THE CONSTITUTION OF THE METHODIST PROTESTANT CHURCH

Elementary Principles

We, the representatives of the Associated Methodist Churches, in General Convention assembled, acknowledging the Lord Jesus Christ as the only head of the Church, and the Word of God as the only sufficient rule of faith and practice in all things pertaining to godliness; and being fully persuaded that the representative form of church government is the most scriptural, best suited to our condition, and most congenial with our views and feelings as fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; and, whereas a written constitution, establishing the form of government and securing to the ministers and members of the church their rights and privileges, is the best safeguard of Christian liberty; we, therefore, trusting in the protection of Almighty God, and acting in the name and by the authority of our constituents, do ordain and establish, and agree to be governed by the following elementary principles and Constitution:

1. A Christian Church is a society of believers in Jesus Christ, and is of Divine institution.

2. Christ is the only Head of the Church, and the Word of God the only rule of faith and conduct.

3. No person who loves the Lord Jesus Christ, and obeys the Gospel of God our Saviour, ought to be deprived of church membership.

4. Every man has an inalienable right to private judgment in matters of religion, and an equal right to express his opinion in any way which will not violate the laws of God, or the rights of his fellowmen.

5. Church trials should be conducted on Gospel principles only; and no minister or member should be excommunicated except for immorality; the propagation of unchristian doctrines; or the neglect of duties enjoined by the Word of God.

6. The pastoral or ministerial office and duties are of Divine appointment; and all elders in the Church of God are equal; but ministers are forbidden to be lords over God’s heritage, or to have dominion over the faith of the saints.

7. The church has a right to form and enforce such rules and regulations only as are in accordance with the Holy Scriptures, and may be necessary, or have a tendency to carry into effect the great system of practical Christianity.

8. Whatever power may be necessary to the formation of rules and regulations is inherent in the ministers and members of the church; but so much of that power may be delegated, from time to time, upon such a plan of representation as they may judge necessary and proper.

9. It is the duty of all ministers and members of the church to maintain godliness, and to oppose all moral evil.

10. It is obligatory on ministers of the Gospel to be faithful in the discharge of their pastoral and ministerial duties; and it is also obligatory on the members to esteem ministers highly for their works’ sake, and to render them a righteous compensation for their labors.

11. The church ought to secure to all her official bodies the necessary authority for the purpose of good government; but she has no right to create any distinct or independent sovereignties.

This Association shall be denominated The Methodist Protestant Church.

1. The conditions required of those who apply for probationary membership in a church are a desire to flee from the wrath to come, and be saved by grace through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, with an avowed determination to walk in all the commandments of God blameless.

2. The churches shall have power to receive members, on profession of faith, or on certificate of good standing in any other Christian church, provided they are satisfied with the Christian experience of the candidate.

3. Children of our members, and those under their guardianship, shall be recognized as enjoying probationary privileges, and held as candidates for membership, and should, with the consent of their parents or guardians, be put into classes as such.

1. Those parts of the United States embraced by this church shall be divided into districts, having respectively such boundaries as may be agreed on at this Convention, subject to those alterations which may be made or authorized from time to time by the General Conference.

2. Each district shall be divided into stations, circuits and missions by its Annual Conference.

3. Every minister or preacher (a minister is one who is ordained; a preacher acts under a license), removing from one district to another, and every member removing from one pastoral charge to another, having a certificate of his or her good standing, shall be eligible to membership in any other district or pastoral charge within the limits of this church, by the consent of the district or pastoral charge to which he or she may apply for membership.

On Receiving Churches, Etc.

1. Any number of believers united as a church, embracing the principles of religious truth held by this church, adopting this constitution, and conforming to our Book of Discipline and means of grace shall, at their request made to the President of an Annual Conference, or a pastor of a station or circuit, be recognized as a Methodist Protestant Church and be entitled to all the privileges granted by this constitution; subject, however, to the decision of the nearest Quarterly Conference.

2. A church shall be composed of members residing sufficiently near each other to assemble statedly for public worship, and of sufficient number to fill the offices and to transact its temporal business. And every church, when it becomes necessary, shall be divided into smaller companies or classes, for the purposes of religious instruction and edification.

3. Each church shall have power to purchase, build, lease, sell, rent, or otherwise dispose of church property for the use and benefit of the Methodist Protestant Church, when authorized by the affirmative vote of a majority of all the qualified members of the church; provided that said votes be given in person at a meeting publicly called for the purpose two weeks in advance, or any adjournment from time to time thereof.

4. Each church shall also have power to admit persons into full membership; and to try, censure or expel unworthy members, in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution and the Rules of Discipline.

