Incorporated and chartered according to the laws of the State of Texas.

 

 

 

We declare and establish this constitution for the preservation and security of the principles of our faith and so that this body may be governed in an orderly manner. This constitution will preserve the liberties of each individual member of this church and the freedom of action of this body in its relation to other churches of the same faith. We declare our purpose and objectives to be the perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry, the edifying of the body of Christ, and the evangelizing of our community and the world. To accomplish these ends, we declare our adherence to the Bible as God’s Word and to the application of its teachings in our daily life.

 

 

 

            This organization shall be known as the First Baptist Church of Kingsville, Texas.

 

 

 

            The Holy Bible is the inspired Word of God and is the basis for any statement of faith. The church subscribes to the doctrinal statement of The New Hampshire Confession, 1833, and of the Baptist Faith and Message as adopted by the Southern Baptist Convention in 1963. We band ourselves together as a body of baptized believers in Jesus Christ personally committed to sharing the good news of salvation in Christ alone to a lost world.

 

 

 

            Section 1 - Policy: Its government is vested in the body of believers who compose it, each member having equal rights, with the majority bearing rule. It is subject to the control of no ecclesiastical body, but it recognizes and sustains the obligations of mutual counsel and cooperation with other churches of the Southern Baptist Convention.

 

            Section 2 - Doctrine: It receives the Holy Scriptures as its authority in faith and practice and accepts the Baptist Faith and Message (1963) as its statement of beliefs.

 

            Section 3-Character: The Corporation shall use it assets in performing the religious and charitable functions of the Corporation.

 

            Upon the dissolution of cessation of business of the corporation, after paying or making provision for the payment of the liabilities of the Corporation, the assets of the Corporation not held upon a requiring return shall be transferred to an educational, religious, charitable, or other similar organization that is qualified as a charitable organization under Section 501 (c) (3), Internal Revenue Code of 1954, as amended.

 

 

            Section 1- Qualification: The membership of this church shall consist of persons who have made a public profession of faith in Christ as Savior and Lord and who have experienced New Testament baptism by immersion, as recorded in Acts, chapter 8, and who are in sympathy with the faith and practices of this church.

 

            Section 2 - Admission: Membership in this church may be attained after counsel with the leadership of the church as follows: by New Testament baptism after profession of faith; by letter from another Baptist church of like faith and order; by statement of experience indicating New Testament baptism after profession of faith; by restoration.

 

            Section 3 - Process of Admission: Any person may be presented for membership at any regularly scheduled service and be added to the membership after

a. Presentation - A candidate for membership will be presented to the body.

b. Counsel- Candidates will be counseled by the pastor or appointed leaders to ascertain their knowledge of salvation, their spiritual gifts and needs and to help members fulfill their calling from the Lord Jesus Christ.

                        c. Vote - The vote shall be after presentation and counseling.

 

            Section 4 - Termination of Membership:

 

            Membership may be terminated in the following ways:

                        a. Death

b. Letter granted to another church of like faith and order upon request

c. Exclusion by action of the church. All measures shall be taken to resolve any offense in accord with Matthew 18:15-20. If it should become necessary for the church to take action to exclude a member, a called meeting of the church should be posted two weeks in advance and a three-fourths majority vote of those members present is required to withdraw membership. All proceedings should be done in the spirit of Christian kindness and forbearance. The church may restore membership of any person previously excluded, upon the request of the excluded person and by a three-fourths majority vote of those members present, upon evidence of repentance.

                         d. Erasure upon request by the individual member; or

                         e. Proof of membership in another church.

 

 

 

            The Constitution and/or its By-Laws may be amended by the members of this body at a worship service, providing the proposed amendment has been submitted in writing at the preceding regular business meeting or in writing at a worship servicenot less than one month previous. A constitution amendment requires a two-thirds vote. A by-laws amendment requires a majority vote.

 

 

 

Nothing preventing, the meetings of or in this church shall be as follows:

 

            Section 1 - Worship: The body shall meet for worship each Lord’s Day and at times appropriate in accordance with Hebrews 10:25.

 

            Section 2 - Prayer Services: The body shall meet during the week for times of prayer and fellowship.

 

            Section 3 - Business Meetings:

 

                        a. Regular: Regular business meetings shall be conducted quarterly with the January meeting constituting the Annual Meeting.

 

                        b. Special: Special business meetings may be called by the moderator, chairman of deacons or by the request to the church clerk of five percent of the resident membership of the church. A notice of such called meetings, stating the purpose of the meeting, must be given at a regularly scheduled meeting of the church at least seven days prior to the called meeting. No items shall be considered at the special business meeting except those specifically covered in the public notice of said special meeting.

