6. CONSTITUTIONAL RULES
Article 1 The Formation of an Unorganized Church
When those believing in Jesus Christ and having secured a place of worship within the presbytery boundaries desire to plant a church, they shall submit the following information to the presbytery for approval of the formation of the church:
(1) the location
(2) the date of formation
(3) the number of adult members and the number of families
(4) the number of Sunday school children
(5) the status of the church building
(6) the name of the church
(7) the means of maintaining the church.
Article 2 The Duties of Church Members
1. Church members should attend all the appointed worship services, prayer meetings, and other church meetings.
2. Church members should do their best to better the church through their efforts, cooperation, and godly fellowship, and should glorify God through love and good works.
3. Church members should help with the financial expenses and participate in the activities of the church. They should participate in good works such as charity and evangelism, and should support such activities financially.
4. Church members should endeavor to learn and proclaim biblical precepts and put them into practice according to the Word. They should manifest the spirit of Jesus Christ in their daily lives.
5. Any church officer violating the Lord’s Day, indulging in superstitious activities, drinking, smoking, or gambling, or purposely failing to give their tithe should be relieved of his or her office and regarded as a member failing to fulfill his or her obligations.
6. Church members should defend the truth faithfully, observe all church statutes, and abide by the Constitution of the Church.
Article 3 The Power of Church Members
The sovereignty and power of the church lie in the hands of the church members.
1. Church members have the power to make a request and to appeal through appropriate channels according to the Constitution of the Church.
2. Church members have the right to elect and be elected as prescribed in the statutes of the Church. However, those rights are suspended for anyone who fails to attend worship services for over six months.
3. Church members have the privilege to work for the church, the Body of Christ, each according to his own gifts.
Article 4 Lord’s Day Worship Services
1. The Lord’s Day public worship service should begin with silent prayer, and should be conducted in a godly manner with all solemnity.
2. Church members should not desecrate the public worship service by singing or leading a hymn in an inappropriate and ungodly manner.
3. During the public worship service, no other ceremonies shall be conducted except for the sacraments. All other activities may be conducted with brevity on a day other than the Lord’s Day.
4. During the public worship service, there shall be no ceremonies conducted to commemorate, congratulate, or comfort any particular individual. Instead, the entire worship shall be directed to God alone.
5. On the Lord’s Day, food should not be bought, no monetary transaction should be conducted, and banquets and secular pleasures should be avoided. Instead, time should be spent on evangelism, prayer, visiting, and reading the Scriptures and other devotional books.
Article 5 Sacraments
1. Any member who can clearly confess the faith and diligently attends church services is entitled to take the baptismal questions.
2. Infant baptism may be administered to a child of two years of age or younger, as long as one parent is a believer.
3. When a child who has received infant baptism reaches age 15, he or she is entitled to Confirmation.
4. It is appropriate for a church to administer sacraments twice or more annually. The dates must be publicly announced one week in advance, so that the people may prepare their hearts in prayer.
5. The elements that are left over after the communion service should be either buried in a designated place or burned.
Article 6 Elections and Voting in the Church
1. Voting shall be done by secret ballot and with a prayerful heart by all the communicant members. Elections in the church and in its various agencies shall not be exercised in a worldly manner, where election campaigns are staged, leaflets are circulated bearing the name of a candidate one wishes to elect, people are visited to advise them whom to vote for, and other literature and assemblies are used for campaigning.
2. Those who have been absent from church services for over six months consecutively without justifiable reasons, such as restricted travel due to old age or infirmity, or circumstances beyond their control, shall be deprived of the right to vote or be elected as church officers.
3. In the event of voting that requires multiple names on the ballot, those ballots indicating more than the designated number of names are void, while those indicating the designated number of names (or fewer names) are valid.
4. Void ballots are not counted toward the total vote. Void ballots are unofficial ballots, blank balots, and ballots with ambiguous or incorrect markings.
Article 7 Elders at large
1. An elder at large, having the capability to serve the church, may, by the vote of the session, become a member of the officers’ board.
2. An elder at large may be asked, if necessary, to help distribute the elements in a communion service.
Article 8 Deacons at large
When an ordained deacon permanently moves to another church where he remains without office, the church receiving him may appoint him to the office of acting deacon, and if the congregation elects him as a deacon, he may be installed to the office of deacon without reordination.
Article 9 Kwonchal
1. The church may have, in addition to the members of the officers’ board, kwonchals to visit the members of the church. The pastor or session may appoint from the membership those faithful men and women fit for the kwonchal’s office, and they shall serve a term of one year. Members of the officers’ board may be given the privilege of concurrently serving in the office of kwonchal.
2. The dudes of male and female kwonchals are, upon the session’s determination of districts (each consisting of approximately ten families), to make weekly or monthly house calls on all the members of the assigned district. Also, they are to visit with unbelievers within their district with a view to evangelizing them, to conduct district-wide prayer meetings, and to report on the activities of their district at regularly scheduled kwonchal meetings.
Article 10 Marriage and Funeral Services
1. Marriage and funeral services shall not be extravagant ceremonies, but rather shall be solemn and simple, whereby expenses shall be saved.
2. Bowing before the body, picture, or tomb of the deceased is prohibited.
3. No widow or widower may remarry until six months have elapsed after the death of his or her spouse.
Article 11 Laying Hands on the Sick
In accord with the Constitution of the Church, only an ordained minister shall lay hands on the sick.
Article 12 Records to Preserve
Every congregation should preserve the following records:
1. Various rolls of church members.
2. Records of the proceedings of session meetings.
3. Records of the proceedings of congregational meetings.
4. Records of trials.
5. Records of the proceedings of officers’ meetings and the meetings of agencies.
6. Church archives.
7. A list of church property.
8. Records of church effects and equipment.
9. Records of various church statistics.
10. A file of all reports and reference materials.