A Statement of the Intent and Purposes of this Constitutional Revision Process

Fellowship Baptist Church of Tama-Toledo was chartered in 1987 as the result of church planting efforts by Fellowship Baptist Church in Marshalltown.  Pastors Dave Jasper and Steve Jasper began Bible studies in the Tama-Toledo area in 1985 resulting in Steve Jaspers becoming the original pastor of the church.

2007 marks the 20^th anniversary of our Body and the constitution that was originally ratified.  Our constitution has served us well, yet, at the same time there are several issues that have motivated the current leadership to seek a revision of this constitution.  They are as follows:

1.  There are numerous spelling and grammatical errors present in our current document that distract from its message and do not reflect well on our congregation.  These cannot be changed without a vote of the church.

2.      Our current document contains past amendments which have reflected indecision as to what we believe regarding leadership positions.  A complete revision would allow us to make a clear statement as to our beliefs.

3.      A number of the verses found in the Doctrinal Statement (Article III) are taken out of context and should not be used to support the statements made.  This should not be understood to imply that the statements are false, rather that there are better portions of Scripture that do strongly support the statements and that we should be accurate in our use of God’s Word.

4.      There is no argument to the fact that we agree with the statements contained in the Doctrinal Statement of our church and there is nothing stated which should be minimized in any way.  However, there is much more that could be articulated in relation to our core beliefs and in several instances, the door is left open to false belief and teaching by what is not said.  To that end, one of the purposes of this revision is to strengthen our statement of faith.

5.      Today, as a church body, we face many challenges to our belief and practice that were unheard of or marginally influential in religious circles 20 years ago.  A few examples of this would be the acceptance of homosexual lifestyles and unbiblical views of the family, the promotion of women in authority over men (especially in the pastorate), the acceptance of evolutionary theories of creation, the inroads of the charismatic movement, and others.  Intended in this revision is a “Practical Theology” statement that will address our positions regarding these issues.

We realize that it would be normal and appropriate for individuals to be concerned that the intent of this new document would include a desire to somehow change our long-held beliefs and positions.  In no way is this the intent of these efforts, and we desire to communicate our firmly held adherence to the beliefs and practices of Fellowship Baptist Church as they are premised upon the Word of God.  Our goal is simply to better reflect who we are and what we believe as a Body to both established participants of this church and to those who may seek to join with us.