THE CONSTITUTION
OF THE
REFORMED CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES
PART III.
DISCIPLINE
SECTION 1. Discipline in General
ARTICLE 112. Christian discipline is the exercise of that authority and the application of those laws which the Lord Jesus Christ has established in His Church, to preserve its purity and honor, and to promote the spiritual welfare of its members.
ARTICLE 113. An offense is anything in doctrine, principles, or practice of a church member, officer, or judicatory that is contrary to the Word of God: and nothing shall be admitted as matter of accusation or considered an offense which cannot be proved contrary to the Scriptures or to the regulations of the Church founded on them. The following sins especially merit discipline: heresy, schism, blasphemy, adultery, fornication, lascivious wantonness, theft, fraud, perjury, lying, contentiousness, intemperance, profanation of the Lord's Day, impudent scoffing, cruelty, and other violations of the Ten Commandments.
ARTICLE 114. Discipline shall be exercised in the form of admonition, censure, erasure of name, suspension, deposition, excommunication and restoration. The Spiritual Council shall inform the disciplined offender(s) of the right to appeal, the right to counsel, and the necessary procedures in filing an appeal.
ARTICLE 115. Should any of the lower judicatories pass an action of censure or reproof upon an individual or any part in the Church in their unavoidable absence, the Secretary or Stated Clerk of said judicatory shall give those concerned immediate notice of such action; and should they feel aggrieved by it, they shall have thirty days time from date of notice for giving notice of appeal to the officers of said judicatory, and thirty days further time for lodging their reasons for appeal.
ARTICLE 116. Every case in which there is a charge of offense against a church member or officer shall be known, in its original and appellate stages, as a judicial case. Every other case shall be known as a nonjudicial or administrative case.
SECTION 2. Members -- Unconfirmed and Confirmed
ARTICLE 117. All members of the Church are subject to its government and discipline. If the unconfirmed fall into sinful ways, the pastor and elders shall remind the parents of their duty in regard to them, and shall also seek by direct approach to bring them to the obedience of Christ.
ARTICLE 118. Members of the Church who upon being convicted of an offense reject the admonition of the Spiritual Council or judicatory that found them guilty, or who have committed an act of public scandal, shall be suspended from the communion of the Church. Those thus suspended shall be treated not as enemies, but as erring brethren, and shall be admonished as such, in accordance with apostolic direction (2 Thess. 3:6-15). But if this suspension and these admonitions are ineffectual, offenders shall be excommunicated (Matt. 18:17). A suspension may or may not be announced publicly, at the discretion of the church judicatory that tried the case; a sentence of excommunication, however, shall always be publicly pronounced.
ARTICLE 119. If a member is negligent in partaking of the Holy Communion, or refuses to contribute to the support of the Church, or continually absents himself from public worship, such conduct, in one or all of these requirements, shall be regarded as an offense against the Church, and he shall be admonished by the pastor or elders. If after admonition he continues in such negligence of duty, the Spiritual Council shall notify him that he is no longer in good and regular standing. If after not less than six months and not more than one year of such suspension he continues in such neglect of duty, the Spiritual Council shall erase his name.
If any member shall unite with another congregation of the Reformed Church or of another denomination without a certificate of dismission, the Spiritual Council shall likewise erase his name.
When a member is erased, it shall be specified in the minutes of the Spiritual Council whether this action is administrative or judicial.
SECTION 3. Ministers, Elders and Deacons
ARTICLE 120. If a minister, an elder or a deacon shall commit an offense that brings dishonor upon the Church or is punishable in the criminal courts, such a person shall upon trial and conviction by a church judicatory be removed from office; if an elder or a deacon, by the Spiritual Council; if a minister, by his Classis. In case a minister is involved in a grave public scandal, the Spiritual Council shall temporarily prevent him from exercising his ministerial function and refer him at once to his Classis for trial.
ARTICLE 121. If an ill report concerning the moral conduct of a minister, an elder or a deacon is in circulation, the Spiritual Council shall institute an immediate investigation and proceed as the interests of religion and as justice to the individual may require. If the Spiritual Council neglects to investigate ill reports concerning a minister, the Classis shall investigate them without waiting to be requested by the Spiritual Council. But if the Classis discovers that the Spiritual Council is already occupied with the case, it shall for a reasonable time await the result of the inquiry. A prosecution based on evil rumors shall not be instituted unless there is a specification of particular sin or sins and the rumors are generally circulated, permanent and not transient, and accompanied with strong presumption of truth (1 Tim. 5:19).
