Number of Messengers

Article III-Membership

Section 1. This Convention in session in all its meetings shall be composed of messengers elected by Baptist churches that shall voluntarily cooperate with the Convention. All messengers must be members of the church by which they are elected. A messenger must be enrolled at the Convention in session to be qualified to vote. The messengers have no right to act except for annual or special meetings constituting the Convention in session for which they have been elected by their cooperating churches.

Section 2. Each church cooperating with this Convention shall be entitled to:

A. Two messengers for the first one hundred (100) members or fractional part thereof. Two additional messengers for the first two hundred fifty dollars ($250) given during the previous fiscal year to the Texas budget as adopted by The Baptist General Convention of Texas in annual session, and

B. One additional messenger for each additional hundred members and each additional one thousand dollars ($1,000) given during the previous fiscal year to the Texas budget as adopted by The Baptist General Convention of Texas in annual session, and

C. If, as calculated under B above, a church’s giving surpasses its membership, then one additional messenger for each two thousand dollars ($2,000) given during the previous fiscal year to the Texas budget as adopted by The Baptist General Convention of Texas in annual session, not to exceed six additional messengers, provided, however, that

D. No church shall be entitled to more than twenty-five messengers.

E. A mission church shall be considered a church under the Constitution solely for the limited purpose of electing messengers to the Annual Meeting if it is identified as a body of believers separate from its sponsoring church; it contributes to the BGCT in an identifiable way either directly or through the sponsoring church from its own resources; it exists to address some specific mission need, such as language, culture or location, it regularly practices baptism and the Lord’s Supper separate from its sponsoring church; and it identifies itself with, aligns itself with, and endorses, generally, the purposes and work of the Convention. The total number of messengers a mission may qualify for is four (4) as specified in Article III, Section 2.A.

EXAMPLES

If a Church has:

40 members and gave $0 to Texas Budget - 2 messengers

75 members and gave $220 to Texas Budget - 2 messengers

80 members and gave $260 to Texas Budget - 4 messengers

140 members and gave $750 to Texas Budget - 4 messengers

149 members and gave $3,000 to Texas Budget - 5 messengers

230 members and gave $1,500 to Texas Budget - 5 messengers

400 members and gave $2,000 to Texas Budget - 5 messengers

625 members and gave $9,300 to Texas Budget - 11 messengers

4,000 members and gave $35,000 to Texas Budget - 25 messengers

4,000 members and gave $200 to Texas Budget - 2 messengers

If a Mission has:

75 members and gave $200 to Texas Budget - 2 messengers

275 members and gave $3,000 to Texas Budget - 4 messengers