The legal systems of Christians
Embryonic norms of conduct and church order are traceable to the communities of New Testament times, multiplied and collected in the legislation of the great councils of the post-apostolic church, developed in the medieval ius commune of the western church, and diversified in a plurality of legal systems at the time of and beyond the Reformation of the sixteenth century in the creation of new institutional churches. In all this, Christians became prolific legislators – with laws, rooted in their interpretations of divine law, in a host of forms, from canon law, through constitutions, to local church covenants. However, we also know that the dominant feature of Christian teaching is that the salvation of the soul through Christ is fundamentally a matter of faith and divine grace – not our compliance with human laws.
Needless to say, today Christians have no global system of formal law applicable to all their institutional churches – no single body has competence to make such a system of law. Rather, each institutional church within the traditions has its own body of law, or order, or polity.
First, the laws or other regulatory instruments exist in various formal sources including codes of canon law, charters and statutes, constitutions and by-laws, and books of church order.Footnote 1
As we know of course, for the Latin Church ‘the highest norm of human life is the divine law – eternal, objective and universal’, and ascertained by the teaching of the church.Footnote 2 The principal human source is the Code of Canon Law 1983 which distinguishes ‘universal law’ and ‘particular law’; universal law includes the Code itself, papal decrees, and authentic interpretations of a legislator – and it recognises custom as valid provided it is consistent with divine law, reasonable, rooted in the established usages of a community capable of receiving a custom, and approved by the canon law.Footnote 3 The Church also uses soft-law, quasi-legislation.Footnote 4
Anglicans too recognise that church ‘Law should reflect the revealed will of God’; and the laws of their churches present Holy Scripture as the ultimate standard and rule in matters of faith. Most churches of the worldwide Anglican have a constitution and canons – although the established Church of England has Measures of its General Synod which on parliamentary approval and royal assent have the same authority as Acts of Parliament; canons are created by General Synod and they must receive royal assent to be operative; and the church uses much soft-law in the form of guidance, policy documents and codes of practice. Custom also has its place: pre-Reformation Roman canon law continues to operate in the Church of England through its incorporation into the common law on condition that it is not repugnant to royal prerogative, statute or common law – and it does so in the form of customary law.Footnote 5 Similarities between the laws of Anglican churches are found in a code of principles of canon law common to the churches of the Anglican Communion issued in 2008 and revised in 2022.Footnote 6
Also in the episcopal tradition, Eastern Orthodox churches are ‘governed by the Holy Scriptures’, ‘the norms of Christian morals’, or ‘moral law of the Church’, ‘canon law’, ‘charters’, ‘constitutions’, ‘statutes’, ‘regulations’, ‘canonical tradition’, and ‘custom’.Footnote 7
Turning to the Protestant traditions, Methodists too recognise ‘God’s Law’, and see Holy Scripture as the record of divine revelation,Footnote 8 and have ‘Methodist Law’, ‘Church law’,Footnote 9 ‘usages’, and Articles of Religion.Footnote 10 A Presbyterian church receives its authority from Christ,Footnote 11 ‘the Word of God’ is the supreme ‘rule of faith and life’,Footnote 12 and church courts and officers must ‘uphold the laws of Scripture’.Footnote 13 Reformed and Presbyterian churches employ, variously, ‘law’, a ‘code’, a ‘book of church order’, or a ‘book of order’ with ‘legislation’,Footnote 14 a constitution, and normative doctrinal texts;Footnote 15 they may also provide a model constitution for a local church, recognise customs, and regulate conduct by means of soft-law.Footnote 16 In the Baptist tradition: Christ is ‘sole and absolute authority in all matters pertaining to faith and practice’; and: ‘Each Church has liberty, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to interpret and administer His Laws’.Footnote 17 As such, Baptist norms recognise the authority of Holy Scripture as a revelation of God,Footnote 18 and classify the Bible as part of ‘the constitutions and laws’ of a Convention, or as ‘the rule of church law’.Footnote 19 A national Baptist Union or Convention may have a constitution, with ‘laws’ and by-laws,Footnote 20 normative doctrinal standards (for instance, a Confession of Faith), guidelines, policies, and codes.Footnote 21 Within a Union or Convention, a regional Association of churches may also have a constitution, and a local church may have a constitution, trust instrument, a ‘covenant’ of members’ commitments, and doctrinal texts.Footnote 22
Second, the structure and binding character of church laws. For example, Anglican laws contain ‘principles, norms, standards, policies, directions, rules, precepts, prohibitions, powers, freedoms, discretions, rights, entitlements, duties, obligations, privileges and other juridical concepts’.Footnote 23 The Latin Code of Canon Law binds all the faithful.Footnote 24 Orthodox laws and court decisions are ‘binding for all clergymen and laymen without any exception’.Footnote 25 For some Lutheran churches, a precondition to membership is acceptance of the constitution and by-laws,Footnote 26 or classes of member ‘covenant’ compliance.Footnote 27 In Presbyterian churches, typically: ‘All members of congregations and any other person affected by any provision in the Book of Order must comply with the Book of Order’;Footnote 28 and Baptists require ‘strict adherence’ to ‘rules and regulations’.Footnote 29 Churches also have structures to enforce and to relax their norms.Footnote 30
