Hello Church! I wanted to write to you and explain what we mean by “congregational meeting”, which we will be having in a few weeks. Our church government is structured around multiple layers of accountability, and that is very good. Let’s take the local congregation as the first level, say First Presbyterian Church in Whitefish. We have members which make up the congregation who vote for two offices; elders who are responsible for the spiritual oversight of the church, and deacons who are responsible for the physical needs of the congregation. Both offices are found in the Bible, and have been part of the Church as displayed in the book of Acts. The elders are part of the “session”, who meet once a month in an open meeting to all congregation members. (If you want to attend please let us know! You are welcome to, the only ask we have is that you observe unless you are asked to engage on a certain subject) The elders represent the church at the regional group, the presbytery. We are a part of the “Glacier Presbytery” of the Presbyterian Church U.S.A.