CENTENNIAL STORY, FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH, TYLER, SMITH CO, TEXAS, 1848-1948 ***************************************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm Used with the permission of Dr. Michael Massar, Pastor First Baptist Church, Tyler, TX Submitted by Mary Love Berryman - marylove@tyler.net 7 March 2001 ***************************************************************** CONSTITUTION AND RULES OF ORDER WE, the members of the Tyler Baptist Church, recognizing a Church of Jesus Christ as a spiritual organization, divinely in­stituted for the purpose of cultivating the spiritual life of its members and of promulgating the Gospel of the Son of God, and believing that we are to look to the New Testament alone for the principles on which Churches are founded, and the laws by which they are to be governed, do hereby adopt the following constitution and rules of order for our guidance and government in business matters: ARTICLE I. OFFICERS. 1. The essential officers of the Church are a pastor, or bishop, and as many deacons as the Church shall think proper to appoint, which officers shall be elected by ballot, to serve during the pleasure of the Church. 2. The election may be held at a stated conference, or at a conference called for this purpose, but no election of these officers shall be valid unless the Church shall have been informed of the time and object of the conference, by notice at some of its stated meetings, at least one week pre­vious to the election. A concurrent vote of at least three-fourths of the members present shall be necessary to an elec­tion. 3. The Church may also elect at any stated conference, and by a majority vote, a clerk and a treasurer, to serve such time as may be designated at the time of their election. These officers shall hold their offices until their resignations shall have been accepted or their successors appointed. 4. It is the duty of the Pastor to faithfully preach the Word; to administer the ordinances, and to take a general su­perintendence of the Church; exercising in it the functions of a ruling elder; caring for the spiritual interests of its in­dividual members, and giving direction to the public worship. He shall receive such compensation as the Church shall from time to time determine, and he will be expected to give the whole of his time and energies to the interests of the Church. 5. It is the duty of the Deacons, by virtue of their office, (1) to act as general assistants of the pastor, aiding him by their counsel, and in the discharge of his pastoral duties as in visiting the sick and poor of the Church; (2) to disburse the alms of the Church; (3) to provide for con­ducting public worship, during the sickness or absence of the pastor; (4) as a board of discipline to exercise a special watch-care over the members of the Church; to investigate any rumors or reports affecting the Christian character of their brethern, with authority to inquire into any delinquency on the part of a member; not as a matter of trial, but for the investigation of facts, and for brotherly counsel and admoni­tion, with the hope of avoiding the greater publicity of in­vestigation by the Church. It is their duty, however, to report promptly to the Church all offences that may call for Church action. 6. The Deacons shall moreover constitute a standing committee to act for the Church in all minor matters, in reference to which it may be impracticable to consult the Church As a committee they shall have care of the Church building and other property, and under the direction of the Church shall have the general management of its financial affairs. 7. When acting as a committee, or a board of dis­cipline, the Deacons shall appoint one of their number as secretary, who shall make a proper record of their proceedings; and, when so directed, report the same to the Church. 8. It is the duty of the Clerk, (1) to make a fair re­cord of all the transactions of the Church; (2) to preserve all reports of committees, or of the board of deacons; (3) to keep a correct list of the members, with the time and manner of addition, or loss; (4) to conduct all correspondence of the Church not otherivise provided for, and (5) to notify, in writing, all persons against whom charges have been sustain­ed, of the action of the Church. 9. It is the duty of the Treasurer, (1) to see to the collection of all dues for Church expenses; (2) to disburse the same by authority or order of the Church; (3) to keep a pro­per record of all sums received and disbursed; (4) to make such report at each monthly conference as the Church shall direct, and (5) at the January conference of each year to make a full statement of all receipts and expenditures of the pre­vious year, and of the financial condition of the treasury, ex­hibiting proper vouchers for all sums disbursed ARTICLE II. ADMISSION OF MEMBERS, 1. Applications for membership may be presented at anv stated meeting, or at a called conference, of which notice shall have been given, and reception may be (1) by baptism, upon a profession of saving faith; (2) by letter of dismission from some other Church of the same faith and order; (3) by religious experience, satisfactory evidence of Scriptural baptism and of consistent Christian character, and (4) by restoration (in case of previous exclusion from this Church) upon con­fession of error and satisfactory evidence of repentance 2. No one can be received without a concurrent vote of at least three- fourths of the members present. 3. Every applicant is understood to adopt substantially the views of faith and practice as held by this Church; and, when received, should endeavor to be present at the earliest succeeding communion season to receive the hand of fellow­ship. ARTICLE III. GOVERNMENT OF THE CHURCH 1. The government of the Church shall be independent and congregational in form; the right of administration re siding in the body itself, from which there can be no appeal to any other ecclesiastical tribunal. 2. The Pastor is, ex officio, Moderator of all meetings 3. Stated meetings for business shall be held monthly and special conferences may be called by the Pastor, or the board of deacons, and shall be called by either at the written request of five (5) members. 4. Nine (9) members shall constitute a quorum for business, but no business affecting important interests Of the Church shall be transacted at a called conference, or wher less than twenty (20) members are present, unless previou notice of the time and object of the conference shall have been given at some of the stated meetings of the Church. A proposition contemplating any important change in the affairs of the Church may be postponed to the next conference by vote of one-third of the members present. 