Constitution and By-Laws for Gateway Mission Assembly Inc.
As of 28 June 2015
PREAMBLE
The purpose of this church shall be to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ, doing our utmost best to discover and achieve the specific will of God for this body. Obedience to the Bible and maintaining that it is the inerrant Word of God is our most fundamental goal. We will perform the Great Commission in the preaching of the gospel for the purpose of making disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things the Lord has commanded by proclaiming the whole counsel of God.
ARTICLE I. THE DEFINITION OF THE CHURCH
Although there are some passages in the Bible in which the word “church” or “ecclesia” is used in a figurative and broader sense, church in the context of our organization primarily refers to an assembly of believers who have been baptized upon the profession of their faith and have agreed together in an organized group effort, to carry out the Great Commission under the Headship of the Lord Jesus Christ and in obedience to the Word of God. Gateway Mission Assembly Inc. is such a church. This will serve as the definition of “church” for the purpose of this Constitution.
ARTICLE II. THE ORIGIN OF THE CHURCH
The church as an institution is of Divine origin. Founded by the Lord Jesus Himself during His earthly ministry, the first such assembly of believers came into existence when He walked by the Seashores of Galilee and called-out His first disciples. This assembly was the first local church. From that church and its ministry have descended all local New Testament Churches in every age.
The history of Gateway Mission Assembly Inc. is that we have met as a body of believers since August 16, 2009 at the Gateway Mall in Cubao, Quezon City, Philippines. We started as the "IDEA church," later became "TFI Gateway" and are now completing our incorporation into a stand-alone religious organization with the Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission in approximately July of 2015.
ARTICLE III. THE MEMBERSHIP OF THE CHURCH
For a local assembly to be a New Testament Church, it must be constituted with and composed of professing born-again believers who have been baptized by full immersion. Anything less than this criteria prevents a church from being after the order of the New Testament. The membership of Gateway Mission Assembly Inc. will be made up only of scripturally baptized professing believers who have covenanted together under the Headship of Jesus Christ and the authority of the Word of God to do the Lord's work.
Section One: Membership in Gateway Mission Assembly Inc. shall be granted to professing believers in one of three ways: (1) To those who have professed faith in Christ and given credible evidence of their conversion and have been baptized by the authority of Gateway Mission Assembly Inc.; (2) To those who seek to unite with Gateway Mission Assembly Inc. on the promise of a letter of recommendation from a church of like faith and order and whose testimony gives evidence of a genuine conversion; and (3) To those who seek to unite on a statement of their faith and baptism by a church of like faith and order when a church letter can no longer be obtained, and whose testimony gives evidence of a genuine conversion.
Section Two: Membership in Gateway Mission Assembly Inc. shall be granted to those seeking it only after the Membership Committee has examined their spiritual qualifications for membership and commends them to the Lead Pastor who will likewise examine their qualifications for membership and commend them to the church for membership to be officially registered by the Board Secretary.
Section Three: Membership in Gateway Mission Assembly Inc shall be granted only to those who agree to uphold the doctrines, principles, and practices of the church as set forth in its Constitution and By-Laws. Accordingly, all who seek membership in the church shall be encouraged to view this Constitution and By-Laws at the official church web-site before being received into the church. New members are received during certain Sunday morning worship services in a prayer ceremony.
ARTICLE IV. THE OFFICERS OF THE CHURCH
The officers of Gateway Mission Assembly Inc. shall be the Pastors, the Board of Trustees and other Leaders who have been given position with job description and are appearing on the official church flow chart. All officers, workers and employees of the church are to be members in good standing.
Section One: The qualifications for all Pastors, Trustees and Leaders of Gateway Church Philippines shall always be those of 1 Timothy 3:1-13 and Titus 1:5-9
Section Two: The duties of Pastors, Trustees and Leaders shall be those assigned by God according to the New Testament scriptures in the following passages: John 21:15-17; Acts 20:17-35; 1 Timothy 4:6,7, 13-16, 17-22;6:11-20; 2 Timothy 1:13, 14; 2:1-7; 14- 16, 22-26; 3:14-17; 4:1-5; Titus 2:1-1-, 15;3:1,2,8-11; and 1 Peter 5:1-4
Section Three: The duties of the Board of Trustees shall be to assist the Lead Pastor by overseeing the temporal affairs of the church according to the example of Acts 6:1-7. Pastors and Trustees shall be considered servants of the church.
