CHAPTER VII
STEWARDS
¶ 226. 1. The stewards
should be persons of solid piety, who both know and love the Free Methodist
doctrine and Discipline, and of good natural and acquired abilities to
transact temporal business.
2. The number of stewards in each circuit
shall not be less than three, nor more than nine.
3. The stewards of each society shall be
elected by ballot at a regular society meeting to be held subsequent to
the annual circuit meeting. Where there is but one society they may be
elected by the circuit meeting.
¶ 227. The duties
of stewards are: 1. To seek the needy and distressed in order to relieve
and comfort them. 2. To inform the preachers of any sick or disorderly
persons. 3. To tell their preacher what they think wrong in him. 4. To
attend the quarterly meetings of their circuit. 5. To give advice, if asked,
in planning the circuit. 6. To attend committees for the application of
money to churches. 7. To give counsel in matters of arbitration. 8. To
provide elements for the Lord’s Supper. 9. To write circular letters to
the societies in the circuit to be more liberal if need be, also to let
them know, when occasion requires, the state of the temporal concerns of
the circuit at the last quarterly meeting.
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