Constitution

Preamble:

The Romanian Baptist youth of the United States and Canada are organized as an association whose purpose is to unite Romanian Baptist youth of different Romanian Baptist churches for Christian fellowship, spiritual growth, a deeper knowledge of scripture, as well as coordinating missionary activities. The Association is to uphold intact the teachings of the New Testament, the standard of holy Christian living and to share missionary experiences.

  1. Name and Components

    1. The organization of Romanian Baptist youth carries the official name: “The Romanian Baptist Youth Association of the United States and Canada” and consists of youth from Romanian Baptist churches affiliated with the Romanian Baptist Association of the United States and Canada.

    2. The members of this Association are all Baptist youth who are members in Romanian Baptist churches affiliated with the Romanian Baptist Association. Romanian Baptist youth who are apart of other Baptist churches, unaffiliated with the Association are also considered members; however, their rights extend to speaking and discussing, and they do not have the right to vote.

    3. The Romanian Baptist Youth Association of the United States and Canada is a subordinate and functions within the Romanian Baptist Association of the United States and Canada.

  2. Organization and Leadership

    1. The Association is led by the Executive Committee composed of the following departments:

      • One President

      • Two Vice Presidents (East and West Coast)

      • Missions Department (East and West Coast)

      • Training Department (East and West Coast)

      • Communications Department (East and West Coast)

      • Publishing Department

      • YTF “Young Teens Fellowship” Department (East and West Coast)

      • Activities Department (East and West Coast)

      • Treasury Department (East and West Coast)

      • Fundraising Department (East and West Coast)

      • Archives/Records Department (East and West Coast)

      • Two Controllers (East and West Coast)

      Each department is represented by one or two representatives depending on the geographic region represented.

    2. The Association headquarters is located where the current president resides.

    3. All the Executive Committee members are elected for a one year term. All of them may be re-elected for a consecutive second one-year term. The exception is the director of the Archives Department, who is elected for a two-year term.

    4. The members of the Executive Committee are chosen only from members of Romanian Baptist churches affiliated with the Romanian Baptist Association.

  3. The Duties of the Executive Committee

    1. The executive Committee has the following functions:

      • to make decisions concerning the Association’s current problems

      • to promote the Association’s purpose and mission

      • to initiate general activities related to missions and literature

      • to establish the dates and itinerary for youth functions

      • to execute the goals decided upon by the youth Convention

      • to supervise articles in the youth section of Luminătorul magazine

      • to edit the magazine Farul (The Beacon)

      • to sustain and defend the Association’s interests when necessary

    2. In case a position becomes vacant (via resignation, expulsion, suspension or death of a member of the Executive Committee), the replacement is selected from the youth representatives of the local churches (with the said local church’s consent) by the Association’s president along with the Executive Committee.

    3. The Executive Committee comes together as needed as many times necessary.

  4. The Responsibilities of the Executive Committee

    1. The President’s Responsibility – The principle duty of the President is to offer the Baptist youth Association a vision while serving the elected term. Part of the responsibilities include but are not limited to:

      • To oversee and convene all of the Association and Executive Committee’s gatherings

      • To oversee, conduct, and motivate members of the Association, with the help of the Executive Committee, as well as delegating special responsibilities in accordance with the Association’s aim

      The President will oversee the course the Association, will direct the work among Executive Committee members and will be able to give members special responsibilities.

    2. The Vice President’s Responsibility – The Vice Presidents, at their request or in the President’s absence, will fulfill the President’s responsibilities.The Vice Presidents are responsible for overseeing the departments’ responsibilities under the President’s direction.

    3. Missions and Evangelism Department – The leader of the Missions and Evangelism Department is responsible for encouraging the youth in the local churches in regards to mission and evangelism at the local and even international level.

    4. Training Department – The leader of the training department will be responsible for educating and ministering to youth in local churches in regards to God’s work through seminars and appropriate materials.

    5. Communications Department – The communications department will occupy itself with all of the Association’s correspondence. It will also keep in touch with the local churches by maintaining an up-to-date flier with Association’s members’ information. At the same time, it will be responsible for up keeping the Association’s website: rbya.org.

    6. Publishing Department – The publishing department’s leader will gather, edit and type material for the youth magazine, Farul (The Beacon). The leader will also be responsible for any kind of informative publication that will be necessary throughout the year.

    7. YTF (Young Teens Fellowship) Department – The YTF department’s leaders are responsible for facilitating activities for adolescents at the Association’s level through different activities organized especially for adolescents. They will also encourage such activities in the local church.

    8. Activities Department – The leader of this department is responsible for organizing all of the Association’s camps and activities.

    9. Finance (Treasury) Department – This department’s main role is administrating all funds within the Association’s treasury.

    10. Archiving Department – This department will maintain the Association’s archives, composed of: the Constitution, Farul, the newsletter, brochures, and important documents from each department. Generally, this department’s role is to document all projects and activities that year.

    11. Controller – The controller will verify the treasury account (department of Finance) at least twice a year, will give a report at the Convention before being discharged via vote and will verify the records kept by the Archiving Department.