5. It is required of all churches, as a condition of remaining connected with the general body, that they continue to conform to this Constitution and the regulations contained in the Book of Discipline.

6. In states where it is required by law that a local church secure a charter, or in case where the local church desires to secure a charter, the church shall have the power to create such offices or to perform such acts as may be required by state laws in order to obtain a charter.

There shall be in every station a meeting of the ministers, preachers, and members of the church, to be styled the monthly meeting, at which reports shall be received from the leaders, stewards and superintendents of Sunday Schools, and in which inquiry shall be made respecting the sick, poor and such as require pastoral attention. The pastor, if present, shall preside and endeavor to make the occasion one of spiritual profit as well as of advantage to the temporal economy of the church. It is recommended that monthly meetings be held in circuits and missions wherever practicable.

1. There shall be four Quarterly Conferences in each station, circuit and mission in every conference year, which shall be composed of all the ministers, preachers, exhorters, trustees, stewards, treasurers; church leaders, Sunday School superintendent, and presidents of the Methodist Protestant Young People’s Societies, of the Ladies’ Aid Society, of the Woman’s Missionary Society (or Woman’s Auxiliary), of the Brotherhood or Laymen’s Fellowship, and of the Deaconess Circle, in full membership, belonging to the station or circuit; provided, that the pastor, or five members of the Quarterly Conference, shall have authority to call special meetings of the Quarterly Conference at other times when circumstances make it necessary.

2. Each Quarterly Conference shall be vested with power to examine the official character of its members, and to admonish and reprove, as occasion may require; to grant to persons properly qualified and recommended by the church of which the applicants are members, license to preach or exhort; to renew licenses annually; to admit ministers and preachers coming from any other church; to recommend ministers and preachers to the Annual Conference for the itineracy and for ordination; to hear and decide on appeals; and to perform such other duties as are authorized by this Constitution and Discipline. Provided, nevertheless, that no person shall be licensed to preach until he shall have been first examined and recommended by a committee of five, composed of ministers and laymen, chosen by the Quarterly Conference.

1. There shall be held annually within the limits of each district a Conference, to be denominated the Annual Conference, composed of all the itinerant ministers belonging to the district; that is, all ministers properly under the stationing authority of the Conference; and of one delegate from each station, circuit and mission for each of its itinerant ministers, except superannuates, supernumeraries, ministers left without appointment at their own request, and ministers left in the hands of the President; provided, however, that every station and circuit shall have at least one delegate. Each Annual Conference shall regulate the manner of election in its own district.

2. The ministers and laymen shall deliberate in one body, but if, upon the final passage of any question, it be required by a majority of the ministers, or a majority of the laymen present, the ministers and laymen shall vote separately, and the concurrence of a majority of both classes of representatives shall be necessary to constitute a vote of the Conference.

3. Each Annual Conference shall be vested with power to elect a president annually; to receive, by vote, such ministers and preachers into the Conference as come properly recommended, and who can be efficiently employed as itinerant preachers; to elect to orders those who are eligible and competent to the pastoral office; to hear and decide on appeals; to define and regulate the boundaries of stations and circuits; to station the ministers and preachers; to make such rules and regulations as may be necessary to defray the expenses of the itinerant ministers, preachers and their families; to raise the amount of their salaries, and for all other purposes connected with the organization and continuance of said Conference; and to perform such other duties as are prescribed by the Constitution and Discipline, or may be prescribed by the General Conference.

4. The Annual Conferences, respectively, shall also have authority to perform the following additional duties:

First: To make such special rules and regulations as the peculiarities of the district may require; provided, however, that no rule or regulation be made inconsistent with this Constitution. And provided, furthermore, that the General Conference shall have power to annul any rule or regulation which that body may deem unconstitutional.

Second: To prescribe and regulate the mode of stationing the ministers and preachers within the district; provided, always, that they grant to each minister or preacher the right to appeal during the Conference.

Third: To set off home missions and provide for their proper regulation and their representation in the respective Annual Conferences.

5. Each Annual Conference shall keep a journal of its proceedings and send a copy for the quadrennium, properly authenticated, either written or printed, to the General Conference.

1. There shall be a General Conference of this Church on the third Wednesday in May, in the year of our Lord, 1990, and on the third Wednesday in May every second year thereafter, in such place as the Conference may determine.

2. The General Conference shall consist of not less than sixteen delegates. There shall be an equal number of ministers and laymen. The ratio of representation from each Annual Conference district shall be one (1) minister and one (1) layman for each 150 persons or major fraction thereof in full membership, provided that every conference district have at least one (1) minister and one (1) lay representative, until a different ratio shall be fixed by the General Conference.

