Why A Refreshed Constitution & By-Laws Matter

Oftentimes, churches only care about their Constitution & By-Laws when its time to "shoot something down". Don't like a new idea someone is proposing? Point to the rules and say, "Our By-Laws don't allow that".

In other instances, church leadership enjoys controlling every aspect of the people's lives in the church. They like it "their way or the highway". So they create an overbearing and really specific Constitution & By-Laws that are frustratingly inflexible.

Neither of these approaches are that helpful nor are they relational, especially in church revitalization efforts. Like a child who needs more flexibility than an adult in order for their body to develop and grow, a church seeking new life needs to be able to make room for new ministries, spiritual gifts, and ideas. An overlooked Constitution and long & rigid list of By-Laws snuffs out revitalization.

New Beginnings Baptist Church is inviting God to work in a new way through us. We believe that only God is capable of bringing about the type of transformation that the prophet Isaiah describes to the nation of Israel. He relayed God's Words to them in chapter 43:19, "For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland."

That's the description of a God who is willing and capable of redesign. What once was a desert could be riverbed bringing new life to a region. What once was unexplored wilderness can be charted and marked out. That's a God who combines a consistency of character with boundless creativity and life.

Like a child who needs more flexibility than an adult in order for their body to develop and grow, a church seeking new life needs to be able to make room for new ministries, spiritual gifts, and ideas. An overlooked Constitution and long & rigid list of By-Laws snuffs out revitalization.

3 Specific Reasons A Refresh Matters

1) A refreshed Constitution & By-Laws means that the members actually dedicated time to read it.

Constitutions & By-Laws that have gone unchanged have also more than likely gone unread. This is bad for several reasons. An unread Constitution means that the core beliefs of the church have likely not been revisited. How are the people of the church supposed to know what they've committed to as a church if they neglect to remind themselves of what the Bible says is their purpose and identity?

2) Our refreshed Constitution & By-Laws cut out a lot of no longer relevant material.

The previous Constitution & By-Laws were 37 pages long. The updated one is only 15. Ten plus pages of the old By-Laws were detailing roles that hadn't existed in years, and no way of existing in the current iteration of our church. Numerical requirements & policies for committees were too rigid for what a small group of 20-30 people could manage. Therefore, the default way of thinking became, "we can't do it this other way even if it what's best or possible" and "we ignore the policies we can't uphold".

The trouble is that mentality becomes ingrained into the culture of the church. You become a church embracing an identity that says, "we don't have what we need to function and we break the rules when we can't follow them". Both of those are very defeating and dangerous ways to operate as a church. It becomes a constant and painful reminder of what the church no longer is instead of what the church could be within the good boundaries of a Constitution & By-Laws.

3) Our refreshed Constitution & By-Laws outlines Christ's vision for His Church, a mission for NBBC, and establishes healthy rhythms of biblical faithfulness.

When I became the pastor of New Beginnings, I wanted to be intentional about keeping Christ at the center. Too often, a new pastor shows up to a church and doesn't help form it into Christ-likeness, but instead into pastor-likeness. To avoid that, I went to the Gospels and Acts to find what Christ's vision for His Church was and I found 5 components: Vision, Teaching, Serving, Stewardship, & Sending. These 5 things define the vision and inform what the mission should be.

Our mission is: We want to partner with God and other believers to build up & revitalize New Beginnings Baptist Church. We understand that if we're going to pursue Christ's vision, we have to have a future as a church, which makes this an ideal mission statement that lines up with the vision.

This refresh also introduced an important expectation. That one of the rhythms of NBBC would be to review, evaluate, and renew this document on a yearly basis as a church congregation. That way, even as we develop and grow, we would remain a congregation that actively remembers what is important.

Too often, a new pastor shows up to a church and doesn't help form it into Christ-likeness, but instead into pastor-likeness. To avoid that, I went to the Gospels and Acts to find what Christ's vision for His Church was and I found 5 components: Vision, Teaching, Serving, Stewardship, & Sending.

If you're interested in seeing our New Constitution & By-Laws, click here to email request a downloadable PDF version from Pastor Nick.