October Leader Formation webinar explores the beauty in Presbyterian basics
Assistant Stated Clerk Flor Vélez-Díaz led a virtual learning event on polity for over 300 ruling elders, deacons, and other church leaders
After two previous events focused on pivotal theological doctrines, the third and final Leader Formation webinar of 2025 offered participants a comprehensive look at the systems and rules that determine how the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) functions. Over the course of 90 minutes, ruling elders, deacons and other attendees were introduced (or reintroduced) to everything from the Foundations of Presbyterian Polity as described in the Book of Order to denominational structures to judicial processes.
The webinar, called “Back to Basics: Constitutional Processes and Polity of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.),” was led by ruling elder Flor Vélez-Díaz, who's an Assistant Stated Clerk and manager of judicial process and social witness for the Interim Unified Agency of the PC(USA). Vélez-Díaz has served extensively in denominational leadership at every level and is also an attorney who previously worked as a civil litigator. This breadth of experience informs her current work in the Office of Constitutional Interpretation and also made her an ideal instructor for this month’s webinar.
As with all events in the Leader Formation series, this learning opportunity was facilitated by ruling elder and certified Christian educator Martha Miller, the manager for Ministry Education and Support within Mid Council Ministries.
Miller began the event by emphasizing the importance of ongoing formation and learning for all church leaders.
“I have often said that there is no magic that happens upon our ordination when we suddenly have all the knowledge needed to serve,” Miller said. “It’s a process, a journey.”
Vélez-Díaz acknowledged at the outset that she would be covering a lot of information but made a point to pause for questions throughout. She encouraged participants to feel comfortable asking whatever they wanted to know, saying, “I promise that the question one of you has, most of you will have thought at one point or another.”
Vélez-Díaz began by focusing on the Foundations of Presbyterian Polity, which — despite coming at the beginning of the PC(USA) Book of Order — is sometimes not read often enough, she said. Vélez-Díaz went on to explain how this section describes God’s mission to proclaim the Good News of the Gospel. She described how our understanding of Christ’s role in that mission, the Holy Spirit’s role, and the church’s role informs our understanding of the church’s function and structure.
From this beginning, Vélez-Díaz moved on to historical principles of ecclesiastical order — that is, the theological concepts that have informed the church’s function and identity over hundreds of years, and how those historical principles subsequently informed the PC(USA)’s own principles of government. These principles include governance by ruling elders and teaching by teaching elders or ministers, as well as the existence of councils at each level of the church, from individual congregations to presbyteries to synods and to the General Assembly.
The webinar also included an overview of the work structure of the denomination — how the various councils, agencies, committees, and commissions contribute to the life and operation of the church. Vélez-Díaz acknowledged that even as she was attempting to describe it, this structure was in transition. In addition to the unification of the former Office of the General Assembly and the Presbyterian Mission Agency into the Interim Unified Agency, several presbyteries are also in the process of unifying.
Vélez-Díaz also described the church’s constitutional documents, made up of the Book of Order and the Book of Confessions, as well as other important documents including Authoritative Interpretations, the General Assembly manual and Robert’s Rules of Order. She ended her time by explaining the process of church discipline and structures of jurisdiction.
Throughout her presentation, Vélez-Díaz emphasized that the PC(USA) expects and relies on its members to be knowledgeable about all of the governing documents and systems, as none of them are meant to be considered in isolation from the whole.
The webinar ended with a participant question about the meaning of “mutual forbearance” — which Vélez-Díaz had previously lifted up as a key undergirding tenet of the church’s function.
She answered by describing how we might sit down in church next to someone we know nothing about, but what matters for the life of the church is that we be able to worship together.
“How can we be in the same space and talk about all the things we need to talk about and still come out and be able to worship with one another?” Vélez-Díaz said. “We have to approach conversations with our siblings in Christ from a perspective of humility and from a perspective of conversation and discernment.”
More than 300 people registered for the year’s final Leader Formation event, which was offered at 7 p.m. Eastern Time on a Thursday. Miller has made a point to ensure that these events are accessible to as many people as possible. Last week’s webinar was primarily in English; however, simultaneous interpretation was offered in both Spanish and Korean. The webinar also included captions and is available to the public as a recording.
You may freely reuse and distribute this article in its entirety for non-commercial purposes in any medium. Please include author attribution, photography credits, and a link to the original article. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDeratives 4.0 International License.