 

                        c. Emergency: Emergency business meetings may be called by the moderator at any regularly scheduled meeting of the church for the purpose of transactingemergency business. The matter of emergency shall bedetermined by the pastor and deacons.

            Section 4 - Other Meetings: All meetings of the church or in the church facilities shall be related to the purposes and objectives of the church stated in the preamble and statement of faith and shall be coordinated by the pastor, staff and church leadership.

 

            Section 5 Weddings: All weddings shall be scheduled through the church office and according to the wedding policies.

 

 

 

            The ordinances of this church shall be baptism and the Lord’s Supper, as enjoined by Christ for perpetual observation as sacred and meaningful symbols of the new covenant in our Lord Jesus Christ. Any suggestion of their sacramental efficacy is rejected.

 

            Section 1 - Baptism: Baptism shall be by immersion only, and shall be administered by the pastor or by another believer approved by the church.

 

            Section 2 - The Lord’s Supper: The Lord’s Supper shall be observed at least once every three months and shall be administered by the pastor or by another member approved by the church.

 

 

All church officers must be members of the church. The officers of this church shall be as follows:

 

            a. Pastor:

            The pastor is responsible for leading the church in functioning as a New Testament church according to Ephesians 4:11-13. The pastor will lead the congregation, the organizations, and the church staff in performing their tasks. The pastor is the leader of worship, proclamation, education and pastoral ministries. 

            A pastor shall be chosen and called by the church whenever a vacancy occurs. His election shall take place at a meeting called for that purpose. The membership shall be advised of the meeting by written notice one week in advance. A pastor search committee, consisting of seven members, shall be elected by the church to seek out a suitable pastor according to I Timothy 3:1-7, and its recommendation will constitute a nomination. Any member has the privilege of making recommendations to the committee. The committee shall bring to the consideration of the church only one man at a time. Election shall be by secret ballot, an affirmative vote of three-fourths of those present being necessary for a choice. The pastor, thus elected, shall serve until the relationship is terminated by his request, or by the church’s request. Termination by the church’s request must take place at a specially called meeting, after written notice is given to the church membership at least twoweeks prior to the meeting, and by three-fourths vote of the members present. 

            The pastor shall preside at meetings of the church. 

            The pastor shall give at least two weeks notice at the time of resignation before terminating his responsibilities as pastor.

 

            b. Church Staff:

            The church shall call or employ such ministerial staff members as the church shall need. A job description shall be written when the need for staff members is determined. Ministerial staff members, other than the pastor, shall be recommended to the church by the Personnel Committee. The church may add persons from specific areas of ministry to serve with the Personnel Committee as a search committee for staff members. Other part- time or full-time employees shall be employed by the pastor and Personnel Committee according to the church approved budget. (See Personnel Policies in Handbook of Policies and Procedures) The Personnel Committee shall be responsible for making recommendations to the church for the termination of ministerial staff and be responsible for the termination of service for other employees.

 

            c. Deacons

            In accordance with the meaning of the work and practice of the New Testament, deacons are to be servants of the church. The task of the deacons is to assist the pastor and staff in performing pastoral ministries, specifically

 

                        (1) prayer for the body and preservation of unity,

                        (2) outreach through visitation and witnessing;

                        (3) ministering in times of crisis and illness;

                        (4) performing acts of benevolence;

                        (5) serving the Lord’s Supper;

                        (6) counseling and discipling;

                        (7) watchcare over the families of the body, including the pastor and staff

                        (8) participation in the preaching ministry, as gifted;

                        (9) setting a personal example of Christian living in accordance

                        with the teachings of Acts 6:1-6; I Timothy 3:8-13; Romans 14:13-23.

 

            The selection process for new deacons is as follows:

 

                        (1) The deacon body and church shall continually watch for those in the body who conform to the scriptural standard of 1 Timothy 3:8-13.

 

                        (2) When such a need for servants arises, the church shall submit nominations for those they desire to serve as deacons.

 

                        (3) A Deacon Nomination Committee, consisting of the pastor, deacon chairman and four members of the church body, will review the nominations from the church body as to willingness and scriptural ability to serve.

 

                        (4) The Deacon Nomination Committee shall recommend to the church those candidates which God has shown to be servants. These, if approved by the church at the next regular business meeting to be “of honest report, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom,” shall be ordained.

