CONSTITUTION AND BYLAWS
This Constitution, Covenant, and Articles of Faith, being properly voted upon in a regular business meeting by all members present as indicated by their signature, is hereby adopted on this 11th day of November 2015. The Articles of Faith adopted by the church in the above-mentioned meeting are the Articles of Faith as adopted by the Southern Baptist Convention as printed in the pamphlet “The Baptist Faith and Message.”
ARTICLE I
This church shall be called the Lewisburg Baptist Church of Lewisburg, Ohio.
ARTICLE II
MEMBERSHIP: This church shall be composed of individuals who have given satisfactory evidence of repentance toward God and faith in Jesus Christ for salvation and have expressed a desire to unite with this body by one of the following ways:
1. By Baptism: Baptism at the Lewisburg Baptist Church, as set forth in the Articles of Faith.
2. By Letter: Letter of recommendation from another church of like faith and practice of the Lewisburg Baptist Church. No letter shall be honored, neither the person accepted into fellowship, if the person has not been baptized as stated in the Baptist Faith and Message (Page 14). The Letter of recommendation should represent a church of the like faith and practices of the Lewisburg Baptist Church.
3. By Statement: If impossible or impracticable to secure a Letter of Recommendation from the potential member’s former church, a Statement of Faith may be considered for membership. A Statement of Faith is defined as the follwoing: that he or she has been saved by Jesus Christ and has been scriptureally baptized as stated in the Baptist Faith and Message, (Page 14). See Mathew 28:18-19, Mark 16:16, and Romans 6: 3-6
4. By Restoration: Excluded members may be restored to full fellowship on confession of their errors and giving evidence of their repentance. The church shall not receive members from other like faith churches unless Lewisburg Baptist Church believes the exclusion to be unjustified.
ARTICLE III
OFFICERS OF THE CHURCH: This church shall have the following officers:
1. PASTOR: He shall be a natural born male, generally recognized, ordained Baptist Minister of good standing who believes in the faith of The New Testament as set forth in the Articles of Faith adopted by this Baptist Church. He shall also be the ex-officio member of all departments of church business. This church shall call such a minister when convinced of the Holy Spirit’s leadership in that call. His call shall be for an indefinite length of time and may be terminated at any time by either the church or the pastor by giving at least thirty (30) days' notice of that action. The call or termination shall be by three-fourths (3/4) majority vote of members present. The meeting to vote to call or to terminate a pastor must be announced at three (3) meetings, with one of them being a Sunday service, prior to voting.
2. CLERK: The clerk shall be a member of the church, in good standing, and full fellowship. He or she shall be elected annually, by a majority vote of members present, at a regular business meeting. The duties of the clerk will be to keep an accurate record of all business transacted by the church at all times and to keep an accurate and up-to-date roll of the membership of the church.
3. TREASURER: The treasurer shall be a member of this church, in good standing, and full fellowship. He shall be elected annually, at the same time and manner as the clerk. He shall receive and dispense all money belonging to the church and committed to his trust, according to the orders of the church in regular business session. He shall keep accurate records of all receipts and expenditures and must make monthly reports at regularly scheduled business meetings. The reports can be given by the treasurer or members of the finance committee. The records shall be audited quarterly by the finance committee and annually by the Deacons.
4. DEACONS: The Deacons shall be men who are members of this church, in good standing, and full fellowship with the church Doctrines and Practices, and shall be men who meet qualifications as set forth in The New Testament. Nominated by the Pastor and voted in by the church, they shall remain Deacons as long as they meet the qualifications herein set forth. The Deacon, thus elected, shall be ordained by the church except when already ordained by a Baptist Church of like Faith and Practice. Acts 6:1-6, 1 Timothy 3:8-13.
5. TRUSTEES: The trustees, at least three (3) men, shall serve as Process Agents for the church in all matters relating to civil laws of the land. They shall be responsible for overseeing the property of the church and any other duties the church may assign to them. The trustees will be voted on annually and will rotate as chairperson of the group.
ARTICLE IV
GOVERNMENT OF THE CHURCH: This church shall forever be a self-governing body, with Christ as its head, and no person or persons shall ever have any authority over its actions. The will of Christ shall be supreme, and the New Testament shall be the only law of the church. Christ shall be the supreme ruler and His Word its law. All members shall have equal rights to express their desire, by vote, without fear of intimidation or coercion.
