01.02.01. The Church Order

The Church Order The Church Order commences with an article about its Purpose and Division. It reads like this:

FRCA: Article 1 - Purpose and Division (CanRC: Article 1)

For the maintenance of good order in the church of Christ it is necessary to have:

Ioffices and supervision of doctrine;
IIassemblies;
IIIworship, sacraments and ceremonies, and
IVdiscipline The following pages contain a thematic discussion of the articles of the Church Order, with one chapter being devoted to each of the four divi­sions mentioned above. In the pages that follow, the reader will also find numerous footnotes. An explanation is in place. Until the recent Synod (July, 2000) the num­ber of churches in the bond of Free Reformed Churches in Australia has been too small to allow for classes. To systematize the way church life had developed over the years without the existence of classes, the 1994 Synod adapted some of the articles of the Church Order. These adaptations were printed in italics in the text of the Church Order as published in 1995. A preamble to the printed text of the Church Order informed the reader that "Articles in italic print are in force until classes have been formed." Though classes have now been formed, I have chosen to include the italicized portions of the Church Order in this publication since this material provides an illustration of the fact that the Church Order is not cast in ⁶⁵ stone, but can instead be adapted to suit the needs of the churches. An explanation and evaluation of this adaptation is included in Chapter 5, Paragraph 9. ⁶⁶