Presbytery Meetings
Presbytery Meetings
166th Stated Meeting
Tuesday, May 12, 2026
at Washington Presbyterian Church
10:00am
Dear Friends,
I’m excited to gather with you on May 12 for the Presbytery meeting at Washington Presbyterian church. It will be a full meeting with workshops led by our Vision Task Force and our Funding Pilot Project Leaders. We will receive new members and hear updates from ministry partners. We are excited to hear from Amber Parker, the Executive Director of Ijams Nature Center, about the ways they will use the gift of New Prospect to further their outdoor education preschool. And we will learn some of Center Presbyterian Church’s ministry and mission.
Please read your packet in advance so we are ready to faithfully do the business before us and to enjoy our worship, fellowship, and resourcing together.
See you all soon. Grace and peace,
Wendy
General Presbyter
2026 Presbytery Meeting Dates
Saturday, February 14th at First Presbyterian Church, Sweetwater
Tuesday, May 12th at Washington Presbyterian Church
Saturday, August 8th at Northside Presbyterian Church
Tuesday, November 10th at First Presbyterian Church, Knoxville
Who Attends Presbytery Meetings?
The presbytery is the council serving as a corporate expression of the church within a certain district and is composed of all the congregations and ministers of the Word and Sacrament within that district. The presbytery shall adopt and communicate to the sessions a plan for determining how many ruling elders each session should elect as commissioners to presbytery, with a goal of numerical parity of ministers of the Word and Sacrament and ruling elders. (G-3.0301).
How Many Elders?
The Presbytery’s formula for determining how many elder commissioners attend from each congregation is based on the size of the congregation.
- Membership of 1001 to 1500 members = 3 commissioners.
- Membership of 201 to 1000 members = 2 commissioners.
- Membership of 1 to 200 members = 1 commissioner.
- Additionally, elders serving on the Coordinating Committee not serving as church commissioners, Commissioned Lay Pastors, and a representative from the Presbyterian Women of the Presbytery all are given a voice and vote at each meeting.
Who Can Vote?
All elder commissioners, those additional elders noted above, and all minister members of the Presbytery have privilege of voice and vote. Ministers serving within the Presbytery, but whose membership is in a different presbytery are recognized as Corresponding Members and have privilege of voice, but not vote.
A Very Brief Guide To Parliamentary Procedure
The presbytery is responsible for the government of the church throughout its district, and for assisting and supporting the witness of congregations to the sovereign activity of God in the world, so that all congregations become communities of faith, hope, love, and witness. As it leads and guides the witness of its congregations, the presbytery shall keep before it the marks of the Church (F-1.0302), the notes by which Presbyterian and Reformed communities have identified themselves through history (F-1.0303) and the six Great Ends of the Church (F-1.0304) (G-3.0301).