CHAPTER IV
THE COMMISSION ON MISSIONS
I. Objects, Membership, Officers,
Duties
¶ 109. 1. The
Board of Administration shall constitute the General Missionary Board of
the Free Methodist Church of North America, an incorporated body. The objects
for which this incorporation is formed are:
(1) To collect, receive, hold, expend, pay
out or dispose of any property, real or personal, or of whatever nature
and wherever situate as allowed by law, that may be given, obtained or
held in aid of time general missionary work of the Free Methodist Church.
(2) To acquire by purchase, gifts or devise,
real estate or personal property in the United States of North America,
or in foreign lands, and to hold or sell or convey the same as in its judgment
may be necessary in the prosecution of its missionary work.
2. The Commission on Missions shall consist
of a bishop appointed by the Board of Administration who shall be president
of the commission, the two women elected by the Woman’s Missionary Society
and six other persons elected by the Board of Administration from its members.
3. The general church treasurer shall be
the treasurer of the Commission on Missions.
4. The commission shall continue in office
until the close of the next session of the General Conference and until
others shall he elected in their places. It shall have an annual meeting,
a personal notice of which shall be sent to each member, and a notice,
signed by the president and the secretary, shall appear in two issues of
the Free Methodist.
5. It shall be the duty of the commission
to act in an advisory capacity to its directors.
6. It shall be the duty of the commission
to make an appropriation of $10,000.00 each year to meet unforeseen contingencies
that may arise in the administration of the foreign and home missionary
work. Including this emergency appropriation, the total of all appropriations
made, or indirect obligations assumed in behalf of the foreign and home
missionary work, shall not exceed the actual receipts for the same during
the preceding year.
7. It shall be the duty of the commission
to take charge of all moneys raised for foreign and home missionary work,
and appropriate the same to the purposes for which they were contributed.
8. The commission shall publish in the Free
Methodist and the Annual Conference Minutes annual reports of all its receipts
and disbursements. It shall make a full report to the General Conference
at its regular session of all moneys received and disbursed by it, and
of the results of such appropriations so far as can be ascertained.
9. The president of the commission shall,
with the consent of a majority of its members, make a general call from
time to time for special collections to provide funds for any contingency
that may arise in the mission field.
10. It shall be the duty of the Commission
on Missions to inquire as to the usefulness of each and every missionary,
active and on furlough, annually.
No missionary shall remain on furlough more
than one and one-half years.
Provided, however, that if conditions beyond
the control of either the Commission on Missions or an accepted missionary,
or both, arise, furlough or service abroad shall be extended until such
contingencies clear away.
The Commission on Missions may, upon the
recommendation of four-fifths of the Committee on Candidates and Furloughs
leave a missionary without an appointment.
Any missionary so left without an appointment
two years in succession shall be discontinued as a missionary and his relation
to the Commission on Missions shall cease.
11. The acts of the Commission on Missions
shall be subject to the approval of the Board of Administration.
II. The Directors of the Commission
on Missions
¶ 110. 1. At
the first meeting of the Board of Administration, subsequent to each session
of the General Conference, the said board, which board constitutes the
General Missionary Board of the Free Methodist Church of North America,
an incorporated body, shall elect by ballot from the members of the Commission
on Missions, seven persons who shall constitute a Board of Directors. At
least one of these directors shall be a member of the Woman’s Missionary
Society.
2. It shall be the duty of the directors
to take charge of all moneys raised for general, foreign and home missionary
work, and appropriate the same to the purposes for which they were contributed.
3. The directors shall accept and appoint
missionaries to their respective fields, order the expenditure of funds
upon each field, make appropriations from the contingent fund to meet exigencies
as they may arise from time to time, and perform all the duties of the
board and such other work as is contemplated in the articles of incorporation.
They shall have authority to authorize the ordination of a missionary candidate
if they judge it expedient.
