Church Constitution

(Easy to read version)

December 2018 v.8.0

Our Church Constitution is an important document that describes

the detailed rules of how the Church operates. Because it is a legal
document, it has to be written in very formal and accurate
language. That means that it's long and complicated, and it can be
quite difficult to read.

To make it easier for people to understand what is in the

constitution, we have written this simpler version as a guide.
However, the full version is the only legally accurate one.

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General Information

What is the Church called, and what sort of organisation is it?

The name of the Church is "Peebles Baptist Church". The Church is
based in Scotland.

The Church is registered as a special type of charity called a “SCIO”

(which stands for “Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation”).

What is the Church for, and how will it do it?

The purpose of the Church is to glorify God, and to show and tell
the people around us about the good news of Jesus Christ. We will
do that in lots of different ways, including worship, mission, prayer,
teaching, and supporting other people who love Jesus.

To help us do that, we might use paid staff or volunteers, and we

might buy or rent property or equipment. We night also work with
other churches, or other organisations like charities or the council.

We might use some of the Church's money to do that. Any money

that we have which isn't being used will be invested carefully.

How is the Church organized?

The Church is part of the Baptist Union of Scotland, and we agree
with some important things that they have said:

• That the only way we can find out about what to believe or do
is by looking at Jesus Christ, our God and Saviour. We can find
out about him in the Bible. Each local church has the freedom,
guided by the Holy Spirit, to work out what He is saying to
them.
• That Baptism is when people who believe in Jesus are fully
dipped under water, to show that they have started following

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 him. They believe that he died for their sins as it says in the
Bible, that he was buried, and that he rose again from the
dead three days later.
• That every person who is a follower of Jesus has the job of
telling other people the Good News about Jesus.

People who have become members of the Church meet together at

the "Church Members' Meeting", to make important decisions
about what happen in the Church. Nobody else can tell the Church
what to do. However, the members of the Church will choose a
group of people to be leaders, to help manage the things that the
Church has to do. This group is called "the Diaconate".

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Members
Anybody can ask to be a member of the Church if they believe in
Jesus Christ as their Saviour and Lord, and if they have chosen to be
baptised. The way we baptise people is normally by dipping them
completely under the water.

If you're under 16, you can still become a member, but you can't
vote or be part of the Diaconate.

If you believe in Jesus but there are good reasons that you have
chosen not to be baptised, or if you're a full member of another
church somewhere, you can become an Associate Member. That
also means you can't vote or join the Diaconate.

If you want to become a Member, two people from the Church will
visit you to find out more about you, and to ask you how you
became a Christian. You will get a copy of the constitution (and this
simplified version) so that you know what it says.

There are some important things that we expect members of the

Church to do:

• Come to our normal worship services regularly, as well as to

other meetings such as home groups and prayer meetings.
• Come to the Church Members' Meetings, where we try to
decide what God is telling us to do as a church.
• To give some of your money regularly to the Church - the
more money you have, the more you should give.
• To use the time and skills that God has given you to serve Him.
• To show God's love, and to keep the Church united.
• To act and behave in ways that Christians should.
• To do what Jesus told us to in Matthew 28:19-20 ("Go and
make disciples of all the nations, baptising them in the name

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 of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new
disciples to obey all the commands I have given you.")

If a member of the Church doesn't regularly do these things, some

members of the Diaconate will meet with them to find out if there's
a problem that we can help sort out. If the person still doesn't start
doing the things they need to as a Church member, the other
members of the Church may decide to cancel that person's
membership.

If there are arguments between members of the Church, they need

to be dealt with carefully. Jesus told his disciples how to do that in
Matthew 18:15-17. If the problem gets really serious, or if it involves
the Pastor or the Diaconate, we will ask the Baptist Union or other
Baptist Churches to help sort it out.

Members of the Church mustn't gossip about the business of the

Church - they must keep it private.

If the Church gets into debt, or if it closes, the Church Members

won't be forced by the law to pay. However, the members of the
Diaconate have certain things that they must do by law. If they fail
to do them, and the Church gets into debt, those people might
have to pay towards the debt.

