ABCUSA General Board Considers New Denominational Structure At June Meeting
The ABCUSA General Board, at its June meeting, received for first reading a restructure proposal, coming from the General Executive Council (GEC) and General Board Executive Council (GBEC). Dr. Williams, ABC-MI executive minister, notes the following highlights of the proposal:
The Board of International Ministries (BIM) and the Board of National Ministries (BNM) would no longer be interlocking boards as created by SCOR/SCODS forty years ago. While still inter-related, they would not be interlocking.
The General Board would be eliminated and a Board of General Ministries (BGM) of approximately thirty members would be formed for the purpose of serving as the legal board of the ABCUSA, address ABCUSA identity, fundraising, ecumenical functions, and staffing the proposed mission summit, biennial, and proposed National Leadership Council.
A national leadership development pool would be created to identify present and emerging leaders for denominational service. BIM, BNM, BGM, and MMBB would draw members from this pool. Every ABCUSA entity would be invited and encouraged to submit names to this pool.
Formation of a National Leadership Council (NLC) which would consist of regional executive ministers; BNM, BIM, MMBB executive directors plus three additional persons from each of these three entities; and executive directors of associated ministry organizations including American Baptist Women's Ministries, Ministers' Council, etc. It is essentially the present GEC. Its key task would be to facilitate implementation of ideas coming from the proposed mission table.
Formation of a "mission table" to leverage resources, enhance networking, hear the voice of local churches, and prioritize mission emphases. It would meet biennially. Out of this meeting would come recommendations and challenges to the covenanting partners (BNM, BIM, Regions, MMBB, BGM). This "mission table" would have no authority to implement, legislate, or create policy. The proposed BGM would be responsible for convening and staffing the "mission table."
The Biennial would continue with the addition of a "mission summit" to aid local church, region, and national leaders in understanding emerging trends, receive local church input, focus upon ABC mission, etc. Certain governance tasks such as election of officers and Bylaw revisions would fall to the Biennial delegates.
The proposed structure takes financial realities into account as it is designed to save money. The fact is current United Mission giving cannot sustain the current General Board size and structure.
A move from what has been known as "Policy Statements and Resolutions" to "Public Witness Statements." What is significant is the process in which "Public Witness Statements" are proposed and adopted. "Public Witness Statements" must be proposed by a regional or national board and approved by 3/4 of covenanting regional and national boards (except MMBB). This creates a high threshold for adopting any ABCUSA "public witness statement" with a clear majority of the ABC family in support. Current policy statements and resolutions will remain as official ABCUSA statements and cannot be rescinded without the same process of voting by covenanting regional and national boards.
Dr. Williams, ABC-MI Executive Minister, in reflecting upon the proposed structure, states, "Many ABC-MI constituents will recall our Region Board, during its May, 2005 meeting, adopted a 'Statement of Concern' which was presented by our regionally nominated representative, Rev. Morris Anderson, to the ABCUSA General Board in June, 2005. Our 'Statement of Concern' communicated our concerns and suggestions for moving through what we felt was the emerging denominational malaise. The proposed structure addresses several of our concerns. While the proposed structure does not reflect our recommendation to eliminate the Office of the General Secretary, it does address our concerns related to resolutions and policy statements, finances, and the elimination of inter-locking boards. It is not a perfect proposal, but in my thinking it is a positive step forward for our life together as a denomination. I look forward to discussing this proposal with the ABC-MI Executive Committee and Region Board in the coming weeks. I will also be sharing a report on the proposed restructuring with delegates to our Annual Meeting in October."
In order for the proposed restructuring to be implemented, the ABCUSA General Board will receive a second reading at its meeting, November 14-16, 2008. If they determine to move forward with the proposal, they will vote to submit Bylaw revisions for vote by the 2009 Biennial delegates meeting in Pasadena, CA in June, 2009.
To learn more about the proposed restructuring, please check out the following links:
The Future is Bright
ABCUSA Proposed Bylaws
ABNS News Release--June 26, 2008--General Board Considers New Structure
ABNS News Release--June 29, 2008--Proposed New Structure Reduces Governance Costs
ABNS News Release--June 30, 2008--General Board Responds To New Structure Proposal