5. All business meetings are to be opened and closed with religious exercises, and are to be considered private unles held in connection with other religious exercises. The business will be attended to in the following order: 1. Reading minutes of previous meeting. 2. Reception of members. 3. Dismission of members. 4. Report of board of deacons, or of other committees. 5. Report of treasurers. 6. Unfinished business. 7. New business. ARTICLE IV. LETTERS OF DISMISSION. 1. Any member in good standing and full fellowsh with the Church, whose Church dues are paid, or are remitted by the Church, shall be entitled on application to receive a letter of commendation and dismission to join any other Church of the same faith and order. 2. Each letter of dismission shall be addressed to the particular Church which the member proposes to join, and in general sent, by mail, to the Pastor or clerk of that Church. 3. Letters shall be valid three (3) months from date; no one being marked by the clerk as "dismissed" until he is notified of the reception by another Church. 4. Members removing from vicinity of this Church are expected, in general, to transfer their membership to some neiehboring Baptist Church; or, when there are satisfactory reasons for not doing so, to report themselves to this Church at least once in six (6) months, and to contribute to its sup­port till they cease to be members. Those who neglect this duty for more than one year are to be considered as under censure, to be reported for discipline. ARTICLE V. DISCIPLINE 1. The object of corrective discipline is to maintain the purity and spirituality of the Church by reclaiming such as may have wandered from the path of rectitude, or may have become indifferent to their covenant obligations. It should therefore be exercised with promptness, impartiality, and in the spirit of meekness, love and forbearance, especially toward such as may have yielded to temptation, but who manifest a disposition to do right. 2. It is therefore the duty of all members, but especially of the deacons, to visit such as may frequently absent them­selves from the stated meetings of the Church, or may seem to be indifferent to their Church privileges. If a first and second admonition does not prove corrective the case should be reported to the church. 3. Not only will immorality, covetousness, want of re­gard to the fulfillment of financial obligations, unfair deal­ing, or over- reaching in business transactions, be regarded as "offences," but worldly-mindedness, devotion to worldly amusements, failure to bear a just part of the church expenses, lack of interest in spiritual matters, "walking in the counsel of the ungodly, stancting in the way of sinners, or sitting in the Seat of the scornful," if persisted in, will constitute a suf­ficient ground for the exercise of church discipline. 4. If a member be guilty of an offence against the peace, purity or honor of the church, or be charged therewith by common rumor, it is the duty of any member knowing the fact or the rumor either to communicate promptly with the party in question, or to furnish the deacons with his informa­tion, that proper steps may be taken to vindicate the church, or the member, as the case may require. 5. In all cases of private grievance between members, the course prescribed in Matthew xviii: 15-17 is to be followed. 6. Except in cases of notorious and gross offences, or where a personal interview is impracticable, no complaint against a member is to be brought before the church, until the offending member has been visited, and an effort made to reclaim him; nor without his having been notified in writing, if practicable, of the charges to be preferred against him, and having been cited to appear before the church to answer to the same. 7. Disregard of the admonition of the church, or will­ful failure to appear when cited and to answer to the charges, will be considered a grave offence, warranting exclusion, with­out further proof of the charges preferred. ARTICLE VI. RULES OF ORDER IN CONDUCTING BUSINESS 1. For the transaction of any business the conference must have a Moderator and a Clerk. 2. In the absence of either of these officers, a Modera­tor or a Clerk pro tem shall be appointed. 3. It shall be the duty of the Moderator to enforce the rules of order, to see that all members enjoy equal rights; to decide all points of order, subject to appeal to the conference, and to discharge all other duties incident to his office. 4. When the Pastor presides, he may by virtue of his office, as ruling elder, at any time reprove, rebuke, or exhort his brethren as occasion may require, and may use his influ­ence to secure harmony and unanitnity of views in all im­portant matters; but when he participates in debate he shall call some brother to the chair. 5. A member desiring to introduce any new business must do so by motion, and not by making suggestions. 6. Every principal motion should be in writing, and, when seconded, must be stated by the Moderator before it is opened to debate. Subsidiary and incidental motions need not be subject to this rule. 7. A motion may be modified, or withdrawn, by the mover at any time previous to an amendment; afterwards, only by permission, On motion for leave to withdraw. 8. When a question is under debate no motion shall be received but to adjourn; to lay on the table; to postpone to some definite time; to commit; to amend, or to postpone in-definitely, which motions shall have precedence in the order named. 9. A motion to reconsider must be made at the meeting at which the original motion was adopted (unless the business was left unfinished by adjournment), and by one who voted with the majority. 10. Voting on questions shall be by acclamation, or by raising the right hand. If the Moderator is in doubt, or if a division is called for, the vote shall be taken by rising. 11. Any motion which shall have the effect of rescind­mg, or of annulling the acts of a preceding conference, must lie over until the next meeting, and shall require for its adop­tion a concurrent vote of two-thirds of the members present. A matter laid upon the table can be taken up only at the same, or at the next succeeding conference. COMMITTEES. 12. All committees, unless othervi-ise ordered, shall be appointed by the Moderator. 13. When any matter requiring further action of the Church is referred to committee it shall be the duty of the committee to incorporate in their report such resolutions or recommendations as will, in their judgment, properly dispose of the matter if adopted. 14. Any of the foregoing rules (except those that give some privilege to a minority as small as one-third) may be suspended, temporarily, by a vote of two-thirds of the mem­bers present, and amended or repealed by a like vote, only after one month's notice. 15. In all matters of Parliamentary order, not compre­hended in the foregoing rules, the customary rules, as found in Mell's Manual, shall obtain.