CONSTITUTION OF THE Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church. AS REVISED BY THE GENERAL CONFERENCE OF 1864. ARTICLE I. THIS association, denominated "THE MISSIONARY SOCIETY OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH," is established for the express purpose of enabling the several annual conferences more effectually to extend their missionary labors throughout the United States and elsewhere; and also to assist in the support and promotion of missionary schools and missions in our own and in foreign countries. ARTICLE II. The payment of twenty dollars at one time shall constitute a member for life. Any person paying one hundred and fifty dollars at one time. into the treasury shall be an honorary manager for life; and the contribution of five hundred dollars shall constitute the donor an honorary patron for life: both of whom shall be entitled to a seat and the right of speaking, but not of voting, in the Board of Managers. ARTICLE III. The management and disposition of the affairs and property of this Society shall be vested in a Board of Managers, consisting of thirty-two laymen, all being members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and so many clerical members, not exceeding that number, as shall be determined at each annual meeting called for that purpose, each of whom shall be a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and all of whom, both the lay and clerical members, shall be elected at the said annual meeting. ARTICLE IV. The Corresponding Secretary shall be appointed by the General Conference. He shall reside in New York, and conduct the correspondence of the Society under the direction of the Board. He shall be subject to the direction and control of the Board of Managers, by whom his salary is to be fixed and paid. He shall be exclusively employed in conducting the correspondence of the Society, and, under the direction of the Board, in promoting its general interests by traveling or otherwise. Should his office become vacant by death, resignation, or otherwise, the Board shall have power to provide for the duties of the office until the bishops, or a majority of them, shall fill the vacancy. There shall also be two Assistant Corresponding Secretaries, who shall be elected by the General Conference, the first of whom shall reside in the city of New York, and the second of whom shall reside in the West, at such place as the Board of Managers shall direct, and they shall labor to promote the interests of the Missionary cause under the direction of the Board of Managers at New York. ARTICLE V. The Board shall have authority to appoint all the officers required by the charter, and to make by-laws for regulating its own proceedings; to appropriate money to defray incidental expenses; to provide for the support of superannuated missionaries, widows and orphans of missionaries, who may not be provided for by their annual conferences respectively— it being understood that they shall not receive more than is allowed by the Discipline to other superannuated ministers, their widows and orphans; and to print books for the benefit of Indian and Foreign Missions, and missions in which a foreign language is used; fill vacancies that may occur in their own body during the year; and shall present a statement of its transactions and funds to the Society at its annual meeting, and also shall lay before the General Conference a report of its transactions for the four preceding years, and the state of its funds. ARTICLE VI. The annual meeting, for the election of officers and managers, shall be held on the third Monday in November, in the city of New York, and the term of the service of the officers and managers so elected shall commence January first following. ARTICLE VII. At all meetings of the Society, and of the Board, the President, or, in his absence, the Vice-President first on the list then present, and in the absence of all the Vice-Presidents, a member appointed by the meeting for that purpose, shall preside. ARTICLE VIII. Twenty-five members at each meeting of the Society, and thirteen at each meeting of the Board of Managers, shall be a quorum. ARTICLE IX. The minutes of each meeting shall be signed by the chairman of the meeting at which the minutes are read and approved. ARTICLE X. It is recommended, that within the bounds of each annual conference there be established a Conference Missionary Society, auxiliary to this institution, under such regulations as the conferences shall respectively prescribe. ARTICLE XI. Any auxiliary society or donor may designate the mission or missions, under the care of this Society, to which they desire any part or the whole of its funds to be appropriated; which special designation shall be publicly acknowledged by the Board. But in the event that more funds are raised for any particular mission than are necessary for its support, the surplus shall be at the disposal of the Society for its general purposes. ARTICLE XII. The Annual Conferences shall be divided into as many mission districts as there are effective superintendents; and there shall be a committee consisting of one from each mission district, to be appointed by the bishops, and to be called the General Missionary Committee. It shall be the duty of this committee, First. To meet annually in the city of New York between the first and fifteenth of November, as shall be determined by the Corresponding Secretary, the Assistant Corresponding Secretary, and the Treasurer. Secondly. To act jointly with the Board of Managers, the Corresponding Secretary, Assistant Corresponding Secretary, Second Assistant Corresponding Secretary, and Treasurer, in fixing the amount which may be drawn for during the ensuing year. Thirdly. To divide said amount between, 1. Foreign missions; 2. Domestic missions; 3. Missions in the United States and Territories not included in the bounds of any of the Annual Conferences. 