The Association of North American Chinese Evangelical Free Churches

is an affiliate of the Evangelical Free Church of America and the Evangelical Free Church of Canada

 

 

 

The Association of

North American Chinese Evangelical Free Churches

Constitution

 Article I Name

The name of the society shall be The Association of North American Chinese Evangelical Free Churches, hereafter called the Association.

Article II Purpose

 The primary purpose of the Association shall be to glorify God by promoting fellowship among existing Chinese Evangelical Free Churches in North America, unifying and mobilizing them for effective evangelism of the unsaved and for mutual edification of believers.

 Article III Confession of Faith

 (Same as the 12 Articles of Faith of the EFCA)

Article IV Annual Meeting

 The Association shall hold its Annual Meeting, at such a time and place as decided by the Annual Meeting or the Directors as authorized by the Annual Meeting, for the purpose of holding election, conducting the general business of the organization, and to take such other actions as may be necessary or appropriate for the realizing of its objectives.

Article V Amendments

 A.   Amendments to these Articles may be introduced at an Annual Meeting, and must be distributed to member churches at least ninety days prior to such meeting, but cannot be acted upon until the next Annual Meeting, and for adoption, must receive the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the membership present and voting.

 B.         Article III cannot be amended.

 BY-LAWS

 Section I Membership

 A.                 Members of the Association shall be Chinese Evangelical Free Churches who subscribe to the confession of faith of the Constitution and are located in the United States or in Canada.

B.                 Local churches may apply for membership in writing to the Board of Directors who in turn shall recommend action to the Annual Meeting.

C.                Termination of membership in the Association may be carried out by resolution of a two-third vote of those present and entitled to vote at an Annual Meeting. Notice of intention to consider termination of membership must be mailed to all member churches at least thirty days in advance of such a meeting.

 Section II Annual Meeting

 A)    The Annual Meeting, or any special meeting duly called by the Board of Directors, is the legislative body of the Association, having the power for decision making in all matters relating to its work.

B)    Membership of the Annual Meeting shall be as follows

1)     Duly credentialed delegates from member churches. Each church shall be entitled to two for the first fifty members, and an additional delegate for each additional fifty members above a hundred or fraction thereof, with a maximum of five delegates for each church

2)     In addition to the delegates from member churches, the following shall be entitled to one vote for each person:

a)     Pastors and full-time Christian workers of member churches

b)     Duly elected members of the Board of Directors.

c)      Ministers or missionaries who are members in good standing of the Evangelical Free Church Ministerial Association and are involved in ministries to the Chinese.

d)     Any administrators of the Evangelical Free Church of America and the Evangelical Free Church of Canada in attendance at the Annual Meeting shall be "ex-officio" members of the Annual Meeting.

Section III Board of Directors

 A)    The Board of Directors shall consist of the seven officers elected by the Annual meeting for a term of two years.

B)    The Board of Directors shall meet as often as needed in order to:

1)     Perform general management of the Association;

2)     Act on behalf of the Annual Meeting in matters requiring decision and action between Annual Meetings.

3)     Recommend the agenda to the Annual Meeting.

4)     Appoint members to sub-committees in order to carry out the objectives of the Association.

C)    Nomination and election of the Board of Directors:

1)     Nomination of candidates to take up positions on the Board of Directors may be done in writing, mailed or delivered, prior to the Annual Meeting, or by voice from official delegates at the Annual Meeting.

2)     Such nomination letters thus received must then be accepted at the Annual Meeting by the delegates present.

3)     A motion to close nomination will be made before the voting is proceeded. With the consent of the delegates present, voting can be by secret ballots or by the show of hands. The highest seven majority candidates (greater than fifty percent of votes cast) will form the next Board of Directors.

4)     If an insufficient number of candidates were elected in the first voting, subsequent voting(s) would take place under the same criteria until all seven members were elected to form the Board of Directors.

5)     The official delegates, including the newly elected Board, will proceed to elect the Chairman of the Board of Directors from among the newly chosen Board members, voting by secret ballot. The highest majority candidate (greater than fifty percent of votes cast) will be the new Chairman of the Board of Directors.

6)     Further restrictions:

a)     Only nomination letters from church boards of member churches of ANACEFC are to be accepted for consideration at the Annual Meeting.

b)     Each local church board may submit not more than two nominations.

c)      The nominee must be a member of the local church and the nominee must agree to stand for the nomination.

Section IV Officers

 The Board of Directors and the Chairman will assume office at the adjournment of the Annual Meeting at which they are elected. They will elect among themselves a person to assume the duties as acting-chairman if the Chairman is unable to carry out his duties.

