Messengers are Pennsylvania/South Jersey Baptist church representatives who attend the annual meeting or special meeting of the Baptist Resource Network of Pennsylvania/South Jersey. Messengers who are elected and sent by their cooperating church should register for the meeting in advance through the registration portal on this site.

Registered messengers will receive a ballot in their messenger packet, given when they check in at the Registration desk. This is mandatory for a messenger to be able to vote. The messenger packet also includes any related program or additional information.

The Baptist Resource Network’s Constitution and By-laws define a messenger as follows:

SECTION 1

The BRN shall have members. Members shall be churches that are defined as cooperating Baptist churches and have been approved for membership with the BRN. Churches desiring to be members and the removal of churches shall be evaluated in accordance with procedures outlined in the BRN Policy Manual.

To be eligible for membership, a church must meet the definition of a cooperating church which is a church that:

(a) Regularly contributes to the Cooperative Program (CP),

(b) Affirms in belief and practice the most recent Baptist Faith and Message (BFM) as adopted by the Southern Baptist Convention in Annual Session, and

(c) Regularly completes the Annual Church Profile (ACP).

SECTION 2

The BRN shall allow member churches to participate in the voting affairs of the BRN’s Annual Session. Member churches shall send messengers to the Annual Session to act on behalf of the member church. To be sent as a messenger, the individual must:

(a) Be a member or active participant in good standing of the sending church, and

(b) Personally affirm the most recent BFM in belief and practice.

SECTION 3

The number of Messengers selected by their respective churches shall be according to the following criteria:

(a) A cooperating member church during the BRN’s fiscal year preceding the Annual Session and/or during the current year is entitled to three (3) messengers.

(b) Additional messengers from a church, up to a maximum of twelve (12), are authorized as follows:

1. One additional messenger for each fifty (50) resident members reported in the ACP, not including members of chapels/missions.

2. One additional messenger for a seven percent (7%) contribution to the Cooperative Program, and an additional messenger for each percentage point beyond that (indicated by a comparison of undesignated gifts reported in the ACP with BRN fiscal year receipts).

(c) A mission not yet constituted shall be entitled to two (2) messengers in addition to the messengers of its sponsoring church.

Have questions? Contact the Help Desk at 717-652-5856 or helpdesk@brnunited.org.