Third, the purposes of church laws. The Latin Code ‘facilitates … an orderly development in the life of both the ecclesial society and of the individual persons who belong to it’;Footnote 31 indeed, canon law itself teaches that the ‘salvation of souls [is] the supreme law’.Footnote 32 Orthodox canon law is ‘at the service of the Church … to guide her members on the way to salvation’; its main function is ‘the spiritual growth of the faithful’.Footnote 33 As Anglican laws seek to facilitate and order the mission of the church, so Lutheran laws ‘provide necessary organizational principles, structures, and policies for good order’, and in so doing they ‘guide, direct, and assist [the church] in mission and ministry’.Footnote 34 In the Reformed tradition, church law is ‘to declare the corporate identity of the Church and to ensure that all things are done decently and in order within it (I Cor. 14.40)’.Footnote 35 For one United Church: ‘The purpose of law within the church is to order procedures and to provide for the consistent resolution of differences, and so to help to achieve order and justice’.Footnote 36 Likewise, a local Baptist church constitution is to ‘govern’, ‘regulate’, and ‘enable’ church life;Footnote 37 namely: ‘For the purpose of preserving and making secure the principles of our faith’ so that ‘this body be governed in an orderly manner’; ‘for … preserving the liberties inherent in each individual member of the church’; and, to present ‘this body to other bodies of the same faith’.Footnote 38 So, many juridical similarities.
Juridical ecumenism: ecumenical principles of Christian law
In November 2013 an invited Panel of Experts met in Rome. Participants attended in their personal capacities, not as representatives of their denominations, but on the basis of their expertise in the church law, church order or church polity, of particular Christian churches: Anglican, Baptist, Catholic, Lutheran, Methodist, Orthodox, Presbyterian, and Reformed. Its aim was to explore how these churches share common principles in their regulatory instruments, and how these principles contribute creatively to ecumenism. The Panel was inspired by various ‘models’ for its work; the historic use of regulae iuris and principles of law; Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew’s 1973 article on codifying Eastern Orthodox canon law; the work of the Anglican and Roman Catholic Colloquium of Canon Lawyers; and the principles of canon law common to the churches of the worldwide Anglican Communion.Footnote 39
At its first meeting in 2013, the Panel agreed on the following: (1) there are principles of church law common to the churches studied and their existence can be factually established by empirical observation and comparison; (2) the churches contribute through their laws to this store of principles; (3) the principles have a strong theological content and are fundamental to the self-understanding of Christianity; (4) the principles have a living force and contain within themselves the possibility of development and articulation; and (5) they demonstrate a degree of unity between churches, stimulate common Christian actions, and should be fed into the global ecumenical enterprise to enhance fuller visible unity.
The Panel also agreed that: church laws exist to serve a church in its mission and witness; laws are necessary to constitute the institutional organisation of a church and facilitate and order its public activities but cannot encompass all facets of the Christian faith and life; laws are the servant of the church and must promote the mission of the church universal; theology shapes law, and law implements theological propositions in norms of conduct; and church laws should conform to, and are subject ultimately to, the law of God, as revealed in Scripture and by the Holy Spirit. Next, the Panel agreed that considering church law may provide a new medium for the ecumenical enterprise: namely, that law (an element of the self-understanding of churches) should be conceived as an instrument for global ecumenism. Identifying juridical similarities and differences would benefit ecumenical understanding.Footnote 40
In 2014 the Panel discussed how its work might feed into that of the World Council of Churches through a response to the World Council of Churches (WCC) Faith and Order Commission paper The Church: Towards a Common Vision (2013).Footnote 41 In 2015, the Panel did three things. First, it finalised its response to Common Vision.Footnote 42 This showed how comparing laws: facilitates the articulation of principles of law common to the churches; enables reconciliation of juridical difference in the form of a principle of law; provides a stable ecumenical methodology in using concrete textual data; offers a practical guide for Christian life; and defines achieved communion and opportunities for and limits on future progress. It also agreed that: ‘Re-imagining ecumenism through law, as applied ecclesiology in … norms of conduct, would advance Common Vision’s idea that “common action” is intrinsic to the life and being of the Church’.Footnote 43
Second, the Panel worked on candidate principles on: church discipline; and church property. The preparatory work asked members to agree, disagree, or agree to differ on the candidate principles. The meeting revised principles over which there was disagreement in order to reconcile differences. The exercise was whether or not there was legal evidence that the candidate principles are explicit or implicit in the laws. Discussion was robust. Of the 50 or so candidate principles circulated, 47 were agreed. The principles, with the Panel response to Common Vision, were submitted to WCC in December 2015. Third, the Panel agreed to continue to discern and articulate principles of law on other topics.Footnote 44
Further candidate principles were circulated.Footnote 45 In 2016, the Panel (which by now had been styled the Ecumenical Christian Law Panel) agreed ‘A Statement of Principles of Christian Law Common to the Component Churches’ (the Statement of Principles).Footnote 46 It has 10 sections: churches and their laws; the faithful; ordained ministry; church governance; church discipline; doctrine and worship; rites; ecumenism; church property; and church and state relations. Grouping the principles this way, in these sections, is conditioned by the systematisation of laws generally used by the churches from whose laws they are induced. The principles are derived from various sources, including codes of canon law, statutes, constitutions, books of church order, and other policy documents. The juridical values of clarity, conciseness and consistency govern their form and they are cast in a variety of ways, as: permissions, precepts, prohibitions, exhortations, and descriptions – their forms mirror the laws from which they are induced.Footnote 47
