COUNCIL CORNER – MAY 2026
CHURCH COUNCIL UPDATE –
Unfortunately, the Church Council meeting scheduled for April 16th had to be
rescheduled due to a lack of quorum of the board of directors. I appreciate everyone who took the time to attend, and I apologize that we had to postpone the meeting. The rescheduled meeting will be on May 7th at 6PM in the Education Building. Per the ByLaws, the quorum for the rescheduled meeting will consist of the board of directors present and will not require a majority.
The meeting of the directors to finalize the 2026 revision to the ByLaws will occur later in the month of May. Any members interested in the content or wording of the ByLaws are also welcome to attend.
SEPARATION UPDATE –
There has been no update from our lawyers since the conference call held on
March 24th. I reached out to them the last week of April for additional information so anything that I receive back from them will be shared at the council meeting on May 7th and during the next Sunday service.
Please continue to keep our church and its leaders as well as our lawyers in your prayers.
SC HOUSE BILL 4754 –
As previously discussed, this bill would eliminate the land trusts that Religious
Corporations (such as the UMC) have implemented over SC churches and their property/assets. This bill was discussed during the Domestic Relations, Business, and Probate Laws Subcommittee meeting on March 31st at 9:30 AM. As of the date of the review of this bill by the committee, it had a total of twelve sponsors within the house. (Note – There are 124 representatives in the house, so there is already approximately 10% of the representatives in favor of the bill.) Several churches going through the separation process sent representatives to request support of the bill. According to the testimony provided by each of them they were also going through the process for separation defined by the UMC when that avenue was negated by the bishop in October 2024 leaving them to choose to separate in a different manner.
Following the discussions, the bill received a favorable review by the committee.
According to the information that I could find, a bill must be read three (3) times before it can be approved by the House and then passed to the Senate for consideration. The initial reading of the bill title and its assignment of a number along with the favorable review by the committee counts as the first reading. The second reading is in front of the representatives who are present in the house when the bill is scheduled to be read. During the second reading, the bill is subject to debate, amendments, and voting. The voting will result in the bill being tabled (which may mean that it dies without further action or that it may require further
review), rejected, continued (carried forward to the next session), or approved for a third and final reading. If scheduled, the third reading process is identical to the second reading except that if approved, the bill will be passed on to the Senate for action. No date has been established for the second reading of the bill that I could find. Depending upon the priority of the bill, it can take two months to two years or longer for a final vote to occur. This is why it is so important that we reach out to our local representatives and request their support for this bill.
Please also keep this bill, the spirit of its intent, and the overall review/approval process for it in the SC State Congress in your prayers.
As always, please contact me in person or via text/call if you have any comments
or questions about any of the information provided.
In Christ,
Peyton Northington
803-645-6396
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