| |
Answers
1.
What is Presbyterianism?
Presbyterianism is a hierarchical form
of church government by presbyters, i.e. elders. Under a
presbyterian form of government, a local church is
governed by a board (called in different denominations a
session or a consistory) made up of elders elected by the
congregation and the minister(s) appointed to serve the
congregation. This board elects particular elders to be
members of the next higher governing body, which is
called the presbytery. A presbytery includes the
ministers and churches of a particular region; its
members are the elders elected by the sessions, together
with the ministers who are its continuing members.
Presbyteries elect pairs of commissioners (an elder and a
minister) to higher governing bodies, synods, and the
general assembly or general synod.
|
| |
2. What do Presbyterians believe? Presbyterians believe in Jesus Christ as Lord
and Savior. Membership in the Presbyterian Church (USA)
has no doctrinal requirement other than this faith in
Jesus Christ and intention to follow Him.
Officers of the Presbyterian Church
(USA) must agree with additional doctrines. For many
generations the Westminster Confession of Faith and
Westminster Longer and Shorter Catechisms contained the
definitive statement of Presbyterian belief. Today the
Presbyterian Church (USA) has a Book of Confessions
as part of its constitution. The Book of Confessions
consists of eleven creedal statements. Officers (i.e.,
ministers of Word and Sacrament, elders, and deacons) of
the Presbyterian Church (USA) must agree that these
confessions in their essentials state what Scripture
teaches.
|
| |
3. How can I contact the Presbytery of Southern
New England? Telephone:
(860) 388-0874 Fax: (860) 388-5813
123 Elm Street, #200, Old
Saybrook, CT 06475
Rev. Dana F. Lindsley, Executive Presbyter, receives email at
danalindsley@psne.org.
Elder William Thomas, the Stated Clerk, receives email at wgthomas01@snet.net.
Pam Garner, Office Manager and Assistant to the Executive and Stated
Clerk, receives
email at pamgarner@psne.org.
Ms. Dayle Larson, Financial Secretary, receives email at daylelarson@psne.org. Milly
Mead is our Office Assistant.
|
| |
5.
What's the history of the Presbytery of Southern New
England?
Presbyterians have been arriving in New
England since before 1640. Among the earliest
Presbyterians to arrive in this region were: some of the
Puritans; slaves transported and sold in America by
Cromwell's government for fidelity to their oaths of
allegiance to Charles II; French Huguenots who settled in
Rhode Island and Massachusetts; and Scots and
Scotch-Irish who settled in Worcester, Massachusetts.
Early New England presbyteries included the Presbytery of
Londonderry, the Presbytery of Boston, the Presbytery of
Salem, the Presbytery of Grafton, and the Presbytery of
the Eastward.
In 1801 the General Assembly decided
that there should be no Presbyterian Churches in our
region, conceding Southern New England to the
Congregationalist churches. In 1839 Presbyterians in
Thompsonville, Connecticut approached a presbytery in New
York to be organized as a Presbyterian church under its
jurisdiction. In 1846 Presbyterians in Fall River,
Massachusetts were organized as a Presbyterian church. In
1848 Presbyterians in Providence, Rhode Island approached
Boston Presbytery to be organized as a church.
When the Presbyterian Church in the
United States of America formed the Synod of New England
in 1912 (from constituent churches and ministers of the
Synod of New York), it also created four New England
presbyteries: a new Presbytery of Boston, substantially
smaller than its predecessor of the same name, the
Presbytery of Newburyport, the Presbytery of Connecticut
Valley (created primarily from constituent churches and
ministers of the Presbytery of Westchester), and the
Presbytery of Providence (created primarily from
constituents of the former Presbytery of Boston). The
1958 merger with the United Presbyterian Church of North
America resulted in the dissolution of that
denomination's Presbytery of Boston and some minor
boundary changes in Southern New England.
Following the absorption of the Synod of New England
into the Synod of the Northeast, the Presbytery of Connecticut Valley
and the Presbytery of Providence united in 1977 to create the Presbytery
of Southern New England. At its formation, the Presbytery consisted of
34 churches, 141 ministers, with 13,329 active members. Since its
charter, the Presbytery has organized five new congregations, and has
created two congregations by mergers. At the beginning of 2007 the
Presbytery consisted of 35 churches, 160 ministers, and 8697 active
members (members based on 12/31/06
statistics reported).
Presbyterians in Southern New England
have a long history of churches worshiping in languages
other than English. In 1936 there was a Ukrainian
Presbyterian Church in Hartford, Connecticut. The
Presbytery chartered Christ is Life Presbyterian Church, a
Portuguese-speaking congregation, in Fall River, MA, on June 12, 2005.
|
| |
6. What
is the per capita for 2008 and what are the mission
giving percentages? The Presbytery is responsible for raising the
per capita apportionment for the General Assembly and the
Synod, as well as its own. If churches do not pay their per capita to
the Presbytery, the Presbytery still remains responsible for payment
to the Synod and General Assembly for churches within their
bounds.
Per capita is based
on the number of members within churches as reported as of December 31,
2006. During 2008 PSNE per capita
is as follows:
| Presbytery of Southern New
England |
$27.84 |
| Synod of the Northeast |
$3.70 |
| General Assembly |
$5.79 |
| Total |
$37.33 |
|
