PREAMBLE

With faith in God, and unquestioning acceptance of the Bible as the Word of God, and sole rule of our faith, we offer to all Missionary Baptist Churches of Christ the following Articles of Agreement.

ARTICLE I

NAME

The Cooperative Association of Missionary Baptist Churches of California.

ARTICLE II

OBJECT

The object of this Association is to encourage cooperation and Christian activity among the churches, to promote interest in and encourage Missions on a New Testament basis among all people, to stimulate interest in Christian literature, general benevolence, and Christian education and to provide a medium through which the churches may cooperate in these enterprises.

ARTICLE III

MEMBERS

Section No. 1 - This Association shall be composed of Missionary Baptist Churches as defined in Doctrinal Statement No. 11.

Section No. 2 - The annual or called sessions of this Association shall be held by messengers elected by the churches composing said Association.

Section No. 3 - Each church cooperating in this Association is entitled to three messengers whose qualifications shall be determined by the church selecting them. They are to bring letters showing their election by the church, which letters should give a report of their past year.

Section No. 4 - We recommend to all Scriptural New Testament Churches desiring to cooperate with us for the purpose designed in Article 11 of these Articles of Agreement, that they express their desire by presenting a statement of their faith and practice. We further recommend that if two or more churches cooperating in this association withdraw fellowship from a sister church on the basis of doctrinal faith or practice, the messengers from that sister church may be refused seats in the messenger body by two-thirds majority of messengers present.

ARTICLE IV

DOCTRINAL STATUTE

This Association shall recognize the freedom of speech as essential to the highest achievements in its work. It shall stand or fall on its own conformity to truth. It shall exercise no ecclesiastical authority but it shall by every precaution recognize the sovereignty of every individual church. It shall also encourage on the part of churches and messengers the greatest possible freedom of expression in discussing matters pertaining to its work, and in the preeminence of missions and evangelism in the work of the churches.

ARTICLE V

POWERS

The powers of the Association shall be limited to the execution according to the teachings of the New Testament of the will of the churches composing it; and the Association, in annual sessions, shall elect such officers as are necessary for its deliberation and work, and appoint such committees as are needed, such committee men to be selected from members in good standing from participating churches, and transact other business as may be directed by the churches.

ARTICLE VI

OFFICERS

Section No. 1 - It will be the duty of the messengers annually to elect from among their members a Moderator, two Assistant Moderators, and such Clerks and other officers as may be needed or directed by the churches composing this association.

Section No. 2 - In all votes of this Association a majority of votes cast shall decide questions except in cases of change or amendment in the Articles of Agreement. In such cases a two-thirds majority will be required. Such changes must be presented on the first day of the Association and voted on during any subsequent day.

ARTICLE VII

MISSION POLICY

Section No. 1 - A Missionary Committee shall be composed of one member from each cooperating church, when so elected by the church. Eleven of these shall be elected by the messenger body as a standing committee.

The duty of this Committee will be to carry out the expressed wishes of the cooperating churches through their messengers to this Association, and the distribution of information concerning the needy fields of labor and the needs of the missionaries. As a need arises, or a request in writing is presented by a cooperating church to the chairman of the Missionary Committee, he may call special meetings of the Missionary Committee between messenger meetings. Notification of such meetings will be mailed to each church by the secretary of the Missionary Committee. Six members of the Standing Committee will constitute a quorum.

Section No. 2 - The Missionary Committee shall meet annually and recommend to the messengers from among the church-endorsed missionaries such number as they deem wise for cooperative support. The sponsoring church will stipulate the amount of salary and other benefits for her missionary.

Section No. 3 - The mission treasurer of this Association shall hold all mission funds received between sessions of this messenger body subject to the will of the sending church or churches; in the event of an emergency, he shall subscribe to the recommendations of the Missionary Committee as specified in the amended Article VII, Section 1.

Section No. 4 - The messengers will elect annually from among qualified men in fellowship with a cooperating church a mission treasurer.

Section No. 5 - All moneys contributed through the mission treasurer to aid in the support of missionaries, both salaried and designated, shall be paid to the endorsing churches for distribution to their missionaries.

Section No. 6 - The membership of the Standing Missionary Committee shall be fairly distributed among the various sections of the churches which cooperate with this Association.

ARTICLE VIII

FUNDS

Section No. 1 - All funds of this Association shall be raised by voluntary donations secured purely upon the merits and the cause in the interest of which, appeals are made for gifts, provided this is not to prevent the use of any income or any property that may be acquired by donation or purchase.

Section No. 2 - The Treasurer of this Association shall hold all funds received between sessions of this Association subject to the designation of the sending church or churches.