ARTICLE 122. If a pastor shall have been suspended or deposed from his ministerial office, the relation previously existing between him and his pastoral charge shall be dissolved and the charge declared vacant.
ARTICLE 123. If a minister accused of an offense shall refuse to appear, either in person or by counsel, after having been cited twice, he shall for his contumacy be suspended from his office; and if after another citation he refuses to appear, either in person or by counsel, he shall be suspended from the communion of the Church, if the alleged offense warrants such suspension.
ARTICLE 124. An accusation in case of scandal shall not be heard unless presented within one year after the crime is alleged to have been committed, except it can be shown that insurmountable difficulties existed, which prevented the presentation of the accusation within that time.
SECTION 4. Parties in Cases of Process
ARTICLE 125. Judicial proceedings against alleged offenders shall be instituted only on accusation by a communicant member or by a judicatory finding it necessary to investigate an offense.
ARTICLE 126. When an individual brings an accusation, he is named as the accuser; and when an accusation is brought by a judicatory of the Church, "The Reformed Church in the United States" shall be named as accuser. The person or persons against whom the accusation is brought shall be named as the accused.
ARTICLE 127. When an accusation has been brought by a judicatory, it shall appoint a committee of one or more of its members to conduct the proceeding in all its stages until the final issue is reached; but the judicatory which appointed the committee of counsel may change it, and may also appoint assistant counsel in the case at any stage of the proceeding, the same privilege either of engaging other counsel or of engaging assistant counsel being accorded to the accused.
ARTICLE 128. In cases of alleged personal injuries, a proceeding shall not be allowed unless those means for reconciliation have been tried and have failed which are required by our Lord (Matt. 18:15-17).
SECTION 5. Charges and Specifications
ARTICLE 129. The charge or charges shall be in writing and shall set forth the alleged offense, and the specifications shall set forth the facts relied upon to sustain the charge or charges. Each offense shall be set forth as a separate charge; and each specification shall declare, as far as possible, the time, place and circumstances of the offense, and shall be accompanied with the names of the witnesses.
SECTION 6. Process and Trial
ARTICLE 130. When charges are made that an offense has been committed, they must be filed with the Stated Clerk or Secretary of the judicatory to which they are directed, who shall give one copy to the accuser and one to the accused. The Stated Clerk or Secretary shall immediately inform the President of the judicatory of the filing of the charges or accusations.
ARTICLE 131. If charges are made against the Stated Clerk or Secretary of the judicatory, they shall be filed with the presiding officer, and he shall proceed to perform the duties of the Stated Clerk or Secretary in the matter until another Stated Clerk or Secretary shall have been appointed for the occasion; and if they are made against the presiding officer, the Secretary or Stated Clerk shall proceed to perform the duties of the presiding officer in the matter until the judicatory can meet and appoint a presiding officer for the occasion.
ARTICLE 132. The President of the judicatory in which the charges have been filed, or in case of his disqualification the Stated Clerk or Secretary, shall call a meeting for the hearing of the case, in the manner and form in which such judicatory is usually called for the transaction of business. The Secretary or Stated Clerk, or in case of his disqualification the President, shall issue a citation according to the form prescribed by the Synod. Such citation and one of the copies of the charges, with the names of witnesses, shall be served on the accused at least thirty days before the trial, in person if possible, otherwise either by leaving them at his last known place of residence with an adult member of his family or household, or by mailing them in a certified letter with return receipt requested. The accuser also shall be notified of the time and place of the trial by the Stated Clerk or Secretary, or in the case of his disqualification by the President, at least ten days previous to the trial.
ARTICLE 133. If the accused refuses to obey the citation, he shall be cited a second time to appear at such time as the judicatory may deem reasonable, but not within less than ten days. If he still refuses to appear, not only shall he be liable for censure for contumacy, but the judicatory may proceed with the investigation and decision of the case as if he were present, in which case the judicatory shall appoint some person or persons to represent him as counsel.
ARTICLE 134. The President, or the Stated Clerk or Secretary of the judicatory which is to hear the case shall, when requested, issue citation to the witness or witnesses according to the form prescribed by the Synod.