A)    Chairman: The duties of the Chairman are as follows:

1)     He shall preside at all general and Board Meetings of the Association.

2)     He shall be responsible to prepare the agenda for the Board of Directors' Meetings, and recommend to the Board of Directors an agenda for the Annual Meeting.

3)     He shall promote, co-ordinate and oversee directions and projects of the Association.

B)    Secretary: The duties of the Secretary are as follows:

1)     He shall record the minutes of the Annual Meetings and of the Board of Directors' meetings.

2)     He shall be responsible for the publication and distribution of the minutes, and together with the Chairman, announce the time and place of the Annual Meeting and the Board of Directors' meeting and provide in advance agendas for the meetings.

3)     He shall be responsible for keeping basic statistics of member churches and publishing updated membership directories.

C)    Treasurer: The duties of the Treasurer are as follows:

1)     He shall receive and receipt all funds of the Association and deposit same in a bank approved by the Board of Directors.

2)     He shall disburse funds in accordance with decisions made by the Annual Meeting and the Board of Directors.

3)     He shall keep and render proper accounts of all incomes and disbursements and report to the Annual Meeting and the Board of Directors.

4)     He shall be a signing officer of the Association.

D)    Ministry Coordinator for U.S.A. / Ministry, Co-Coordinator for Canada: The duties of the two Ministry Coordinators for each of their respective countries are as follows:

1)     He shall keep in close touch with the Chairman to keep himself abreast of the ministry needs and available resources of member churches and develop a system to pass on such gathered information effectively so that member churches can utilize the helps available within our Association

2)     He shall, in conjunction with the Chairman, organize and promote workshops, training sessions and other means of helping our churches enhance their ministries, especially tailored to the needs of our member churches and their constituents.

E)    Church Planting Coordinator for U.S.A / Church Planting Coordinator for Canada: The duties of the two Church Planting Coordinators for each of their respective countries are as follows:

1)     He shall serve as the central clearing house for all information pertaining to church planting and keep the Chairman well informed on all possible new opportunities and developments pertaining to any planting of new churches.

2)     He shall help the Chairman to liaise with EFCA/EFCC headquarters, districts, steering committees of new churches, mother churches, and all other entities that has a part or a potential part in the planting of any new church.

3)     He shall plan with the Chairman all surveys of new possible sites of church planting and organize and administer all such surveys when deemed necessary, including recruiting personnel and keeping close touch with the survey team or person.

4)     He shall keep in touch with all new works and alert the Chairman to any important developments which may require the Chairman himself or another person to be appointed by them to represent the Association to travel to the new work site.

F)     The Board of Directors may at its discretion change the positions of the Board Officers as described in the preceding paragraphs D) and E) in order to fulfill the ministry needs of the Association.

 Section IVA – Executive Director/Associate Executive Director

 He shall provide the spiritual and administrative leadership in accomplishing the goals and visions of the ANACEFC and shall be accountable to the Board of Directors (BOD), carrying out its decisions and reporting to the same. His basic functions and responsibilities include but not limited to the following:-

1.      Working in conjunction with the BOD in vision casting for the Chinese Evangelical Free Church Movement, ensuring relevancy of the Movement, and in casting the identity of the Association as an entity of the Evangelical Free Church Movement.

2.      To provide assistance to churches in need when invited and where and when appropriate.

3.      To provide consultation and spiritual support to the pastoral staff and to the church board of constituent churches as well as to minister to local congregations when invited and where and when appropriate.

4.      To promote the visions and purposes of the Association through effective leadership in facilitating communication, mutual edification, and sharing of expertise, experiences, and resources among member churches.

5.      To facilitate, promote, and assist in church planting, and church planting initiatives.

6.      To facilitate and promote overseas mission projects in cooperation with EFCCM and EFCAIM.

7.      To provide consultation to member churches in matters of church leadership and administration.

8.      To oversee the planning of the Annual Conference. 

9.      To receive counsel and direction of the BOD in doing the ministries of the Association and to enhance the ministry of the members of the BOD.

10. To track current trends in the culture we are in and issue timely reminders or warnings when appropriate and to also track any new direction of our member churches which may serve as a model for others.

11. To represent the Association and to develop a closer relation between the association in its relationship with member churches.

 Section V Rules of Order

 The procedures of the Annual Meeting and the Board of Directors' meetings shall be governed by and conducted according to recognized parliamentary rules of order.

 Section VI Amendments

 Amendments to the By-laws may be adopted by the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the membership present and voting at an Annual Meeting.

[Adopted by the member churches, on February 2, 1986 with By-laws amended on October 22, 1989 and October 17, 1998. Section IV, Item F was added by amendment by the 2003 Annual Conference, September 30th, 2003.]