3. The representatives to which each district may be entitled shall be elected on Friday at two o’clock, P. M., at the meeting of the Annual Conference, by the ministers and delegates belonging to said Annual Conference. The ministers and delegates shall vote as one body, and a majority of the whole vote shall constitute an election. But if a majority of the ministers, or a majority of the delegates demand it, the ministers and delegates shall vote separately, and the concurrence of a majority of both ministers and delegates shall be necessary to constitute an election.

4. The General Conference shall elect by ballot, a president to preside over its deliberations, and a secretary to serve during the sitting of the Conference. The Conference shall also be judge of election returns and qualifications of its own members, and form its own rules of order. A majority of all the representatives in attendance shall constitute a quorum.

5. The ministers and laymen shall deliberate in one body, but if, upon the final passage of any question, it be required by a majority of the ministers, or a majority of the laymen present, the ministers, and laymen shall vote separately, and the concurrence of a majority of both classes of representatives shall be necessary to constitute a vote of the Conference.

6. The yeas and nays shall be recorded at the call of one-fifth -part of the members present.

7. The Conference shall publish such parts of the journal of its proceedings as it may deem requisite.

8. All papers, books or other property belonging to the Conference shall be preserved as that body may direct.

1. The General Conference shall have power to make rules and regulations for every department of the church recognized by this Constitution.

2. To regulate, from time to time, the number of representatives to the General Conference.

3. To define the boundaries of Annual Conference Districts; provided, however, that the Annual Conferences of any two or more districts shall have power, by mutual agreement, to alter their respective adjoining boundaries, or to set off a new district; but every alteration shall be reported to the ensuing General Conference for its action.

1. No rule shall be passed which shall contravene any law of God.

2. No rule shall be passed which shall infringe the right of suffrage, eligibility to office, or the rights and privileges of our ministers, preachers and members to an impartial trial by committee, and of an appeal, as provided by this Constitution.

3. No rule shall be passed infringing the liberty of speech, or of the press; but for every abuse of liberty the offender shall be dealt with as in other cases of indulging in sinful words and tempers.

4. No rule, except it be founded on the Holy Scriptures, shall be passed authorizing the expulsion of any minister, preacher or member.

5. No rule shall be passed appropriating the funds of the church to any purpose except the support of the ministers, their wives, widows, and children, the promotion of education and missions, the diffusion of useful knowledge, the necessary expenses consequent on assembling the Conferences, and the relief of the poor.

6. No higher order of ministers shall be authorized than that of elder.

7. No rule shall be passed to abolish an efficient itinerancy. Each Annual Conference shall have authority to determine for itself whether any limit, or if any, what limit, shall be to the renewal of annual appointments.

8. No change shall be made in the relative proportions or component parts of the General or Annual Conferences.

9. Neither the General Conference nor any Annual Conference shall assume power to interfere with the constitutional powers of the civil government, or with the operation of the civil laws; yet nothing herein contained shall be so construed as to authorize or sanction anything inconsistent with the morality of the Holy Scriptures.

1. The President of each Annual Conference shall be elected annually, by the ballot of a majority of the members of the Conference. He shall not be eligible more than five years successively, and shall be amenable to that body for his official conduct.

2. It shall be the duty of the President of an Annual Conference to preside at all meetings of that body, and. when required by the Conference, to travel through the district, visit all the stations and circuits, be present, as far as practicable, at all the quarterly meetings, and camp meetings of his district; and in the recess of Conference, with the assistance of two or more elders, to ordain those persons who may be elected to orders; to employ such ministers and preachers as are duly recommended; and to make such changes of preachers as may be necessary; provided, the consent of said preachers and their charges be first obtained; and to perform such other duties as may be required by his Annual Conference.

1. The minister who shall be appointed by the Annual Conference to the charge of a station or circuit shall be styled the pastor, and shall be amenable to the Annual Conference for his official conduct.

2. The minister or preacher appointed by the Annual Conference to assist the pastor in the discharge of his pastoral duties shall be styled the associate pastor, and shall be amenable to the Annual Conference for the faithful discharge of duty.

3. It shall be the duty of every minister and preacher belonging to a station or circuit to render all the pastoral assistance he can, consistently with his other engagements, but no minister or preacher shall be accountable to the Annual Conference for the discharge of ministerial duty, except he be an itinerant minister or preacher; all others shall be accountable to the Quarterly Conference of the station or circuit.

4. No person shall be recognized as an itinerant minister, preacher, or missionary whose name is not enrolled on the Annual Conference list, or who will not be subject to the order of the Conference.

The Conference Treasurer shall be elected annually by the Annual Conference, and shall discharge the duties assigned to him by that body, and be amenable to it for his official conduct.