  5. Functionality

    1. The Youth Association Convention is the organization’s chief forum and is held once a year, with the Executive Committee’s meeting on the same date and at the same location where the Romanian Baptist Association Convention takes place. The day’s itinerary will be established by the Executive Committee, or by a group commissioned by the Committee. At the convention, all the delegates form Romanian Baptist Churches will have the right to speak and vote. All of the Association’s members present at the meeting have the right to speak and to make proposals. Any proposal must be seconded and discussed until resolved, or until the discussions are asked to be discontinued, either only with the approval of the majority of the delegates. When there are many motions in regards to a problem, the voting will commence in reverse, i.e. with the last motion.The delegates may vote for a single motion for a problem. All decisions will be made through an open or closed ballot, according to the majority of the delegates. Any decision made must be backed by the vote of the majority present at the Convention. In case of a draw, the president’s vote will decide the outcome.

    2. The Executive Committee is the form of leadership maintained between Conventions and will meet at least twice a year at the same time as the Association’s Executive Committee. While voting, the president may solicit the presidents of the youth societies in local churches to have a consultative vote, and if the Executive Committee decides, they may have a definitive vote in that meeting. The Executive Committee’s decisions are based on a simple majority vote, and in the case of a draw, the president’s vote will be the deciding factor. All twenty-one (21) people discussed in Article 2, Section 1 have the right to a decisive vote.

    3. A special convention may be convened by the president at the request of two thirds of the youth in churches, with ninety (90) days in advance. In such a situation, the meeting will indicate the reason for the respective convention.

    4. Presentation at a Convention will be one delegate for ten (10) youth members in a church, and for those left over, one delegate. The President will be the church’s delegate. These delegates will have the right to vote. All members of churches in the Association may participate, make proposals, and speak but they do not have the right to vote. The pastors of churches in the Association may participate with a consultative vote.

    5. At the Executive Committee’s discretion, guests may be invited to make presentations, or speak occasionally at the Convention.

  6. Choosing Leaders

    1. All members of the Executive Committee shown in Article 2, Section 1 will be picked during a session at the Convention.

    2. Nominations will be done online on the Romanian Baptist Youth Association of the United States and Canada website: rbya.org at least sixty (60) days before the annual Convention. Nominations can be made by any baptized Association member who maintains a healthy relationship with the local church. Each of the nominees is eligible for election only if nominated at least forty-eight (48) hours before the annual Convention. All nominees must accept their nomination in writing.

    3. After presenting the candidates, there is time allocated to further recommend them. Each recommendation is limited to two minutes.

    4. Voting may be open (by raising hands, standing up, saying “aye”) or closed (by communal or individual ballots). The form of voting will be decided by a majority vote.

    5. Before voting, two people will be chosen to count the votes. They will give the results to the present-day secretary, who will then give them to the president, who will announce it during the session.

  7. The Association’s Publications

    1. The Romanian Baptist Youth Association’s official publication is named Farul, which will be run by the head of the publishing department. This person will see to it that there is a balance between articles in Romanian and English, taking the number of youth in the Association into consideration. This will be decided upon by the Executive Committee.In regards to covering publishing expenses, this will be taken care of at the youth Convention, through donations made by the youth from the local churches and personal donations. The allocation of funds will be decided upon by the convention.

    2. The youth are responsible for one page in Luminătorul magazine. This page will have articles submitted by Luminătorul’s youth correspondent and the articles will be written by the correspondent of other youth members in the Association.

    3. The Luminătorul correspondent remains responsible for every article published in from of the Executive Committee and Convention. The youth Association is not financially responsible for the youth page in Luminătorul.

  8. Donations

    1. The ways of collecting the necessary funds will be decided at the Convention every year.

    2. Special donations may be made by individuals, organizations or churches. These donations may be intended for a specific cause or not. In the case of a specific cause, the Association may not change the donor’s mind about where the money will be used.

    3. Other revenue may be obtained from a special youth donation, the funds raised at an event, subscriptions and many other sources. All these are permitted only after a decision taken by the Executive Committee.

  9. Youth in the local Church

    1. The society of youth in the local church is a spiritual organism, which accepts, establishes, brings and guides youth in that respective church, as well as spreading the Gospel to souls for Jesus Christ.

    2. The Society of youth is made up of all baptized youth under the age of forty (40). When a person is forty (40) years old, but not yet fifty (50), and is vital to the youth activities, the person may be included. Also, all youth friends may be involved in the youth activities and will be able to contribute to groups such as the youth choir, orchestra, as the local church sees fit.

    3. The youth activities are developed in the local church as well as the mission field, individually and as a group, as much for personal spiritual growth as for missions.Youth personal spiritual growth is achieved through:

      • youth prayer group

      • Bible study (doctrinal or commentary)

      • Perusal and reviews of books beneficial to the youth

      • other meeting of fellowship and religious activity

      Missionary activities are done through:

      • visiting friends, individually or in a group

      • handing out Bibles, testaments or Gospels

      • evangelical groups visiting residents

      • correspondence with those searching for salvation

      • prayer and fasting for other’s salvation

      • being a living example

    4. The leadership in the local church will be identical with the Association’s, shown in Article 3, Section 1.

    5. Allocation of Funds – Funds for the youth will be allocated according to the youth in the respective church, according to their specific situation.