List of Members
The law says that the Diaconate must keep a list of all Church
Members, including each person’s name and address and when
they became a member. They must also keep a note of people who
used to be members. The list has to be kept up to date.

If anyone in the Church wants to see the names on that list, they
can ask the Diaconate for a copy.

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Cancelling your membership
If anyone wants to stop being a member of the Church, they should
write that in a letter to the Church Secretary.

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Decision Making by the Church Members

Church Members’ Meetings

There must be at least three Church Members’ Meetings every year.
The Diaconate will pick someone to make sure each meeting runs
smoothly (the “chair”). The meetings will include discussions about
our money, what we’ve been doing or are planning to do, and
things that have been done by the Diaconate.

If the person picked to chair the meeting doesn’t turn up, the
members at the meeting must choose someone else to chair it.

One of these meetings every year is called the Annual General

Meeting (or AGM). At this meeting there will be reports on how the
Church has spent its money, and the Church's bank accounts will be
checked by someone who isn't a member of the Church to make
sure that everything has been done properly.

Normally there must be two weeks’ notice given of Church

Members’ Meetings. However, if something really urgent and
important comes up between normal meetings, the Diaconate
might call a Special Church Members’ Meeting. Church Members
can do this too if ten of them agree. If a Special Meeting is called,
the Diaconate has to do their best to make sure all members know
about it as soon as possible.

Special Rules for how things work at Members’ Meetings

If any member wants to bring something new up at a Church
Members’ Meeting, they must write to the Church Secretary at least
three weeks before the meeting.

A Church Members’ Meeting is only valid if at least one third of the

members of the Church are there. If there aren’t enough people, the

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meeting has to be put off to another time. However, if there still
aren’t enough people that come when the meeting is held for the
second time, that meeting will be valid.

Voting
We try to have everyone agreeing about things that are discussed
at Members’ Meetings. If not everyone agrees and a decision has to
be voted on, each full member is allowed to vote once. You have to
be at the meeting to vote – you can’t ask someone else to vote for
you. If there’s a tie (the same number of votes for and against the
idea), normally we would hold off the issue until the next meeting
so that people can think and pray about it more. If it is really
important to make a decision straight away, the person chairing the
meeting can have an extra vote to decide.

When there’s a vote, usually there just have to be more people

voting for something than against it. However, there are some
special things that would need twice as many people voting for it
as vote against it. These are:

• A vote to change the constitution.

• A vote to combine the Church with another charity.
• A vote to give all the Church’s property to another charity.
• A vote to close the Church.

Minutes
The Diaconate must make sure that there are notes kept of who
comes to Church Members’ Meetings, and what decisions are
made. These notes are called the “minutes” of the meeting.

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The Diaconate
The Diaconate is made up of the Pastor (or Pastors if there is more
than one), plus as many other people as the Church Members’
Meeting decides should be on it, including people they elect as
Deacons. You must be a full member of the Church to be on the
Diaconate, and you must have been a member for at least two
years. (The Pastor, or any other Church staff that the members
decide should be on the Diaconate, don’t have to wait for two
years!)

If there are too few people elected to the Diaconate for it to be able
to work properly, extra people may be asked to join it. Those
people don’t have to be members of the church, but they must be
Christians and they must be part of the regular church family.

Charity Trustees
People who run a charity are called “Charity Trustees” by the
government. In Peebles Baptist Church, the members of the
Diaconate are the Charity Trustees. They have some special
responsibilities:

• They must do things in the best interests of the Church.

• They must try to make sure that the Church does what it’s
supposed to be doing.
• They must work carefully and responsibly.
• They must make sure that the Church keeps the special laws
for charities.
• When a decision has to be made about something that a
member of the Diaconate is personally involved in (such as
paying their company to do work for the Church), that is
called a “conflict of interest”. The person must tell the rest of

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 the team about the conflict of interest, and must not take part
in the discussion about it.

If there are any mistakes made about those things, the whole
Diaconate has the responsibility to make sure that the mistakes
don’t happen again. If one of them keeps making serious mistakes,
they may have to be taken off the Diaconate.

If you are on the Diaconate, normally you aren’t allowed to be

employed by the Church. However, it’s ok for the Pastor and other
staff to be on the team as long as there are more volunteers on the
Team than paid staff.

