The General Council has received a third proposal for a ministry sector.
There is a concern about some prevailing false teaching within evangelical churches. There seems to a hidden assumption that sexual beauty is evil and should be shunned at all costs. This has the effect of pushing legitimate feelings into the dark shadows of the subconscious mind, rather than bringing them fully into the light of God&apos;s Word.
The General Council believes that there is a need for balanced teaching on this topic, especially for young adults.
Another issue is the false doctrine of tithing. No member church of the Fellowship will encourage its members to give in such a legalistic self-righteous way, for God loves cheerful giving.
The General Council is actively considering a ministry sector proposal to defend our members and the wider church against spirituality abusive false shepherds and false believers.
Any member of council appointed as a Shepherd shall take leave of absence from Council, and if their remaining term of office is more than one year an election will be held to fill their position for the remainder of their term on council.
Any shepherd elected to council shall retire from his responsibilities as a shepherd.
The Knight Commander is considered one of the Shepherds but will no longer have direct pastoral responsibility while acting as Knight Commander, but will instead be responsible for mentoring of Shepherds and members of Council.
The quota for election to is to have greater than one third of the highly approved votes (including first preferences) and at least half of the approval votes (including highly approved and first preferences).
Where too many candidates reach the quota, then count first preference votes to determine the winners.
Where not enough candidates have a quota then, of the candidates without a quota, we exclude the candidate with highest disapproval until we are left with just one more candidate than needed, then use first preferences to determine the winners.
The tie breaker for equal first preferences is to count the number of high approvals. If that still leaves a tie then count number of approvals, then subtract number of rejections.
The Fellowship of Light (FEL) exists to promote an all-member ministry in local evangelical churches with a plurality of elders and deacons. We discourage over-reliance on professional staff and instead advocate the training and equipping of local church members.
We are strongly committed to teaching the whole Bible in sermons and Bible study groups for both children and adults. We see children’s Bible classes (also known as Sunday School) as being a vital, strategic ministry for which local church members must be trained and equipped by the local elders, with support from FEL.
We do not employ any paid staff, not do we raise funds from our members. All leadership and ministry positions in FEL are on a strictly voluntary basis.
All local churches are fully autonomous under the Lord Jesus Christ. We do not exercise overnight of member churches.
The very first thing that God created was light. It is fundamental to the structure of space and time in this universe. Nothing else would exist without light. Not only does it give us the ability to see things, but the universe itself depends on the operation of electro-magnetic radiation, including the visible spectrum that we perceive as light and colour. Without light there would be no life on this planet, no warmth, no plants, no animals, no food, no mobile phones and no internet.
Even before the creation of physical light, before the creation of the physical universe, there was, and always will be, spiritual light. Just as physical light is needed to see the universe, spiritual light is needed to see or know anything about God.
The Fellowship of Light (FEL) is absolutely committed to maintaining the privacy and confidentiality of its membership. The officers of FEL may only retain personal identification information (PII) for the purpose of voter registration, preventing electoral fraud and for authentication to our technical infrastructure. The officers and members are forbidden to disclose PII to any third party, even to a government agency.
Anyone who agrees with our statement of Faith, may declare their affiliation to FEL, but FEL will neither confirm nor deny this.
We are conscious of the need to protect our members from persecution and will actively partner with any para-church organisation that seeks to support anyone being persecuted for the sake of Christ, even if they are not eligible for membership of FEL.