Read This First@@first@@
This is the rule book of The Fivefold Church Alliance. It is written to be read by any pastor, delegate or officer in one sitting, and to be opened on the table at a Council meeting when a question comes up.
Three documents, in this order. The Covenant (Form J-2) is the promise each church signs. Volume One: Foundations explains that promise and the life of the churches. This volume sets out who holds which seat, how the Council meets and votes, and how a decision is challenged or a rule is changed. If two of them ever disagree, the Covenant comes first, then Volume One, then this book.
The short names. This book calls The Fivefold Church Alliance the Fivefold Alliance, or FCA in front of another word, as Volume One does. The Covenant is the bond between the churches.
Version: (). Copyright © 2026 Apostle Anderson. All rights reserved. Churches of The Fivefold Church Alliance may use and copy this book for their own FCA work. Publisher: TeleChurch Live. Self-published by Lighted Candle Church Inc., Atlanta, Georgia. This book is not legal advice; the Fivefold Alliance should consult qualified professionals before it registers as an organization.
Contents
Power Kept in Balance@@ch1@@
A body of churches can become something it was never meant to be. One person begins to decide everything, or one church begins to own it. The Fivefold Alliance guards against that by never letting one person, or one church, hold more than one kind of power.
1.1The Three Seats
| Seat | Who holds it | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Deciding | The Delegate Council: every church, one vote | Decides the shared work of the Fivefold Alliance. |
| Carrying out | The President and the officers | Does what the Council decided, and reports back. |
| Hosting | Headquarters, the church where the work was born | Provides the place where the churches gather, train and meet. |
| Keeping the balance | The Chairperson | Holds none of the three. Presides over the Council and keeps them in balance (Chapter 3). |
1.2Four Rules of Balance
- No one holds two seats. The Chairperson does not carry out the work, and the President does not preside.
- Different churches. The President does not come from the Headquarters church, nor from the Chairperson’s church.
- No one governs a church. Nothing in this book reaches inside a local church.
- Everything in writing. A decision, a ruling, an appointment or an assignment that is not written down has not been made.
The Delegate Council@@ch2@@
The Delegate Council is the churches of the Covenant in one room. It is the only body of the Fivefold Alliance that decides.
2.1Who Sits on the Council
Every FCA church holds one seat and one vote. The seat is normally held by the church’s stationed delegate. A church whose delegate has retired names who speaks for it, usually the pastor or someone the pastor chooses. The seat belongs to the church, never to the person and never to Headquarters. One person may not hold the seat of two churches.
2.2What the Council Decides
- Where the people, gifts and resources of the Fivefold Alliance are sent.
- Each church’s state, at the yearly state review.
- Whether a church has received the Restoration Mark.
- Recognizing a move of Headquarters, if one is ever declared (Volume One, 3.4).
- Confirming and commissioning the officers, and removing them.
- Receiving new churches into the Covenant, and ending membership.
- Whether to adopt the Financial Addendum, and on what terms.
- Changes to the Covenant and to these rules (Chapter 8).
2.3What the Council Never Decides
The Council decides the shared work. It does not decide the internal matters of any church: who its pastor is, who its ministers are, how it worships, how it spends its money, or what it does with its property.
The Chairperson@@ch3@@
The Chairperson’s work is to keep everything in balance. When the Fivefold Alliance drifts from the Covenant, the Chairperson is the one who says so and calls the churches back to it.
3.1What the Chairperson Does
- Presides. The Chairperson runs the meetings of the Council.
- Calls the Council together. The Chairperson may call a meeting at any time.
- Rules a decision out of order when it breaks the Covenant. The ruling is in writing, names the part of the Covenant that is broken, and sends the matter back to the Council to decide again (Chapter 7).
- Settles what the Covenant means when two sides read it differently.
- Hears appeals from a church or a person who believes they have been wronged (Chapter 7).
3.2What the Chairperson Does Not Do
- The Chairperson does not vote.
- The Chairperson does not carry out the daily work, and holds no other office.
- The Chairperson does not handle money.
- The Chairperson has no say inside any local church.
- The Chairperson does not replace a decision with one of his own. He sends it back.
The Chairperson is bound by the Covenant like every church and every officer.
3.3The Founder, and Those Who Follow
The founder of the Fivefold Alliance holds the Chairperson’s seat until he lays it down. After him, the Council elects the Chairperson from among its churches for a two-year term, and no one serves more than two terms in a row.
