30th Stated meeting Announcement

I am pleased to announce that the 30th Stated Meeting of Tidewater Presbytery will take place on Thursday, October 5, 2023, at Hope Presbyterian Church in Smithfield, VA.

The worship service will begin at 4:30pm. TE David Osborne of Eastern Carolina Presbytery will be preaching. A dinner will be served on site following worship. The business portion of the meeting is scheduled to begin by 6:15pm.

Materials for the meeting are available in the members-only section of this website. The password is available from the Stated Clerk.

Please register your attendance or submit your request for excused absence using the online form here. Churches may register their Ruling Elder Commissioners in a single form. Teaching Elder Commissioners must register individually. Online registrations will be accepted until noon, Thursday, October 5, 2023.

Register Here

​Regarding registration and excused absences, please remember:

• If you do not submit a request for an excused absence, you will be considered unexcused. Our by-laws recognize the following excuses: (1) immediate need for pastoral care: illness, funeral, crisis counseling, and weddings; (2) personal or family illness; (3) unexpected business demands; (4) extraordinary distance to travel by those laboring outside the bounds of Presbytery; (5) honorably retired and (6) Sabbaticals. 
• Ruling Elder Commissioners must be elected by their Sessions to represent their congregations prior to the meeting. If you were not so elected, you should sign in as a visitor, as you are not eligible to vote. BCO 13-1 - "When the Presbytery meets as a court it shall comprise all teaching elders and ruling elders as elected by their Session. Each congregation is entitled to two (2) ruling elder representatives for the first 350 communing members or fraction thereof, and one additional ruling elder for each additional 500 communing members or fraction thereof.” 
• A church that is unable to send at least one commissioner should notify the Stated Clerk with the reason for its absence if it wishes to receive an excused absence.