Mt. Carmel Church - Rules of Decorum
[Begin page 1→]
Rules of Decorum7
1st. It shall be the duty of each member to attend punctually each regular conference meeting, when not providentially hindered. Absentees shall report the reason of their absense to the first subsequent conference with which they may meet.
2nd. Male adult members absenting themselves from two consecutive conferences, the reason of their absence not being known to the church. It shall be the duty of the church to take some steps by which they may ascertain the cause of the delinquency.
3rd. It shall be the duty of the pastor of the church to preside as moderator at each conference. In case the pastor is absent the church shall endorse such person as they may deem proper to preside in his place. The conference shall convene as often as once a month.
4th. The moderator shall call the items of conference in the following order.
First. Invite visiting brethren to seats with us.
Second. Open the door for the reception of members.
Third. Call for reasons of absence.
Fourth. Acknowledgements of misconduct.
Fifth. For references.
Sixth. For maters of dealings.
Seventh. General business, reading of the minutes and adjournment
5th. All business shall be introduced by motion and second, and not debatable until announced by the moderator.
6th. Members speaking shall rise to their feet and address the moderator, confine themselves strictly to the subject under discussion, refrain from personal reflection and irritable language toward those from whom they differ. Will not speak more than twice to the same subject, without permission from the church.
[Begin page 2→]
7th. During the deliberation of the body no member will indulge in anything that will tend to disturb the harmony of the proceedings, or retire from the conference without the permission of the moderator.
8th. No member will be allowed to indulge in open communion with other denominations, as this would be a virtual surrender of our views upon the subject of baptism.
9th. It shall be the duty of each member to bear their proportional part of the necessary pecuniary expenditures of the church.
10th. A majority present shall rule in all cases except in maters touching fellowship, when the voice of the church shall be unanimous.
11th. It shall be the duty of the moderator to see that the above rules of decorum are strictly executed.
12th. They shall have a clerk whose duty it shall be to keep a true record of the proceedings of each conference.
Footnote
7 It is not clear whether these rules are for Mt. Carmel Church, Smyrna Church or both. It seems probable that they were originally the Mt. Carmel rules, but that Smyrna possibly adopted them as well.
Bracketed information such as [Begin page 1→] indicates the original page numbers in the Ada Woolverton copy of the Mt. Carmel minutes. The original spelling of the rules of decorum, minutes and membership list are followed.
© August 2006
Rules of Decorum7
1st. It shall be the duty of each member to attend punctually each regular conference meeting, when not providentially hindered. Absentees shall report the reason of their absense to the first subsequent conference with which they may meet.
2nd. Male adult members absenting themselves from two consecutive conferences, the reason of their absence not being known to the church. It shall be the duty of the church to take some steps by which they may ascertain the cause of the delinquency.
3rd. It shall be the duty of the pastor of the church to preside as moderator at each conference. In case the pastor is absent the church shall endorse such person as they may deem proper to preside in his place. The conference shall convene as often as once a month.
4th. The moderator shall call the items of conference in the following order.
First. Invite visiting brethren to seats with us.
Second. Open the door for the reception of members.
Third. Call for reasons of absence.
Fourth. Acknowledgements of misconduct.
Fifth. For references.
Sixth. For maters of dealings.
Seventh. General business, reading of the minutes and adjournment
5th. All business shall be introduced by motion and second, and not debatable until announced by the moderator.
6th. Members speaking shall rise to their feet and address the moderator, confine themselves strictly to the subject under discussion, refrain from personal reflection and irritable language toward those from whom they differ. Will not speak more than twice to the same subject, without permission from the church.
[Begin page 2→]
7th. During the deliberation of the body no member will indulge in anything that will tend to disturb the harmony of the proceedings, or retire from the conference without the permission of the moderator.
8th. No member will be allowed to indulge in open communion with other denominations, as this would be a virtual surrender of our views upon the subject of baptism.
9th. It shall be the duty of each member to bear their proportional part of the necessary pecuniary expenditures of the church.
10th. A majority present shall rule in all cases except in maters touching fellowship, when the voice of the church shall be unanimous.
11th. It shall be the duty of the moderator to see that the above rules of decorum are strictly executed.
12th. They shall have a clerk whose duty it shall be to keep a true record of the proceedings of each conference.
Footnote
7 It is not clear whether these rules are for Mt. Carmel Church, Smyrna Church or both. It seems probable that they were originally the Mt. Carmel rules, but that Smyrna possibly adopted them as well.
Bracketed information such as [Begin page 1→] indicates the original page numbers in the Ada Woolverton copy of the Mt. Carmel minutes. The original spelling of the rules of decorum, minutes and membership list are followed.
© August 2006
posted by R. L. Vaughn at 1:42 AM
2 Comments:
How can I find a copy of your book (2020)? I am searching for more information about John and William Sparkman.
Hi. Sorry, I just now noticed this. If you see this message, please email me at rl_vaughn-AT-yahoo.com (replace -AT- with @).
Post a Comment
<< Home