Ok, I need some advice.
The pastor of our home church has requested that a new church member (He’s been a member for 6 months) be on the church finance committee. “Bob” is a great guy and has a finance degree and works for a bank. But this weekend I received a copy of the church by-laws and discovered that they require a person be a member for 12 months before being on this committee.
Nobody ever reads the by-laws and it will not be an issue (I don’t think) when the committees are presented on Wednesday night. The church will accept it without question. The Committee on Committees chairman (who was the only other person to receive a copy of the by-laws) however, was concerned enough to bring it up with the pastor who basically said “It’s no big deal. Don’t worry about it.”So the chairman came to me to ask my advice. Should we ask the church to suspend the requirement in this instance (my choice, but against the pastor’s preference) or simply ignore the issue? Basically, is it worth bucking the pastor to adhere to the by-laws when I don't disagree with the pastor's conclusion (that Bob would work well)?
Friends, lurkers and miscreants what say ye????
6 comments:
Well, you have to choose your battles, but I don't think you can look the other way on this one. If they want to do this, they need to suspend the requirement formally and air out the reasons why.
Personally, I'd buck the pastor all the way. Bob needs to be a member for 12 months. There's a reason why that requirement is in the by-laws.
Ignoring the rules is going to be a problem for somebody sometime. Trust me. I spent the better part of today (and the past six months) trying to clean up someone else's mess.
But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong.
I think we should function with as few rules, bylaws, policies, and procedures as possible (if we could get by with none, that would be best). But, if you have rules, follow them.
Either change what you're doing to follow the bylaws, or change the rules. Anything else is asking for trouble.
If it's truly "no big deal", then asking the congregation to formerly endorse the exception should be "no big deal" either.
As a recent vet of a major battle related to those who skirted formalities in a church, and one who did the same, I would HIGHLY recommend that you go by procedure already established. It may be a hassle, it may make the pastor look bad for a time, and it may not be a big issue at all. BUT, it sets a precedent for future skirting of procedures. Procedures may need to be slimmed down a bit, but until they are, stick with them.
Tis my humble opinion.
DD
Discuss the by-laws with the church body and vote for upholding or suspending on a case by case basis is one way to handle it and is I think, ethical. 2nd choice would be to hold out for the 12 month option. Either way, you buck the pastor...who is a fine man but in this case wrong.....in my opinion. MOM
Taran,
Go with mom. She is always right.
DD
Follow the rules or change them...
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