Section Four: The office of the Board of Trustees Chairperson shall be held by the Lead Pastor. The offices of Board Trustee Vice-Chairperson, Secretary and Treasurer shall also be held by those Board of Trustee members elected by the membership. These positions will be determined by agreement among the elected Deacon Board Members at the first Board Meeting after every election or whenever a position is vacated.
Section Five: All the Board of Trustee Members other than the Lead Pastor shall be elected by the Membership. The candidates with the most votes are the new Trustees. The first Board of Trustees, elected on June 21, 2015 will serve for 1 year plus the remaining balance of months until the next Annual Business Meeting, the date to be determined and announced. At that Annual Business Meeting, the membership of Gateway Mission Assembly Inc. will then elect a Board of Trustees which will serve for 3 years and then another election will be held. This will be the pattern that we follow thereafter. The number of Board Trustee members is 5 including the Lead Pastor and 4 voted positions. This number can be changed by amendment to the Constitution and By-Laws.
Section Six: Should a position on the Board of Trustees be vacated, the person from the previous election with the next number of highest votes will be asked to take that position. If they are unavailable or unwilling, then it will go to the next highest after them. If there is nobody available from the previous election, then a special election will be called.
Section Seven: no one should ever be elected, assigned or hired to the offices of Pastor, Trustee or Leader who does not agree to uphold the principles and practices set forth in the Constitution and By-Laws of Gateway Mission Assembly Inc.
Section Eight: The Lead Pastor shall never be considered an employee of Gateway Mission Assembly Inc. The Lead Pastor is to be submitted to the church concerning his/her moral conduct and is subject to its discipline as any other member is. The Pastor can receive financial honorariums or other contributions not limited to but including housing benefits, car or transportation benefits or in other ways if the Board of Trustees chooses to bless him/her in this way subject to the financial health of the Church. The Pastor can terminate his/her own position for any reason with written notice of 90 days. The Pastor can be terminated by a majority vote of the congregation for any reason. This can be done at any Annual Business Meeting or if a majority of the Board of Trustees calls for a special voting session of the membership. It will be at the prerogative of the Board of Trustees as to whether or not such a "vote of confidence" will be conducted by placing it on the agenda of an official meeting.
Section Nine: The Lead Pastor will hold the power of choosing who will be on his/her staff and who will not be on his/her staff. Though the Board of Trustees will be involved in making employment arrangements and possibly negotiating and implementing employment contracts with terms with the said employees, they will not be responsible for choosing the Associate Pastors. They can, however, conduct a unanimous vote for the removal of one of the associate pastors or staff for any of the same reasons that a member can be removed from membership as is stated in the by-laws and the constitution. Whenever a new Lead Pastor is chosen, it will be expected that all of the remaining Associate Pastors offer him/her their resignations which he can choose to receive or not. He/she may replace the entire staff if he/she so chooses.
ARTICLE V. THE ORDINANCES OF THE CHURCH
The Church Ordinances recognized and practiced by Gateway Mission Assembly Inc. are two in number: baptism and the Lord's Supper
Section One: Baptism is the immersion in water of a professed believer on the profession of his faith to identify himself with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection. A duly authorized administrator of the baptism shall be a recognized pastor of the congregation or any other minister or leader chosen by the Lead Pastor
Section Two: The Lord's Supper, a memorial Ceremony of the Lord's death, is to be observed by the church perpetually until the Lord comes on a regular basis, usually, monthly. Unleavened bread and the fruit of the vine are to be used as symbols of His body and blood. Anyone who professes faith in Jesus Christ on their honor may partake of the Lord's Supper whenever it is celebrated.
ARTICLE VI. THE GOVERNMENT OF THE CHURCH
Gateway Mission Assembly Inc. shall be governed by the Lord Jesus Christ, its Head, through the teachings of the New Testament under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The church will follow its Pastors and Board Trustees who will make recommendations to the church in all matters of policy as they are led by the Holy Spirit and the teachings of the New Testament. In all issues, the decisions of either the Board of Trustees or of the Membership through voting shall be final, and there is no appeal to an outside higher authority, the authority of the church being the court of final appeal and the New Testament being the rule of church law.
Thus, Gateway Mission Assembly Inc. recognizes Congregational Church Government (not Denominational) as the standard Biblical form of government for the church while acknowledging the oversight of the Pastors and the role of Trustees. Ideally, the pastor will provide the leadership for the church, presenting policy issues to the Trustees who unanimously pass the policy issues as recommended by the Lead Pastor in accordance with the standard of the New Testament. Trustees will also have the ability and be encouraged to suggest policy issue changes to be presented for consideration and voting.
