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Awards Presented, 17 Amendments Approved
ROSEMONT, IL (June 30, 2003) - By Craig Pinley, Bob Smietana
The Saturday morning business session was a busy
one
for delegates at the 118th Covenant Annual Meeting of the Evangelical
Covenant Church as they approved 17 amendments to the Covenant's
Constitution and Bylaws, approved a new model for local church governance
and witnessed the presentation of a
prestigious award in urban ministry
Arnold "Arnie" and Marilyn Bolin of Community Church in Boulder Junction,
Wisconsin, received the Irving C. Lambert Award for their significant
contributions in urban and ethnic ministries. In introducing the Bolins,
Max Lopez-Cepero, director of the Covenant's Ministries of Compassion and
Justice, read a letter from Community Church that describes the Bolins as
being "salt and light," noting their loving care for all people and the
quiet humility in their work. President Glenn R. Palmberg then presented
the Lambert Award to the Bolins (more on the Bolins can be found in a
separate story on this Covenant news website).
"This is indeed an honor to us, an unexpected honor," said Arnie Bolin,
noting that his experiences in urban ministry had led him to relationships
with many wonderful people from many backgrounds. "There are two things
that are true about each and every one of us," said Bolin. "We are all
created in the image of God and we are all sinners for whom Christ died and
nothing else matters. And as we meet and live, oftentimes in opulence that
is a little embarrassing, we need to remember those brothers and sisters,
those in need, those who are hurting."
After the presentation of the Irving C. Lambert Award, delegates approved
the leadership team model constitution and bylaws paradigm for local church
governance, giving local Covenant churches a third model - along with the
Board and Council models - to choose from in organizing their local
congregation.
Gary Walter, executive minister of the church growth and
evangelism, told delegates that the leadership team model was field tested
in several local congregations and was endorsed by the Council of
Superintendents, the Council of Administrators and the Covenant Executive
Board.
Much of Saturday's work by delegates involved 22 proposed amendments to the
Constitution and Bylaws (they are posted in their entirety in the Annual
Meeting section of The Covenant website at www.covchurch.org). The most
discussed proposal was Amendment 13, which proposed restricting the
executive minister of the Department of the Ordered Ministry from both
presenting evidence in a case of clerical misconduct and then participating
in the deliberations of the board on that case.
John Hunt of Evanston (Illinois) Covenant Church, who proposed the
amendment, argued that the amendment would strengthen the role of executive
minister by removing any appearance of a conflict of interest. Hunt said
that currently, the executive minister could be accused of being witness,
prosecutor and then judge in cases of alleged ministerial misconduct,
leaving a pastor accused of misconduct without an advocate. Several
delegates, most notably Ray Dahlberg, a former conference superintendent
and former executive director of the Department of World Mission, said that
it is difficult to seen as both "disciplinarian and care-giver."
The amendment was rejected after both Brad Boydston, president of the
Covenant Ministerium, and Dave Kersten, executive minister of the
Department of Ordered Ministry, spoke against it. Boydston noted that the
ministerium had voted against the proposed amendment and Kersten voiced
concerns that it would undermine the role of executive minister.
Kersten said that using jurisprudence analogies, such as prosecutor and
judge, are not accurate in describing the work of the board, which is first
and foremost one of pastoral care.
A complete list of action on amendments appears at the end of this story.
In other news and reports:
- President Palmberg presented a citation to John Notehelfer for his one
year as interim executive minister of the Department of World Mission,
lauding his pastoral care to administrators and missionaries alike. "John
always says 'Yes' he when he discerns God's calling," said Palmberg in
thanking John and his wife, Miriam, for their willingness to forego
retirement for a year and for their role in helping to stabilizing world
mission activities.
- Delegates defeated two local church constitution amendments regarding
the
role of member congregations and the manner in which individual members of
a
congregation can appeal indiscretions to regional, conference and
denominational
leadership.
Following is a list of amendments APPROVED by delegates:
- Preamble, Paragraph 2 (regarding the wording of the Apostles' Creed and
the
Nicene Creed)
- Constitution, Article VII, Section 7.2 (regarding the session of the
Annual
Meeting)
- Constitution, Article IX, Section 9.3 (regarding candidates for
conference
superintendent)
- Bylaws, Article VII, Section 7.8.iii. (regarding the availability of
the proposed agenda of the ECC Annual Meeting at least 30 days prior to the
meeting)
- Bylaws, Article VIII, Section 8.1 (regarding the Executive Board
developing its own procedural rules)
- Bylaws, Article X, Section 10.2.b.i [1] (regarding the ability of
Covenant Women Ministries to recommend candidates to the Board of
Nominations)
- Bylaws, Article X, Section 10.3.b.i [1] (regarding procedure of how
candidates are slated for the Board of Nominations)
- Bylaws, Article X, Section 10.3.b.i[3] (regarding wording of
qualifications for the Board of the Ordered Ministry)
- Bylaws and elsewhere, Article X, Section 10.5 and elsewhere (regarding
the
name change of "Covenant Benefit Board" to "Board of Pensions and
Benefits")
- Bylaws, Article X, Section 10.5.b.i (regarding how candidates for the
now-named Board of Pensions and Benefits should be slated)
- Bylaws, Article X, Section 10.5.d (regarding further wording about the
role of the Board of Pensions and Benefits)
- Bylaws, Article X, Section 10.5.f (regarding wording about the role of
the director of pensions)
- Bylaws, Article XI, Section 11.2.d (regarding whether the ECC president
should be allowed to appoint one member of the Council of Superintendents
to serve as ex-officio member to the Board of the Ordered Ministry, North
Park University, Benefits and Ministries of Benevolence)
- Bylaws, Article XII, Section 12.3.b.i[1] (regarding whether the Board
of Trustees may recommend candidates to the Board of Nominations)
- Bylaws, Article XII, Section 12.3.b.ii (regarding how the Executive
Board can suspend an appointed member of the North Park University Board of
Trustees for cause, as well as what is deemed as cause for suspension)
- Bylaws, Article XII, Section 12.3.k (regarding the qualifications for
regular, full-time North Park Theological Seminary faculty members)
- Bylaws, XVI, Section 16.1.b (which would change how the ECC Executive
Board would propose amendments to the Bylaws - from now on, proposals to
the
amendments to the Bylaws must be in writing 90 days prior to the Annual
Meeting.
Before, it was 120 days.
Proposed amendments that were DEFEATED included:
- Bylaws, Article VII, Section 7.4.c (regarding delegates from regional
mission organizations)
- Bylaws, Article VII, Section 7.4.d (regarding wording of world mission
region versus world mission country)
- Bylaws, Article X, Section 10.3.c (regarding whether the executive
minister of the ordered ministry could participate in deliberation or
voting on discipline matters when he/she is responsible for presenting
evidence on the discipline matter)
Proposed amendments that were REFERRED to the Constitution and Bylaws
committee
for further work included:
- Bylaws, Article VII, Section 7.4 (who can be delegates to the Annual
Meeting of the ECC)
- Bylaws, Article X, Section 10.3.b.i (regarding the qualifications of
those who can be nominated to the Board of the Ordered Ministry and the
number of those on the board)
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