ELYRIA, Ohio—Messengers to the 2009 GARBC Conference have approved two clarifications to the GARBC Articles of Faith, the doctrinal statement that each church affirms when joining the fellowship of churches. The revisions were approved by paper ballot by a vote of 277 to 6, a 98 percent majority.
Drafted in 1932, the GARBC Articles of Faith were clarified in 1975 and ’76, with another brief revision in 2003. The proposed clarifications to the Articles of Faith were first discussed when the policy committee met during the November 2007 Council of Eighteen meetings. The committee had two later phone meetings; then the final wording for the amendment was approved by the entire Council prior to the 2008 GARBC Conference in Ankeny, Iowa. The proposed changes were then formally read during the 2008 business session, giving churches a year to discuss the proposal prior to today’s vote.
“This does not change at all where we stand,” Brad Quick said as he read the proposed changes. “This is what we have believed over all these years. We think it just clarifies where our churches stand concerning the rapture of the church and the return of Christ to earth.”
- Read “About the Proposed Changes to the GARBC Articles of Faith.”
- Read the clarifications as passed by the conference messengers.
