Church of Our Father – Meeting Minutes Jan 14, 1901 (Rename Church Voted Down – Bylaws)

Atlanta, Ga. January 14^th, 1901

The regular annual meeting of the Church of Our Father was held in the main hall of the church building, this day. Meeting called at 8:45pm.

Present: Mr. Crafts, Mr. and Mrs. Daniels, Miss Dixon, Miss Behre, Mrs. Beardeley, Mr. Harding, Mr. and Mrs. Langston, Mr. Mr. and Mrs. Lederle, Miss Gertrude Lederle, Miss Margaret Lederle, Mr. and Mrs. Moore, Mr. H. M???, Mr. E. M???, Miss Martin, Mrs. Owens, Mrs. Schumann, Mr. and Mrs. St. Amand, Mr. and Mrs. Watts, Mr. Walker, Mr. Young.

Mr. Crafts was nominated for Chairman. The chair stated that as there was a question as to the legality of the meeting and it would there be well to consider a motion to have the meeting declared a legal one. It was moved by Mr. St. Amand and seconded, that the meeting be declared a legal one by the vote of the assembled. – Carried.

The minutes of the previous meetings were read and approved. The Pastor’s annual report was then read and ordered spread upon the minutes. Annual reports were also received from the following officers, the Treasurer, the Clerk, the Woman’s Alliance, by Mrs. Owen, President, the Board of Trustees by Mr. Crafts, Chairman, the Sunday School, by Miss. Martin Superintendent and the Young People’s Religious Union, by Mr. Paul Dixon, President. There reports were all accepted and order spread upon the minutes.

Treasurer’s Report for the year ending Dec. 31^st 1900

Receipts		Disbursements
Balance on Hand	$147.74	Expense Account	$80.84
Sunday Collection	$164.24	Janitor	$45.50
Woman’s Alliance	$100.00	Pastor’s Salary	$1150.00
Return of Paving Bill	$40.37	Organist	$73.50
Galveston Sufferer’s Collection	$15.50	A.W.A	$10.00
American Unitarian Association	$500.00	Gas & Fuel	$19.17
Subscriptions	$622.13	Rent Women Club Room	$105.00
		Insurance	$11.00
		Galveston Sufferers	$15.00
Total Receipts	$1,589.98	Total Disbursements	$1,510.01
		Balance	$79.97
			$1,589.98

The new Covent and Constitution were then submitted and read article by article. The first article changing the name of the church was lost by a vote of 15 to 10. The other articles of the new constitution were then voted upon and all adopted.

 

CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS

Article I. –  Name

The Name of this church shall be the Church of Our Father in Atlanta, Georgia. (Archivist Note: in original typed document the name of the church was noted as the First Unitarian Church. This reference was crossed out and the Church of Our Father was written in.)

Article II. –  Purpose

The purpose of this church shall be to maintain the worship of God, to cultivate in its members virtuous affections and habits, and to promote the common weal (Archivist Note: weal – a sound, healthy, or prosperous state). To secure these ends, the following Covenant which shall be the basis of membership. And the following, Constitution which shall be the rule of this church, have been formed and adopted.

Article III. – Covenant

The following shall be the Covenant of this church: We accept the religion of Jesus believing with him that practical religion is expressed in love to God and love to Man, and in the spirit of Jesus we unite for the worship of God and the Service of Man.

Article IV. – Membership

All persons who after making proper application, shall sign the church roll, thereby agreeing with the purpose add consenting to the rules of this church, shall be considered members thereof.

Article V. – Officers

Section 1.

The Officers of this church shall be a clerk, a treasurer, who shall be elected annually, and nine trustees who shall be elected so that three shall go out of office each year.

Section 2. Election of Officers

All elections shall be by ballot, by a majority vote, and all officers shall serve until their successors are elected and qualified.

Article VI. –  Board of Trustees.

Officers provided for in Article V of this constitution shall constitute a Board of Trustees. It shall be the duty of this Board to secure its legal corporation; to hold the property of the church; to superintend the raising a the minister’s salary; to provide for incidental expense; to make to the church through its chairman an annual report of its transactions. This board shall be subject always to the directing vote of the church and shall have no power to sell or encumber the property of the church without a specific vote of those entitled to vote in these matters as named in Article IV. This board shall have the power to organize itself as it deems wise, except that it shall hold monthly meetings on the third Monday of each month.

Article VII. –   Duties of Officers

Section 1.

The Chairman of the board of Trustees shall preside over all church meetings, and have the general oversight of the affairs of the church under the directing vote of the Board of Trustees.