Such citation shall be served upon each witness in like manner as provided in Article 132 for service of citation upon the accused. A person disobeying a citation thus issued and served is guilty of disobedience and contempt, and may for such offense be suspended (if a member of the Church) from the rights and privileges of the Church, or be reprimanded by the judicatory.
ARTICLE 135. The testimony of witnesses who, on account of distance, ill health, or other unavoidable circumstances, cannot appear at the trial of a case, may be taken by either party before a notary public or a justice of the peace, or before a member of the Church designated as a commissioner by the judicatory, provided the part in whose interest the testimony is taken notifies the opposite party, at least ten days previously, when and where the testimony is to be given, and what it is expected to prove. The opposite party may be present and cross-examine the witness, or may send questions for such cross-examination. The testimony thus taken may be read at any and all stages of the trial, provided the notary or justice or commissioner has certified thereto that said witnesses were duly qualified, and that the testimony is their testimony and was reduced to writing by him and was taken at the time and place specified in the notice.
ARTICLE 136. Trials shall be conducted in open or closed session, as the majority of the judicatory may determine. Trials for heresy shall be conducted in open session.
ARTICLE 137. An accuser may be represented by counsel, but only ministers and elders of the Reformed Church in the United States, in good and regular standing, shall appear as counsel in a judicatory.
ARTICLE 138. Exceptions to the jurisdiction of the judicatory, to the regularity of its organization, to the sufficiency of the charges and specifications, must be made at the meeting named in the citations, either before or after the charges are made. The judicatory shall determine all such preliminary objections, and may dismiss the case, or, in the furtherance of justice, may permit amendments to the specifications or charges which do not change their nature.
ARTICLE 139. If the proceedings are found in order and the charges and specifications are considered sufficient to put the accused on his defense, and there is not an acknowledgment of guilt, the trial shall proceed; but if the guilt is acknowledged, the judicatory shall pronounce sentence without further process of trial.
ARTICLE 140. The witnesses, after being sworn or affirmed by the President or by any member of the body whom he shall appoint, shall be examined, and, if desired, cross-examined; and other competent evidence may be presented. Questions as to order or evidence shall be decided by the President, subject to exception by either of the parties at the time the decision is rendered; and such decisions, if it is desired by either party, shall be entered upon the records of the case.
ARTICLE 141. All persons, including the accuser and the accused, are competent witnesses, except such as do not believe in the existence of God or in a future state of reward and punishment, or have not sufficient intelligence to understand the obligation of an oath. Any witness may be challenged for incompetency, and the judicatory shall decide the question.
ARTICLE 142. A member of the judicatory may be one of the witnesses in a case which comes before it. He shall be qualified as other witnesses are, and after having given his testimony may immediately resume his seat as a member of the judicatory, but shall not have a vote in the case in any of the judicatories of the Church.
ARTICLE 143. Exceptions to any of the rulings or proceedings in the trial may be taken by either of the parties, and shall be entered on the record to be available in case of an appeal.
ARTICLE 144. The charge or charges and specifications and the decision of the judicatory and the notice of appeal, if any, shall be entered on the minutes of the judicatory, all of which together with the evidence in the case duly filed and authenticated by the clerk of the judicatory shall constitute the record of the case. If demanded, copies of the record shall be promptly furnished to the parties at their expense.
ARTICLE 145. Decisions in judicial proceedings must be rendered by a majority vote of the members of the judicatory present during the entire progress of the trial. A separate vote must be taken on each charge. A sentence, however, of excommunication of a member, or of suspension or deposition of a minister, elder, or deacon from office, shall not be valid except by concurrence of two-thirds of the members voting. The decision and the sentence shall be publicly pronounced by the President in the judicatory at the conclusion of the proceedings. Motion for a new trial or for a mitigation of sentence shall be heard and decided immediately after the conclusion of the trial. Decisions, sentence, exceptions, motions and further proceedings on them, and notice of appeal shall be duly recorded in the minutes of the trial in the order in which they occur.
SECTION 7. References
ARTICLE 146. A reference is a submission of a pending matter by a lower to the next higher judicatory and may be made either for advice or for ultimate decision by such higher judicatory.
ARTICLE 147. In matters of reference members of the lower judicatory may vote in the higher judicatory.
ARTICLE 148. A judicatory may refuse to give final judgment in a matter of reference, and may remit the whole case either with or without advice to the lower judicatory.
