Ecclesiastical Ordinances

The Ecclesiastical Ordinances were the foundational laws introduced by John Calvin in Geneva in 1541 to organize the structure and discipline of the Reformed church.^[1] This had been requested by the Genevan authorities after he had been called back from exile, and were strongly influenced by his stay in Martin Bucer's Strasbourg.^[2] They defined four church ministries — pastors, doctors, elders, and deacons — and established the Company of Pastors and the Consistory to regulate doctrine, morality, and church governance in cooperation with the civil authorities in the city council. ^[3]

Calvin insisted on the Ordinances being accepted as a condition of his return to Geneva.^[4] They were revised in 1561.^[5]