Doctrines and Discipline of the Free Methodist Church of North America - 1939 Edition

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.