The World Council of Churches, through its Faith and Order Commission, had in 1974 called for study of ‘church law’ to show how ‘churches differ’ in their ‘legal systems’. However, in 1978 the proposal was abandoned.Footnote 48 So, in 2017 the Panel met in Geneva with the Director of the WCC Faith and Order Commission. The Director welcomed the Statement of Principles and an ‘informal partnership’ between the Panel and Commission was set up for them to continue working together.Footnote 49 The Panel next met in Rome in 2018 with Commission members and with new members, Old Catholic and Pentecostal. It agreed that Phase One of the work of the Panel was complete (from 2013 to 2018). Phase Two was underway – with Panel members road-testing the statement at ecumenical events across the world. Next: a turning point.
In Rome on 16 September 2019, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew spoke publicly about ‘this important Statement [of Principles]’; how the ‘principles were induced from similarities drawn precisely from a comparative study of the regulatory instruments of the participating Christian canonical traditions’;Footnote 50 and how it ‘is designed to fill the historical canonical deficit in the ecumenical enterprise’ as a form of ‘juridical ecumenism’.Footnote 51 Three days after the Ecumenical Patriarch’s address in Rome, at a private audience in the Apostolic Palace, on 19 September 2019, Pope Francis pronounced, for the first time in papal history, that church law ‘is not only an aid to ecumenical dialogue, but also an essential dimension’ – more to the point, the Pope said that: ‘Canon Law is essential for ecumenical dialogue’; four members of the Ecumenical Panel attended, presenting a copy of the Statement of Principles to Pope Francis.Footnote 52
Since then, the project has entered Phase Three – a wider reception at the WCC, following publication of a book on the project written by Panel members.Footnote 53 At its 2018 meeting, the Moderator of the WCC Faith and Order Commission, Susan Durber, had suggested the Panel present its work at the next Assembly of the WCC, its highest governing body which meets every eight years. As a result, on 2 September 2022, at Karlsruhe, Germany, at the 11th Assembly of the WCC, a workshop was held on the Statement of Principles. I had the privilege to chair it, introduced the background to, models for, and concept underlying the Statement of Principles. Mark Hill KC, convenor of the Panel, spoke on the process used by the Panel in drafting the statement. Fr Aetios, Grand Ecclesiarch at the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, gave a rich reflection on the value of the Statement of Principles as a unifying force and instrument for shared ecumenical witness and mission. Participants then discussed its value, sharing their reaction to and experiences of using the Statement of Principles, from as far afield as India, Australia, the USA, and, in Europe, the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg, and Switzerland. They were also keen to be involved in further projects relating to the statement. The workshop then agreed that this ‘World Council of Churches workshop commends the Statement of Principles … for study and use as an essential element of the ecumenical movement’.Footnote 54
The idea of synodality in Christian laws
For Christianity, historically, the Reformation in particular stimulated perhaps the most far-reaching doctrinal reappraisal of church polity, largely on the basis of arguments that scripture prescribed patterns of church government different from those rooted in the papacy and bishops of the Church of Rome. This is reflected today in the fact that, with the new institutional churches that emerged from the Reformation, it is commonly understood that there are three principal forms of church polity – Episcopal, Presbyterian, and Congregational – and the merits of each, and whether they fuel Christian disunity, continue to arouse debate.Footnote 55
However, regardless of their particular doctrinal ideas of authority, all historic churches have institutions of governance – and they all use ideas of synodality. According to the Statement of Principles, Christ (of course) is the ultimate head of the Church universal in all its manifestations. A system of government used by a church reflects its conception of divine law. Every church should have institutions to legislate, administer and adjudicate for its own governance. In turn, an ecclesial institution has such power, authority or jurisdiction as is assigned to it by church law, must comply with that law, and may be subject to such substantive and procedural limitations as may be prescribed by law. These institutions may be organised at international, national, regional, and/or local level.Footnote 56
An ecclesial tradition may have an international organisation – in the form of a church, communion, federation, or other global association, with a structure constituted by, or assigned to it under, its doctrine and law.Footnote 57 All traditions have some form (however loose) of national organisation. A church organised at national level has such institutional structure as is prescribed by the laws applicable to it. The functions of a national ecclesial entity, and its conference, synod, council, or other central assembly, may include the authority to legislate, administer and adjudicate on matters within its competence. The institution is composed of such faithful as are elected or otherwise appointed to it in accordance with the law.Footnote 58 All churches also make provision for governance at regional and at the most localised levels. And all the ecclesial units at each geographical level are interdependent.Footnote 59 All of these principles of law are derived from the similarities between the laws or other norms of the churches.