 

                        (5) Ordained Baptist deacons who join First Baptist Church may be asked to serve as deacon candidates for one year. At the end of such time, the church shall vote to approve their service at First Baptist as active deacons.

 

The deacons are to seek the harmony of the entire body of the church. The deacons shall elect a chairman annually, and no chairman shall serve longer than two years in succession.

 

            d. Moderator

            The moderator shall be the pastor or appointed by the pastor. In the absence of the pastor, the chairman of deacons shall preside; or, in the absence of both, the churchclerk shall call the meeting to order and an acting moderator shall be elected.

 

 

            e. Church Clerk

            The church shall elect annually a church clerk. The church clerk shall keep in a suitable form a record of all the actions of the church, except as otherwise herein provided. The clerk is responsible for keeping a register of the names of members, with dates of admission, dismission, or death, together with a record of baptisms. The clerk shall issue letters of dismission voted by the church, preserve on file all communications and written official reports, and give legal notice of all meetings where such notice is necessary, as indicated by this Constitution and Bylaws. The church may delegate some of the responsibilities to a church secretary as deemed necessary. All church records are church property and shall be kept on file. An assistant clerk may be elected to assist the clerk as necessary.

 

            f. Treasurer and Assistant Treasurer

            The church shall elect annually a church treasurer. An assistant treasurer may be elected as needed by the church. It shall be the duty of the treasurer to receive, preserve, and pay out, upon receipt of forms approved and signed by authorized personnel, all money or things of value paid or given to the church, keeping at all times an itemized account of all receipts and disbursements. It shall be the duty of the treasurer to render to the church at each regular business meeting an itemized report of the receipts and disbursements for the preceding period. The day to day duties of the treasurer may be delegated to the financial secretary. The Finance-Stewardship Committee shall review the Financial Report monthly, with the December report approved by the church at the annual meeting and entered into the permanent records of the church.

            The Trustees, as called for in the First Baptist Church Charter, shall be nine in number. Each year the Committee on Committees shall review the list of those serving to determine if changes should be made. Any new Trustees shall be elected by the church. The Trustees represent the church in all legal matters.

 

ARTICLE IV- Ministry Leadership Team, Ministry Teams, and Committees

 

            The First Baptist Church shall select members to serve on various committees in order to facilitate the purposes and ministries of the church. A Committee on Committees will be selected to recommend to the body those members who will serve on the committees of the church.

 

The Ministry Leadership Team will consist of the Pastor, Ministerial Staff, Ministry Team Leaders, Committee Chairpersons, and Chairman of Deacons. The team will serve in an advisory capacity to the Pastor and Staff and provide for coordination and communication for the church’s ministries in fulfilling the church’s mission. The Ministry Leadership Team will also nominate persons to serve on the Committee on Committees, subject to approval of the church body.

 

Ministry Teams will be organized to meet ministry needs of the church and community and involve church members in ministry. Ministry Team leaders shall be church members who are recommended by the Ministries Development Committee annually for approval. Ministry team leaders will be responsible for the enlistment of team members and organizing the team to accomplish its objectives. Ministry teams will be accountable to the church body and bring recommendations and reports to the body when deemed helpful, or upon request of the church body.

 

            Committees will be elected by the church body to provide administrative support for church ministries. The Committee on Committees will recommend committee members to the church body for approval unless otherwise stipulated. Committee members will serve three-year terms on a rotational basis. Committee members who have served a three-year term may not be nominated to succeed themselves on the same committee until the expiration of one year. Any committee member elected to fill any vacancy shall serve the unexpired term of the position vacated. The Pastor, or his representative from the church staff or the deacon fellowship, shall be an ex-officio, non-voting member of all church committees.

 

 

The following committees shall be elected:

 

                        (1) Committee on Committees

                        (2)  Missions Committee

                        (3) Ministries Development Committee

                        (4) Personnel Committee

                        (5) Property Committee

                        (6)  Stewardship-Finance Committee

      (7) Senior Adult Committee

(8) Other committees, councils and ministry teams as needed

                                    (See Committees in Handbook of Policies and Procedures)

 

 

1. Should any unhappy differences arise among members, the aggrieved member(s) shall follow, in a tender spirit, the rules given by our Lord in Matthew 18:15-20.

            2. Should any case of gross breach of covenant or public scandal occur, the deacons shall endeavor to remove the offense and, if this effort fails, shall report the case to the church.

            3. All such proceedings shall be conducted in a spirit of Christian kindness and forbearance. The primary purpose of all discipline is repentance, restoration and the health and unity of the body.