What does the Clerk of Session do?
Over the years I have had occasion to notice that not everyone knows what the Clerk of Session does. Although you could glean some understanding that a clerk is an administrative job and Session is the governing body of St. Andrews. You might note I prefer to use COS – which is both friendlier and shorter when I’m writing. Well…it’s not always a book definition that applies because it is much more organic than that. You may have some kind of intuitive sense of what is involved in being a COS, but for anyone who is invited to accept this appointment it is difficult to know exactly what to expect. While recognizing that there is much more to being a COS than simply carrying out the prescribed duties of the office, it is nonetheless important to know what these are and what is generally expected of a Session Clerk.
The main duties of a COS are:
(a) with the Moderator (Minister) or Interim Moderator to call and prepare for meetings of the Session.
(b) to keep Minutes of Session meetings.
(c) to attend to correspondence, including the issuing of summaries of meetings.
(d) to be responsible for all Records of the congregation.
(e) to submit the Records of the congregation annually to the Presbytery for attestation (a kind of test of completeness and form), based on hundreds of years of historical record keeping.
(f) almost any administrative job can be assigned to the COS as required.
(g) generally to see to the functioning of the Session, to be concerned for the welfare of the congregation, and to have a working knowledge of the Church’s practice and procedure which is called the Book of Forms.
It’s (g) where the unspecified responsibilities and tasks seem to go from textbook to less defined. It’s also the best part of the job and the most demanding. I won’t go much farther in how this works because tomorrow it will be different – just thought you might like to know that it is: rewarding, task heavy and exciting to be your COS. Sometimes I feel like somehow I was groomed for this role. Sometimes you end up exactly where you want to be. Funny eh?
2 Timothy 2:5
similarly, if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not receive the victor’s crown unless he competes according to the rules.
similarly, if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not receive the victor’s crown unless he competes according to the rules.
A part of the COS’s job is to prepare the Kirk Report for the Year End Annual Report of Saint Andrews Hespeler. Which you will find in the church mid to late February or at the Annual General Meeting on February 26, 2017
