GCF Constitution Committee Meeting Summary

June 12, 2006

Members Present

Heather Edvenson, Ray Fertig, Steve Hicks, Erin Peterson, Geoff Recktenwald, Jason Slinker, Dan Wilmoth

Main Business

The bulk of the discussion centered on section B.1 of the By-Laws, particularly is the language stating that Officers, Bible Study Leaders and Committee Chairs must "affirm the doctrinal basis."

There was much discussion both of what the current phrasing was intended to mean and about what the goal of the language should be. The consensus of this meeting seemed to be that the by-laws should require some level of commitment to, and acknowledgement of the truth of, the doctrinal basis. However, there should be flexibility to allow for some level of philosophical difference and/or uncertainty, as it is difficult and probably not possible for each member to have fully evaluated all statements in the doctrinal statement and concluded them to be true.

As is often the case, finding precise language was and is challenging. Affirm seems to be a bit strong in language but is also vague, as it implies no action beyond simple verbal agreement, such as how the member lives his/her life in accordance with the doctrinal statement. We also widely discussed the use of "uphold the doctrinal statement" - Uphold was proposed because it both implies action or a congruence with the member's actions in their lives and allows for some philosophical differences. We reached no conclusions on precise wording - except that we want a word that is perhaps a bit stronger than uphold but not as strong as affirm.

It was noted that "affirming" the doctrinal statement is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for leadership. Under the current wording, all potential leaders must "confess his/her faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior" to be eligible for election and/or appointment as an officer, committee chair, or Bible study leader.

Other Business

We discussed adding a mechanism to remove individuals from leadership positions. Currently there is a mechanism to replace individuals not able to perform their duties, but none to remove people. It is our assumption (and hope) that removal provisions would rarely and perhaps never be used. Thus, the goal is to craft something workable and also simple. The consensus fell around the idea of a unanimous vote of the Officers being sufficient to remove Bible Study leaders of Committee Chairs. All leaders (Officers, Bible Study Leaders, and Committee Chairs.) could also be removed by a sufficient vote of the membership at an "emergency" member meeting. Probably some sort of petition will be needed to bring such a matter before the membership

We also discussed making Bible Study Coordinator an official duty of the president. This has largely been the tradition of the group. Also, Bible studies form the heart of the fellowship and shape the direction of the group. As such, the president should be influential in those decisions.

We also discussed a few minor editorial changes (if you're that interested, contact Heather)

Next meeting of the GCF Constitutional Review Committee

Sunday July 2

Last updated April 2, 2007
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