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page 12 of 33
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From Call to Settlement |
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by Lloyd M. Hall, Jr.
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The Letter Missive
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This letter is the formal request for the Churches of the Vicinage to meet for the
purposes outlined. It consists of four critical parts: 1) the name of the Church
calling the Council; 2) the time and place of the meeting; 3) the precise business
to be presented to the body with the details of quorum and voting; and 4) a full
list of the Churches who are to compose the Council.23
It would be well for the candidate, the Diaconate, and the pastor of the ordaining
Church (if the candidate is not the pastor) to devise the list of Churches to be
invited as part of the recommended action. The action recommended to the
Church should also include the terms for the Council. Building upon the
traditional wisdom that a Council should consist of no fewer than seven Churches
24, that would be the normal quorum to be required, not counting the
inviting Church which is never a member of the Council. The Letter Missive
should specify either "a majority of the invited Churches" if at least thirteen
Churches have been invited, or "seven Churches" if the invitation list is shorter.
The challenges presented for Churches who are remote from neighboring
Congregational Churches are significant. When feasible, it might be wise to
schedule ordination Councils in conjunction with regular meetings of the local
association when delegates are expected to be present anyway. If even that
possibility would fail to garner a sufficient number of Churches, the use of the
annual meeting time of the National Association of Congregational Christian
Churches might be considered. Electronic communication holds out some
interesting possibilities
for us. Telephone
conferences for this purpose are wholly inadequate. Some form of video
conferencing (now often available through local institutions of higher learning)
is perhaps the best "remote" technology. This should become
increasingly available in the near future - as will other technologies as
bandwidth increases for the public at large.25
It is equally important to be
specific about how the votes are to be cast. While it seems that a vote
for every member of the Council (i.e. one vote for the Pastor and one
vote for each delegate of each Church) has been the prevalent historical
practice, modern Congregational usage has much to commend. The practice of
the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches is for each
member Church to have one vote. That is also a custom practiced in many
regional associations - at least on critical votes. 26
Honorary members of the Council
are individuals who are not representing invited Churches but who bring
special interest or insight to the proceedings. Honorary members should be
formally "seated" at the Council by its own vote after it is
organized. Honorary members will have the right to voice in both the
public and private sessions of the Council but will not have the right to
vote.
The Letter Missive should be sent
in plenty of time for Churches to work the meeting into their schedules.
It is not unusual for a Church to send out a letter to the invitation list
even ahead of the Letter Missive (perhaps two or three months before the
Council meeting) as an indication that the Letter Missive will be coming
"so please hold the date." Longer notice - even if the Letter
Missive will arrive 4 to 6 weeks ahead of time - gives Churches a better
chance to promote and schedule the event. This is both thoughtful and
helpful. |
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23
c f.
Barton William E; The Law
of
Congregational Usage; The Puritan Press: Sublette
IL; 1916; p 262
24
"...the quorum should be a majority or not less than seven..." (Burton;
op. cit.; p 33)
25
Taken from Hall; Especially for Light and Peace, prepared for the
Division for Ministry at the Annual Meeting of the National Association of
Congregational Christian Churches, Cromwell CT, June 28, 1999; footnote p
18
26
ibid.; p 20; "1 think that this custom of every member's voting has
come down to our time..." Dexter; Three Hundred Years; op cit.; p
544. [But compare the Boston Platform: "In voting, it was an
ancient and laudable custom that each church give its vote as a church, and
not that the messengers vote as individuals."]
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National Association of Congregational Christian
Churches
PO Box 288, Oak Creek, WI 53154 |
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Pages: Cover,
Content,
1, 2,
3,
4,
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7,
8,
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10,
11,
12,
13,
14,
15,
16,
17,
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| Page 12 of 33 |
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