Constitutional Musings: Commissioned Lay Pastors

The 208th General Assembly (1996) adopted, and the presbyteries approved, what may accurately be described as the most fundamental shift in our polity since the beginning of the American Presbyterian experiment. They approved a wide-ranging set of Amendments that gave presbyteries the power to grant a whole range of authority to individual Commissioned Lay Pastors (hereafter referred to as CLPs). ( See G-14.0560-.0565 ) The 209th General Assembly (1997) adopted, and a majority of the presbyteries approved, an amendment that requires that CLPs be Elders. (G-14.0560)