The Station and Circuit Stewards shall be elected annually by the qualified members, including ministers and preachers. In circuits and missions the qualified members of each society shall elect the steward or stewards thereof.

Each church shall elect a treasurer who shall have charge of the funds of the church and who by virtue of his office shall be a member of the Quarterly Conference.

Where two treasurers are needed, one may hold the funds of the local church while the other may care for the Benevolences.

The matter of suffrage and eligibility to office shall be left to the Annual Conferences respectively; provided that each Annual Conference shall be entitled to representation in the same ratio in the General Conference; and provided that no rule shall be passed which shall infringe the right of suffrage or eligibility to office.

Judiciary Principles

1. All offences condemned by the Word of God, as being sufficient to exclude a person from the kingdom of grace and glory, shall subject ministers, preachers and members to expulsion from the church.

2. The neglect of duties required by the Word of God, or the indulgence in sinful words and tempers, shall subject the offender to admonition, and, if persisted in after repeated admonitions, to expulsion.

3. For preaching or disseminating unscriptural doctrines affecting the essential interests of the Christian system, ministers, preachers and members shall be liable to admonition and, if incorrigible, to expulsion, provided, always, that no minister, preacher or member shall be expelled for disseminating matters of opinion alone, except they be such as are condemned by the Word of God.

4. All officers of the church shall be liable to removal from office for maladministration, and for neglect of official duties.

1. In all cases of accusation against a minister, preacher, or member, the accused shall be furnished by the pastor, or, in his absence, by any other minister belonging to the circuit or station, whom the pastor may select, with a copy of the charges and specifications at least twenty days before the time appointed for the trial, unless the parties concerned prefer going to trial on shorter notice. The accused shall have the right of challenge, the privilege of examining witnesses at the time of trial, and of making his defense in person or by representative, provided such representative be a member of the Methodist Protestant Church.

2. No minister or preacher shall be expelled, or deprived of church privileges or ministerial functions, without an impartial trial before a committee—if a minister, of from three to five ministers; if a preacher, of from three to five ministers or preachers—and the right of appeal; the unstationed preacher, to the ensuing Quarterly Conference; the ministers and itinerant preachers to the ensuing Annual Conference.

3. No member shall be expelled or deprived of church privileges without an impartial trial before a committee of three or more lay members. or if on a circuit, before the society of which he is a member, as the accused may require, and the right of an appeal to the ensuing Quarterly Conference; but no man who shall have sat on the first trial shall sit on the appeal; and all appeals shall be final. Persons whose names are on the church register, and cannot be found, may be dropped from the record by a vote of the church, or in stations these changes may be made by the Quarterly Conference. But any person whose name has been dropped shall, upon application to the pastor, have his name restored.

4. No minister or preacher who may have been suspended by a committee, and who has appealed from its decision, shall perform any of the duties of his office while his appeal is pending, and no person who sat on the case in committee, or who was the accuser, shall vote on the appeal. When a charge of unfaithfulness to the interest of the church is preferred, the trial shall be had within twenty days from the time the charge was preferred.

1. Whenever a majority of all Annual Conferences shall officially call for a judicial decision on any rule or act of the General Conference, it shall be the duty of each and every Annual Conference to appoint, at its next session, two judicial delegates, one minister and one layman, having the same qualifications of eligibility as are required for representatives to the General Conference. The delegates thus chosen shall assemble at the place where the General Conference held its last session, on the third Wednesday in May following their appointment.

2. A majority of the delegates shall constitute a quorum, and if two-thirds of all present judge said rule or act of the General Conference unconstitutional, they shall have power to declare the same null and void.

3. Every decision of the judiciary, with the reasons thereof, shall be in writing, and shall be published in the periodical belonging to this church. After the judiciary shall have performed the duties assigned it by this Constitution, its powers shall cease; and no other judiciary shall be created until after the session of the succeeding General Conference.

1. Two-thirds of the whole number of the Annual Conferences shall have power to call special meetings of the General Conferences.

2. When it shall have been ascertained that two-thirds of the Annual Conferences have decided in favor of such call, it shall be the duty of the presidents, or a majority of them, forthwith to designate the time and place of holding the same, and to give due notice to all stations, circuits and missions.

1. Alterations of this Constitution may be effected by means of overtures, submitted by the General Conference, and confirmed by two-thirds of the Annual Conferences.

2. When a change in the Constitution has been so recommended, the Annual Conference shall officially certify its action on the same to the President of the General Conference, who, when two-thirds of the Annual Conferences shall have certified their affirmative action, shall announce the facts in the official papers, and the change so made in the Constitution shall be in full force and effect from that time, and shall be entered in the Book of Discipline by the Committee on Publication.