Church Constitution

Definition and Meaning

A church constitution is the highest written standard in which a denomination sets out what it believes and how the church is to be governed. It typically contains doctrine (a confession of faith), church government (governing bodies and offices such as pastor and elder), church discipline (procedures for correcting members or ministers who have done wrong), and a directory of worship (standards for worship and the sacraments). Unlike the church bylaws adopted by an individual congregation, a constitution applies to all churches belonging to the denomination.

Biblical and Historical Background

The biblical grounds commonly cited for having a constitution include the verse "Let all things be done decently and in order" (1 Corinthians 14:40) and the Jerusalem Council of Acts 15, at which church leaders gathered to decide a disputed question. After the Reformation, each Protestant tradition codified its own confession of faith and church regulations. Presbyterians inherited the church ordinances drawn up by John Calvin in Geneva and the documents of the seventeenth-century Westminster Assembly, while Methodists inherited the book-of-discipline tradition developed by the Methodist churches after John Wesley.

Practice in Korean Churches

• Presbyterian churches use the name "constitution" and include the Westminster Confession of Faith, the catechisms, and related documents in its doctrinal section. Generally, an amendment is adopted by the General Assembly and then becomes final after being put to a vote in each presbytery. Even among Presbyterians, the content of the constitution has come to differ from one denomination to another since the denominational splits.
• Among Methodists, the Korean Methodist Church calls its constitutional standard The Doctrines and Discipline, which contains both doctrine and organizational provisions concerning the bishop, the annual conference, and other bodies.
• Holiness and Full Gospel denominations likewise each have their own constitutions, which are amended by their general assemblies.
• Baptists, in keeping with a congregational tradition that emphasizes the autonomy of the local church, tend to have denominational bylaws that bind individual churches to a lesser degree than those of Presbyterians or Methodists.

In practice, the constitution serves as the standard for calling a pastor, for the election and retirement age of officers, and for judicial procedures. Denominations also incorporate their decisions on social issues, such as restrictions on hereditary pastoral succession, by amending their constitutions or disciplines. For example, the Korean Methodist Church is reported to have adopted provisions restricting hereditary succession in 2012, and the Presbyterian Church of Korea (Tonghap) in 2013. When church disputes go to court, the courts also frequently examine the denomination's constitution as a basis for their rulings.