Regulatory instruments provide concrete evidence of the commitment of churches to the idea of synodality. The authority an institution has at each level varies between the traditions and their doctrinal postures. In the Latin Church (with its ‘hierarchical constitution’, in which ‘the power of governance’ vests only in the ordained ministers) and Orthodox churches (with a ‘hierarchic structure of governance’), the highest authority is an international institution (the Pope and/or College of Bishops, or a Patriarch and Holy Synod) and authority descends to national, regional and local institutions (such as a Diocesan Synod or below that a Parish Council). In the Congregational and the Baptist traditions, authority resides primarily in the local church (and is shared by laity and ministers) and ascends (for limited purposes of common action) to regional, national and international institutions – such as a Baptist Association (regional), a Baptist Union or Convention (national), and the Baptist World Alliance: but these entities cannot interfere in the exercise of the autonomy of the local church. In Anglicanism, Lutheranism, Methodism, and Presbyterianism, authority is located in an institution at the national level (e.g. an Anglican or Lutheran General Synod, a Methodist Conference, and a Presbyterian General Assembly, all composed of both lay and ordained persons); authority then descends to regional institutions (e.g. an Anglican or Lutheran Diocesan Synod and a Presbyterian Presbytery) and local institutions (such as a Parish Council or Kirk Session). In turn, in these traditions, a limited authority ascends to international institutions but these have no general legislative power over the member churches and must respect their autonomy (e.g. the Anglican Communion, Lutheran World Federation and World Communion of Reformed Churches). Nevertheless, whilst they have authority appropriate to their own level, these institutions are interdependent and exercise one or more of three functions: legislative, administrative/executive, and judicial. The basic assumption shared by all the traditions is that these functions must be exercised lawfully.Footnote 60
Turning to the regulatory instruments, within their structures at national level, the churches generally organise themselves on the basis of regional and local territorial units. Catholics, Orthodox and Anglicans have dioceses (each led by a bishop). In the Protestant tradition, Lutheran churches have dioceses or synods and, within these, districts or circuits; Methodists too have districts and circuits; Reformed and Presbyterian churches have synods, presbyteries and districts; and, typically, Baptists Unions or Conventions have associations and regions. Regional units are further composed of local units. Catholic, Orthodox and Anglican dioceses are divided into parishes; for instance, an Orthodox parish is ‘a community of Orthodox Christians under the supervision of the diocesan bishop and guided by a rector’, and parish boundaries are determined by the Diocesan Council.Footnote 61 Lutheran and Methodists have congregations and, sometimes, parishes, in which the church universal is present and where the members gather for e.g. proclamation of the gospel and administration of the sacraments.Footnote 62 In the Reformed, Presbyterian, Congregational and Baptist models, regions and districts are typically composed of circuits, congregations and local churches; for example: a Reformed congregation is ‘a body of baptized Christians meeting regularly in a particular place of worship’; similarly, in Presbyterianism: ‘A particular church consists of a number of professing Christians, with their children, associated together for divine worship and godly living’; and in Baptist polity: ‘the local church, being a manifestation of the universal church, is a community of believers in a particular place where the Word of God is preached and the ordinances of Believers’ Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are observed’.Footnote 63
The most localised ecclesial institutions of governance
The Statement of Principles has a section on the most localised ecclesial unit. Regional ecclesial units may be divided into or constituted by local churches or congregations existing at the most localised level. A church organised locally may be in the form of a parish, circuit, congregation or other ecclesial unit. Its assembly, such as a council, meeting, session or other body, has such authority and functions as are lawfully inherent to it or conferred on it by the institutions of the wider ecclesial entity to which it belongs. It, in turn, is composed of those members of the faithful who are lawfully elected or otherwise appointed to it. All ecclesial units at each level are interdependent.Footnote 64 Lay people may be elected to these institutions and hold offices associated with them. Indeed, the law should enable the laity to exercise public ministry in those offices or other positions lawfully open to them. They may be admitted to such offices and positions if they are suitable, qualified, selected and admitted by competent ecclesial authority for such term as is prescribed by law. Lay ministers and officers exercise such public and representative ministry in or on behalf of a church and perform such functions as may be prescribed and permitted by its law. The authority to discipline, dismiss or reappoint a lay minister or officer depends on, and its exercise must comply with, church law.Footnote 65 All of these principles are derived from the laws.