ARTICLE 149. In all cases of reference the record of the proceedings in the lower judicatory shall be transmitted to the higher judicatory, and the judicatory to which a reference is made shall determine the method of procedure to be adopted for hearing and disposing of such reference.
SECTION 8. Complaints
ARTICLE 150. A complaint is a written representation made for grievances other than those that necessitate an accusation and a judicial trial. Any member of the Church in good and regular standing shall have the right of complaint, provided that due notice is given to the party against whom complaint is made.
ARTICLE 151. If the constitutional requirements for the regularity of a complaint have been met, the judicatory to which the complaint has been made shall declare it in order; and all complaints shall be so disposed of by the judicatory to which they are made that a just, correct and intelligent conclusion may be reached.
ARTICLE 152. If the official act or decision of an officer of the Church is the ground of complaint, the complaint shall be brought before the judicatory in whose name or by whose authority he acted. The complaint shall be lodged by the complainant with the Stated Clerk or Secretary of the judicatory, a copy shall be served by the Stated Clerk or Secretary on the officer complained against at least ten days before the complaint is heard.
ARTICLE 153. If the official decision of a church judicatory is complained of, the complaint shall be brought before the next higher judicatory. Immediate notice of complaint shall be given, and shall be recorded by the Stated Clerk or Secretary, and the President shall at once appoint a committee to defend the action of the judicatory before the next higher tribunal. The complaint and of the reasons for it must be filed by the complainant with the Stated Clerk or Secretary of the body complained of within thirty days after the final adjournment of the body. If reasons of complaint shall have been filed with the Stated Clerk or Secretary within the prescribed time, he shall at once inform the chairman of the committee appointed to defend the judicatory, and furnish him with a copy of the complaint and the reasons for it. Notice of complaint, together with the complaint and the reasons for it, filed with the Stated Clerk or Secretary shall be certified by him to the next higher tribunal, before which at its next session such complaint shall be heard.
ARTICLE 154. Neither the complainant, nor the persons complained of, nor the members of the judicatory complained of shall vote in the case in any of the judicatories of the Church.
ARTICLE 155. Either of the parties to a complaint may complain to the next higher judicatory.
ARTICLE 156. The judicatory against which a complaint is made shall forward its records to the higher judicatory, together with all papers relating to the matter of the complaint.
ARTICLE 157. The same method of procedure in the hearing of a complaint shall prevail as in the case of an appeal, as provided in Articles 168 and 169 of this Constitution.
ARTICLE 158. The effect of a complaint, if sustained, may be the reversal in whole or in part of the action or decision complained of. When a complaint is sustained, the lower judicatory shall be directed how to dispose of the matter.
ARTICLE 159. Whenever a complaint is entered against a decision of a judicatory by at least one-third of the members recorded as present when the decision was made, the execution of the decision shall be stayed until the final issue of the case in a higher judicatory.
SECTION 9. Appeals
ARTICLE 160. An appeal is the removal of a judicial case by a written representation from a lower to a higher judicatory, and may be taken by either of the original parties from the judgment of the lower judicatory.
ARTICLE 161. If an appeal is taken from the decision of a judicatory in a judicial case, the judicatory that rendered the decision shall defend its position in the higher judicatory by and through such representatives as it may deem proper to appoint; said representatives, however, shall be ministers or elders, or both, of the Reformed Church in the United States.
ARTICLE 162. Irregularities in the proceedings; refusal to entertain an appeal, refusal of reasonable indulgence to a party on trial; receiving improper, or declining to receive important testimony; undue haste; manifestation of prejudice in the conduct of a case; mistake or injustice in the decision or in any of the rulings of the judicatory in the matters appertaining to the case; undue severity of sentence -- are good and sufficient reasons for an appeal.
ARTICLE 163. Written notice of appeal, with a copy of specifications or errors alleged, shall be given, within thirty days after the adjournment of the judicatory, to the Stated Clerk or Secretary of the judicatory appealed from, and in the case of his absence or disability or death, to the President of it, who shall file it, with the records and all papers appertaining to the case, or a certified copy of them, with the Stated Clerk of the higher judicatory, on or before the second day of its next regular meeting after the day of reception of said notice, and shall furnish the chairman of the committee appointed to defend the judicatory with a copy of the specifications of errors alleged.
