Kirk sessions

The kirk session is the lowest church court in the presbyterian system of church government, and its role is to lead and govern congregations. The Church of Scotland became a presbyterian church during the reformation in Scotland.[1] The churches which broke away from the Church of Scotland after 1733 were also presbyterian.  Presbyterian church government is based on a hierarchy of church courts: kirk session, presbytery, synod and general assembly are the four main courts, but some presbyterian churches omit synods and some smaller presbyterian churches only have one synod and therefore do not need a general assembly.[2]

Each presbyterian congregation is governed by a kirk session, which is made up of ruling elders (usually simply called elders) and moderated by the minister(s) (also known as a teaching elder). The kirk session determines the number of elders. Elders are chosen from the members of the congregation and are ordained to the eldership, holding office for life though they may step down from active duties.[3] The elders have a duty to care for the spiritual needs of the congregation and traditionally each of them has a district of the parish assigned to him/her. The minister, who is automatically a member of the presbytery, is moderator of the session, and there is a clerk who has custody of all the session’s records. There may also an officer or beadle and there must be a treasurer. The session must maintain minutes of meetings, a register of baptisms and a communion roll, containing the names and addresses of the communicant church members. Marriage registers are not required but may be kept by session or the minister.

Each kirk session elects one of its elders to represent it at the presbytery in which it is situated, the choice being subject to the approval of presbytery. It may also provide additional elders to ensure parity of numbers of ministers and elders within presbytery. From time to time, the representative elder may also be elected by presbytery to represent presbytery at a higher court.

The kirk session’s duties are to maintain good order amongst its congregation and to implement the acts of the General Assembly of its denomination. As a church court, the kirk session had jurisdiction in church matters over its members (originally all who lived in the parish) and administered discipline in relation to the moral and religious condition and behaviour of the people. In the 17th century, some Church of Scotland kirk sessions obtained commissions from the Privy Council to hear cases in relation to civil law.[4] Individuals have a right of appeal to the higher church courts, as does the kirk session if its decisions are overturned by a higher court.

It was common practice for the kirk session to be responsible for the financial matters of the congregation as well as spiritual matters, until the 19th century. Following the Disruption in 1843, congregations of the Free Church of Scotland set up deacons’ courts to look after financial matters and property separately from the kirk session: deacons’ courts comprised all members of the session along with additional members of the congregation. Other presbyterian churches set up boards of management to deal with financial and property matters, comprised of members of the congregation rather than necessarily including all members of session. This became the modern congregational board in many congregations. These historic arrangements continued in the Church of Scotland after 1929 when the majority of Presbyterians re-united, and also in the United Free Church of Scotland, but Church of Scotland congregations are now encouraged to vest all responsibilities in the kirk session as charity trustees to enable clearer compliance with charity laws.[5] Other presbyterian churches, such as the Free Church of Scotland and the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland maintain the tradition of a deacons’ court.

Until 1845 there were weekly collections in the parish churches made for the support of the poor, but as the state began to assume responsibility for their support so funds collected from members and adherents were directed elsewhere.[6] Secession churches used weekly collections to support ministers and maintain property, and this became more usual in parish churches as well as other sources of income declined. Seat or pew rents were also quite common (money paid for a fixed seat in a church) but this practice declined rapidly from the 1950s.

Records of Church of Scotland kirk sessions are the responsibility of the National Records of Scotland (NRS) and may be held by local archives under charge and superintendence agreements. Locations are shown on the NRS catalogue (reference code CH2 and CH3). NRS holds kirk session records of the United Free Church of Scotland (CH13) and Free Church of Scotland (CH 16).

Compilers: SCAN contributors (2000). Editor: Elspeth Reid (2021)

Related Knowledge Base entries

Synods

Presbyteries

Kirk Session records

Presbyterian churches

Bibliography

Cox, James T., Practice and Procedure in the Church of Scotland (Church of Scotland, 1934, 1948, 1964, 1976)

Legal Systems of Scottish Churches ed. by Marjory A. MacLean, (Edinburgh University Press, 2010)

United Free Church of Scotland. General Assembly, Manual of practice and procedure of the United Free Church of Scotland (Offices of the United Free Church, 1905, 1916, 1927)

Weatherhead, James L., The constitution and laws of the Church of Scotland (Board of Practice and Procedure, Church of Scotland, 1997)

 

References

[1] Confession of Faith Ratification Act 1690 (c.7) <http://www.legislation.gov.uk/aosp/1690/7> [accessed 30 March 2021].

[2] Marjory A. MacLean, ‘Presbyterian Governance’ in Legal Systems of Scottish Churches ed. by Marjory A. MacLean, (Edinburgh University Press, 2010) pp. 1-12.

[3] James T. Cox, Practice and Procedure in the Church of Scotland (Church of Scotland, 1976).

[4] W. R. Foster, The Church before the Covenants (Scottish Academic Press, 1975) pp.78-79.

[5] Church of Scotland Ministry and Discipleship Council: ‘Constitution of the Kirk’ <https://www.churchofscotland.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/64790/Office_Bearers_Constitutions_of_the_Kirk.pdf> [accessed 18 May 2021].

[6] Poor Law (Scotland) Act 1845 (8 & 9 Vict. c.83).