Thus the head in each of ten households chooses from those heads one mature male, to be the Elder-over-ten in that local tithing or ward. Every five Elders-over-ten then in turn choose one Elder-over-fifty. Next, each two Elders-over-fifty choose one Elder-over-hundred. Thereafter, each ten Elders-over-hundred choose their one Elder-over-thousand. Finally, all of the Elders-over-thousand are convened to constitute the largest national Ecclesiastical Parliament of the people of God — "the General Assembly of the Church of the firstborn.5
Dimensions
Clearly, then, a Presbytery, just like the Trinity could consist of as few as three Members.6 Yet it should represent perhaps a minimum of five Sessions of Christ’s Church. Compare Exodus 18:25's "Rulers-of-fifty" in the Older Testament — with the five Preaching Elders in the Newer Testament which Acts 13:1 mentions within the Presbytery of Antioch. Optimally, however, some seven Sessions are represented
