The Highway Forums General Discussion Open Forum Classis

I just heard that term, so I look it up in the dictionary. Is it just another word for Prebytery or is it an official sub-group within a Presbytery? Maybe a Reformed non-Presbyterian body uses it.

When Calvin's Genevan church order was carried to Scotland by John Knox, it evolved into the Presbyterianism that, in essentials, is still practiced today. Individual local congregations elect their own elders, including the minister, who together govern the church as a session (or consistory in certain Reformed churches). The minister (or teaching elder), who is called by the local church and who usually serves as moderator of the session, is, however, ordained and disciplined by the next level of church organization, the presbytery (or classis), which administers groups of churches in one area. Presbyterianism

John,

Simply put.. "Classis" is basically synonymous with "Presbytery". The term is used mainly by the Continental Reformed Churches (Dutch Reformed). On the local church level, Presbyterians call their plurality of Elders a "Session", the Continental Reformed call it a "Consistory". Also, where Presbyterians refer to their universal meeting as a "General Assembly", the Continental Reformed call theirs a "Synod".

And just to confuse things further in a certain very large Presbyterian church a Synod is a court between Presbytery and General Assembly.