Meetings of the Presbytery

When, how, and why we meet.

Stated and special meetings of the presbytery are where the body gathers to do the worker of the larger church (the stuff that goes beyond our own buildings & neighborhoods). These are an opportunity for fellowship, education, and our chance to make decisions for our regional branch of the church.

Stated meetings are usually the fourth Monday of every other month, starting in January (Jan, Mar, May, Jul, etc.) These dates are adjusted from time to time to accommodate holidays and other important dates. The call for a stated meeting goes out by email ten days prior to the date of the meeting.

Special meetings are called for a specific purpose, usually for something unexpected or time-sensitive (or both!) that needs presbytery deliberation & approval. The call for a special meeting goes out by email seven days prior to the date of the meeting.

The meetings in March, May, July, and September are hybrid, meaning that you can attend either in person or over Zoom. The January and November meetings are Zoom only (no in-person attendance). A special meeting will usually be Zoom only, but always check for the details in the call email.

Voting at Presbytery Meetings

The presbytery assembly consists of all Teaching Elders, Ruling Elder Commissioners (designated by each congregation’s session to vote at a given meeting), Certified Christian Educators, and Ruling Elder Members by Virtue of Office (committee & chapter moderators and past presbytery moderators) who are members of the Presbytery.

At Zoom-only meetings (in January and November), votes are conducted by Zoom poll.

At hybrid meetings (meetings with both in-person and Zoom attendees), voting is conducted as follows:

  • Zoom participants vote yes or no using the Zoom polling feature

  • In-person participants vote using a double-sided red and green card—green for ‘yes’ and red for ‘no’

This method of voting results in a couple of idiosyncrasies that are worth noting:

  • For Zoom participants, we record one vote per device. So if multiple people are sharing a device at one location (clergy couples, church power couples, presbytery enthusiasts at a watch party, etc.) this means that each voting member must be connected from a separate device. If multiple folks within one room are connected on different devices, we recommend designating one device for meeting audio and keeping the others on mute to prevent feedback and echoes (contact Josh if you need help with this!)

  • For hybrid meetings, we have effectively two bodies conducting votes—one online and one in person. To keep things transparent and fair, we have done away with in-person voice votes, opting instead for the new green/red card method. For in-person voting using the cards and online voting using the polls, both formats are countable. This means that in the (very rare) event of a close & contentious vote, we will have detailed counts of ‘yes’ and ‘no’ in each format that can be totaled for a fair and accurate accounting.

2024 Meetings

January 23

Zoom

March 18

Hybrid at Lyndhurst Community of Faith Church and over Zoom

May 20

Hybrid at Medina Presbyterian Church and over Zoom

July 22

Hybrid (in person location TBD) and over Zoom.

September 23

Hybrid at Christ United and over Zoom.

November 25

Zoom