National Charter Committee Report of December 2014

Background

• The Interim National Council met twice in 2013. At the October 2013 meeting at East Garden, the Council plus several Church leaders, including Second Generation, produced the final draft of the National Charter, which has three chapters: Local, District and National. These are official documents granting certain privileges and rights to the Church body.
• At that time HSA-UWC USA President Dr. Michael Balcomb stated: “I would like to emphasize that this Charter is a living document that will need correction and improvement going forward. Since the Church membership is faced with implementing a new system immediately, my plan is to proceed with the Charter as it is and present it to the Board of Directors at our upcoming meeting. The new National Council will convene next spring and will see what further changes need to be made.”

 

National Charter Committee established in 2014

• At the permanent National Council meeting in Las Vegas from April 25 to 27, 2014, committee chairs were selected.
• For the National Charter Committee, Richard Sapp was selected as chairman, along with committee members Noah Ross, Steven Jares and Alain Tamelessio.
• The Charter Committee met in a breakout session to consider issues and make a plan. A report was made back to the National Council that addressed the following issues:

1. Youth Council to advise National Council.
2. Proportional representation on District Council.
3. Need membership standards (age, tithe, etc.).
4. Clarification of role of district leader.
5. Role of pastor vs. Council (who’s in charge).
6. Local churches should tithe to HQ through the district, not directly.
7. Clarify amendment process at local / national level.
8. Clarify hiring / firing of staff.
9. Clarify and emphasize the role of the Youth Ministry.
10. Define a “member in good standing.”
11. Education process to present the Charter to the membership.

• A priority of the Charter Committee going forward was to develop an educational process to present the Charter to the membership.
• Each district representative gave a status report on their district, focusing on Local Council development.
• The charge given to all committees was to meet soon via conference calls to develop action plans, time lines and reports, with final reports of committee activities to be made available for the full National Council meeting in October 2014. (Upshur House in Washington, D.C., was later decided on as the meeting place.)
• The action plan developed for the Charter Committee addressed the following points:

1. Combine the eleven issues assigned to the Charter Committee at the national meeting in April 2014 into a simple survey of questions to be put to the general membership for their feedback.
2. Develop an overall educational program for the month of June to reach out to membership through webinars, surveys and postings on familyfed.org. The focus is on creating familiarization with the Charter and consideration of necessary amendments to the document.
3. Reach out to invite more representatives to work on this committee, from the Second Generation, those on local councils, etc., who in particular can assist with technical support.
4. Communicate with other assigned National Council committees for feedback on best practices and organizational strategies.
5. Take advantage of upcoming conference calls between district pastors and National Council representatives and the conference calls with the National Council committee to share ideas for development of committee assignments.
6. Focus on the need for a consensus on how best to get the Charter accepted (short of ratification by the membership) which will lead to enforcement in the future.

 

Committee Activities during Summer 2014

• From May through December a series of monthly conference calls with the Charter Committee and committee chairs were conducted.
• The major developments accomplished were:

1. In May, the Charter was approved by the HSA-UWC Executive Committee.
2. In June, the Charter was posted on the Family Federation website link with an introductory letter by Dr. Balcomb explaining the National Charter and the work of the National Council.
3. Two webinars were conducted to present the content of the Charter and to receive feedback from the membership.
4. The Charter was distributed to local council chairs and district leaders.

 

Semi-Annual National Council Meeting in Washington, D.C., October 2014

• The final report of the committee did not include any possible Charter amendments. However, discussions had taken place with three cities considering amendments.
• Feedback from the field indicates that the adoption of charters by local councils has opened the way for greater community participation and good governance, which will lay the foundation for Church growth.