The Presbyterian Church (USA), abbreviated PC(USA), is a mainline Protestant denomination in the United States. It is the largest Presbyterian denomination in the US, and known for its liberal stance on doctrine and its ordaining of women and members of the LGBT community as elders and ministers. The PC(USA) was established by the 1983 merger of the Presbyterian Church in the United States, whose churches were located in the Southern and border states, with the United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, whose congregations could be found in every state. The similarly named Presbyterian Church in America is a separate denomination whose congregations can also trace their history to the various schisms and mergers of Presbyterian churches in the United States. Unlike the PCA, the PC(USA) supports evangelical feminism and supports practise of same gender marriages. It also welcomes practicing gay and lesbian persons to serve in leadership positions as ministers, deacons, elders, and trustees.
Presbyterianpolity is a method of church governance typified by the rule of assemblies of presbyters, or elders. Each local church is governed by a body of elected elders usually called the session or consistory, though other terms, such as church board, may apply. Groups of local churches are governed by a higher assembly of elders known as the presbytery or classis; presbyteries can be grouped into a synod, and presbyteries and synods nationwide often join together in a general assembly. Responsibility for conduct of church services is reserved to an ordained minister or pastor known as a teaching elder, or a minister of the word and sacrament.
The United Reformed Church (URC) is a Protestant Christian church in the United Kingdom. It has approximately 46,500 members in 1,383 congregations with 608 active ministers, including 13 church related community workers.
A pastor is the leader of a Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutheranism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and Anglicanism, pastors are always ordained. In Methodism, pastors may be either licensed or ordained.
The United Church of Canada is a mainline Protestant denomination that is the largest Protestant Christian denomination in Canada and the second largest Canadian Christian denomination after the Catholic Church in Canada.
Peter B. Short is an ordained minister and was the 38th Moderator of the United Church of Canada from 2003 until 2006. He was elected Moderator at the denomination's meeting of the 38th General Council in Wolfville, Nova Scotia.
In Christianity, a minister is a person authorised by a church or other religious organization to perform functions such as teaching of beliefs; leading services such as weddings, baptisms or funerals; or otherwise providing spiritual guidance to the community. The term is taken from Latin minister. In some church traditions the term is usually used for people who have ordained, but in other traditions it can also be used for non-ordained people who have a pastoral or liturgical ministry.
A presiding bishop is an ecclesiastical position in some denominations of Christianity.
The moderator of the General Assembly is the chairperson of a General Assembly, the highest court of a Presbyterian or Reformed church. Kirk sessions and presbyteries may also style the chairperson as moderator. The Oxford Dictionary states that a Moderator may be a "Presbyterian minister presiding over an ecclesiastical body".
The Right Reverend is a style applied to certain religious figures.
Arthur Bruce Barbour Moore was an ordained minister of the United Church of Canada who served as president and Vice-Chancellor of Victoria University in the University of Toronto, Chancellor of the University of Toronto, and as the 24th Moderator of the United Church of Canada.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Southern Africa is a Lutheran church in South Africa. The church has 580,000 baptized members in seven dioceses in South Africa, Botswana, and Eswatini, and is the largest Lutheran church in the southern African region. It is a member of the Botswana Council of Churches.
Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart as clergy to perform various religious rites and ceremonies such as celebrating the sacraments. The process and ceremonies of ordination varies by denomination. One who is in preparation for, or who is undergoing the process of ordination is sometimes called an ordinand. The liturgy used at an ordination is sometimes referred to as an ordinal.
Although the United Church of Canada is one of the few mainstream Christian denominations to both ordain LGTBQ clergy and consecrate same-sex marriages, support for these issues have caused deep divisions within the church.
Gary J. Paterson was the Moderator of the United Church of Canada from 2012 to 2015. He was the first openly gay person to take the post since the church was formed in 1925 and the first in the world to lead a major Christian denomination.
The United Church of Canada uses a three-level model of governance, consisting of communities of faith; regional councils; and the General Council.
Church of South India Trust Association (CSITA) Director board is the highest administrative body of CSI. Synod is the annual general meeting of CSI. Moderator of the Synod is a Bishop who is a presiding officer of the election conducted in the Annual General Meeting. The elected board is normally to hold office for three years.
Jordan Cantwell was the Moderator of the United Church of Canada from 2015 to 2018. She was ordained as a minister of the United Church in 2010, and was elected to the position of Moderator at the 42nd General Council of the church in Corner Brook, Newfoundland and Labrador, in 2015.
Richard Bott is a minister of the United Church of Canada who served as the 43rd Moderator of that church from 2018 to 2022.
Carmen Lansdowne is a minister of the United Church of Canada who is currently the 44th Moderator of that church. Lansdowne is the first indigenous woman to lead a religious denomination in Canada.
