Many Presbyterian Churches vary widely as to the way they worship and conduct their services.  And many Churches share doctrinal beliefs with Presbyterians, especially in essential areas of orthodox doctrine: the authority of scripture, the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, the necessity of personal salvation, etc.  What makes the Presbyterian Church distinctive is not its special system of doctrine or worship, but its form of government.  The word “Presbyterian” refers to a representative form of Church government.  In Greek, “presbyteros” means elder.

All Presbyterian Churches are governed by elders: teaching elders who are ordained ministers or pastors, and ruling elders elected from the membership.  This board of ruling elders is called the Session.  At CPCLM these elders also serve as the board of trustees.    

The Presbyterian Church U. S. A. (PCUSA) is governed by one national governing body 

General Assembly

which is representative of the whole Church

16 regional governing bodies

Synods

composed of ministers and representative elders from congregations within specified presbyteries

173 district governing bodies

Presbyteries

made up of ministers and elders from Churches in a presbytery

and approximately 11,000

Session Boards.

CPCLM is one of 11,000 churches in the U.S.A., one of 338 churches in the Synod of Southern California and Hawaii, and one of the 59 churches in Los Ranchos Presbytery.

 MORE INFORMATION

(www.pcusa.org/links/)