Of course in the Latin Church each diocese is divided into parishes.Footnote 66 A parish is ‘a certain community of Christ’s faithful stably established within a particular church, whose pastoral care, under the authority of the diocesan bishop, is entrusted to a parish priest as its proper pastor’. It has juridical personality and the bishop alone is competent to erect, suppress or alter parishes.Footnote 67 After the bishop has consulted the Presbyteral Council, and judges it expedient, a Pastoral Council is to be established in each parish; the pastor presides. Through the council the faithful assist in fostering pastoral activity; the council has a consultative (not determinative) vote and is governed by norms determined by the bishop. Each parish must also have a Finance Committee to assist the parish priest in the administration of the parish. In turn, the pastor is administrator of parish property and keeps its records and archives.Footnote 68
An Anglican diocese consists of more localised units, such as archdeaconries, and deaneries, and within these, parishes, the territorial organisation of which is usually in the keeping of the diocesan assembly.Footnote 69 Each parish is governed by an assembly (typically a Parochial Church Council) consisting of clergy and representatives of the laity elected at an annual meeting; the assembly is usually under the chairmanship of the minister in charge of the unit and elaborate rules cover meetings, quorum and decision-making.Footnote 70 The council and minister must cooperate in exercising spiritual, governmental and administrative functions; typically, the assembly must: promote the whole mission of the church, pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical; report to the diocesan assembly; elect officers; implement matters refereed to it by the diocesan bishop or assembly; administer property; and cooperate at visitations.Footnote 71
Similar arrangements exist in Lutheran congregations/parishes.Footnote 72 Within Methodism, in the Methodist Church in Great Britain, the Circuit is a unit of one or more Local Churches and ‘the primary unit in which Local Churches express and experience their interconnexion in the Body of Christ’. The purposes of the Circuit include the deployment of resources for ministry, and promoting and supporting the work of the Society ‘to the end that every member may share actively in world mission’. The Circuit Meeting, composed of the Circuit Superintendent (who presides), ministers and elected representatives from each local church, is ‘the principal meeting responsible for the affairs of a Circuit’, ‘the development of circuit policy’; it exercises a ‘combination of spiritual leadership and administrative efficiency’ and is the focus of ‘the working fellowship of the churches in the Circuit, overseeing their pastoral, training and evangelistic work’ and the encouragement of leadership.Footnote 73 The Church Council is ‘the principal meeting responsible for the affairs of a Local Church’ or ‘Society’.Footnote 74 It is composed of ministers and lay representatives elected by the annual General Church Meeting and has ‘authority and oversight over the whole area of the ministry of the church’.Footnote 75
In Presbyterianism, the Session (Kirk Session or Council) is the court of the local church.Footnote 76 For example, in the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, the Kirk Session consists of the ordained minister(s) and ruling elders of the congregation and has a moderator (minister) and a clerk; it meets at least twice a year to provide for ‘the oversight and government of the congregation’. Kirk Session is ‘the governing body of a congregation’ and must watch over and promote the spiritual interest of the congregation, contribute to Christian witness and service in the local community, and authorise co-operation with other churches. It calls meetings of the congregation, provides for administration of the ordinances of sacrament and word, appoints officers, exercises authority over the congregation as to doctrine and conduct, keeps a roll of members, promotes stewardship, and appoints representatives to the Presbytery and General Assembly.Footnote 77 It may also call such Congregational Meetings as e.g. the Presbytery may determine to consider the state of religion and needs of the community, promote mission, foster fellowship, authorise transactions (e.g. as to property), appoint trustees, and raise funds.Footnote 78 In Baptist polity the local church has its own institutions of governance.Footnote 79
The regional institutions of ecclesiastical governance
According to the Statement of Principles, regional ecclesiastical entities may be in the form of a diocese, eparchy, synod, district, classis, presbytery, association or other regional unit. A regional ecclesial unit may have such institutions, in the form of a synod, council, classis, presbytery, or other assembly, as are prescribed by the law applicable to it. A regional institution exercises such authority and functions as are conferred on it by the ecclesial community to which it belongs or the constituent churches associated with it. And a regional assembly or other institution is composed of such of the faithful as are elected or otherwise appointed to it by those competent to do so under the law.Footnote 80 Once more these principles are induced from the laws or other norms of the historic churches themselves.
