Why We’re Changing The Bylaws

First Congregational Church of Ramona is a member of the United Church of Christ denomination. Therefore, our polity (our structure of church governance) is a congregational polity. That means that even though we are in a covenantal relationship with the whole family of UCC churches, we are governed by our own congregation. In other words, we call the shots!

So the constitution and bylaws of our church are especially important. They enable us to do ministry together in a way that honors everyone’s unique voice and keeps us all on the same page in our discipleship journey. Our bylaws have served us well for decades and, for the most part, we’re keeping them the same. That is to say, we’re trying to clarify and clean up some of the things that were too vague or somewhat confusing, but the spirit of the bylaws will be the same; namely, to empower us to follow God’s leading and do faithful ministry together. That is, after all, what we’re here for.

Learning from some of the challenges we’ve faced over the past couple of years, our Church Council (the visioning and governing board of the church) has been working hard, since before Pastor Wes even arrived, to make sure the changes being presented to the congregation are clear and helpful. We think that these bylaws changes will help improve our ministry.

On January 30th, at our Annual Meeting, we will vote together to approve and implement these changes. We hope that you will take some time to look over the bylaws before the meeting so that we can address any concerns or confusions ahead of time. Click the link below to read through them and contact us if you would like to raise any issues or questions.