If members of the Diaconate have to spend their own money in

order to do their work for the Church (such as the costs of travelling
to special meetings), the Church will give them that money back.

Special Jobs
There are some special roles in the Church that have to be done by
people on the Diaconate. These are Pastor, Secretary, and Treasurer.
The Diaconate will decide who the Secretary and Treasurer are, but
the Church Members’ Meeting must agree with the choice. The
Secretary and Treasurer do their job for one year. After that, they
must be chosen again.

Choosing a new pastor

When the Church needs to choose a new pastor, the Church
members will ask some people from the Church to form a Vacancy
Committee. They will ask someone from outside the Church (called
a “Moderator”) to run this committee.

When the Vacancy Committee finds someone they believe is the

right person to be pastor, they will make a recommendation to the

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rest of the Church. The Church members will vote, and if there are
enough votes for the new pastor, that person will be called. The
Church will have previously decided how many votes would be
needed.

At times when there isn’t a pastor, or if the pastor is unable to do

their job (for example because they are ill), the Diaconate is
responsible for making sure that the Church keeps doing what it
should be doing.

Choosing other members of the Diaconate

Members of the Church will vote in secret to choose members of
the Diaconate. Only those who get at least 2 out of 3 votes will be
elected.

People are elected to the Diaconate for three years (except for
those who are automatically on the Diaconate because of their job,
such as the Pastor). At the end of those three years, they can be
elected to the team for another three years. After that, however,
they must have a break of at least a year.

Leaving the Diaconate

A person will stop being a member of the Diaconate:

• if they are not allowed to be a Charity Trustee;

• if they aren’t a member of the Church any more;
• if they are employed by the Church (except for the Pastor and
other special jobs chosen by the Church members);
• if they resign from the Diaconate;
• if the rest of the Diaconate decide to remove them because
they keep missing Diaconate meetings;

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 • if the rest of the Diaconate decide to remove them because
they have done things that don’t match how a church leader
should behave;
• if the rest of the Diaconate decide to remove them because
they haven’t carried out their responsibilities as a Charity
Trustee;
• or if the Church Meeting votes to remove them.
If someone is to be removed from the Diaconate, there are specific
rules about how that must be done, and the rights they have to
answer any accusations against them.

Difficult Personal Situations

Being on the Diaconate is a big responsibility. If a member of the
Diaconate is really ill, or something else serious happens in their life,
it wouldn’t be fair to expect them to keep doing the job. If that
happens, the Pastor will talk to them about leaving the Diaconate
for a while. When they get better or their problems are sorted out,
they can come back on to the Diaconate if the rest of the Team
agree.

List of Diaconate Members

The law says that the Diaconate must keep a list of all Diaconate
Members, including their name and address and when they
became a member of the group. They must also keep a note of
people who used to be members. The list has to be kept up to date.

If anyone wants to see that list, they can ask the Diaconate for a
copy - but they might not be given addresses.

What the Diaconate does

The Diaconate manages all the business of the Church.

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The Church Members’ Meeting has authority over the Diaconate,
and can tell the Diaconate what to do. However, the Church
Members’ Meeting can’t tell the Diaconate to do something that
would go against the constitution, or that would mean they weren’t
carrying out their legal duties as Charity Trustees.

Code of Conduct for the Diaconate

The Church Members’ Meeting, or the Diaconate itself, can write a
list of ways in which church leaders must behave. The special
Charity laws also describe how leaders should behave.

Payments to Diaconate Members

There are special laws about when members of the Diaconate are
allowed to be paid money by the Church.

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Decision-making by the Diaconate

Meetings
Any member of the Diaconate can call a meeting of the team. They
must normally give 7 days’ notice of a meeting, unless it is to deal
with something very urgent.

There must be at least three members of the Diaconate at a

meeting for them to be able to make decisions. If there are less than
three people on the Membership Team, the people on the team
can choose up to three members of the Church to join the team.
This choice will have to be agreed by the next Church Members’
Meeting.

The members of the Diaconate will choose someone to make sure

each meeting runs smoothly (the “chair”).