3.4When the Chairperson Is Away
If the Chairperson cannot be at a meeting, the Council chooses one of its delegates to preside for that meeting only. That person runs the meeting but does not rule on the Covenant or hear appeals; those wait for the Chairperson. If the seat falls empty, the Council elects a Chairperson at its next meeting.
The President and the Officers@@ch4@@
The officers carry out what the Council decides. They are volunteers, they hold no vote, and they govern no church.
4.1The Officers and Their Work
| Officer | Work |
|---|---|
| President | Leads the officers. Carries out the Council’s decisions, approves each worker assignment and each service time block, speaks for the Fivefold Alliance in public, and reports to the Council at every meeting. |
| Vice President | Stands in for the President when he is away. Places the workers: matches each request for help to a worker, and brings the assignment to the President for approval. |
| Secretary | Keeps the signed Covenants, the delegate appointments, the worker assignments, the minutes, the membership record and, in confidence, the references and background-check records. Sends the written notices. |
| Planning Department Secretary | Assigns the service time blocks for the President’s approval, and keeps the FCA Calendar. |
| Treasurer | Only where the Financial Addendum is adopted. Keeps the fund and reports it to the Council at every meeting. The duties and the checks on money are in that booklet. |
4.2How Officers Are Chosen
At the founding. The Fivefold Alliance is born in an order: Headquarters, then the Chairperson, then the officers, then the delegates and their Council. The first officers arise from Headquarters. They are leaders of the founding churches who agree to serve there, and each of them sends a delegate from their own church. They begin to serve when Headquarters is born, and the Council confirms them at its first meeting.
After the founding. A person applies for the office they wish to serve in. The Council reviews the applications, confirms each officer by vote and commissions them. An officer must be a member in good standing of an FCA church, sign the Code of Conduct, and provide three references, or pass a background check if they will work with children or youth.
4.3Terms and Limits
- Officers serve two-year terms and may apply again. No one holds the same office for more than two terms in a row.
- Terms are staggered, so that not every office changes hands in the same year.
- An officer does not hold a church’s vote on the Council while in office.
- The President does not come from the Headquarters church, nor from the Chairperson’s church. No church holds more than one office at a time unless there are too few churches to fill them.
- While the Fivefold Alliance is small, one person may hold two offices, but never two that check each other: not President and Secretary, and not President and Treasurer.
4.4When an Office Falls Empty
If the President cannot serve, the Vice President serves until the Council confirms a new President. Any other empty office is filled at the next Council meeting; until then the President names a member in good standing to carry the work. The Council may remove an officer by two-thirds of the votes cast (Chapter 6).
4.5Jobs the Council Gives
Much of the work needs a person for a season, not an office for life: leading the year’s training, visiting a church to verify its Restoration Mark, standing with a church through the loss of its pastor. For these the Council names a person, a job and a length of time, in writing. When the job ends, the role ends. No standing rank is created.
When the Council Meets, and How a Meeting Runs@@ch5@@
The Council meets at Headquarters, where the delegates already gather. It meets often enough that no church waits long for help, and never so often that meeting becomes the work.
5.1The Three Kinds of Meeting
| Meeting | When | Who calls it |
|---|---|---|
| Regular meeting | Monthly or quarterly, as the work requires | The Chairperson |
| Yearly state review | Once a year | The Chairperson |
| Special meeting | Whenever it is needed | The Chairperson at any time, or one-third of the churches in writing |
The Secretary sends written notice of a regular meeting or the yearly review at least fourteen days ahead, and of a special meeting at least three days ahead, saying what it is for. A church that cannot be present in the room may take part by telephone or video, and is counted as present.
5.2The Agenda
The Chairperson prepares the agenda. So that no matter can be kept off it, any church, with one other church agreeing, may put a matter before the Council. It sends the matter to the Secretary in writing at least seven days before the meeting.
5.3When a Meeting Can Decide
A meeting can decide when more than half of the FCA churches are present. If fewer are present, those who came may talk and pray together, but nothing is decided.
5.4The Order of a Meeting
- Prayer, and the reading of a Scripture.
- The roll: the Secretary names the churches present and says whether the meeting can decide.
- The minutes of the last meeting, read and agreed.
- Reports: the President, the Vice President on workers placed, the Secretary, the Planning Department Secretary, and the Treasurer where there is one.
- Matters carried over from the last meeting.
- Requests for help, and where help will be sent.