Before passing any matter of business, the Board of Trustees shall seek unanimity on the given issue. If unanimity cannot be attained, the particular business under consideration will be deferred until the desired unanimity can be attained through further counsel and discussion. If division should continue to exist and unanimity cannot be attained, the Board of Trustees can pass routine matters of business with a simple majority vote.
For larger and more significant matters of business, these issues should go to a congregational vote at an Annual Business Meeting or at a Special Business Meeting. Again, unanimity is the desired goal for decisions or changes to be made but if there is an impasse, a simple majority vote must be attained when a quorum is present.
ARTICLE VII. THE DISCIPLINE OF THE CHURCH
Membership in Gateway Mission Assembly Inc. is a privilege, not a right, since it is granted by the church to those who meet the criteria of the New Testament as set forth in Article III. When any member ceases to meet this criteria in any way, that member will be subject to the discipline of the church which can withdraw the member's membership in Gateway Mission Assembly. Church Discipline shall be exercised as prescribed in the following sections:
Section One: When a member of the church becomes guilty of a moral offense against the Lord and the church, and that offense is generally known in the church, the church must discipline that member according to 1 Corinthians 5:1-13. Prior to exercising Church Discipline, the pastors and leaders of the church shall seek to restore the offending member through his repentance and confession of sin in harmony with the spirit of Galatians 6:1. If the offending member refuses to acknowledge his sin to the church and seek the church's restoration, the church will then discipline him/her by withdrawing fellowship from him and terminating his/her church membership.
Section Two: When a member of the church becomes guilty of a doctrinal offense against the Lord and the church, the church will give the offending member two admonitions or warnings to abandon his heretical views through its Lead Pastor. If after the second admonition, the member refuses to repent of his erroneous and heretical views, the church will mark him/her as heretical by withdrawing his membership from him according to Romans 16:17 and Titus 3:10
Section Three: When a member of the church becomes guilty of a personal offense against another member of the church, the pastors and leaders will not become involved in the settling of the issue between the members until the first step of Matthew 18:15-18 is followed. The offended member must first go alone to the offending member and tell what his offense against himself/herself is. If the offending member sees his/her fault and seeks forgiveness, the offended member is to forgive him/her, and the matter closed. If the offending member refuses to admit his/her fault, then the offended member is to seek out two or three other members of the church, who know nothing about the offense, to witness his attempt to convince the offending member of his fault and to encourage the offending member to repent of his/her wrong. If the offending member sees his/her fault and seeks forgiveness, then the offended member is to forgive him/her, and the matter ended. However, if the offending member refuses to admit his/her fault, then the offended member and the witnessing members are to bring the issue before the church that a large, mature representation of the church may hear the matter. If the church judges the offending member to be at fault and admonishes him/her to repent and the offending member repents, the offended member and all other members are to forgive him/her and the matter ended. If, however, the offending member refuses to admit his/her wrong and repent of it, the church is then to withdraw his membership from him/her.
Section Four: When a member stops attending the worship services of the church and stops supporting the church financially without having any providential cause (illness, job conflicts, military service, moving out of area, etc.), the pastors and leaders of the church will seek to ascertain the reason for the member's withdrawal from the worship services and from supporting the church. If no providential reason hinders his/her participation in the worship and support of the church, the pastor and leaders will admonish him/her twice to re-join and to re-assume his/her responsibility as a member to attend worship services and support the church. If the member refuses to become active again, the Lead Pastor will report to the church the member's refusal to become an active member of the church and will recommend the member be made an object of prayer and exhortation by the church. After three months or more, the inactive member will be dropped from the roll of the church in its regular business meeting if he/she has not become active in attending the worship services and/or supporting the church.
Section Five: In every case of Church Discipline, the member who is being charged with one of the above offenses will be notified of the time in which the church will judge his/her case and be given reasonable opportunity to defend himself/herself against the charges being brought against him/her.
ARTICLE VIII. THE DOCTRINES OF THE CHURCH
Being a non-denominational, distinctly Pentecostal, prophetic and apostolic church, Gateway Mission Assembly Inc. shall forever hold to the historic "faith once delivered to the saints," (Jude 3).
The following BELIEF STATEMENTS are our fundamental doctrines.
1. We believe the Scriptures, properly translated from the oldest authenticated manuscripts, are Inspired by God and declare His design and plan for mankind.
2. We believe there is only One True God–revealed in three persons...Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (commonly known as the Trinity).
