Our Standards

Preface

The Orthodox Presbyterian Church is governed by three sets of documents: its primary, secondary, and tertiary standards (cf. Form of Government, Chapter XXXII, Section 1). The primary standard of the Church is the Word of God, contained in the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments. Standing above the Church’s constitution, the Word of God is “the only rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him” (Shorter Catechism, Q/A 2), for it alone is divinely inspired, infallible, and inerrant (cf. Psalm 19:7–11; John 17:17; 2 Timothy 3:16–17; 2 Peter 1:19–21). Subordinate to the Word of God is the constitution, consisting of two sets of standards. The doctrinal standards of the Church (the Confession of Faith and the Larger and Shorter Catechisms of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church) are its secondary standards. The standards of government, discipline, and worship comprise its tertiary standards.

The Book of Church Order, which you now hold in your hand, contains the tertiary standards of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church: its Form of Government, Book of Discipline, and Directory for the Public Worship of God. While printed separately from the secondary (doctrinal) standards, the tertiary standards are not conceived, nor should they be used, in isolation from them. Several sections of the doctrinal standards refer directly or indirectly to worship and ecclesiology, such as those dealing with the sufficiency of Scripture, Christian liberty and liberty of conscience, religious worship and the Sabbath day, the civil magistrate, the church, the sacraments, church censures, and synods and councils.

The genius of Presbyterian church government lies in its appreciation for the value of such tertiary standards. They do not replace or compete with the Scriptures. Rather, they set forth rules and procedures by which the Church corporately interprets and applies the Word of God. That is, this Book of Church Order provides the effective means by which the teaching of the Scriptures is applied to the Orthodox Presbyterian Church’s government, discipline, and worship. As Presbyterians have put this in the past, a book that rightly orders the Church is not necessary for the being of the Church (since there are true churches that do not follow these rules and procedures) but is necessary for the well-being of the Church. The rules and procedures set forth in this book will promote and encourage the spiritual health of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.

The differences in authority among the primary, secondary, and tertiary standards come to expression in two important respects. First, the language of the Church’s ordination vows reflects the relative weight of these standards. Ministers, elders, and deacons in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church are required to believe the Bible as the only infallible rule of faith and practice, to sincerely receive and adopt the Confession of Faith and Catechisms as containing the system of doctrine taught in the Holy Scriptures, and to approve of the government, discipline, and worship of this Church. There is a lessening of the required commitment to the lower levels of these standards. Second, the standards are distinguished by the processes by which amendments may be made to them. The primary standard of the Holy Scriptures cannot be altered, for they are inerrant and infallible; the secondary standards of doctrine (that is, the Confession of Faith and Catechisms) may be amended only with difficulty and rarely; and the tertiary standards of church order (contained in The Book of Church Order) may be more easily and frequently revised.

This 2025 edition of The Book of Church Order of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church represents the current understanding of what this branch of the church believes the Scriptures teach about the government, discipline, and worship of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. It has been prepared in accordance with instructions of the General Assembly, in consultation with the stated clerk of the Assembly. The Committee on Christian Education has taken on the responsibility of publishing and distributing the book.

Since the publication of the previous edition (2020), three amendments have been made to these tertiary standards. The first was to the opening paragraph of the Form of Government, Chapter XXV, Section 7, which was revised to clarify that this section properly applies in all circumstances of installing previously ordained ruling elders and deacons of the OPC, as well as to make explicit the historic practice that ruling elders and deacons who were ordained in other churches (i.e., other denominations) are required to take the vows of ruling elders and deacons in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church when they are installed. The second amendment was to the Form of Government, Chapter XV, Section 3, which was revised in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic that necessitated the postponement of the 87th General Assembly from 2020 to 2021. Changing the approved date and location for the meeting of the next General Assembly after the adjournment of the previous Assembly was unprecedented in the history of the OPC when the pandemic occurred. As such, there was no clear provision in the Form of Government to allow for such a change after the Assembly’s adjournment if an emergency required it. The amendment to Form of Government XV, 3 provides a constitutional procedure for making changes to the meeting date and place for the upcoming General Assembly in cases of emergency or necessity. Because this amendment resulted in a new section being added to the chapter, all subsequent sections were renumbered but are otherwise unchanged from the 2020 edition. The third amendment was to the Book of Discipline, Chapter III, Section 2, which replaced the words “unavoidable impediments” with the word “circumstances” in the two-year statute of limitation for admitting judicial charges.

Per the Form of Government, Chapter XXXII, Section 2, this 2025 edition of The Book of Church Order will remain in use in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church until at least 2030.

Hank L. Belfield
Stated Clerk of the General Assembly
Willow Grove, Pennsylvania
June 26, 2024