III. The General Missionary Secretary
¶ 111. 1. The
general missionary secretary shall be elected by the General Conference.
2. He shall keep the records of the commission,
receive and answer all correspondence relating to the missionary work of
the church, and pay over to the treasurer of the commission all moneys
received by him, taking his receipt for the same.
3. He shall have charge of the missionary
interests of the church, subject to the orders and under direction of the
directors, excepting in some sudden emergency, when he may be at liberty
to act without waiting for orders from the directors, provided that such
action taken shall be subject to the approval or disapproval of the board
of directors.
4. He may with the consent of the president
of the board of directors and a majority of the directors make general
calls from time to time for special collections or for donations for some
particular purpose in order to provide for contingencies that may arise
on the mission fields.
5. He shall travel at large throughout the
church in the interest of missions and shall visit the foreign fields whenever
in the judgment of the Commission on Missions or the board of directors
it shall be deemed necessary.
6. He shall he empowered to ordain all eligible
candidates for the office of deacon or elder when visiting the foreign
fields.
7. He shall make yearly a full and detailed
report to the commission of all business pertaining to both the missionaries
and the mission stations and also whenever requested by the board of directors
to do so.
IV. The Treasurer
¶ 112. The treasurer
shall receive all moneys accruing to foreign and home missions by collections,
donations, bequests or otherwise, giving receipts for the same, and shall
pay over, upon order of the secretary, whatever sums have been appropriated
by the directors of the board. He shall deposit all funds in some national
bank or trust company, selected by the commission, in the name of the General
Missionary Board of the Free Methodist Church of North America, to he drawn
only upon the order of the secretary and treasurer.
V. Home Missions
¶ 113. 1. All
work carried on by the Commission on Missions on the North American continent
among the foreign speaking people and others not cared for by our regular
pastors shall be denominated home mission work.
2. Societies that have been organized or
may be organized among these peoples shall be termed “Home Mission Societies.”
Persons being received into such societies shall be received on probation
and into full membership on the same conditions as are our regular members.
3. The home mission societies shall have
the same general organization and power, both as to districts and circuits
and local societies, as obtains in the regular church organization. The
manner of election of all officers shall be subject to the approval of
the general missionary secretary.
4. The Commission on Missions shall have
complete administrative authority over these societies and they shall in
no way be subject to the appointment of or control by an annual conference.
5. The title to any church property acquired
within the bounds of the United States shall be vested in the General Missionary
Board of the Free Methodist Church of North America.
6. Where two or more societies exist and,
where practicable, in the judgment of the general missionary secretary,
they may be formed into “home mission districts.”
7. All home mission societies which pay
their own operating expenses, except the salary of the pastors and other
workers, shall be entitled to non-voting lay representation in the annual
conference within the bounds of which such societies are located.
8. These societies shall be reported to
such conference as “home mission societies,” and by a footnote on the statistical
report it shall be indicated, that conference claims are not apportioned
to them.
9. Preachers engaged in this work shall
be amenable to their annual conferences for their Christian character and
to the Commission on Missions for their official conduct.
VI. Title to Land In Foreign Countries
¶ 114. Titles
to land purchased for missions in foreign lands shall be in the name of
the General Missionary Board of the Free Methodist Church of North America,
and deeded to trustees elected by the board, the tenure of whose office
shall be subject to said board, subject in all cases to the laws and regulations
of the country where the land is located.
VII. Duties of Preachers in Charge
¶ 115. It shall
be the duty of each preacher in charge of a circuit to hold one or more
missionary meetings on his circuit during the year, and take a collection
and circulate a subscription for the support of foreign and home missions.
VIII. Annual Conference Missionary
Funds
¶ 116. Each
annual conference may from time to time, by vote, appropriate of its mission
funds such sums to the Commission on Missions as in its judgment may be
deemed proper. Each annual conference may, by such means as it shall judge
best, raise funds for the support of missions within its bounds.
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