them. The leaders are known as "ruling" elders and support the minister also in a pastoral sense. They are expected to visit the homes in the district assigned to them, and also take an active interest in church organisations. All their meetings are minuted and church membership records are kept by one of their number referred to as the "clerk of session". Although a member may approach any elder with their concerns, generally the clerk processes most of the correspondence.

The elders are subject to higher elected courts of the denomination. These are: the local presbytery, comprising some twenty congregations of the minister and representative elder from each, meeting monthly; and the "General Assembly" again comprising the minister and a representative elder (not necessarily the same) from each congregation, meeting annually.

In Acts chapter 6 we find the apostles calling the whole church together and asking them to chose certain members to take responsibility for the material needs of God’s people. This allowed the apostles to concentrate on prayer and the preaching of God’s word. This was the beginning of the work that is now carried on by what we Presbyterians call the Congregational or Church committee. The office of committee member is therefore a scriptural office. It is also one that requires men and women of true faith and spiritual maturity because all the material resources of the church, her buildings, finances etc. ultimately belong to God and must be used for his glory.

Committee members are required to attend stated meetings, (2nd Monday in the months September to June). They are responsible as a member of a team acting on a rota basis for stewarding and the collection and counting of offerings at morning and evening worship. They are allocated to an elder’s district to assist in the distribution of literature.