The year 2024 is a year of change or transition in leadership in the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon (PCC) it’s the end of another five year cycle when the church refreshes it leadership at all levels. Our editorial team has taken a keen interest in the election of church leaders in the PCC. In a series of articles leading up to the election of the Synod Clerk and Moderator, City Web will try to break down to basic understanding the different processes involved in selecting leaders in the PCC.
After reading so many articles and write ups online, our editorial team found a lot of misleading information reason why we decided to come up with these write ups. The constitution of PCC, the Book of Orders, the Finance Order of the PCC, the elections Manuel for the election in 2024 (extrapolated elections and selection criteria from the PCC constitution and other related documents) and the handbook of the movements have been used as reference documents.
Part One: Re-organisation in the PCC
In this first part we will look at how the PCC prepares itself for reorganisation (transition of leadership) after a five year mandate. The year of election has been termed by the current Moderator, Right Rev. Fonki Samuel Forba as the “5th year curse” because of the tussled, blackmails, the accusations and counter accusations, the blame game, the fighting and rivalry for different positions in the church.
Every five years, the church holds elections at every level starting from the basic levels that are the congregation and the groups to the presbytery and up to the Synod where the Moderator and the Synod Clerk are elected. It should be noted that elected officers of the PCC hold office for five years renewable once, except for the Trustees of the church who can serve a maximum of three terms in office (Art. 155.i). It should be recalled that all elections at every level are conducted by an electoral commission of active communicants with exemplary characters who are not willing to run for any of the offices at the different level. The Commission will have five members for smaller congregations and seven for bigger congregations.
The election cycle starts at the congregational level. Here the different congregations of the PCC elect their elders through a secret ballot of the registered members of the congregation. From within the session are elected the congregational chair persons and vice. These two must be of opposite sex and must have served for at least five years as an elder preceding the election, article 54 (III) of the PC constitution. These elected elders and other elected to hold other positions form the session of the local congregation.
Congregational secretaries, finances secretaries and treasurers may be voted out of the elected elders. That is to say these positions can be held by elected elders if they are suitable or by any qualified person in the congregation. Depending on the numerical strength of the congregation these elders can range from three to 25. (Article 48 and 49 PCC constitution)
Once elected, the session of the congregation would elect its presbytery delegates taking into account gender balance. Small congregations (less than 351 communicants) send in two delegates and the bigger ones (over 351 communicants) three delegates at most (Article 78.i sub B and C) One of these delegates is the congregational chairperson. In most cases though not a law, the chairpersons and vice usually represents the congregation at the presbytery meeting.
After the election of the session, the next election is the groups and movements (groups are the different choirs like PECA, Njang, Hallelujah, Bathel etc, and movements are CMF, CWF and CYF), This holds at the congregational level supervised by the newly elected session of the local congregation and presbytery representatives of the different groups and movements ( see CMF handbook articles 24:6:1:1 and CWF handbook articles). Here the groups and movements elect their presidents, secretaries and other executive positions like vice presidents, finance secretaries, treasurers and songs just to name these.
After the elections of the sessions comes the next level, election of the groups and movements at zonal, presbytery, regional and National levels. The groups send their delegates (mostly presidents and secretaries) to the presbytery and zonal meetings. These presbytery meetings (PRESCOMS for the movements) elect their zonal and presbytery official depending on the bylaws of the groups and movements. Zones mostly exist in the movements which are very big and so are subdivided into zones at presbytery level. Some choirs don’t have zonal positions and so proceed directly to presbytery elections. At this level the zonal and presbytery officials are voted from amongst the delegates to form the presbytery exco. After this is the Regional executive and then the National executive. These elections spanned from January to August of this year.
After these basic reorganisations, the church steadies itself for the presbytery elections that will finally pave the way for the Synod elections in November.
The Presbytery delegates elected at the level of the congregations congregate at the presbytery. For this election year, that is on October 12, 2024. The presbytery leaders of the movement, pastors in the presbytery and head of church establishment and schools in the presbytery forms the presbytery meeting (Art. 78 PCC constitution). Article 86(i) also stipulates that the chairperson and vice chairpersons of the presbytery Meeting who have served as elders for at least five years in their congregations immediately preceding the election”
The Presbytery meeting elects its executive, that is the chair and vice, two elders representatives (male and female), the synod delegate, the pastors’ representative, the presbytery presidents of the movements (CMF,CWF and CYF), plus the Presbyterial secretary and treasurer. The presbytery will send two elected representatives each to the Synod, that is the presbytery chairperson and the synod delegate. (note here that the chair and synod delegate must be of opposite sex).
The Synod which is the highest decision marking level of the PCC is made up of the representatives from the 31 presbyteries that make up the PCC. These presbytery representatives are joined by two representatives each of the movements at National level, the Presbyterian Education authority and the Cameroon Christian University, and one representative each from each missionary area, the Rural Development Board, and the health services.
Ex-officio members of the Synod include the Moderator, the Synod Clerk, the Financial Secretary, the Vice Chancellor and Secretary of the Cameroon Christian University, the chair of the Higher Education Council, all the 31 presbyterial secretaries, secretaries of the boards, church departments and standing committees (see article 102 of the PCC constitution). These are the people who would finally vote for the moderator and Synod clerk of the PCC.
In our next article (Elections in the PCC Part Two) we will look at the process of selecting and electing the moderator and synod Clerk of the PCC.
