After spending three years in Strasbourg Calvin was invited back to Geneva by the city council.  After his return, Calvin was determined to continue his efforts to implement institutions and laws that would propagate social and spiritual reform. 

Ministry in the church in Geneva was carried out through four distinct offices which Calvin established shortly after his return. Pastors were responsible for preaching God’s word, instructing and admonishing Christians, and for administering communion, baptism, and other spiritual rituals. 

Doctors of theology were appointed to teach truth and preserve doctrinal integrity. Elders, were laymen chosen by the city’s magistrates who together with the pastors supervised the discipline and moral uprightness of the city. This third office combined church and state to create a model social structure which was one of Calvin’s most controversial and enduring visions. 

The final office was that of deacons who were also laymen tasked with overseeing aid to the poor and sick.

The pastors and elders combined to create the Consistory - Geneva’s religious and moral judicial institution. They met every week to maintain discipline, punishing breaches of sumptuary laws. The Consistory made no exceptions, meeting out discipline to the powerful and well-connected regardless of rank and status.