Summary of the Proposed Revisions for 2025 General Operating By-law (GOB)

  • A. A new Membership Commitment has been created to replace the Church Covenant.

    B. Baptism is being included into the membership process to align with the MB Confession of Faith.

    C. Proxies can now be sent via email (not just fax or in writing).

    D. In a special circumstance, the Membership may vote to allow a Church Council member to serve a seventh consecutive year (Maximum was previously 6 years.)

    E. Some of the spiritual responsibilities of the Church Council are being defined.

    F. A new Church Council member is allowed to take the place of a resigning Church Council member, if there is less than 90 days before the AGM, without requiring a Membership meeting.

    G. The Discernment Committee has been renamed to the “Church Council Member Discernment Committee” and their role has been clarified. The members of this committee will now be elected by the Membership.

    H. A new Administration Committee is being defined in the by-law to assist the Church Council.

  • To assist the Members in reviewing and understanding the changes being proposed, two versions of the by-law document are being provided as has been the practice in previous years:

    1. a clean version (showing no changes) allows for easy reading of the final document: CLICK HERE

    2. a version showing all proposed revisions with comments giving explanation of each change: CLICK HERE

    The “tracked” version is probably the most helpful so that you can easily identify the individual changes.

  • If you review the WMB By-law 2025 revisions tracked.pdf version, you can easily see all revisions with numbered comments [A#] in the right margin. Following is a summary of the revisions:

    • [A1] 1(i) - “Church Covenant” is being replaced by “Membership Commitment”.

    • [A2] 1(u) - “Membership Commitment” definition added.

    • [A3] 1(v) - “Ministry Team” definition added.

    • [A4] 3.04 – New. A Biblical membership definition added.

    • [A5] 5.02 - Simplified the description of the membership process which is placed under the Council.

    • [A6] 5.07 - New. Those baptized at WMB Church now are brought into Membership.

    • [A7] 5.08 - New. A person cannot hold membership at WMB and another church. See A8.

    • [A8] 7.05 - New. Membership terminates if a person becomes a member at another church. See A7.

    • [A9] 13.01 - New. Finance statements are due at least 7 days before the members’ meeting.

    • [A10] 13.11- Email can be used for delivering proxies.

    • [A11] 18.01 - Allows for a Special Resolution to extend a Council member’s term to 7 years.

    • [A12] 18.05 - New. Allows for a Special Resolution to extend a Council member’s term to 7 years.

    • [A13] 19.07 - New. Some of the spiritual duties of the Council are listed.

    • [A14] 21.02 - Specified a 90 day time limit for replacing Council members. See A15.

    • [A15] 21.03 - New. Allows a Council member vacancy to be filled if less than 90 days to the AGM.

    • [A16] VII - Section renamed to “Church Council Member Discernment Committee” or CCMDC.

    • [A17] 30.01 - Clarification on the role of Council member on the CCMDC.

    • [A18] 30.01- CCMDC members serve 1 year terms with a maximum of 6 years.

    • [A19] 30.03 – New. Clarifies that the Council determined the size of the Council.

    • [A20] 30.04 - A list of nominees is replacing a slate of nominees.

    • [A21] 30.06 - Removed requirement to replace the Council member on CCMDC each year.

    • [A22] 31.01 - Clarifies qualifications of a CCMDC member.

    • [A23] 31.01b - Removes restriction on related people as CCMDC members.

    • [A24] 31.01c - Removes redundant requirement for a CCMDC member.

    • [A25] 31.02 - New. CCMDC members are now elected.

    • [A26] 31.03 - New. Describes CCMDC member election process.

    • [A27] 31.04 - New. Describes CCMDC member replacement.

    • [A28] 32.02 - Moved items into the Terms of Reference from section 35. See A34, A36.

    • [A29] 34.02 - New. Moved text from 35.02 to section 34. See A35.

    • [A30] 35 - Repurposed this section for the Administration Committee (AC).

    • [A31] 35.01 - New. Administration Committee is defined.

    • [A32] 35.02 - New. Administration Committee composition explained.

    • [A33] 35.03 - New. Administration Committee is allowed to use a majority vote.

    • [A34] old 35.01 - Moved to 32.02. See A28.

    • [A35] old 35.02 - Moved to 34.02. See A29.

    • [A36] old 35.03 - Moved to 32.02g. See A28.

    • [A37] 44.01 - Effective date of the by-law has been updated for new AGM.

  • Given the number of individual changes that are being proposed, the full set of by-law revisions will be

    presented for approval in its entirety. A simple majority is required to approve the proposed revisions.

    • Please feel free to email any questions to churchcouncil@wmbchurch.ca

    • You may also attend an information session on a Sunday prior to the Annual General Meeting (AGM).

      The dates and times will be announced during the services and on the web site.