Voting
Just as in Church Members’ Meetings, it is best if everyone agrees
about things that are discussed at Diaconate Meetings. If not
everyone agrees and a decision has to be voted on, each member
of the team is allowed to vote.

To make a decision, there just have to be more people voting for

something than against it. They have to be at the meeting to vote –
they can’t ask someone else to vote for them. If there’s a tie (the
same number of votes for and against the idea), and it’s really
important to make a decision straight away, the person chairing the
meeting can have an extra vote to decide.

The Diaconate may invite other people to come to team meetings,

and to speak. But they aren’t allowed to vote or make decisions.

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When a decision has to be made about something that a member
of the Diaconate is personally involved in (such as paying their
company or a member of their family to do work for the Church),
that is called a “conflict of interest”. The person must tell the rest of
the team about the conflict of interest, and must not take part in
the discussion about it.

Minutes
The Diaconate must make sure that there are notes kept of who
comes to Diaconate Meetings, as well as to any other committees,
and what decisions are made. These notes are called the “minutes”
of the meeting.

Anyone can ask for a copy of the minutes. However, if there are
things in the minutes that are confidential, those parts can be left
out of the copy.

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Administration

Sub-committees
The Diaconate can setup sub-committees to help run different
things. There must be at least one member of the Diaconate on
each sub-committee.

All sub-committees must keep the Diaconate up to date with what

they are doing. The Diaconate can change the decisions of a sub-
committee if it needs to.

Looking after the Church’s money and property

The members of the Diaconate will be responsible for looking after
the Church’s money and property.

None of the Church’s money or property may be given to the

members of the Church, unless this is done as part of what the
Church is for.

Any payments from the Church’s bank account must have the
signature of someone authorized by the Diaconate to make
payments. Anything that costs more than £250 must be specially
approved in advance by the Diaconate or by the Church Members’
Meeting.

Church Accounts
The Diaconate must make sure that proper records are kept of the
Church’s money. If the law says that those records need to be
checked, the Diaconate will make sure that is done.

The Church’s financial year runs from 1st April to 31st March, unless
the Church Members’ Meeting decides to change that.

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Miscellaneous

Closing the Church

If ten or more members of the Church believe that the Church
should be closed down, they should call a meeting of all the Church
members. They must tell everyone about the meeting at least 21
days in advance, and they must say what it is about.

If at least two out of every three people at the meeting decide that
the Church should be closed down, the Diaconate will do all the
things necessary to completely shut the Church down. This will
include:

• Collecting all the Church’s money, as well as things that

belong to the Church, and paying anyone who the Church
owes money to.
• Anything left over after the Church’s debts have been paid
must be used to help other people. Normally it will all be
given to the Baptist Union of Scotland, but the members of
the Church can decide to give it to another charity if enough
of them think that should happen.
• If the Church is to be closed down, the law says that there are
special rules for how to do it.

Changing the Constitution

Anything in the constitution can be changed by the Church
Members’ Meeting. For this to happen:

• Two out of every three people must vote for the change at a
special meeting, which must have been announced at church
for the previous two weeks;
• The change must not stop the Church being a church;

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 • The members of the Church must be told what the suggested
change is, when they are told about the meeting;
• The Diaconate must keep a copy of the change (and any
others like it) with the constitution;
• The Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR), who make sure that all
charities are run properly, must agree to the change.

Appendices
Sometimes the Church might produce additional information
about how things should happen. These are called “appendices”.
They are easier to change than the constitution itself, and they
mustn’t go against something in the constitution itself.

Meanings of some Special Words and Phrases

The government passed a law about how charities must be
managed, called “The Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland)
Act 2005”. When this easy-to-read version of the constitution talks
about “special rules in the law”, that’s what it means.

If the government makes any changes to that law, or replaces it

with a new one, or if any other laws apply to us, we still have to
keep those laws.

That law also has a very precise meaning for the word “charity”
(which the Church is), as well as some other words and phrases
used in the full version of the constitution.

Using email for important announcements

If you use email, and give your email address to the Church
Secretary, the church might use this to send you any important
information. If you don’t want that to happen, you need to tell the
Secretary.

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