Section 2.

The Clerk shall keep a faithful record of the proceedings of the church and shall at each regular meeting read the minutes of all proceeding meetings. He shall also render a written report of his year’s work at the Annual Meeting.

Section 3.

The Treasurer shall receive all money belonging to the church and pay out the same on the order of the Board of Trustees. He also shall reader a written report at the Annual Meeting of his receipts and disbursements.

Section 4.

The Minister shall have immediate charge of the religious, educational, and philanthropic work of the church subject to the approval of the Board of Trustees; he shall have authority to appoint such committees as desires to assist him and shall render to the Board of Trustees monthly reports of the transactions of such committees.

Article VIII. – Business

All questions involving the disposal or encumbering the property of the church shall be exclusively in the hands of those members whose names are on the church roll. All other questions not otherwise provided shall be decided by a majority vote.

Article IX. – Meetings

Meetings of the church shall be held on the second Monday of January, April, July and October. The meeting held on the second Monday in January shall be the Annual Meeting. Other meetings may be called as in the judgment of the Board of Trustees <as> they are needed giving timely notice, or whenever an application to the clerk for a meeting shall be made by at least twelve members of the church due notice of the same in writing to sent to each member.

Section 2. Quorum

One fourth of the resident members shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business.

Article XI. – Amendments

Section 1.

This Constitution may be amended by a vote of two thirds of the members present and voting at any regular meeting or any meeting called according to article XI.

Section 2.

By-laws to carry out the provisions of this Constitution may be enacted at any regular meeting.

By-Laws

I. –

At each Annual Meeting and Advisory Committee of two, one woman and one man, shall be elected, with the minister ex officio a third member, shall receive applications for membership in the church and pass upon the fitness of applicants. The unanimous vote of this committee shall qualify candidates to sign the church roll.

II. –

The Advisory Committee shall have authority to place on the church roll the names of non-resident fellow believers who may apply for membership in the church and such persons shall be known as Associate Members without the right to vote. No person may become an Associate Member without making an annual contribution to the church of at least one dollar except by the unanimous vote of the Advisory Committee. It is expressly stipulated that no part of contributions from Associate Members shall be used for the maintenance of the local church. Such contributions shall be kept as a separate fund used only for strictly missionary purposes outside of Atlanta.

III. –

At each Annual Meeting a Superintendent and an Assistant Superintendent of the Sunday School shall be elected in accordance with the provisions of the constitution for the election of officers and the Superintendent shall render a written report at each Annual Meeting.

IV. –

At least two weeks before the Annual Meetings and at a church meeting called by the Board of Trustees, a committee of five shall be appointed to nominate officers for the ensuing year and shall prepare and present a printed ballot to the Annual Meeting.

V. –

All affiliated organization in the church are advised to submit through their respective presiding officers written reports of the year’s work at each annual meeting of the church.

(Archivist Note: written comments appended to By-laws document)

The resignations of Mrs. Owen, Mrs. Able, Messrs. Peck, Moore and Crafts as Trustees of the Church were received and accepted to take immediate effect. Upon motion the following committee was appointed to sell the building material left from the old church. Messrs. Lederle, Peck and Walker. A committee was also appointed to adjust and sell the old books in the library – the member of which are Mr. Otto Abel. It was moved by Mr. Langston that a record of the Dedication Services, the Installation Services and the Southern Conference services be made upon the minutes of the church. It was also voted that the Minister’s salary for the coming year be fixed a $1,400. The Nominating Committee reported the following list of officers for the year 1900 (Archivist: believe this year is in error. Should be 1901), who were balloted for and duly elected.

For Pastor: Clarence A. Langston

Clerk: Frank Lederle
Treasurer: J.G. St. Amand
Trustees for 3 years: Geo. H. Craft, J.C. Peck, Mrs. Goldsborough Owen
For 2 years: Mrs. Howard Daniels, John L. Moore, J.H. Kennedy
For 1 year: J.E. Harding, Mrs. Chas. H. Behre, A.F. Walker
Advisory Committee: J.E. Harding, Mrs. Geo. Johnson
Sunday School Superintendent: Miss Hattie Martin
Assistant Superintendent Mrs. B.F. Langley

Meeting then adjourned.

(signed) Frank Lederle,Clerk

Source: Physical Archive: UUCA Box: 25   Folder: 04   Book: 01  Pages:  215 – 219
Citation: Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Atlanta Records, RG 026, Archives and Manuscripts Dept., Pitts Theology Library, Emory University, Atlanta GA