Company of Pastors

The Company of Pastors or Venerable Company[1][page needed] (French: Compagnie des pasteurs) is an organization, comparable to a classis,[2] of ministers and deacons of the Protestant Church of Geneva.

[3] It was established as part of the implementation of John Calvin's Ecclesiastical Ordinances in 1541[2][4] and originally consisted of the ministers of Geneva's three city churches and a dozen countryside parishes.

It met every Friday morning to examine candidates for ministry and discuss the theological and practical business of the church.

[1][page needed] In 1559 professors of the Genevan Academy were made members of the company.

The company's powers were drastically reduced in the nineteenth century.