According to the Latin Code, a diocese is a portion of the people of God entrusted to a bishop who nurtures it with the cooperation of the presbyterum; ‘it constitutes a particular church’ in which ‘the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church of Christ truly exists and functions’; a diocese has a defined territory and juridical personality, and may only be established by the supreme authority.Footnote 81 The diocesan bishop ‘governs the particular church … with legislative, executive and judicial power, in accordance with the law’; the bishop exercises legislative power himself (it cannot be delegated), executive power personally or through Vicars General or Episcopal Vicars, and judicial power personally or through a Judicial Vicar.Footnote 82 The Diocesan Synod assists the bishop and consists of clergy and laity elected by the Diocesan Pastoral Council. The bishop convenes, presides at and dissolves the Synod. He is its sole legislator (members have only a consultative vote), and signs and publishes the decrees which he communicates to the Metropolitan and the Episcopal Conference.Footnote 83 The Diocesan Curia consists of institutions and persons who assist the bishop in diocesan governance.Footnote 84 The bishop may also be assisted by a Presbyteral Council,Footnote 85 Finance Committee,Footnote 86 and Pastoral Council which must meet at least once a year.Footnote 87
The territory of each Anglican Church is divided into dioceses, each under the spiritual leadership and oversight of a diocesan bishop assisted by a representative assembly (typically a Synod or Conference). The creation, division, amalgamation and dissolution of a diocese are usually in the keeping of the central national church assembly.Footnote 88 The assembly consists of houses composed of the bishop, and elected representatives of the clergy and laity; meetings are convened and presided over by the bishop and are usually annual.Footnote 89 It may have competence to legislate for the diocese in relation to prescribed matters as well as jurisdiction over its more localised ecclesiastical units (such as parishes); the diocesan assembly must also consider any matter referred by the central assembly and implement the lawful directions of the latter to which it must make an annual report.Footnote 90 The assembly has an executive organ (its Standing or Executive Committee) which acts with the authority of the assembly between its sessions, advises the bishop and discharges other functions assigned to it by the assembly; the diocesan assembly may also establish a variety of committees, boards, commissions and other bodies, such as on ministry, liturgy, and finance, under the control of the assembly.Footnote 91
Turning to the Protestant traditions, for example Methodist churches have a system of Districts, consisting of Circuits, which are subject to the jurisdiction of the (national) Conference. For instance, the Conference of the Methodist Church in Great Britain designates a District ‘to advance the mission of the Church in a region, by providing opportunities for Circuits to work together and support each other, by offering them resources of finance, personnel and expertise which may not be available locally and by enabling them to engage with the wider society of the region as a whole’.Footnote 92 In turn, the United Reformed Church too has regions with representative District Councils.Footnote 93 In Presbyterian polity, the Presbytery is a court which gives spiritual leadership to the ministers, officers and congregations within its bounds; it appoints a moderator (minister, elder or deacon responsible for order) and a clerk, has a membership of an equal number of ministers and representative elders elected by the Kirk Sessions, and meets to legislate, adjudicate on disputes and administer its affairs.Footnote 94 For example, an Irish Presbytery is ‘the body primarily responsible for corporate oversight of the congregations and causes assigned to it by the General Assembly’; it may issue ‘ordinances’ but must observe ‘the laws and directions of the Assembly’; and it ‘superintends’ the ‘spiritual and temporal affairs of its congregations’.Footnote 95 In the congregational tradition, national Baptist Unions may also have a system of regional associations but these bodies do not enjoy jurisdiction over the autonomous local church.Footnote 96
The national ecclesiastical institutions of governance
According to the Statement of Principles, an ecclesial tradition may have a national organisation. A church or other ecclesial community organised at national level may have such institutional structure as is prescribed by the legal rules applicable to it. The functions of a national ecclesial entity, and its conference, synod, council, or other central assembly, may include the authority to legislate, administer and adjudicate on matters within its competence. The institution is composed of such the faithful as are elected or otherwise appointed to it in accordance with the law.Footnote 97 These principles are derived from the laws.
