Promptly upon his appointment the interim moderator shall:

1. take all steps necessary to maintain the activities of the charge;
2. convene and preside over a meeting of the Session to revise the rolls of communicants and adherents in order that an electoral register may be compiled as provided for in rule 4A:10 following;
3. initiate the procedure for the filling of the vacancy.

Notice shall be given by the Session to the congregation of its intention to revise the rolls and, following that revision, to make up an electoral register.

As soon as possible after such revision, the Session shall compile an electoral register consisting of the names of all on the rolls of communicants and adherents who are not less than 16 years of age.

The electoral register shall consist of two lists, one of communicants, the other of adherents, and on each the names shall be in alphabetical order and numbered consecutively. Each list shall be certified by the Interim Moderator and the Session Clerk as being the electoral register of communicants and adherents.

Opportunity shall be given to interested parties to inspect the electoral register before it is finally adjusted. A copy of the certified register shall then be sent to the clerk of Presbytery, who shall immediately sign it and retain it in Presbytery records.

Following this no name whatever shall be added to the electoral register, except by the authority of the Presbytery after application in due form by the Session. The Session may grant, on written application, a certificate of transfer to any communicant or adherent.

The Session Clerk shall notify the Interim Moderator of this transfer, who shall then delete the name from the electoral register and initial the deletion.

Only those persons whose names are on the attested electoral register may take part in or vote at any congregational meeting connected with a vacancy or subscribe to or concur in a call.

The congregation, at its first meeting in connection with the filling of the vacancy, shall arrange to pay:

1. to the former minister or his personal representatives any arrears in remuneration; and
2. to the General Assembly, the Presbytery, and the superannuation fund any arrears in rates due to them.

Either at this meeting, or shortly afterwards, the congregation shall decide on proposed terms of settlement which, without delay, shall be submitted by the interim moderator to the Presbytery or its appropriate committee.

The Presbytery shall carefully consider the proposed terms of settlement in the light of all available information and either approve them and forward them to the Maintenance of the Ministry Committee of the Assembly, or refer them back to the congregation for reconsideration.

If the terms of settlement proposed, even though in excess of the minimum, are disapproved by the Maintenance of the Ministry Committee of the Assembly, the Presbytery shall not sustain a call and may, after further consultation with the congregation, reduce the status of the charge to that of an appointment parish or a home mission station (see rules 4:77, 79).

When the requirements of rules 4A:10 and 4A:11 have been complied with and terms of settlement have been approved by the Maintenance of the Ministry Committee, and provided that rule 4A:25 does not apply, the interim moderator shall call upon the congregation, duly convened, to decide whether:

1. it is prepared to proceed to a call immediately; or
2. it desires, before taking any further step towards a call, to invite some particular person to lead the congregation in public worship; or
3. it desires to proceed at once to the appointment of a selection committee (see rule 4A:17).

If option (c) is chosen, from this point on names for a call shall be submitted to the congregation only through the selection committee.

The vote of a congregational meeting on any motion proposing the insertion of a name in a form of call shall be taken by ballot if requested by at least one-third of the communicants present.

If the congregation decides to proceed in accordance with rule 4A:13(a), the interim moderator shall call for nomination of one person only. This nomination must be agreed to by congregational vote.

The interim moderator shall then read a blank form of call (see Appendix 1) and after prayer invite the congregation by majority vote to insert in the form of call the name of the minister or licentiate nominated.

If the congregation fails to insert the name of the person nominated in this way, the congregation then decides to proceed in accordance with rule 4A:13(b) or (c) above.

If the congregation decides to proceed in accordance with rule 4A:13(b), and provided the person to be invited is eligible and agreeable, the interim moderator shall make the necessary arrangements for him to conduct public worship within the parish and promptly afterwards shall require the congregation, duly convened, to decide either for or against calling him.

If the congregation decides against calling him, or if he declines the invitation to conduct public worship and the congregation refrains from calling him, a selection committee as provided for in rules 4A:13(c) and 4A:17 shall be appointed.

If this is the case, the person concerned shall not be disqualified from further consideration by the congregation should the selection committee so recommend.

If the congregation proceeds in accordance with rule 4A:13(c), it shall then appoint from its communicant members a selection committee of not less than seven. This committee shall be convened and presided over by the interim moderator, who shall have a casting vote only, which however he shall not exercise to determine a name to be recommended to the congregation.

As provided for in rule 4A:7, the Presbytery may appoint two of its members with whom the interim moderator may take counsel in matters concerning the vacancy. They may attend and participate in all meetings of the selection committee but they have no vote in those meetings.

A selection committee, whether special or ordinary, shall:

1. consider the eligibility and qualifications of persons: whose names are proposed by members of the committee; who have made formal written application through the interim moderator for consideration; whose names have been supplied by the Ministry Development Committee (in the case of a special selection committee only, see rule 4A:25);
2. conduct interviews, should it consider it advisable, with any of the persons being considered;
3. decide on one name at a time to recommend to the congregation for call, normally inviting any person whom it has decided to recommend to conduct public worship in the parish and meet with the congregation;
4. keep minutes of its proceedings.

When the selection committee is ready to make a recommendation, the interim moderator, as executive of Presbytery (see rule 2:20), shall call a meeting of the congregation to which the recommendation shall be submitted. The meeting shall:

1. decide to call the person recommended; or
2. decide not to call him; or
3. request him to conduct public worship in the parish if he has not already done so or if the congregation wishes to hear him again.

