CHAPTER VI

TRIAL OF A CHURCH MEMBER

I. Immoral Conduct

¶ 270, § 1. A member of the Church accused of a violation of the moral law shall be brought to trial.

§ 2. A member of the Church, who, after private reproof and admonition by the Pastor or Class Leader, persists in using, buying, or selling intoxicating liquors as a beverage, or who signs a petition in favor of granting a license for the sale of such liquors, or who signs a petition of consent for the sale of such liquors, or who procures a license for the sale of such liquors, or who becomes bondsman for any person or persons engaged in such traffic, or who rents his property as a place in which or on which to manufacture or sell intoxicating liquors, shall be brought to trial, and if found guilty and there be no sign of real humiliation, shall be expelled.

II. Imprudent Conduct

¶ 271. In cases of neglect of duties of any kind; imprudent conduct; indulging sinful tempers or words; dancing; playing at games of chance; attending theaters, horse-races, circuses, dancing parties, or patronizing dancing schools, or taking such other amusements as are obviously of misleading or questionable moral tendency; or dis

obedience to the order and Discipline of the Church -on the first offense, let private reproof be given by the Pastor or Class Leader, and if there be an acknowledgment of the fault and proper humiliation, the person may be borne with. On the second offense the Pastor or Class Leader may take with him one or two discreet members of the Church. On the third offense let him be brought to trial, and if found guilty and there be no sign of real humiliation, he shall be expelled.

III. Neglect of Means of Grace

¶ 272. If a member of the Church shall habitually neglect the means of grace, such as the Public Worship of God, the Lord's Supper, family and private Prayer, searching the Scriptures, Class Meetings, and Prayer Meetings, the Preacher in Charge shall visit him and explain to him the consequences if he continue his neglect. If he do not amend, he shall be brought to trial, and if found guilty of willful neglect, he shall be expelled.

IV. Causing Dissension

¶ 273. If a member of the Church shall be accused of endeavoring to sow dissension in the Church by inveighing against its Doctrines or Discipline, its Ministers, or in any other manner, the person so offending shall first be reproved by the Preacher in Charge; and if he persist in such pernicious practice, he shall be brought to trial, and, if found guilty, shall be expelled.

NOTE. For the method of disposing of complaints against a layman for erroneous teaching in a Theological School, see ¶ 247.

V. Disagreement in Business-Arbitration

¶ 274. In case of any disagreement between two or more members of the Church concerning business transactions, which cannot be settled by the parties, the Preacher in Charge shall inquire into the circumstances of the case, and shall recommend to the parties that such disagreement be submitted to arbitration. If this method of settlement be agreed upon, two arbitrators shall be chosen by one party, and two by the other, which four shall choose a fifth. The said arbitrators shall be members of our Church, who have no personal or pecuniary interests in the result. The Preacher in Charge shall preside, and the Disciplinary forms of trial shall be observed. If either party refuse to abide by the judgment of the arbitrators, he shall be brought to trial, and if he fail to show sufficient cause for such refusal, he shall be expelled.

¶ 275. If any member of the Church, in case of debt or other dispute, shall refuse to refer the matter to arbitration, when recommended to do so by the Preacher in Charge, or shall enter into a lawsuit with another member before these measures are taken, he shall be brought to trial, and if he fail to show that the case is of such a nature as to require and justify such a course, he shall be expelled.

¶ 276. If, in the case of debt or dispute, one of the parties is a Minister, the duties assigned to the Preacher in Charge in the foregoing paragraphs shall be performed by the District Superintendent of the Minister concerned. If both be Ministers, the District Superintendent of either may act in the

case.

VI. Insolvency

¶ 277, § 1. Preachers in Charge are required to execute faithfully the rules against all frauds, and particularly against dishonest insolvencies, suffering no one to remain in the Church who is found guilty of fraud.

§ 2. To prevent scandal, when any member of the Church fails in business, or contracts debts which he is not able to pay, two or three judicious members of the Church, designated by the Preacher in charge, shall inspect the accounts, contracts, and circumstances of the supposed delinquent; and if they believe that he has behaved dishonestly, or borrowed money without a reasonable probability of paying, he shall be brought to trial, and, if found guilty, shall be expelled.

¶ 278. In all the foregoing cases of trial enumerated in this chapter the accused member shall be brought to trial before a Committee of not less than five members of the Church. They shall be chosen by the Preacher in Charge, and, if he judge it necessary, he may select them from any part of the District. The accused may challenge for cause. The Preacher in Charge shall preside at the trial.

VII. Penalties

279. If the accused person be found guilty by the decision of a majority of the Committee, the Preacher in Charge shall then and there pronounce the sentence of expulsion.

¶ 280. But if, in view of mitigating circumstances and of humble and penitent confession, the

Committee find that a lower penalty would be proper, it may impose censure on the offender, at its discretion, or suspend him from all Church privileges for a definite time.

¶ 281. An expelled person shall have no Privileges of Society or of the Sacraments of the Church without confession, contrition, and satisfactory reformation.

CHAPTER VII

APPEAL OF A BISHOP

¶ 282, § 1. A Bishop or Missionary Bishop shall have the right to appeal to the General Conference in case of an adverse decision by the trial court hereinbefore prescribed in such cases; provided, that within thirty days after his conviction he notify the Secretary of the General Conference of his intention to appeal. All such appeals shall be heard and determined by the General Conference Committee on the Judiciary.

§ 2. If during the session of a General Conference a Bishop or a Missionary Bishop shall have been convicted, the General Conference shall extend the term of service of the Committee on the Judiciary until it shall have disposed of a possible appeal in the case.

§ 3. It shall be the duty of the Secretary of the General Conference, on receiving notice of such appeal, to inform the senior effective Bishop, whose duty it shall be, after conference with the parties in interest, to fix the time and place for the hearing of the appeal, and to instruct the Secretary of the General Conference to serve due notice of the same to all concerned.