Amendments vs Constitution

[Guest Georgie Pfaffinger]

Our church constitution was written in the 1980's...with some amendments added in 1995.  In 2008, the constitution wording was updated and voted through.  However, the amendments were not...and now there is a difference in procedure. between what the constitution states and the change that the 1995 amendments that were voted through states.  Which takes precedence? 

[Edgar Guest]

Assuming the 1995 amendments were properly adopted (i.e. according to the rules in your constitution), they became part of the constitution, not additions to it. The practice of appending amendments to the end of the constitution (as is done with the U.S. Constitution) is not recommended. Rather, any amendments (which include all changes, not just additions) should be incorporated into the body of the document.

 

Assuming the 2008 "update" also followed the proper procedure, your constitution consists of those changes along with anything that wasn't changed.

 

Finally, don't confuse the map with the territory. In other words, don't confuse copies of the constitution (which may or not be accurate) with the actual rules embodied in the constitution. And the official record of those rules (as they may have changed through time) will be found in the minutes.