|
|
CONSTITUTION of the Elmore Baptist Association
The name of this association shall be the Elmore Baptist Association.
The purpose of this association shall be to promote fellowship and cooperation among the churches and to provide an organization to encourage the churches to engage in mission, benevolence, and Christian education as fostered by the Alabama Baptist State Convention and the Southern Baptist Convention.
1. This association shall be composed of messengers elected from the affiliated churches.
When such messengers are approved by the association they shall be seated and entitled
to participate in the affairs of the body. Each church shall be entitled to three messengers
for the first fifty members, and one additional messenger for each fifty members
above the first fifty, provided that no church shall be entitled to more than ten messengers.
2. Churches wishing to affiliate with the association shall make written request for admission
to the Committee on Petitionary Letters at least thirty days before the annual session of
the association. The Committee shall make its report and recommendations to the annual meeting
of the body and churches shall be admitted into the association by a majority of the messengers
present and voting.
3. The Executive Committee acting for the association between sessions may vote
upon recommendation of the Committee on Petitionary Letters to receive churches under
the watchcare of the association pending final action of the body in annual meeting.
Churches under the watchcare shall be accorded all privileges of the association except that of voting.
4. The body shall, by a majority vote at any session, have full power to reject the
messengers of any church not in order in faith and practice and after investigation by a duly authorized committee to drop from the roll any non-cooperating church. A church shall be considered non-cooperating when it fails to submit a letter to the association for two consecutive years, or when it departs from the work of the association or when it does not contribute during the year to missions through recognized Baptist channels.
The Articles of Faith set forth in the Statement of Baptist Faith and Message adopted
by the Southern Baptist Convention in May, 1963, shall be the doctrines adopted by this body.
The Nominating Committee shall nominate the following officers to the association for
election: Moderator, Vice-Moderator, Clerk, Treasurer and all committees except the Time,
Place and Preacher Committee and the Resolutions Committee. These two committees will be
appointed by the Moderator.
Heads of Program Organizations and Committee Chairman will be nominated by the Nominating
Committee at the Spring Executive Committee meeting each year.
The association reserves the right to offer other nominations at its Annual Meeting.
These officers shall be presented and elected before the last session of the Annual Meeting.
The Moderator shall be limited to one complete year of service. He will be eligible to serve
again after at least one year has lapsed. The duties of these officers shall be those usually
incumbent upon such officers.
1. The Executive Committee:
A. The Executive Committee shall be composed of the pastor (when he is a member of that church)
and one lay person from each church.
B. The officers of the association, namely moderator, vice-moderator, clerk and treasurer,
shall be ex-officio members of the executive committee and shall serve as respective
officers of the committee unless the association directs otherwise. All other officers,
the chief officers of the organizations, and chairman of standing committees are ex-officio
members. Ex-officio members will not have the right to vote unless they are also members
of the Executive Committee elected as representative of their respective churches.
C. The Executive Committee shall attend to all matters of the association between sessions,
promote all progress authorized by the association, and carry out all directives given by
the association. It shall make an annual report to the association of work carried
on and all finances handled.
D. The Executive Committee shall have the authority to employ and fix compensation for
the Director of Missions, and shall be responsible for prescribing the duties of same.
Upon approval of the Personnel Committee, the Director of Missions shall have the
authority to employ and or dismiss the office Secretary, and such other personnel
as may be designated by the Executive Committee.
E. The association shall have the following standing committees, which shall function
through the year and report at the next annual meeting, namely, Program Committee,
Nominating Committee, Committee on Petitionary Letters, Stewardship Committee, Time,
Place and Preacher Committee, Associational Missions Development Council (Missions Committee),
and such additional committees as seen needed. All organizations of the association shall
name their own committees.
This body shall encourage and promote such associational organizations as Sunday School,
Discipleship Training, Woman's Missionary Union, Brotherhood, Music, The Associational
Media Library Organization, and other organizations which are in keeping with the purpose
of the association, and with their full staffs of officers and programs necessary
for the promotion of the work.
The duties of the officers for each organization shall be in line with the promotional
literature for their respective organizations, as produced and approved by the state or
Southern Baptist Convention agencies functioning in like areas.
2. The Personnel Committee:
A. The Personnel Committee shall be composed of the Moderator, Vice-Moderator,
the Associational Clerk and the Director of Missions, as a non-voting ex-officio member.
B. It shall be the duty of the Personnel Committee to assist the Director of Missions
in matters related to the office Secretary, and other such personnel as may be approved
by the Executive Committee.
C. When employment occurs between Annual Meetings, and unless otherwise approved
by the Executive Committee, the stated amount in the current associational budget
shall be the compensation for the Secretary position.
The association is an autonomous body, and therefore reserves the right to determine
its own policies and direct its own business. It shall never exercise any authority
over any church or churches which are affiliated with it.
This constitution may be amended at any annual meeting of the body provided that
said amendment shall be proposed in writing and read before the association during
the first session of its meeting and shall not be voted on until the second session.
|
|