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Greater New York Conference - June 18, 2011 Update
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Conference Administration refuses to allow the Executive Committee to investigate accusations of professional misconduct by the Conference President Pastor assigned to another church and the new pastor did not start on June 4th You can help - With your prayers |
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On April 10th we announced that a member who has been complaining to the conference about no business meeting for over 32 months and no elections for over four years was blocked from entering his church and the police were called to arrest him if he tried to attend the worship service. He left without attending the worship service.
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| On April 13th we announced our support for this member who appealed to the President of the Greater New York Conference and his request for permission to attend his church was rejected by G. Earl Knight who is also President of the Corporation that owns the local church property. The police were not interested in what the church manual says about member's rights or proper church procedure says, in cases of trespassing they are only interested in what the owner of the property says. | |
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On June 9th the Conference Administration Committee (President, Executive Secretary, Treasurer) rejected requests by the member for permission to attend his church and decided not to put accusations of professional misconduct on the agenda of the next Executive Committee meeting on June 16th. This presents a question about the Working Policy that protects the the integrity of the office of Conference President. The policy says . . . |
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Is it proper for the person facing accusations of professional misconduct to abuse the power given to him to try to prevent a proper investigation of the accusations?
In cases where the President of a local conference controls or influences the agenda of the Executive Committee meetings. NOT putting accusations of misconduct against himself on the agenda accomplishes what is described in the working policy - - “the matter be of such a character that the executive committee of the organization served by the [accused] officer is unable to resolve the difficulty. . .”
In my opinion, the writers of this working policy should have realized that a President of a conference / Union / division who has committed acts of misconduct also has the power to prevent accusations from reaching the Executive Committee by not allowing it on the agenda. Why didn’t they write this into the policy?
It is my opinion that they did not specifically write a solution for this situation into the policy because preventing an investigation into your own professional conduct is in it self and act of professional misconduct which is "of such a character that the executive committee of the organization served by the [accused] officer is unable to resolve the difficulty. . .”
Therefore, it is my opinion that the wording of the policy actually does cover attempts to prevent an investigation into the matter by the abuse of the power held by the accused, and the member who has made the accusations against the President of the Greater New York Conference agrees with me.
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On June 16th the Executive Committee will meet and if they do not consider these accusations than the "process" referred to in Working Policy L-60 section 15 will fail and the matter can then be referred to the next higher level, which is the Union Conference.
The President of the Atlantic Union Conference has not commented on this situation but if he does I will post it in the next update.
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The administration of DiggingforTruth.org website has been reporting the developments at this conference since January. The author of this webpage is a member of the church involved and in my opinion what has occured is the most serious violation of the church manual that a pastor and church board can do to a member of the congregation. For the Conference President to allow this injustice to stand and not correct it is conduct that should be reported and this injustice must be corrected. Here are some reasons why diggingfortruth.org takes this position. If the congregation had disciplined a member in the way this member was treated the Church Manual text that could be used is found on page 67 of the Church Manual |
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“While it is the right of the church to administer discipline, this does not set aside the rights of members to seek fairness. If members believe that they have been treated unfairly by the local church, or not had the right to be heard fairly, and the church is unwilling to reconsider the case or if the officers refuse to consider their application for reinstatement, the former members have a right to appeal in writing to the church for a hearing. The church should not neglect or refuse to grant such hearings. If it does, or if the former members still feel unfairly treated by the church after the appeal, they have the right to a final appeal for a hearing to the executive committee of the conference.
If, after a full and impartial hearing, the conference committee is satisfied that an injustice has been inflicted by the church, the committee may recommend the reinstatement to membership. But if membership is still refused by the church, than the conference committee may recommend membership in some other church. On the other hand, if it finds good grounds for sustaining the church in refusing to reinstate the former members, it will so record its decision.” Church Manual, page 67 (18th edition) |
The following Church Manual text could also be used
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Fundamental Rights of the Members
Members have a fundamental right to prior notification of the disciplinary meeting and the right to be heard in their own defense, introduce evidence, and produce witnesses. No church should vote to remove a member under circumstances that deprive the member of these rights. Written notice must be given at least two weeks before the meeting and include the reasons for the disciplinary hearing.
Church Manual, page 64 (18th edition) |
What makes this matter so serious is that the police were called to enforce a discipline beyond what the Church Manual calls the ultimate discipline,
The 'illegitimate' church board acting without the authority of the congregation sought to arrest this member for trespassing and put him in jail. Threatening to arrest a member who enters church property has the same affect as “removing an individual from membership in the church” the church board has violated all the rights mentioned on page 64, and the Church Board had no right to discipline a member, that is done by the congregation at a business meeting. The police are not concerned that any injustice is being inflicted on this member, they are not interested in the church manual texts, they are only interested in what the owner of the property says. If the owner says this person is not welcome here, he has been warned to stay away from the property, arrest him for trespassing, the police will arrest him. However the President of the Conference does know what the Church Manual says and his decisions should be guided by it. By taking the side of the Church Board he has commited professional misconduct. The Church Manual does not offer a solution to the situation that has occured because it says,
Unfortunately, the member can not evoke the text quoted on page 67 because it applies to "reinstatement" after disfellowship. The church board has clearly operated outside the church manual procedures but the member can only appeal based on church manual procedures and church working policies. Any conference officer that allows this situation to stand uncorrected needs to be corrected himself, so that the integrity of the office he holds can be maintained. The members only option is Working Policy L-60 section 15 |
| Update on the situation at the local church |
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The Pastor and Associate Pastor were assigned to other churches in April. The Pastor's successor was named at the same time. The new pastor did not appear on his first Sabbath as Pastor, and he did not appear on the second Sabbath ( 6/11 ), and he did not appear on the third Sabbath ( 6/18 ). There are concerned members who don't know if they have a pastor. Is it the Pastor who does not want to start at a troubled church? Or is it the conference who ignores the fact that the Pastor they assigned to this church has not come to work for three weeks. The conference has not responded to inquiries about, Where is the Pastor? There has not been a business meeting for over 32 months and the last election of church officers was over four years and two months ago, which means that not only is there a vacuum in pastoral leadership, the church is run by members without the authority of the congregation, by an 'illegitemate' church board whose term of office expired over two years ago. |
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Please pray for this situation which gets worse every week The working policy says this is "a matter of general denominational concern" - so it is proper for any concerned Seventh-day Adventist to express their concern If you are impressed by the Holy Spirit to do something We suggest you contact G. Earl Knight, President of Greater New York Conference to ask him why he did not allow the matter on the agenda of the Executive Committee ( June 16th ) or Don King, the President of Atlantic Union Conference and encourage him to follow Working Policy L-60 section 15 and call a meeting of the Executive Committee. |
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Here are the e-mail addresses for
Don King [email protected]
G. Earl Knight [email protected]
Please send a copy to [email protected]
and we will keep you informed of developments. |
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Related pages:
Update: April 13 Conference President rejects request for member to attend his church Update: April 10 Member barred from church, police called Update: April 2 Pastor Defies Local Conference decision Update: Feb. 22 Meeting at Conference Office - Pastor agrees to resolution Feb. 9 When did GNYC ask Pastor to call meeting and elections Appeal to Union Conference April 19 Appeal to President of Atlantic Union Conference North American Division - Decision by President, Dan Jackson - Dec. 28th - Revised decision by Dan Jackson - Jan .26 Working Policy L-60 Section 10 - Section 15 |
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Please pray that The Holy Spirt will convict the church leaders that action is needed. There is power in united prayer |
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