First, in the Latin Church,Footnote 98 the national Episcopal Conference, ‘the assembly of the Bishops of a country or of a certain territory’,Footnote 99 must draw up its own statutes (to be reviewed by the Apostolic See) to deal with e.g. its plenary meetings, a permanent committee of bishops, a general secretary and other offices; each Conference must elect a president who presides over its plenary meetings and permanent committee. Plenary meetings are to be held at least once each year.Footnote 100 The Conference may issue decrees only in cases where the universal law so prescribes or by special mandate of the Holy See, on its own initiative or at the request of the Conference; a proposed conference decree must receive two-thirds of the votes at a plenary meeting; and: ‘These decrees do not oblige until they have been reviewed by the Apostolic See and lawfully promulgated’; the competence of a diocesan bishop is also protected.Footnote 101
An Anglican Church consists of one or more province(s) (and within them dioceses). The central organ of government is the national assembly, styled variously the General Synod (e.g. England) or Governing Body (Wales) composed of three Houses (or Orders) – bishops, clergy and laity – with representatives elected under elaborate legal rules.Footnote 102 The archbishop or primate convenes and presides at meetings held each year – and there are complex procedures for the transaction of business.Footnote 103 The principal functions of central assemblies are law-making, policy-making and to a lesser extent administration over a wide range of prescribed subjects of common concern to the whole of the church.Footnote 104 The central assembly also has various committees, commissions, boards, and other administrative bodies.Footnote 105
Second, across the wide spectrum of Protestant churches, in Methodist polity the Conference is a ‘court’ with the power to bind: it meets annually under a President.Footnote 106 For example, the Conference of the Methodist Church in Great Britain (one of its ‘Church Courts and Jurisdictions’) meets annually and consists of ministers (in the Ministerial Session) and lay representatives (in the Representative Session). It is responsible for ‘the government and discipline of the [church] and the management and administration of its affairs’ and has ‘all the powers, authorities, rights and duties necessary or desirable in its discretion for such government, discipline, management and administration’; as such, it may: (1) make, amend and repeal Standing Orders or other rules and regulations for the constitution of the Conference consistent with the Deed of Union; (2) found connexional funds for the promulgation of the Gospel and for Circuits and Local Churches and manage connexional property; (3) conduct ordinations; and (4) appoint boards, committees, and officers including its President and the Methodist Council and Executive to act on its behalf between Conferences and ensure that ‘the decisions of the Conference are fully implemented’; the Council also has a Committee on Methodist Law and Polity to advise on Methodist ‘legislation and administration’, changes to law and their ‘coherence with existing usage’; the committee reports annually to the Conference.Footnote 107 The President of the Conference must be an ordained minister and is elected by it (designated at the previous Conference by ballot and a majority of the votes cast) to hold office for one year.Footnote 108 The President of the Conference: ‘plays a significant part in the oversight and leadership of the Church in responding to God’s Spirit and developing prophetic vision’; presides at the Conference; stations ministers on vacancies on death;Footnote 109 exercises ‘a ministry through visits to and encouragement of the constituent parts of the Connexion and beyond’; Footnote 110 may assist at any Synod, if requested by the Chair or by a majority of the Superintendents in the District; and, if requested to do so, visit any Circuit, to inquire into its affairs, and to take any steps judged beneficial.Footnote 111
Thirdly, a church of the Reformed tradition has a central assembly composed of ministers and lay representatives with legislative authority. For instance, the General Assembly of the United Reformed Church is ‘the central organ [and] final authority, under the Word of God and … guidance of the Holy Spirit in … doctrine and order and in all other concerns of its common life’; it has representatives of synods (equal ministerial and lay); it is for example to oversee the work of the church and ‘alter, add to, modify or supersede the Basis, Structure and any other form … of the polity and doctrinal formulations’ of the church; constitutional amendment is proposed by a two-thirds majority of members, referred to the provinces, and effected by majority vote. The General Assembly is assisted in its work by a range of councils and committees.Footnote 112 Two Moderators are elected by secret ballot on nomination by a synod: one a minister or church-related community worker and the other an elder.Footnote 113
Similarly, a Presbyterian Church has a General Assembly, its highest court composed typically of teaching elders from (regional) Presbyteries and ruling elders from the local (Kirk) Sessions. For instance, in the Presbyterian Church of Wales: ‘The General Assembly, the Supreme Court of the Church, is a representative body consisting of ministers and elders elected by Presbyteries’; its ‘functions … are legislative as well as judicial and administrative’ as to doctrine, worship, discipline and government; Presbyteries may propose legislative reform to General Assembly and no change may be made to the constitution without approval of the Presbyteries.Footnote 114 The Moderator is elected by and appointed to preside over the Assembly and performs such functions as are prescribed by the regulatory instruments of the church; generally, the functions of the Moderator are in the sphere of church governance.Footnote 115
By way of contrast, in the Congregational tradition of church polity, in which the fullness of the Church of Christ vest in the local church, the national institutions of Baptists have more limited jurisdictions; for instance, in the Baptist Union of Great Britain: ‘The general policy of the Union, subject to any directions of the Assembly, shall be decided by a Council’ which meets twice a year and consists e.g. of representatives of Associations and the officers and past Presidents; Council may appoint committees and working groups and the Assembly may amend the constitution of the Union by resolution passed by a two-thirds majority vote with notice given at the previous meeting.Footnote 116 A Baptist Union may also have a President, Directors or Moderators with limited functions due to the autonomy of each member church.Footnote 117
International ecclesial governance and primacy
According to the Statement of Principles, an ecclesial tradition may have an international organisation in the form of a church, communion, federation, or other global association, with a structure as may be constituted by or assigned to it under its doctrine and law. An international ecclesial institution is composed of such persons on such terms of tenure as are assigned to it in accordance with its own juridical instruments.Footnote 118 Also, a church may have a system of international oversight or leadership. A minister has such international oversight or leadership as are permitted by law. International church offices include those of pope, patriarch, primate, president, moderator, or general secretary. Those who exercise international oversight or leadership are appointed or elected to that office by competent ecclesiastical authority. A church may assign to such an office a coercive jurisdiction or a moral or persuasive authority.Footnote 119 These principles are derived from the laws.