4. Other missions not under our immediate care. Fourthly. Said committee shall, with the concurrence of the Board of Managers, and with the concurrence of at least two of the bishops, determine what fields shall be occupied or continued as foreign missions, and the number of persons to be employed on said missions, and shall, in conjunction with the Board, estimate the sums necessary for the support of each mission, subject to the approval of two or more of the bishops. Said committee, with the concurrence of the Board and bishops as aforesaid, shall determine the amount for which each bishop may draw for the domestic missions of those conferences over which he shall preside, and shall divide the amount appropriated to the missions in the United States and territories not included in the Annual Conferences to such sections of the country as in their judgment the interests of the work require; and the bishop shall not draw on the Treasurer for more than said amount. In the intervals of the annual meetings of the committee the bishops shall have full power to administer these missions. The Board shall appoint a committee, who, with the bishop making the appointment, shall fix the amount for the support of each missionary in this third class of missions. Fifthly. Said committee, by and with the concurrence of the Board and bishops, as aforesaid, shall also determine the amount to be appropriated. Mamionary Report. 2 for the support of missions not under our immediate care and the mode of disbursement thereof. Provided, nevertheless, that in the intervals between the meetings of the General Missionary Committee the Board of Managers, with the concurrence of the bishop who has charge, or is to have charge of the work proposed, may, if they shall deem it important, adopt a new missionary field, and also provide for any unforeseen emergency that may arise, and to meet such demands may expend any additional sum not exceeding twenty-five thousand dollars. Should any of the members of said committee in the interval of the General Conference go out of office by death, resignation, or otherwise, the bishop presiding in the conferences where the vacancy shall occur shall appoint another to fill his place. Said committee to be amenable to the General Conference, to which it shall make full reports of its doings. Any expense incurred in the discharge of its duties shall be met by the Treasurer of the Society. ARTICLE XIII. The sums allowed for the support of a missionary shall not exceed the usual allowance of other itinerant preachers. The bishop, or president of the conference, (if the mission be domestic,) and the superintendent, where there is one, and if not, the missionary, (if it be foreign,) shall draw on the treasurer for the same, in quarterly or half-yearly installments, and they shall always promptly notify the Treasurer of all drafts made by them. ARTICLE XIV. Each superintendent of missions, and where there is no superintendent, each missionary, shall make a regular quarterly report to the Corresponding Secretary at New York, giving information of the state and prospects of the several missions under his care. ARTICLE XV. Each missionary shall report to his superintendent once a quarter, in writing, the state and prospects of the special work in which he is engaged. ARTICLE XVI. No one shall be acknowledged a missionary, or receive support from the funds of this Society, who has not some definite field assigned to him, or who could not be an effective laborer on a circuit, except as provided for in Article V. ARTICLE XVII. This Constitution shall not be altered but by the General Conference, upon the recommendation of the Board of Managers, or by the Board, on the recommendation of the General Conference. BY-LAWS OF THE BOARD OF MANAGERS OF THE Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church. L-DUTIES OF THE OFFICERS OF THE SOCIETY. PRESIDENT AND VICE-PRESIDENTS. THE President, or one of the Vice-Presidents, shall preside at all meetings of the Society and of the Board, as prescribed by Article VII of the Constitution; and shall hold their respective offices during the year for which they may be elected at the annual meeting of the Society, unless the Board of Managers otherwise determine. If the President and all the Vice-Presidents be absent, then the Board may elect a President pro tem. CORRESPONDING SECRETARY. The Corresponding Secretary shall, under the direction of the Board of Managers, conduct the correspondence of the Society with its Foreign Missions, and be exclusively employed in promoting its general interests. He shall advocate the missionary cause at such Annual Conferences and Churches as his judgment may dictate and the Board approve. He shall keep a vigilant eye upon all the affairs of the Society, and especially upon all its missions; and promptly convey to the Bishops having charge of the foreign missions respectively, to the Board, or the standing committees, all such communications from, and all information concerning our missions, as the circumstances of the case may require. He shall also in all cases give to such missionaries as may be sent out the Manual of Instructions authorized by the Board, with such other instructions and explanations as circumstances may call for, and shall explicitly inform all our missionaries that they are in no case to depart from such instructions. He shall also audit the accounts of outgoing, returned, or discharged foreign Missionaries before the final settlement of the same. |