ARTICLE 164. The appellant shall appear, in person or by counsel, before the judicatory appealed to, at or before the close of the second day's session of its next stated meeting after the date of filing of the notice of appeal, prepared to proceed with the appeal. If the appellant does not appear before the judicatory appealed to, and fails to show, to the satisfaction of the judicatory, that said appellant was unavoidably prevented from so doing, the appeal shall be considered abandoned, and the judgment of the lower judicatory shall stand. The judicatory appealed to shall proceed to hear an appeal whether the judicatory appealed from appears or not, unless it is shown that notice of appeal was not properly served on the judicatory appealed from.
ARTICLE 165. All cases of appeal of which the records and papers, or certified copies of them, have been placed in the hands of the Stated Clerk of the judicatory appealed to, shall be called up by him as soon as possible after the permanent organization of the judicatory; he shall state the names of the original parties, read the accusation and decision and sentence, state the name of the judicatory appealed from and the names of the appellants, and read the reasons filed for the appeal.
ARTICLE 166. In case the Stated Clerk or Secretary of the lower judicatory has failed to file the records of an appeal as provided in Article 163, he shall be referred to his judicatory to be dealt with as the case may require; and the appellant or the judicatory appealed from may furnish a copy of said records, and, provided both shall agree as to its correctness, the same shall be taken as if it had been filed by the Stated Clerk or Secretary.
ARTICLE 167. Testimony that has not been brought before the lower judicatory shall not be admitted in the higher, except by consent of both parties. If new evidence arises which is likely to alter the aspect of the case materially, the case must be sent back to the lower judicatory for a new investigation.
ARTICLE 168. After an appeal shall have been called up and stated by the clerk, the presiding officer shall appoint a committee whose duty it shall be to take charge of all the records and papers in the case, examine the same thoroughly, and report on them:
1. Whether or not the appeal is regular and ready for hearing.
2. Propose to the judicatory the day and hour the appeal shall be heard.
3. The time to be granted to each party to present the case.
ARTICLE 169. When the time appointed for the hearing of an appeal arrives, it shall have precedence over all other business and shall be heard as follows:
1. The papers and records in the case shall be read in proper order, except such parts as may be omitted by consent.
2. The parties shall be heard, the appellant opening and closing.
3. Opportunity shall be given to the members of the judicatory appealed from to be heard.
4. Opportunity shall be given to the members of the higher judicatory to be heard.
5. The vote shall then be taken, without further debate, separately on each specification, the question being put in the form: Shall the specification be sustained? The specification having been read by the clerk and the question put by the President, the roll shall be called and the vote be taken. If not one of the specifications shall be sustained and no error be found, the judgment of the lower judicatory shall stand. If an error or errors shall be found, the judicatory appealed to shall determine whether the judgment of the lower judicatory shall be reversed or modified; or the case remanded for a new trial; and the decision, accompanied with a recital of the error or errors found, shall be entered on the record. If the judicatory deems it wise, a definition of its action may be adopted, which shall be a part of the record of the case.
ARTICLE 170. Neither the appellant nor the members of the judicatory appealed from shall vote in the case in any judicatories of the Church.
ARTICLE 171. The necessary effect of an appeal is to stay all further proceedings in the case of admonition, of censure, or of erasure of name; but in the case of suspension, or of deposition, or of excommunication the judgment shall remain in force until finally reversed.
ARTICLE 172. The decisions of the last judicatory to which an appeal has been taken shall be valid and binding.
SECTION 10. Judicial Committee
Refer to Article 100.
SECTION 11. Restoration
ARTICLE 173. Members of the Church, deacons, elders, licentiates, or ministers who are under discipline may be reinstated either by the judicatory which disciplines them, or, with its official consent, by a co-ordinate judicatory; provided, however, that the evidence of their repentance and amendment is satisfactory. The reinstatement of a minister shall not be final until it shall have been approved by the Synod.
ARTICLE 174. A minister or a licentiate who has been deposed for the sin of adultery or of fornication, or for any offense that affixes a public scandal to his character, shall not be restored to the ministry unless it shall clearly appear to the judicatory which deposed him that the restoration can be effected without injury to the cause of religion.
ARTICLE 175. If a minister shall have been deposed but not excommunicated, he shall be entitled to the rights of a communicant member; and Classis shall furnish him with a certificate to any congregation with which he may desire to connect himself. Such certificate shall state his exact relation to the Church.