Vote by churches

At General Conference next summer Seventh Day Baptists will vote to decide whether to remain a member of the Baptist Joint Committee. The vote will be a "vote by churches" - a procedure reserved for controversial or especially important business. It is also something we haven't done in decades. In the 1970s and '80s there were several such votes on issues like abortion, SDB memberships in the National Council of Churches and the World Council of Churches, and adoption of our current Statement of Belief.

I have sometimes served as parliamentarian for the Conference sessions and, upon request, prepared the following explanation of the process:

The relevant Bylaw provision is found at Article IV. Delegates to General Conference

Delegates to meetings of the corporation shall be determined as follows: two delegates for each member church, as a church, and one additional delegate for each ten members of the church or major fraction of ten members. Churches not able to represent themselves by their own members may appoint, in writing, delegates from other member churches to represent them. Seventy-five delegates representing at least ten churches shall constitute a quorum.

Only delegates to General Conference are authorized to vote. They shall cast their votes on all questions as individuals, except when a vote by churches has been called. A vote by churches is an important vote in which each church casts the total number of votes to which it is entitled. A vote by churches shall occur only when General Conference votes to call one. General Conference shall frame the question to be voted upon and shall then refer it to the churches. General Conference may instruct that the churches vote by mail to the General Conference office, or that the vote be cast at the next Conference session. In either case, the question as framed is not amendable. Local churches shall determine how their votes are cast and may vote as a block or may split their votes.

Conference 2006 has set a “vote by churches” on the issue of denominational membership in the Baptist Joint Committee for Conference 2007. Churches are entitled to delegates based on this formula: “two delegates for each member church, as a church, and one additional delegate for each ten members of the church or major fraction of ten members.” The Conference will allocate delegates based on the statistics your church submits to General Conference Office, so it is especially important this year to submit accurate numbers. A church which has not submitted membership numbers will be allowed to cast only the minimum number of votes to which a church can be entitled, that is, three.

Your church will be entitled to cast all of the votes to which it is entitled, regardless of the number of delegates attending General Conference next year.

The question to be voted upon cannot be amended or modified in any way, so the only issue before you is how your church’s votes will be cast.

According to the Bylaws, past practice, or the action of Conference in 2006, your church has the following options:

• It may cast a unanimous [“block”] vote either “aye” or “nay” or it may divide its vote.
• It may send its delegates with instructions about how to vote or it may send its delegates uninstructed, allowing them to caucus at Conference to decide how the church’s votes will be cast.
• In the event that your church will not have delegates at General Conference next year, you may [by action of Conference 2006] mail your church’s vote to the General Conference Office or you may authorize, in writing, a delegate from another member church to cast your church’s vote [see Bylaw, Art. IV, par. 1].

The General Conference Office has announced that "The Conference will allocate delegates based on the statistics your church submits to General Conference Office by the end of February 2007...."