3. We believe in the Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. As God's son Jesus was both human and divine.
4. We believe that though originally good, Man Willingly Fell to Sin–ushering evil and death, both physical and spiritual, into the world.
5. We believe that every Person Can Have Restored Fellowship with God Through 'Salvation' (trusting Christ, through faith and repentance, to be our personal Savior).
6. We believe and practice two ordinances—(1) Water Baptism by Immersion after repenting of one's sins and receiving Christ's gift of salvation, and (2) Holy Communion (the Lord's Supper) as a symbolic remembrance of Christ's suffering and death for our salvation.
7. We believe the Baptism in the Holy Spirit is a Special Experience Following Salvation that empowers believers for witnessing and effective service, just as it did in New Testament times.
8. We believe the normal Initial Physical Evidence of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit is ‘Speaking in Tongues,’ as experienced on the Day of Pentecost and referenced throughout Acts and the Epistles. This should be sought by every believer but we also recognize that there are many who have not experienced "Speaking in Tongues" who strongly exhibit other evidence that they have received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.
9. We believe Sanctification Initially Occurs at Salvation and is not only a declaration that a believer is holy, but also a progressive lifelong process of separating from evil as believers continually draw closer to God and become more Christlike.
10. We believe the Church has a Mission to seek and save all who are lost in sin. We believe 'the Church' is the Body of Christ and consists of the people who, throughout time, have accepted God's offer of redemption (regardless of religious denomination) through the sacrificial death of His son Jesus Christ.
11. We believe in a Divinely Called and Scripturally Trained and Selected Leadership Ministry Serves the Church. The Bible teaches that each of us under leadership must commit ourselves to reach others for Christ, to worship Him with other believers, to build up or edify the body of believers–the Church and to Meet human need with ministries of love and compassion.
12. We believe in Divine Healing of the Sick is a Privilege for Christians Today and is provided for in Christ's atonement (His sacrificial death on the cross for our sins).
13. We believe in The Blessed Hope—When Jesus Raptures His Church Prior to His Return to Earth (the second coming). At this future moment in time all believers who have died will rise from their graves and will meet the Lord in the air, and Christians who are alive will be caught up with them, to be with the Lord forever.
14. We believe in The Millennial Reign of Christ when Jesus returns with His saints at His second coming and begins His benevolent rule over earth for 1,000 years. This millennial reign will bring the salvation of national Israel and the establishment of universal peace.
15. We believe a Final Judgment Will Take Place for those who have rejected Christ. They will be judged for their sin and consigned to eternal punishment in a punishing lake of fire.
16. We look forward to the perfect New Heavens and a New Earth that Christ is preparing for all people, of all time, who have accepted Him. We will live and dwell with Him there forever following His millennial reign on Earth. 'And so shall we forever be with the Lord!'
17. We believe that for those who choose to have a life partner, that marriage between one man and one woman is God's plan for the foundation of family and that such a family is God's plan for society. We believe that the Bible clearly teaches that unnatural relations between same sex people is a sinful offense to Him. We believe that the practice of having more than one spouse at one time is unscriptural.
ARTICLE IX. ASSOCIATING WITH OTHER CHURCHES
Gateway Mission Assembly Inc. is and shall always remain an independent and autonomous church, subject to no higher authority other than the Lord Jesus Christ and the Bible. While Gateway Mission Assembly Inc. will not join any association or convention in which it surrenders any of its independence or autonomy, it will fellowship freely with other churches of like-faith and order who desire its fellowship. Said fellowship must impose no conditions upon Gateway Mission Assembly Inc. other than those required by the Word of God. Gateway Mission Assembly Inc. will not force or attempt to coerce another church to conform to all of its particular practices as a condition of fellowship, neither shall Gateway Mission Assembly Inc. permit another church or churches seeking its fellowship to dictate its faith and practice.
ARTICLE X. AMENDING THIS CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS
The normal and preferred way that the Constitution and By-Laws of Gateway Mission Assembly Inc. shall be amended is when a 80% majority of its Board of Trustees votes to do so in a regular and announced business meeting.
A second possible way is that should the membership of the Church wish to amend the Constitution and By-Laws, if they are not satisfied with the work of the Board of Trustees, they may, by obtaining signatures of more than half of the membership on a single form, be placed on the agenda and present their proposed changes at a regularly scheduled Annual Business Meeting for the sake of a membership vote which will have the power to override a vote by the Board of Trustees. This measure insures that Gateway Mission Assembly Inc. will always be in the hands of its membership.