Plow Creek Mennonite Church | home
By-laws
OF
PLOW CREEK CHURCH
1. NAME. The official corporate name of this church shall be “Plow Creek Mennonite Church”. The church shall be incorporated under the laws of the State of Illinois as a Religious Corporation.
2. PURPOSES. The purposes of the church shall include:
(a) To call men and women in faith to Jesus as Lord and Savior, and to a way of life outlined in his teachings.
(b) To build up, among these followers of Jesus, a life of love- involving frank, gentle and open conversation, mutual care and responsibility in all things, and a willingness to listen, speak, disciple and forgive in the church according to the plan and parables given by Jesus
(c) To withstand economic injustice and greed through renunciation of selfish accumulation and a readiness to share material things with fellow Christians and people in need everywhere.
(d) To forsake war and violence as a way of settling disputes and foster the deeds of charity, reconciliation and peace.
(e) To overcome and resist prejudice and seek to unite in mutual respect and love with people of all national, religious, racial and ethnic backgrounds.
(f) To seek the welfare and unity of the larger Christian church.
3. ADOPTION, AMENDMENT AND REPEAL OF BY-LAWS. These provisions shall become effective as the By-laws of Plow Creek Church when adopted by the members, and may be amended or repealed only by the consensus of all the members as outlined in Article 7.
4. MEMBERSHIP CONTROL. The control of the church shall be vested in the membership meetings.
5. MEMBERSHIP. Membership in Plow Creek Church involves an unqualified commitment to the cause of Christ and the welfare of this particular congregation. Every member shall stand ready at all times to employ his/her resources, whether material or spiritual, for the common good.
Members may be transferred from this church to other Christian churches by the consent of the congregations involved.
Members who fail to uphold the purposes and faith of the church, and who will not listen to the concerns of their fellow members, after due consideration may be asked to leave.
6. MEETINGS. Regular meetings of the members shall be held as needed, but at least once a year. There is no prescribed method of providing notice of the meetings. Sixty percent of the members shall constitute a quorum.
7. DECISIONS. All powers of the church shall reside in the members duly assembled. All binding decisions of the members shall be made by consensus using the high five method, except in the case of dismissal, when the vote of the members under consideration shall not be counted.
a. Consensus begins with building a proposal and is completed when the proposal is affirmed. Those responsible for building a proposal are encouraged to do so with lots of input from others.
b. The facilitator clearly states the question and provides the scale below:
Five. I can give an unqualified yes to the decision. I'm excited or enthusiastic about it.
Four. I can live with the decision. It's OK with me.
Three. I am concerned about this decision but will not block the group.
Two. I think there is a major problem with the decision and choose to block the group's action.
One. It's too soon to make any decision. More work needs to be done before the question can be asked.
c. Each person in the group responds to the question by indicating with a show of fingers his or her level of endorsement of the proposal. When the group responds mostly with “fours” and “fives”, the decision goes ahead. Two or three “threes” indicate a need to discuss the question further, as do any “ones” or “twos.”
8. OFFICERS. The affairs of the church shall be managed by a board of at least three directors, which shall consist of the president, the secretary, and the treasurer. The terms of office of each director will be one year, or until such time as a successor shall be duly elected. Title to all the property held by the church shall be held in the names of the officers in trust for the church or in the name of the Church itself. The officers shall have full powers over all matters of expenditures for the church.
9. FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY. The income for this church shall come from the contributions of members and nonmembers.
Members who leave the church have no legal right over any title, interest or claim over any property of the church or to any funds or services contributed by them to the church.
If the church shall be dissolved, and there remains any property after satisfaction of all its debts and liabilities, the property in no case shall be paid to or distributed among the members of the church, but shall be given to some other church organization such as the Mennonite Central Committee or the Christian Peacemaker Teams.
10. USE OF THE FACILITIES OF THE CHURCH. All members shall be entitled to the use of the facilities of the church.