Constitution
Adopted February 1, 1997
ARTICLE IV
Officers
The Elders of this congregation shall serve such offices and perform such official responsibilities as may be required by law, including, but not limited to, the offices of President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, Trustee, and Director. Elders may serve concurrently in more than one office when permitted by law. When the number of Elders is not sufficient to fill all required offices, the Elders shall appoint additional officers as may be required by law. Any officer so appointed shall meet the minimum requirements as required for a Deacon (1Tim. 3:8-13). Selection of all officers shall be by unanimous consent of all Elders, and the term of office shall be for one calendar year. The Elder selected to fill the office of President shall be the Presiding Elder (Senior Pastor) for that calendar year.
ARTICLE V
Amendments
This Constitution may be revised or amended only by the unanimous decision of all Elders currently serving the congregation.
Adopted February 1, 1997
(Rev.) Dr. Rickard L. Sawyer,
Th.M., Th.D., D.Min., M.B.A.
Founding Elder
Amendment 1
(September 19, 1997)
Article II, Section 12A (Baptism) and Article III, Section 1 (Qualifications of Membership) were reworded to reduce confusion about the importance of water baptism. Minor grammatical errors were corrected in a few other sections, which resulted in no change in either content or intent.
Amendment 2
(July 1, 2001)
In keeping with our desire to adopt the Hebraic form of worship and fellowship known as “Messianic Judaism,” global changes were made as follows:
a. The term “church” was replaced by the terms “fellowship,” “congregation,” or “Miqra,” depending on the context; reference to “baptism” was replaced by “immersion“ or “tevilah;” the word “Christian” was replaced with “Believer,” “Messianic Believer,” or “Believer in Mashiach” as best fit the context; and a few other terms were replaced by their equivalent Hebraic terms.
b. References to the Bible and to Deity were replaced by their original Hebraic terms.
c. Scripture quotations were changed to the Complete Jewish Bible or New American Standard Version, whichever translation more clearly represented the specific intent of the Elders.
d. A better definition of “Israel” was added to Article I, Section 2(a)(5) for clarification.
e. The name benéi HaMelech was added as an expressly Messianic Jewish ministry.
The above changes were only grammatical or “cosmetic” in nature. None of them in any way affected either the doctrinal position of this congregation or the procedures specified in this Constitution.
“Article I, Section 2, Subsection C, Taxpayer Status” was renumbered to “Article I, Section 3, Taxpayer Status.”
“Article I, Section 2, Subsection C, Our Mission Statement” was added.
Amendment 3
(August 31, 2009)
“Article II, Section 1A, Torah,” and “Article II, Section 1B, The Ketuvei Shalichim,” were added to clarify our position on the Sacred Text. The “congregation” was reclassified as a “fellowship” resulting in appropriate grammatical changes. Minor grammatical corrections and editorial changes were performed which had no effect on the original meaning or intent of the Constitution.
Notes: These notes are for explanation only, and are not considered part of our “official” Constitution.)
21. I fully understand that “conventional” Christian theology teaches that the “Church” came into existence at Pentecost and will cease to function in its present capacity at “the Rapture,” and that the “Church” therefore consists of all the saints of only the present age, and I faithfully taught that doctrine for over thirty-five years. My recent studies of the Scripture have left that teaching in some doubt in my mind for the reasons outlined in our article on the word “church.” See also the Appendix. [BACK]
22. We do not pretend to know,
nor do we believe that it is important for us to know, whether the period
of time included in the “six days of creation” was equal to six periods of
24 hours each, according to man“s current calculation of time. Since the
Scripture specifically refers to “the evening and morning” of each day, we
assume that literal days are intended. Current understanding of Einstein’s
Theory of Relativity holds that time as we know it is relative to the
position and circumstances of the observer.
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ANXIOUSLY WATCHING FOR MASHIACH’S RETURN,
SPEEDILY AND IN OUR DAY. MARANA, TA!
