MI Constituency Meeting

[Gregory Matthews]

Special Constituency Meeting:  The Village Church, of the Michigan Conference, located next to Andrews University, has formally requested that the Conference hold a special constituency meeting to consider the grievances that the Village Church has with the Michigan Conference.  Under the applicable Constitution, such should be called upon the request of 30% of the congregations.  It may be questioned as to whether or not that number of SDA congregations agree with the Village Church.  The following link takes you to a short article on this subject, which also contains a copy of the formal request.

https://atoday.org/berrien-village-church-demands-special-constituency-meeting-with-mcsda/

 

[Joe Knapp]

As a former Michigan Conference member, and a former member of the Lay Advisory Committee, It is my opinion this is a waste of time and resources.

There would have to be 30% of the churches boards to approve this constituency meeting.  I have been a member of several church boards in the Michigan Conference.

Church boards are made up of many older people. I doubt many want to get involved in this controversy. Most want to avoid a controversy.

There may be some church boards that are unhappy with the leadership in the conference, but I doubt 30%.

Most of the churches are in rural Michigan. Many very rural. I do not see them going along with this.

Michigan is different from most other conferences. They have a system to deal with these grievances. It is called the Lay Advisory Committee. It meets once a year at camp Au Sable, typically in the late fall.  There they can talk about these issues. It has the authority to call a constituency meeting also. But, again, the vast majority of people on that committee are ultra conservative older people, not likely to stir up trouble.

The underlying problem here, In my opinion, is the long held frustration that the Berrien Springs people have over the fact that they seem to have no control over conference policies. There are several churches in Berrien Springs, and they are more progressive than the rest of the state. Still conservative, but people wanting change.

For over 20 years, they have been frustrated with the ultra conservative leadership and their policies. However, the membership at large of the conference has been very satisfied with the leadership.