Committees

Our Committees

Illiana Presbytery carries out its work through four permanent committees: Administrative, Candidates and Credentials, Missions, and Shepherding (Standing Rules 5.1). Each committee prepares business for the presbytery, but final decisions belong to the presbytery meeting as a whole unless it has given a committee authority to act as a commission.

Who Serves

Committee members are elected by the presbytery, ordinarily at the fall stated meeting. They serve three-year terms in staggered classes so that each committee keeps experienced members. Each committee has at least two Teaching Elders (pastors) and two Ruling Elders, plus two more men from either office (SR 5.2).

How Committees Report

Each committee sends its report and recommendations to the Administrative Committee three weeks before every stated meeting (SR 5.5). Those reports become part of the docket and the meeting materials sent to commissioners.

The Four Committees

Administrative Committee: keeps the presbytery organized and its records in order
Candidates and Credentials Committee: oversees men entering or transferring into the ministry
Missions Committee: plants, strengthens and receives churches, and supports missionaries
Shepherding Committee: cares for the presbytery's pastors and congregations

Administrative Committee

The AC handles the business of running the presbytery. Its members are the Stated Clerk, Moderator, Deputy Moderator, Treasurer and two elected members, and it meets about three weeks before each stated meeting. It plans the docket with the Clerk and Moderator, recommends men for committee service and fills vacancies, and receives reports affecting Christian character to make sure proper procedure (BCO 31; Matt. 18) is followed. It also brings General Assembly business to the presbytery (BCO amendments, RPR responses, nominations) and conducts the annual review of session records.

Candidates & Credentials Committee

The CCC oversees every man moving toward or into the gospel ministry in Illiana. It has three Teaching Elders and three Ruling Elders and meets about four weeks before presbytery. It guides candidates, interns and licentiates through their exams and reports on all men under care each April. It also examines ministers transferring in and reviews pastoral calls before they come to the floor. In limited cases it acts as a commission: it grants exceptions to the regular-preaching rule, and it dissolves pastoral relationships when pastor and congregation agree.

Missions Committee

The MC leads the presbytery’s work of planting, strengthening and receiving churches. It supports and corresponds with the presbytery’s missionaries and serves as the presbytery’s link to MTW. It recruits church planters, recommends mission church locations and nominates provisional sessions, and it endorses requests for MNA funding. It also supports church revitalization and RUM and similar campus ministries. When a church asks to join the presbytery, the MC acts as a commission to examine its officers and receive it.

Shepherding Committee

The SC exists to care for the presbytery’s pastors and churches. Its work is pastoral, not judicial, so its members should be mature and experienced in ministry. It meets yearly with every Teaching Elder (including those without call and out of bounds) and with every session. It reports to the presbytery on the needs, prayer requests and praises of the churches, and it helps resolve conflicts. It also oversees the presbytery’s women’s ministry, youth camps, regional pastor cohorts, Discipleship Ministries resources, and promotion of Covenant College and Seminary.

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