Should the congregational meeting decide to call the person recommended (rule 4A:19(a)), the interim moderator shall at once read to the congregation a form of call (see Appendix 1) in which the name of the minister or licentiate recommended has been inserted. The procedure set out in rules 4A:26 and following shall then be followed.

Should the congregational meeting decide not to call the person recommended (rule 4A:19(b)), the selection committee shall make a second recommendation to a subsequent meeting of the congregation; and, if necessary, a third and a fourth. Each recommendation shall be dealt with as provided for in rule 4A:19.

Should the congregation decide to follow rule 4A:19(c), promptly after such visit has been made, or the invitation declined, the interim moderator shall call a meeting of the congregation which shall decide for or against calling the person concerned. The procedure set out in rules 4A:20 or 4A:21, as the case requires, shall then be followed.

If the terms of settlement proposed by the congregation are less than the minimum required by the General Assembly for maintaining the status of a charge, the interim moderator shall discuss the matter of a supplementary grant with the Ministry Development Committee and, before taking any other action, report fully to the Presbytery on the condition of the charge and the views of the Ministry Development Committee.

If after hearing the report of the interim moderator referred to in rule 4A:23 the Presbytery is satisfied that the situation still conforms with the requirements of rule 4:76, the Presbytery may formally apply to the Ministry Development Committee for a grant to enable the congregation to pay the "sustentation qualifying stipend and non-cash benefits" required by the Maintenance of the Ministry Committee.

If a supplementary grant from the Ministry Development Committee is required in order to raise the terms of settlement to the qualifying stipend, and when formal notice is received that such a grant has been given, the Presbytery shall declare the aid receiving charge an appointment parish.

The interim moderator shall take the steps necessary to set up a special selection committee consisting of not more than seven members appointed by the congregation from its communicants, two representatives appointed by the Ministry Development Committee, and two members of the Presbytery appointed by it in addition to the interim moderator who shall be the convener. This committee shall recommend a name to the Presbytery for appointment.

When the congregation has inserted a name in a form of call it shall appoint commissioners not exceeding three or the number of local congregations in the charge, whichever is the greater, at least one of whom shall be a member of the Session. These commissioners shall take charge of the call, invite the communicants to subscribe it and adherents to sign their concurrence, and to witness such signatures.

In prosecuting the call the commissioners shall take care that only those whose names are on the attested electoral register of communicants and adherents sign it and that the signatures of communicants and adherents are on separate sheets.

When the call has been sufficiently subscribed (see rule 4A:36(e)) the commissioners hand it to the interim moderator, who shall present it at the earliest opportunity to the Presbytery at the same time making a report on proceedings connected with it. The congregational commissioners shall have opportunity to speak to the Presbytery.

Any communicant or adherent of the congregation present at any meeting called in connection with a vacancy, who is dissatisfied with any part of its proceedings, may dissent and petition the Presbytery to review the matter in the same manner as he may do in connection with any other congregational meeting (see rule 2:26). The Presbytery shall deal with any such petition before proceeding with the call.

1. No minister or licentiate may himself, or through others, canvass for election or enter into negotiation with any member of the vacant congregation in order to procure a call. Should the Presbytery decide that such action has been taken or encouraged by a minister or a licentiate, it shall declare a call in his favour resulting from this to be null and void.
2. No minister with a charge may, without special permission of the Presbytery having jurisdiction over him, preach as a candidate in a vacancy, or accept a call unless he has held such a charge for at least three years. Where the Presbytery approves of the translation of a minister from a charge that he has held for less than three years it reports the special circumstances justifying the translation to the next General Assembly.

A selection committee shall be dissolved if after making four recommendations to the congregation no call results. The interim moderator shall at his discretion:

1. take steps for the appointment of a new selection committee (see rule 4A:17); or
2. report the dissolution of the committee to the Presbytery, which shall suspend further steps for the calling of a minister and proceed, in accordance with rule 4A:33, to appoint for a limited period a suitable minister other than those whose names have been recommended to the congregation.

The Presbytery calls regularly for reports on a vacancy from the interim moderator, and takes any competent action as it judges necessary to expedite the filling of the vacancy, or such other action as the circumstances require and the law of the church permits.

The Presbytery may at any time, for reasons which it considers sufficient, halt procedure for the filling of a vacancy and may take such further action as it judges to be in the best interests of the congregation or of the church in general.

If the vacancy has not been filled within two years, and there is still no immediate prospect of a settlement being effected, the Presbytery may declare the charge to be an appointment parish for a period not exceeding twelve months and may proceed to the appointment of a minister.

Such an appointment is subject to the conditions that the Presbytery may, at any time it sees fit, restore to the congregation the right of call and allow the necessary steps to be taken to fill the vacancy, or it may, at the end of the appointed minister's term, reduce the appointment parish to a home mission station.

Vacant charges receiving supply shall pay ministers, licentiates or other qualified persons for each service according to the scale of fees and expenses fixed by the General Assembly.

The Presbytery, with the approval of the relevant Assembly committees when such is required, may arrange through the interim moderator for the supplying of a prolonged vacancy by some suitable person. The Presbytery withdraws or disallows such continuous supply when it judges that the activity of the congregation in proceeding to a call is being lessened by this arrangement.