Bylaw revisions further defining the phrase “cooperating Baptist churches in the state,” limiting trustee membership to instate churches, and declaring the Bible as the supreme authority for its activities and decisions were among the eight changes presented Nov. 15 during the annual meeting of the South Carolina Baptist Convention in Columbia.
Glenn Stanley, chairman of the SCBC bylaws committee and pastor of Pine Grove Baptist Church, Conway, presented the proposed changes as a first reading only. Messengers to next year’s annual meeting in Taylors will discuss and vote on the revisions.
In Article III, entitled “Church Membership of Officers, Boards, Appointees, Committees,” the committee proposed replacing the words “cooperating Baptist churches in the state” so that, if approved, the article would read: “All officers of the Convention, all appointees, and all persons elected to membership on the Executive Board, to the boards of trustees of the institutions, and to committees shall be members of churches in friendly cooperation with this Convention and sympathetic with its purposes and work and have during the fiscal year preceding been bona fide contributors to the Convention’s work.”
The committee also proposed adding the following criteria to Article VII, D: “Any trustee of an institution who becomes a member of a church in another state shall thereby terminate membership on that board.”
In other revisions, committee members also suggested renaming Article IX to “Supreme Authority,” which would then state, “The Holy Bible shall be the supreme and final authority for all of the activities of the Convention and for all decisions that are made by or on behalf of the Convention.”
And, another bylaw change would clarify the procedures for calling a special meeting of the convention. “In cases of important concern(s),” the proposed bylaw reads, “the Executive Board will instruct the Convention President to call a meeting of the Convention provided two (2) weeks of written notice is given through the religious and secular news media.”
Most of the other changes dealt with renumbering articles to allow for the new article on the Bible and updating terminology for Anderson and North Greenville colleges, which recently have achieved university status, and for the Baptist Student Union, now referred to as Baptist Collegiate Ministry.