GREATER BETHEL A.M.E. CHURCH
GAINESVILLE, FL
LAY ORGANIZATION
MONTHLY LAY ACTIVITY
NOVEMBER 30, 2011
DELPHINE JACKSON, DIRECTOR OF LAY ACTIVITIES

WHAT IS THE LAY ORGANIZATION

WHO ARE LAYMEN?
YOU ARE!
The Lay Organization is a movement to provide greater leadership opportunities for the Lay members of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. It’s membership should include Trustees, Stewards, Class Leaders, Missionary Workers, Ushers, Deaconesses, Stewardess, Choir Members, Sunday School Workers and Students, Young People Department, members of all Commissions, and so forth.
The goals of the local organization include study, worship, fellowship and service at the local, conference, district and connectional levels. Our aim is to be Christ-centered and to strengthen the church. Our concern is for the total church and to maintain a happy working relationship between the pastor and lay.
We encourage every home to purchase and study the A.M.E. Discipline, which outlines the workings of the church.
The Lay Organization has resolved to take steps to influence decisions regarding church policy, while decisions are under consideration, rather than debating them after they have been made or almost enacted into law. We can make our point of view known on all important issues of our church, and in legislating, we must think of the Connectional Church ….the total church.
Your Lay Organization is a vital tool that can be used for effective change, if change is deemed necessary, or to improve existing conditions and methods.
We can best meet our objectives when we understand the program of the church and relate the church to the world around us.
We must become involved so that the church is our community, our job, our school. In this way, everywhere we assemble, we will carry the church with us.
Every member of the church that is not a Minister is a Laymen. The organized lay are usually the ones involved in setting forth and recommending the new laws and structural changes as enacted by the General Conference.
The membership roll of the Lay, represents the church. The membership roll of the church represents the human material from which the church must be built. The Lay are individuals, the church is you. The Lay Organization cannot exist without you. The church is more than a group of individuals, and it is incomplete without you!
THE LOCAL LAY ORGANIZATION
Building a healthy and strong lay organization takes commitment from the local church. Your local lay organization is not built overnight. It will take time to develop. Organizing the lay in your church takes a group of individuals who are willing to devote time, and have a thirst and willingness to learn thoroughly the connectional church.
The following practices have been tried and tested and are being shared on the basis that if implemented and practiced regularly, they will help your lay organization to function effectively and efficiently.
On Page 420 of the Doctrine and Discipline of the African Methodist Episcopal Church is found the Connectional Lay Organization Constitution and By Laws. One should be familiar with this document before organizing on the local level.