Church Decision Making

A quorum of one-third of the church membership still living in the Washington area must be present to vote on:

• hiring a pastor or renewing or terminating the pastor’s contract;
• changing the church constitution;
• buying or selling church property;
• approving or changing the annual church budget;
• any other legally binding issues.

Both the chair of the Trustees and the Congregational chair must be present at the meeting, for which the Congregational chair sets the rules of conduct. Decision making votes must be by at least a two-thirds majority, although the church council can stipulate a higher percentage for individual decisions. The council should provide for proxy or absentee ballot votes.