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Messengers Define ‘Cooperating’ Church, Consider Reducing Mission Board Size
11/10/2009
Stephen Wilson, chairman of the Committee on Constitution and Bylaws, presented messengers at the 172nd annual meeting with four recommendations, all of which were approved. Among the approved recommendations was a constitutional amendment that more clearly defines a cooperating KBC church. Click here to download this photo.
The constitutional amendment that defines a cooperating KBC church was approved during a report from the Constitution and Bylaws Committee. Messengers first learned of the proposed change during last year’s annual meeting in Lexington.
Article III of the constitution will now be expanded to include a definition of a cooperating Kentucky Baptist church as a congregation of baptized believers, and that the church would be in general agreement with any of the historic Baptist confessions of faith.
The revised Article III also includes language that communicates an expectation that a cooperating church will “voluntarily report its activities to the offices of the Kentucky Baptist Convention on a regular (usually annual) basis.”
According to Steve Thompson, the revision was designed to encourage more KBC churches to report data through the Annual Church Profile.
The original language read:
“Two messengers from each church having one hundred members or less, which is in friendly cooperation with this convention; is sympathetic with its purposes and work; and has during the fiscal year preceding been a bona fide contributor to the convention’s work.”
The approved proposed language reads:
“A cooperating Baptist church is in friendly cooperation with this convention; is sympathetic with its purposes and work; has during the fiscal year preceding been a bona fide contributor to the convention’s work; and is understood to be a congregation of baptized believers in general agreement with any of the historic Baptist confessions of faith and willing to voluntarily report its activities to the offices of the Kentucky Baptist Convention on a regular (usually annual) basis.”
According to a report from the Constitution and Bylaws Committee, much of Article III “remains intact in regard to the formula for determining how messengers shall be appointed for the annual convention.”
The formula allows two messengers from each church having one hundred members or less, as well as an additional messenger for each additional 250 members or for each $250 contributed to the Cooperative Program during the fiscal year preceding the annual meeting. No church may send more than 10 messengers.
Messengers also heard a proposed future bylaw change to Article VII to reduce the membership of the state Mission Board. Coming from the ad hoc Mission Board Size Study Committee, the recommendation outlined a new method for determining the number of Mission Board representatives elected from each association. Messengers will vote on the proposed change at the 2010 annual meeting.
Currently, the Mission Board is comprised of 171 members, representing 70 Baptist associations and including eight at-large members and eight ex-officio members.
If approved at next year’s annual meeting, the bylaw change will reduce associational membership on the board from 155 to 102 over the next three to five years.
According to KBC Assistant Executive Director Steve Thompson, the KBC’s Mission Board is currently the largest of any state convention. Reducing its size would allow for more efficient and meaningful service, and would also reduce expenses incurred by the board’s activities throughout the year.
Messengers also approved a recommendation to merge the Committee on Order of Business and the Committee on Arrangements into a new standing committee, the Committee on the Annual Meeting. The new committee would assume responsibility for duties formerly carried out by both committees in preparation for future annual meetings.
The Kentucky Baptist Convention is a cooperative missions and ministry organization made up of nearly 2.400 autonomous Baptist churches in Kentucky. A variety of state and worldwide ministries are coordinated through its administrative offices in Louisville, including: missions work, disaster relief, ministry training and support, church development, evangelism and more. For more, find us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.
