| BDP Meeting - October 31, 2008 |
Amendments to the Proxy Process
The pending amendments below will be inserted to page 110, between sections 2 and 3 under the recommendations of the 93rd Assembly of 2004. These brief amendments are the result of your input following the last International Assembly and dialog with the BDP Committee.
We recommend that each local church register with the state/regional/national overseer. The local church does not need to register directly with the International Office. The state/regional/national overseer will send all the proxy registration information to the International Office to be verified and recorded. When the church's representative gets to the General Assembly, he/she needs to check in with proxy clerks to get the church's barcode for the expression process.
Each local church shall be assigned one proxy for the first 100 members. Every subsequent 100 members will receive an additional proxy to a maximum of ten proxies. [For instance: 0-100: 1; 101-200: 2; 201-300: 3, etc.].
When pending Assembly documents are sent out for consideration to the field each document shall note whether it will be considered by "overwhelming consensus" or by "one accord" principle. |
| BDP Meeting - October 30, 2008 |
Some Suggested Helps For Making The Proxy System More User Friendly:
- Sunday School classes. Using a series of three to four elective Sunday School classes to introduce, discuss and bring forth a resolution if possible of the pending proxy document.
- Informal coffee time. An evening session of an informal discussion of the pending documents that will be brought at the upcoming Assembly. [This could be done while serving refreshment in a relaxed atmosphere].
- Small Groups. This can be done through the Small Groups with a presentation by the pastor or his designated representative. A Questions and Answers time, would follow immediately after the presentation and concluding with an expression by the Small Group. These expressions could be compiled by the pastor and the elders of the local congregation and the final expression of the local church sent to the sate/regional/national office.
- Church Conference. Another way this can be done is through a formal church call/regular business conference to present, discuss and decide the matter.
- General Church Meeting. A general meeting held for the purpose of discussing the Assembly documents where a decision can be reached without formal motions without excluding non-members. While this may broaden participation, a pastor and his/her leadership team should use this process only when they know it is conducive to the overall unity of the church.
- By formal letter/documentation. Under this method, a pastor would prepare a copy of the pending Assembly documents to be mailed to each individual membership household which will include a response form as to their expression concerning the pending documents. When the pastor receives these response forms, he/she and the responsible elders/leadership team should compile the results and send the final result to the state/regional/national office.
Note: No matter which of the above methods is used, a representative should be selected to carry the proxy or proxies to the International Assembly. Remember that your church expression will be counted at the Assembly and your representative should be prepared to submit to the Holy Spirit as He moves in the Assembly body. These are only a few helpful suggestions aimed to facilitate better cooperation and involvement of our churches and people in the proxy system. Thank you for your tremendous input and prayers. |
| BDP Meeting - October 30, 2008 |
Explanation Amendments to the Proxy System
Introduction
The Biblical Doctrine and Polity Committee wishes to express thanks to God and to our General Overseer for the effective moderation of our last International Assembly in Nashville, Tennessee in August 2008 and to all assembly staff for their introduction of and participation in the Proxy system. We wish, in particular, to express our gratitude to all local churches, pastors and ministers who have participated in the process and to all who have attended the feedback and review session during the last Assembly.
Our Business Sessions during our Assemblies has historically posed challenges in respect to attaining greater inclusiveness and accurate reflection of the assembly decisions from our global constituents in our decision-making process. The introduction of the Proxy system potentially offered a solution to these challenges. We think and feel that the combined efforts of training and preparation by key church staff, for introducing this process to the Assembly has proven to be an overwhelming success, as the results and feedback indicate from International Assembly delegates and by International Presbyters after they had returned to the field. There is however a need to make slight amendments to the system in respect to the process of registration and the maximum number of proxies from a local church. The authority to make adjustments was given by the International Assembly in the 2004 Assembly Policies and procedures report.
Maximum Proxies from a local church
It became clear in our review and discussions that it is possible for one or two local churches with large membership from any part of our church world to disproportionately affect the outcomes of the expressions in our discussions during the assembly. An example of this would be a situation where a local church of 5,000 members could bring 50 proxies to the process and a nation of 3000 members could only bring 30. In effect two or three local large churches in one part of our church community could have undue influence on the decision-making process. Upon reflection we have determined that there be a maximum of ten proxies from any local church.
Registration Process
We now determine that each local church register with their state or national office after reaching a decision on the issue under consideration and then register at the International Assembly upon arrival secure their proxy expression card. |
For questions or comments, please contact the BDP Secretary - H. E. Cardin - TCCOGOP@aol.com
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