Article 10 — Officiating in another church

No one shall preach the Word or administer the sacraments in another church without the permission of the consistory of that church.

Our ministers are not ministers of a ‘national church’ or of the bond of churches, but only of the local congregation.
This is the underlying principle of Article 10, a principle that was also expressed in Article 7.
Consequently a minister can only preach the Word and administer the sacraments with the permission of the consistory concerned.

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This permission is, as a matter of course, included in an invitation to act as a guest-preacher.
However, it may occur that a minister has valid reasons for asking permission from the consistory concerned to preach for a congregation other than his own – e.g. during the holidays, or during a family visit, or even when he would like to baptize one of his grandchildren!