ARTIICLE V
BUSINESS MEETINGS: The church shall have regular business meetings, to be held monthly if not otherwise voted by the church in regular session. The pastor shall act as moderator of all business meetings, if present to do so, and ex-officio member of all departments of church business. Otherwise, the church may elect someone to act as moderator. All dates and times of business meetings shall be announced at three (3) regular services prior to the business meetings. At all regular business meetings, the members present shall transact business provided it is well-known by the members that such a date and time is the regular business meeting of the church. Special business meetings that affect the fellowship of the church shall not be held until such a meeting and its purpose has been announced in three (3) regular services of the church. Seven (7) members shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of such business. The church hereby adopts “Roberts Rules of Order” as our guide in the transaction of business. Motion and second to be made by male members only.
ARTICLE VI
REPRESENTATION IN ASSOCIATION: This church shall be associated with another Southern Baptist Churches in Ohio and the Southern Baptist Convention and shall support the agencies of the Convention through the Cooperative Program. The literature used in Sunday School, Discipleship Training, Brotherhood, etc., shall be literature published or endorsed by the Southern Baptist Convention. We do hereby declare that if, at any time, the Association or Convention with which we are associated may have departed from the faith, as given in our Articles of Faith, we shall immediately, by three-fourths (3/4) majority vote of the church, sever the relationship with that Organization.
ARTICLE VII
PULPIT COMMITTEE: At any time this church shall be without a pastor, a pulpit committee shall be formed. Said committee shall consist of three (3) or more members of this church for the purpose of inviting a minister to preach, whose qualifications are outlined in Article III. This minister, in the opinion of the committee, is someone the church would like to consider. It shall be the privilege of the pastor, at the time of his resignation, to name such a committee. Such a committee will be automatically terminated upon the acceptance of the called pastor by the church. It is hereby agreed that no member of this church shall invite any minister to preach, lecture, or make a public discourse at any time, believing that this is the pastor’s prerogative; and if, at any time, the church is without a pastor, this function will then become the responsibility of the pulpit committee.
ARTICLE VIII
MISSIONS: This church, with full cognizance of the Great Command of Christ to “Go ye unto all the world and preach the gospel” , recognizes its duty in supporting missions. At any regular or special business meeting the church may, upon three-fourths (3/4) majority vote, elect to support a mission or missions of like faith and practice. In accordance with the will of Christ we approve, at the pastor’s discretion and until such time as his actions are deemed injurious or obstructive to the furtherance of this church, to conduct revivals and work in mission work wherever it seems to him to be the will of God.
ARTICLE IX
AMENDMENTS OR CHANGES TO THIS CONSTITUTION: This constitution, as adopted by the Lewisburg Baptist Church, of Lewisburg, Ohio, in special business session on July 31, 1955, cannot be changed, amended or caused to be set aside, for any purpose except in the following prescribed manner: That such proposed change or amendment be written in its proposed form by the church clerk or his or her designate, and that said proposal be in the custody of the attending membership for ten (10) full days prior to a special business meeting, consisting only of members of the Lewisburg Baptist Church of Lewisburg, Ohio. This meeting will be called by the pastor, by all the deacons, or by the church clerk. This body in special session then, by three-fourths (3/4) majority vote of the members present, adopt or reject the proposed change or Amendment.
ARTICLE X
STATEMENT OF MARRIAGE, GENDER, AND SEXUALITY: We believe that God wonderfully and immutably creates each person as male or female. These two distinct, complementary genders together reflect the image and nature of God. (Genesis 1:26-27) Rejection of one’s biological sex is a rejection of the image of God within that person. We believe that the term “marriage” has only one meaning: the uniting of one natural born man and one natural born woman in a single, exclusive union, as delineated in Scripture. (Genesis 2:18-25) We believe that God intends sexual intimacy to occur only between a man and a woman who are married to each other. (1 Corinthians 6:18; 7:2-5; Hebrews 13:4) We believe that God has commanded that no intimate sexual activity be engaged in outside of a marriage between one man and one woman. We believe that any form of sexual immorality (including adultery, fornication, homosexual behavior, bisexual conduct, bestiality, lesbianism, incest, and use of pornography) is sinful and offensive to God. That we have the right to refuse the use of our facility to any persons that do not hold to these values. (Matthew 15:18-20; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10)
ARTICLE XI
ON ARTICLE IV: We hereby declare that Article IV shall never be changed to change the meaning therein conveyed.
ARTICLE XII
Where the words He, She, Man or Woman is mentioned in this document, definition is covered in
Article X and by SBC standards.