How does a church call an associate pastor to serve as a church-planter in the Presbyterian Church in America?
Over the past several years, Antioch has enjoyed steady growth in attendance and church membership. However, we do not presently have the means to dramatically expand the capacity of our limited parking lot and facilities in a timely way to accommodate the continuing growth. At the same time, several supporting churches and individuals have expressed interest in Antioch taking the lead on planting a daughter church mission work in the western part of Spartanburg County, north of I-85 (i.e., in the Inman/Boiling Springs area). Therefore, your Session is proposing that the congregation elect the Session to serve as a pulpit committee to search for an Associate Pastor.
In the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), the Presbytery may establish a mission work (i.e., church plant) in one of several ways, including by responding “to the initiative of a Session of a particular church” (BCO 5-2.1.ii). In establishing a mission work, the Presbytery may “cooperate with the Session of a particular church in arranging a mother-daughter relationship with a mission church. The Session may then serve as the temporary governing body of the mission church” (BCO 5-3.b). Finally, “Pastoral ministry for the mission church may be provided by a minister of the Presbytery called by Presbytery to serve as pastor” (BCO 5-4.a). It is the Session’s plan to present a qualified candidate to the Antioch congregation for consideration to serve as an Associate Pastor on the Antioch Session. We will then work with that man and Calvary Presbytery to establish a mission work with him serving as the pastor, in partnership with the Antioch Session and congregation.
In the PCA, “the various pastoral relations are pastor, associate pastor, and assistant pastor” (BCO 22-1). While assistant pastors are “called by the Session” (BCO 22-3), “the pastor and associate pastor are elected by the congregation” (BCO 22-2). God’s Word makes clear in Acts 14:23 that men who serve as elders (including as pastors) in Christ’s church are called by God through the means of popular elections by congregations rather than imposed from above. Thus, your Session has decided that the way we will explore the establishment of a church plant is by conducting a search for an associate pastor. In other words, your Session has decided to move forward with the congregation’s input, assent, cooperation, and partnership. Insofar as Antioch takes part in a church plant, we will do so as a church family working together.
So, what does that look like?
Before the church can elect either a pastor or an associate pastor in any circumstance, it must conduct a search by a pulpit committee elected by the congregation at the suggestion of the Session. “The Session shall call a congregational meeting to elect a pulpit committee which may be composed of members from the congregation at large or the Session, as designated by the congregation” (BCO 20-2). Once that committee is formed, then the real work begins. After careful “consultation and deliberation,” the committee shall “recommend to the congregation a pastoral candidate who, in its judgment, fulfills the Constitutional requirements of that office (e.g., BCO 8, 13-6 and 21) and is most suited to be profitable to the spiritual interests of the congregation” (BCO 20-2). That recommendation will be presented to the congregation at a duly called congregational meeting once the search has been concluded, and there will be plenty of advance notice and relevant information shared about the candidate when the time comes. While the Session has some ideas of possible candidates to approach, the search itself will commence only if and after the congregation votes to form a search committee. The search shall be conducted carefully, earnestly, and deliberately.
The call for our upcoming congregational meeting, issued by the Session on March 16, 2026, is as follows:
“to call a congregational meeting for March 29, 2026 for the purpose of recommending that the congregation designate the Session to serve as a search committee for an Associate Pastor (BCO 20-2, 25-2)”
