Our Constitution

At Benoni Baptist Church, we are committed to aligning our church governance with biblical principles and our current practice. Over time, as our church has grown and developed, some areas of our constitution no longer reflect how we function in reality.

To address this, the church has approved the formation of a constitution committee, consisting of our elders, together with Ian Austin (a church member with constitutional experience), and Adrian Pearson (a church membership with legal experience). This team will work section by section to revise the constitution, ensuring it is both faithful to Scripture and practical for our church today.

How the process will work

Drafting and review: The constitution committee will carefully revise each section.

Executive approval: The revised sections will be presented to the executive (comprised of the elders and the deacons) for discussion and approval.

Church engagement: Once approved by the executive, each section will be presented to the church for a three-month period of review and discussion. During this time, there will be teaching from the pulpit, distributed literature, and opportunities for engagement.

Final approval: After due consideration, the sections will be tabled and voted on at a later general meeting.

Baptist Union submission: We will inform the Baptist Union of Southern Africa of any changes we make to our constitution.

The present constitutional section on elders

14.1. Whenever a member shows pastoral and teaching gifts, the church may recognise those gifts by appointing him an elder and he shall then be set apart to share in the pastoral and teaching ministry of the church. The pastor and other elders, after having considered suggestions, if any, from church members, shall initiate the appointment of an elder by recommending the appointment to the executive committee which, if unanimously agreed, will in turn recommend the appointment to the church at general meeting. The initial appointments of each recommended candidate shall be on the favourable ballot vote of 75% of the members present.

14.2. Each elder shall hold office for three consecutive years, and continuance in office for further periods of three years shall be on the favourable vote of 75% of the members present at a general meeting.

14.3. Elders shall become members of the executive.

The proposed constitutional section on elders

The executive gives notice of motion to change the elders section of the constitution to be voted on at our next general meeting.

14.1. The church may appoint to the office of elder a member recognised as filled with the Holy Spirit, and who meets the qualifications as detailed in 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:5-9.

14.2. Elders serve the church by leading, teaching, overseeing, shepherding, and praying while remaining accountable to the church.

14.3. The executive may, from time to time, identify suitable candidates for the office of elder, who may undergo a six-month period of testing where necessary. Thereafter the executive may present a recommended candidate at a general meeting. The name of the candidate shall be included in the notice of the meeting. Appointment to the office of elder shall be confirmed by a favourable ballot of at least 75% of the members present and voting at the meeting.

14.4. An elder shall serve a term of two consecutive years. At the conclusion of this term, the executive may recommend the elder at a general meeting for reappointment for a further period of two consecutive years. The name of the candidate shall be included in the notice of the meeting. Reappointment to the office of elder shall be confirmed by a favourable ballot of at least 75% of the members present and voting at the meeting.

14.5. The executive may if necessary recommend the removal of an elder from the office at a general meeting. The name of the elder shall be included in the notice of the meeting. Removal from the office of elder shall be confirmed by a favourable ballot of at least 75% of the members present and voting at the meeting.

Rev 1 Typed out from a hard copy found amongst the files in the office. Uploaded to the server on 27 February 2025.

Rev 2 Recognising that Rev 1 failed to incorporate amendments which had been accepted by the church related to financial reporting, and that the numbering of Rev 1 did not match the original document, and some minor typing errors had crept into the text, when a digital version of the constitution was submitted to the church office, a comparison was done, and corrections in line with the original intent accepted. Uploaded to the server on 19 September 2025.

Rev 3 Every effort has been taken to restore the document to the version accepted 26 February 2013. The changes to the deacon’s section of the constitution accepted on 23 November 2025 have been incorporated.