The Epic, Pt. 83

“Administrative authority in a conference originates with its constituency. The churches of a conference elect delegates to the conference session to represent them in the councils of the conference. The conference session elects conference personnel…and transacts other business. One of its most important acts is the election of the executive committee, which functions for the constituency between sessions. In this committee is vested the delegated power and authority of all the churches of the conference” (Church Manual, p.83*).

The sort of conference gathering described above is usually referred to as a “constituency meeting.” The Potomac Conference was due to have such a meeting on September 26, 2010 so Takoma Park, like all other Potomac Conference churches, went about selecting delegates in preparation for it. Unfortunately, this selection process was not conducted as it should have been.

“When the time comes to select delegates, the pastor, or the head elder in cooperation with the pastor, brings the matter before the church. A committee may be appointed to nominate delegates, or the board may be asked to nominate them…

“When the committee or board has completed its work, it reports its nominees to the church. The church then votes on the nominations. No church officer is a delegate ex officio” (Church Manual, p.83).

Contrary to these explicit instructions the matter of needing to choose delegates was never brought before the congregation (either in a business meeting or on Sabbath morning) by the pastor or head elder. The actual selection process was undertaken by Pastor DeSilva—rather than the board or a specially designated committee—without any mandate from the congregation to do so. When Pastor DeSilva had assembled his list he presented it to the church board during their March 2010 meeting and they approved it. That was the end of the process so far as Takoma Park was concerned. The nominations were never submitted to the congregation for final approval.

*Church Manual page numbers are taken from the "Session Minutes Version" of the 18th edition of the Manual currently available on www.adventist.org. These numbers are subject to change when the final print version of the 18th edition is released.

Next: Constituency Meeting

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