the pca maintains the presbyterian church government set forth in its book of church order. local church officers include teaching elders, ruling elders and deacons. the bco is based on the pcus book of church order declared it in force on may 19, 1879. the distinction between pastors and elders in the pca is a mixture of two traditions. the pca holds to a quasi-parity of pastors and elders (named ruling and teaching elders; res and tes for short), where ruling and teaching elders have the same voting rights in the courts of the church and can participate in each other's examinations and ordinations, yet there are certain and definite ways that tes and res are distinct. pastors have deference as moderators of local church sessions. only pastors may administer the sacraments and ordinarily only pastors may preach (res must be licensed by a presbytery if they wish to preach regularly). also, res are members of their local churches, while pastors are members of their presbyteries and not members of the local churches they serve. while this 2.5 office view is the consensus of the pca, many would hold to a more northern three-office view and others would hold to a more southern two-office view. church government is exercised at three levels: the session, which governs the local church; the presbytery, a regional governing body, and the general assembly, the highest court of the denomination. the pca is committed to a principle of voluntary association and all pca congregations own their own property. additionally all giving to the administration and permanent committees of the pca is voluntary. the pca does not have synods, which some other groups have either as the highest court or as an intermediate court between presbyteries and the general assembly.