SEPARATE BANK ACCOUNTS
THE JUDICIAL COUNCIL OF
THE AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL ZION CHURCH
IN THE MATTER OF
THE PETITION OF EDDIE H. RAY
DECISION No. 1992-007
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This matter comes before the Council by letter which has been determined by the Council to be a petition for a Declaratory Judgment by Mr. Eddie H. Ray, a member of the Paradise A.M.E. Zion Church in Good Standing.
ARTICLE II - JURISDICTION[1]
A. The Judicial Council shall not have original jurisdiction, since decisions are declaratory and final in the interim of the General Conference. (Emphasis added).
ARTICLE III - DUTIES[2]
1. To hear and make declaratory judgments when petition to do so when any law is subject to more than one interpretation or any paragraph in The Book of Discipline is of doubtful meaning. Any person in good and regular standing in the A.M.E. Zion Church can petition the Judicial Council for such a judgment. The Council's decision is final unless revised or reversed by the General Conference.
FACTS OF THE CASE
No testimony was presented to the Council. No hearing requested, as none is needed. The petition presented a question to the Council.
QUESTION PRESENTED
Should the Trustees and Stewards have separate bank accounts?
DECISION
The question presented involved one section of the Discipline.
At this first regular meeting, after the election the Trustees shall organize their Board by the election of a Chairman, Secretary, and Treasurer. The Chairman shall call and preside over the meetings of the Board, and shall sign all orders for the paying out of money by the Treasurer from the treasury. The Secretary shall keep a faithful record of all the meetings and transactions of the Board, draw up countersign all orders on the Treasurer for the paying out of money, and make a report for the Board of all of their receipts and expenditures to each Quarterly Conference. The Treasurer shall receive and pay out all the money belonging to the Board by the order of the Chairman; he shall be subject to the direction of the Board of Trustees from time to time, also his accounts shall be subject to the inspection of the Pastor In Charge. All official Church checks must be signed by not less than two officers of the Board.
The Book of Discipline of The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, 1988, ¶ 431.
The Book of Discipline provides for the trustees and stewards to have separate bank accounts. However, The Discipline does not restrict local societies from implementing other accounting methods or accounting systems for assuring the safe and orderly receipt and dispersing of all funds received by the Church.
A local Church shall not be in conflict with the Book of Discipline, or the laws of the state in which it resides in, and in addition it must comply with all Federal regulations and requirements.
BY ORDER OF THE JUDICIAL COUNCIL THIS 31st DAY OF DECEMBER, 1993
John E. Watts, for the Judicial Council, San Francisco, CA 94118
ALL CONCURRING
Star of Zion - January 28, 1993, p. 11
[1] Originally cited incorrectly as Article I.
[2] Originally cited incorrectly as Article VI.
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