Nuts and Bolts of Constituency Meetings

Why do conferences and unions hold constituency meetings, and how do its members nominate and elect leaders? Celeste Ryan Blyden, Columbia Union Conference executive secretary, explains the “nuts and bolts” of this in-depth process. 

In the Columbia Union Conference, each conference and the union must convene a constituency meeting every five years. The conference meetings are staggered over the quinquennium so that one or two conferences a year host a meeting that serves as its governing session.  My role is to work with the conference secretariat teams to coordinate and facilitate those meetings, which involves a progressive process that generally takes about a year and includes meetings of the bylaws committee, organizing committee, nominating committee and finally the constituency meeting. 

The Seventh-day Adventist Church operates by representative governance, and policy calls for each church to choose delegates with voice and vote to participate in the constituency meetings. The bylaws committee reviews and recommends changes to the bylaws.  

How Are Leaders Nominated and Elected? 

The organizing committee elects the nominating committee and nominates the bylaws committee members. The nominating committee recommends officers and people to serve on the governing boards of the conferences, including the executive committee, school boards and any other entities. The constituency in session has the authority to change the bylaws, elect leaders and committees, and create or dissolve schools, ministries, organizations, etc., within its field. 

Secretariat helps to facilitate every step of these processes—the nuts and bolts—by gathering the names of delegates and informing delegates of the meetings, planning and distributing the agenda, handling registration, creating and providing all necessary documents, preparing and presenting the minutes and proposed bylaws changes, chairing or helping to facilitate the meeting, and following through on the decisions that are made.