2016 Wesleyan Discipline:Local Church: Secretary

775. Secretary. The local church secretary shall be secretary of the local board of administration ex officio (2016 Wesleyan Discipline:830). If the secretary is absent, the local board of administration may elect a secretary pro tem. 830. The local church conference, at its annual session, shall elect by ballot, from among its members who meet the leadership qualifications (2016 Wesleyan Discipline:260-268; 2016 Wesleyan Discipline:558), a church secretary (cf. 2016 Wesleyan Discipline:820-823), to serve for one year or until a successor is elected. The church secretary shall be an ex officio member of the local board of administration (2016 Wesleyan Discipline:775). General regulations covering this office are given in 2016 Wesleyan Discipline:815. The duties and powers of the local church secretary shall be:

(1) To record correctly and to preserve faithfully the minutes of all sessions of the local church conference and the local board of administration.

(2) To maintain the local church’s record of membership, record of baptisms, marriages, and pastoral terms, and other information essential to a permanent written record of the life and ministry of the church (2016 Wesleyan Discipline:610).

(3) To issue, in conjunction with the pastor, all letters of transfer, recommendation, and withdrawal (2016 Wesleyan Discipline:575; 2016 Wesleyan Discipline:590-592; 2016 Wesleyan Discipline:6000-6040); and to sign, in conjunction with the pastor (2016 Wesleyan Discipline:725:28), licenses for lay ministers granted by the local church conference (2016 Wesleyan Discipline:655:7; 2016 Wesleyan Discipline:782:20).

(4) To send to the district secretary a certified list of lay delegates to the district conference duly elected by the local church conference, immediately upon their election, and subsequently to certify an alternate delegate (cf. 2016 Wesleyan Discipline:965; 2016 Wesleyan Discipline:1100-1109).

(5) To have custody of all record books of all departments of the church, including auxiliary organizations, after such books are full or in disuse, and to take whatever steps are necessary to preserve them and other historical records and materials, as directed by the pastor and the local board of administration.