  10. Final Instructions

    1. The language used at the convention, the Executive Committee and Society of youth will be Romanian or English, however best the members can express themselves.

  11. Now in Effect – The present Constitution is the Association’s Constitution, modified and amended in more than one way, and now modified and placed in accordance with present day situations. It has been presented, discussed, and voted upon at the Youth Convention on September 1-3, 2001 and is effective immediately. The text is available in Romanian and English. Amendments to this Constitution may be made at a session at the Convention through a two thirds vote of the total number of delegates at the Convention.

Amendments

First Amendment

The RBYA Committee has the authority to appoint new members to the Committee during the course of the year.

How it works:

1)     Committee Member – nominates new member (or existing member to new position) during committee meeting.

2)     2nd Committee Member – seconds nomination

3)     Open discussion

4)     President or VP/ Regional VP – confirms candidate is in good standing in his local Romanian Baptist Church which does necessarily need to be an RBA affiliated church.

5)     Committee – Every member must vote. A simple majority is required for the candidate to be appointed.

(Adopted during the 101st RBA Convention, Portland, OR, August 31, 2013)

2nd Amendment

The RBYA Committee has the authority to remove a Committee member who is deemed unable to fulfill the obligations of their role to which they committed. The RBYA Committee can remove members when they can’t meet the requirements of their role due to:

–       Inactivity

–       Lack of communication

–       Consistently fails to complete tasks assigned to them

–       Falls out of good standing within their local church / community

–       Conflicts of Interest, Schedule, etc.

How it works:

–       Once the issue becomes evident, the President (or VP/regional VP ) reaches out to member and speaks with them.

–       If issue persists within 30 days, member receives verbal warning

–       If issue persists within 30 days, the member receives second written warning

–       If issue persists within 2 weeks, special conference held by the Committee to discuss removal of member

–       Every Committee member must vote, and removal of member requires simple majority

(Adopted during the 101st RBA Convention, at Portland, OR, August 31, 2013)

3rd Amendment
This text to replace Article II, Paragraph 1, of the Current RBYA Constitution.
The Association is led by the Executive Committee composed of the following:
1. President
2. Vice President West
3. Vice President East
4. Treasurer
5. Controller
6. General Committee Member (12 positions)
Procedure:
A. People will be nominated according to the existing nomination procedure, but only on the
above mentioned positions. The nominators will be able to express their opinion about which
department the nominee should serve in.
B. At elections the delegates will elect a total of 17 Committee Members (12 General + 5
designated). If there are more than 17 nominees, the candidates with most votes will win.
C. We will strive to encourage even distribution. If there are more than 17 nominees with identical
scores, the election committee will choose the winners in such a way as to achieve balanced
distribution of committee members between the two coasts (East and West).
D. All the members of the Committee will work together on all the projects, giving input,
participating actively and maintain the unity and the coherence of the vision and mission of
RBYA.
Suggestions:
A. The President’s role will be to cast the vision of that year for the entire organization and to
oversee the implementation of that vision.
B. The two Vice Presidents will each be in charge with one of the two main activities of RBYA:
mission and events (camps, retreats, youth gatherings, etc.).
C. During the initial Committee retreat which is usually held in the first month after the elections,
the whole Committee gets together in prayer and based on personal conversations and
evaluations, determines the strengths, interests and calling of each one of the newly elected
members and the President and Vice-president assigns each member to the different upcoming
projects. Committee members can also volunteer to participate in various projects of the
Committee.

(Adopted during the 103st RBA Convention, at La Habra, CA, September 4, 2015)

Fourth Amendment

RBYA Committee Member Qualifications Amendment

In effect starting the 2024-2025 RBYA year

In order to serve in the General Committee, the nominee must be 18 years or older on the day they become elected into the committee.

In order to serve in the Executive Committee, which includes the position of Controller, Treasurer, Vice President East, Vice President West, and President, the nominee must be 21 years or older on the day they become elected into the committee.

In order to serve in ANY POSITION of the RBYA Committee (General or Executive) the nominee must have and display the qualities that Paul instructs servants in the local church to have from 1 Timothy 3:8-12. These are the following qualities:

  1. Self-controlled in speech, appetites, and actions

    “Servants likewise must be dignified, not double-tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for dishonest gain” (3:8).
    The nominee is to be approve reproach and they must “live in a manner worthy of the calling” (Eph. 4:1). They are to be free from sinful habits or behaviors and their lifestyle should reflect the character of Christ and his followers.

  2. Sound in the faith
    “They must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience” (3:9).
    This means that they must have a firm grip on the truths of the gospel and live consistently with those truths.

  3. Has been tested
    “And let them also be tested first; then let them serve as deacons if they prove themselves blameless” (3:10).
    Practically, this means that those wanting to serve in the RBYA committee should have a proven track record of faithful service in their local churches before they are elected into the RBYA committee.

(Adopted during the 110th RBA Convention, at Fort Lauderdale, FL, September 2, 2023)

Updated September 6, 2023.