What is this “Clerk of Session” thing. I wondered that, too, when I was first elected
an Elder (back in the dark ages). I found out gradually by trial (figuratively) and error
(literally), and I am still learning. This is an attempt to define the job. It is a job, but it
is also an important way of serving our Lord.
The first responsibility of the Clerk is to record and preserve minutes of all meetings
of the Session and the Congregation. An Assistant Clerk or Acting Clerk may need
to take minutes in the absence of the Clerk. Our minutes are microfilmed and bound
about every five years. Bound minutes are in Pastor Jane’s offfice and are available to
any member who wishes to look at them. The Clerk is required to provide extracts from
the minutes to higher governing bodies (Presbytery, Synod and General Assembly)
when requested. Minutes are reviewed annually by Presbytery for specific items.
Second only to keeping minutes is the responsibility for membership records.
This includes receiving, discussing and changing the status of members, and recording
baptisms, marriages and deaths. Also kept are registers of Pastors, Elders, Deacons,
Trustees and Affiliate Members. Current records are in the computer, but the manual
records provide historical as well as current information.
There are many other duties that are delegated to, or assumed by, the Clerk. One of
the most important for the denomination is filing the annual Statistical Report and
associated forms. These give the Presbytery, Synod and General Assembly offices a
record of where the denomination stands and of trends. It is important that all churches
file this report, although I doubt if 100% do.
Other duties include taking care of incoming and outgoing correspondence, making
sure that the Session takes care of regular items of business such as electing
commissioners to, and receiving reports from, Presbytery meetings, electing officers
(clerks and treasurers), approving things like Communion Sevices and special
offerings, setting up and activating the Session Calling Chain and handling the Session
Fund.
If this sounds like something in which you would be interested, or if you would like to
know more about it, please feel free to call me or talk to me. I am usually around the
office area on Sunday morning and Wednesday evenings before choir rehearsal.