The regulatory instruments of the ecclesial traditions provide for international oversight and leadership, with varying degrees of authority attached to it, in norms applicable to global ecclesial communities which either constitute or are constituted by an institutional church. In the Latin Church, with the Pontiff, the College of Bishops exercises power over the universal church and its decrees, if confirmed by the Pope, are to be observed by all the faithful; administration is conducted by the Roman Curia.Footnote 120 Similarly, in Orthodox polity, an autocephalous patriarchate exercises jurisdiction over its local churches across the world through e.g. the Patriarch and a Holy Synod.Footnote 121 However, at international level the institutions of the Anglican Communion (e.g. Lambeth Conference), Lutheran World Federation (Assembly, Council and Secretariat), World Methodist Council, World Communion of Reformed Churches (General Council), and Baptist World Alliance (Congress), exercise no coercive jurisdiction over their autonomous member churches – nevertheless, these international entities co-ordinate their work in matters of common concern on the basis of an authority conferred individually by those member churches; the autonomy of each member church must be respected – however, some of these international ecclesial communities may discipline churches (e.g. suspension) by way of special process.Footnote 122 On the basis of these existing models, there is ample scope for these international institutions to formulate norms under which they may recognise, respect, and perhaps take into account in their decision-making processes the exercise of a global primacy subject to safeguards which protect the continued enjoyment of autonomy however configured beneath those entities.
Conclusion
From the above analysis, I offer three conclusions. First, within every global Christian church family there are laws. They exist in a range of regulatory instruments. Theology is their primary material source. And these laws seek to serve, facilitate, and order the mission, ministry, and witness of all the churches in which they are created and applied.
Second, ecumenism to date has focused mainly on doctrine and theology to effect greater visible unity among the separated institutional churches. Canon law, as Robert Ombres has famously put it, was the missing link in ecumenism.Footnote 123
However, comparing laws of churches, inducing from them shared principles of law, and articulating these, is fertile ground for ecumenism. The similarities between laws of different ecclesial families link Christians in common action (even though the churches differ in the doctrinal reasons for their own laws). The 2016 Statement (launched in 2022) challenges us about the unifying potential of juridical ecumenism. Importantly, Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew both recognise the value of church law to ecumenism.
Third, the ecumenical Statement of Principles does not use the word ‘synodality’. However, for me, the idea of synodality is clearly implicit in its principles of law on church governance. This is so because the spirit of synodality is present in the laws of all historic churches in a multitude of different forms, assemblies, and levels. All traditions have international, national, regional, and local assemblies in which Christians ‘journey together’, ‘listen to each other’, and ‘discern God’s will’ in the making of hard or soft law to facilitate or order mission in context.
From the Statement of Principles, and the laws it is based on, I suggest, emerge principles of synodality around which all Christians today can meet – about the types and levels of church assembly, their composition, functions, and processes. From juridical ecumenism, we see that the principle of synodality is of the essence of church governance. The laws of all the churches provide the evidence of this.
But can juridical ecumenism, for greater Christian unity, find still more precise candidate principles of synodality than those already implicit in the Statement?
Acknowledgements
This article is based on a public lecture delivered on 24 September 2024 at the Pontifical University of St Thomas Aquinas, Rome. A version of this article was originally published in edition 206 of the Newsletter of the Canon Law Society of Great Britain and Ireland and is published here with the permission of the Canon Law Society of Great Britain and Ireland.
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