Regarding Ruling Elders - Rooted: The foundations of Presbyterian polity — the mission of the church

Appearing first in the Book of Order, the Foundations of Presbyterian Polity leads the way by articulating the basic convictions that we seek to live out in our life together. These convictions undergird the polity that follows in the other sections of the Book of Order. The Foundations section has three chapters: The Mission of the Church, The Church and Its Confessions, and Principles of Order and Government.

Chapter one, The Mission of the Church, has a trinitarian structure. The first part of the chapter, God’s Mission (F-1.01), lays out the basic ways in which the triune God is at work in the church. The next two parts focus on the second person of the Trinity: Jesus Christ. F-1.02, Jesus Christ Is Head of the Church, explores basic beliefs about who Christ is and how Christ grounds, sustains, and guides the church. F-1.03, The Calling of the Church, explores basic characteristics of the Church that are grounded in and sustained by Jesus Christ. Finally, F-1.04, Openness to the Guidance of the Holy Spirit, considers God’s call by the Spirit for the church to be open — to change, and to God’s persistent readiness to work in ways we had not expected, in and through people we had not anticipated would be agents of God’s work in the world.

God’s Mission (F-1.01), makes it clear that the beginning point for the church, and our understanding of it, is God and the work that God is doing across all Creation. “The good news of the Gospel is that the triune God — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — creates, redeems, sustains, rules, and transforms all things and all people” (F-1.01). God’s mission is God’s movement into all Creation. The word “mission” is derived from the Latin word for sending. God’s mission is bringing to all the good news that God is actively engaging Creation. God refuses to leave the world alone, to turn away.

Don Juel, a professor of New Testament and specialist in the Gospel of Mark, told a wonderful story of God’s refusal to leave the world alone. Juel noted that there are two key places in Mark that say a barrier between heaven and earth is being “torn apart.” The first is at Jesus’ baptism in Mark 1:10, when he comes up out of the water. Jesus sees “the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending” on him. The second is at the moment of Jesus’ death on the cross in Mark 15:38, which might remind us of the words often used at funerals, “we thank you for your servant, whose baptism is now complete in death.” Juel remarked that for a long time he interpreted these verses as God opening a way for us to go to where God is, an interpretation that’s well grounded in Hebrews 10:19–22. But then a time came when a student pointed out that wasn’t it at all. These verses show that God will no longer stay on the heaven side of the boundary between the world and heaven. Meaning, the student said, that God is on the loose in Creation, and no place is safe from God’s presence.

F-1.01 affirms that God’s mission “gives shape and substance to the life and work of the Church.” We, as the church, join in God’s mission in specific ways: “by proclaiming to all people the good news of God’s love, offering to all people the grace of God at font and table, and calling all people to discipleship in Christ.”

The affirmation that God’s mission is primary means that the church is not an end in itself. This does not mean that the church is not of vital importance. It simply means the church is not of ultimate importance. There is affirmation of this in the final two chapters of the Bible, Revelation 21–22. In those chapters, John, the author, tells of the culmination of God’s mission in Creation, the arrival of a new heaven and Earth, and a new city. John specifically notes that he “saw no temple in that city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb” (Revelation 21:22). Life in the church now is part of our preparation for the time “when the complete comes [and] the partial will come to an end, when we will see God face to face” (1 Corinthians 13:10,12).

For Reflection:

• How does the affirmation that God’s mission is the basis of the church help you better understand the church?
• F-1.01 identifies specific ways that we join God’s mission: “by proclaiming to all people the good news of God’s love, offering to all people the grace of God at font and table, and calling all people to discipleship in Christ.” What are ways you and your congregation do these things?

Barry Ensign-George is a Teaching Elder in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). He has served as a pastor in Iowa and at the denominational level in the Office of Theology & Worship.

Throughout 2025, monthly Regarding Ruling Elders articles will focus on the Foundations of Presbyterian Polity as included in our Book of Order. Ruling elders can benefit from these reflections as they consider their own ministries and call to serve as leaders in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

© 2025 Barry Ensign-George

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