Faith Anchorage is a Presbyterian church. This is not as scary as it sounds; Presbyterian refers to the way Faith is structured, or organized. Historically, Protestant churches, in the U.S. and abroad, have been organized in one of three ways: Episcopacy, Independency (usually called, Congregationalist), or Presbyterian. We should also add that members of Faith Anchorage may or may not understand the presbyterian framework of our church structure. To be a member of Faith Anchorage does not require presbyterianism.
Here are the three historic forms of church government:
Episcopacy
The word, episcopal, comes from the Greek word, episkopos, which means, bishop, or elder. This form of organization is preferred by the Church of England, the Episcopal Church, Roman Catholic, Orthodox, most Methodist, and some Lutheran congregations. Essentially, the authority and leadership of the church is divided into thirds: the bishop, the presbyter or elder or pastor (from Greek, presbuteros, as you’ll see below), and the deacon. The bishop, the highest authority, is responsible for individual congregations as well as administrative districts made up of many congregations; these groups are called dioceses. The authority of the bishop includes both religious matters like worship, but also judicial or administrative matters concerning the organization of the church. In many settings, the bishop holds the authority to ordain and place presbyters (pastors, priests, etc.). There are various ranks of bishops (hence, archbishop). Some proponents of the episcopacy insists that the authority of the bishop flows out of apostolic succession, a historic connection with the original apostles of the Bible, but most insist that the bishop gets his or her authority from presbyters, the pastors of individual congregations.
Independency (or Congregationalism)
As a contrast to the hierarchical structure of episcopacy, this form of organization is aptly called, independency or congregational. This form is preferred by congregationalists and most Baptist, Anabaptist, and Independent congregations and is also the most prevalent form of church structure in Americas Protestantism. Opposing the authority that a bishop might exercise in the life of the congregation, the congregation is its own formal authority in terms of structure. That is, the membership elects and dissolves local boards and elects and fires pastors, and pastors are accountable to local boards. Many congregations with independency structure, however, like to participate in conventions, denominations, fellowships, etc. of like-minded congregations for various functional reasons. These bodies, however, usually do not hold any authority over the individual congregations.
Presbyterian
At Faith Anchorage, we believe that the presbyterian system most clearly captures the biblical pattern for church government. The presbyerian structure maintains that the Bible uses the Greek word for bishop (episkopos) and the Greek word for elder (presbuteros) interchangeably. That is, episkopos and presbuteros refer to the same person: an elder or pastor. Some suggest that the Bible uses episkopos,in reference to Gentile congregations and presbuteros in reference to formerly Jewish congregations. Or that episkopos refers to a pastor’s administrative oversight, while presbuteros refers to a pastor’s shepherding by example. Every congregation calls and elects presbyters, some for ruling (ruling elders), and some for preaching and leading worship (teaching elders). At Faith Anchorage, we currently have one teaching elder and three ruling elders (our elders). Together, they make up the “session” of elders.
Presbyterian form of church structure is conciliar, which means that presbyterians prefer to lead not individualistically, but as groups. Four times per year, the elders of each congregation meet with elders from other congregations to form into presbyteries for the purpose of worship, fellowship, encouragement, and business. The presbytery (ours is called the Pacific Northwest Presbytery and includes some 26 churches in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho), has its own budget, supports missionaries, plants churches, and supervises ministers. Some 79 presbyteries around the world also gather together once a year as the General Assembly. While a congregation is cared for by a session, the session is accountable to presbytery, and each presbytery is accountable to General Assembly.
Faith Anchorage is not only structured in a presbyterian way (as opposed to episcopacy or independency), but is also a part of a presbyterian denomination called, the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA).
For more information about presbyterianism in general, see some references we recommend in “What are some good books?”.
Faith Presbyterian Church 