LC: 31. PROCEDURES FOR FELLOW MEMBERS CHANGING TO CHARTER MEMBER STATUS AND MOVING INTO AN EXISTING CHARTER HOME
For those Fellow Members who are in communication or fellowship with an existing Charter Home, following are the procedures whereby they may become a Charter Member:
The Charter Home could consider having Fellow Member applicants who request to join their Home be on a probationary period of three or more months to fellowship with and witness with the Charter Home first to see if the Home wants to bring them in. The applicants could also visit and live in the Home for short periods of time to see how everyone likes each other.
In order to proceed with allowing a Fellow Member to move in to your Charter Home, the following are the procedures to follow:
A. Two-thirds of the voting members of the Charter Home must agree to accept the applicant as a returning Charter Member.
B. The Charter Home officers must check with the continental office to verify that the Fellow Member is a member in good standing, whose past history and specific offenses do not make him ineligible for prospective Charter Member status.
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1. Unless the continental office informs the Home officers within 45 days that the Fellow Member applicant is ineligible to return to Charter Member status and must remain on Fellow Member status, the Home may proceed with implementing the Procedures for Accepting New Disciples into a Charter Home for the Fellow Member joining their Home.
a) Although members changing their status from FM to CM do not have the Right of Mobility until they become voting Charter Members, the continental office may authorize the members' movement to a different Home if deemed necessary or expedient.
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C. Upon moving into a Charter Home, the Fellow Member must list his or her personal possessions using the Asset Declaration for New Charter Members in Appendix B. The assets listed on this declaration will remain his or her property to take with him or her should he or she decide to leave before completing six months in the Charter Family, unless they decide to leave some of these assets with the Charter Home.
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Fellow Members changing to CM who decide not to remain Charter Members at any point during the first six months, will be allowed to take with them any personal possessions that they have listed on the Asset Declaration for New Charter Members in Appendix B.)
D. The applicant must complete the Reading List for Fellow Members Changing to CM or Those on Partial Excommunication (Appendix G.). In addition to this, a returning Fellow Member is eligible to read all materials that Fellow Members are eligible for.
E. If at any time the Home deems the applicant(s) is not living up to the Charter, by two-thirds vote they are free to recommend that he returns to Fellow Member status. Such recommendation does not need to be confirmed by two levels of leadership, but the Home teamwork must notify the continental office of such a decision.
F. At the end of a six-month probationary period, the Home will vote to confirm if the applicant is living according to the Charter, and if so, he or she will then become a full-fledged voting Charter Member.
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1. At this point an agreement should be reached between the Home and the new member as to which of his or her possessions the new member would be authorized to take with him or her if he or she should decide to leave the Home.
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Fellow Members changing to CM who decide to stay in the Family after their six-month probationary period become full voting Charter Members. At the point of becoming a new voting member of the Home, an agreement should be made between the Home and the new member as to which of his or her possessions the new member would be authorized to take with him or her if he or she should decide to leave the Home. This is the same procedure as for a Charter Member joining a Home (see Right of Mobility, D. 7.). During their stay in the Home, however, Acts 2:44-45 fully applies in that they should willingly give and share of all their possessions with others. (See also Responsibilities of Individual Members, J.)
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family