- New matters on the agenda.
- Any ruling or appeal the Chairperson has to report.
- The date of the next meeting, and prayer.
5.5How Matters Are Discussed
The Chairperson gives every church that wishes to speak the chance to speak before a vote is taken. Officers may speak to explain their work. Pastors of FCA churches may attend and listen. Matters that touch a person’s safety or a confidential record are discussed with only the delegates and the officers concerned in the room.
5.6The Yearly State Review
Once a year the Council looks at every church in turn: its strengths and needs across the fivefold ministry, music and practical help; whether its delegate is stationed; and whether it has kept the Covenant. It sets each church’s state for the coming year, decides where help will go, asks whether Headquarters is serving every church fairly, and confirms officers whose terms have ended.
How the Council Votes@@ch6@@
Every church has one vote, whatever its size, its season or its place. Headquarters has one. The Chairperson and the officers have none.
6.1How Much Agreement Each Decision Needs
| Decision | What it needs |
|---|---|
| Ordinary decisions: where help is sent, a church’s state, the Restoration Mark, confirming an officer, receiving a church | More than half of the votes cast |
| Ending a church’s membership; removing an officer; adopting, changing or setting aside the Financial Addendum; changing this book or Volume One | Two-thirds of the votes cast |
| Changing the Covenant; overturning a ruling of the Chairperson | Three-quarters of all the FCA churches, present or not |
6.2Who Casts a Church’s Vote
A church’s vote is cast by its delegate, or by the person it has named to hold its seat. A church that is absent does not vote, and no one may vote on its behalf.
6.3Fairness in the Vote
- A church does not vote on a matter that is about itself alone: its own state, its own Restoration Mark, or its own membership. It speaks first, and then the others decide.
- A tied vote does not pass. The matter may be brought again at the next meeting.
- A church that has been sent a written notice for falling behind does not vote until it is current again (Volume One, 13.4).
- Votes are taken openly, church by church, and recorded in the minutes. A vote about a named person is taken by written ballot.
6.4Minutes and Records
The Secretary writes the minutes of every meeting: which churches were present, each matter decided, and how each church voted. The minutes are sent to every church within fourteen days and are read and agreed at the next meeting. Every church may see the minutes, the membership record and the signed Covenants. References, background-check records and any report of harm are kept in confidence by the Secretary and shown only to those who must act on them.
Rulings and Appeals@@ch7@@
A ruling is how the Fivefold Alliance is called back to its Covenant. An appeal is how a church or a person who has been wronged is heard.
7.1When the Chairperson Rules
The Chairperson rules a decision out of order only when it breaks the Covenant: for example, a decision that would have one church govern another, pass money between churches, take a church’s property, or go around its pastor. The Chairperson does not rule against a decision because he would have chosen differently.
7.2How a Ruling Is Made
- The Chairperson writes the ruling and names the part of the Covenant that is broken.
- The ruling is given to every church. It is made within thirty days of the decision.
- The decision is set aside, and the matter returns to the Council to decide again.
The Chairperson does not put a decision of his own in its place. The Council may overturn a ruling of the Chairperson by three-quarters of all the FCA churches. This is the check on the Chairperson’s seat.
7.3Who May Appeal
- A church whose membership has been ended, or whose vote has been set aside.
- A person who has been suspended from FCA service under the Code of Conduct.
- A church that believes a decision of the Council or an act of an officer has broken the Covenant toward it.
7.4How an Appeal Is Heard
The appeal is sent to the Chairperson in writing within thirty days. The Chairperson hears both sides and answers in writing within thirty days more. Where a child’s or another person’s safety is at risk, a suspension stays in force while the appeal is heard: safety comes first. In the spirit of Galatians 6:1, the aim of every appeal is restoration wherever it is possible.
Changing the Rules, and When Something Goes Wrong@@ch8@@
Rules must be able to change, or they will be broken. But the deeper the rule, the more churches must agree before it changes.
8.1How Each Document Is Changed
| Document | How it is changed |
|---|---|
| The Covenant | Three-quarters of all the FCA churches. The change is put in writing and read at one meeting, and voted on at the next, so that every church can take it home first. |
| Volume One and this book | Two-thirds of the votes cast. |
| The Financial Addendum | Two-thirds of the votes cast, to adopt it, change its amounts, or set it aside. |
8.2What Is Not Open to Change
Six things are the heart of the Covenant, and no vote may remove them: that no church governs another; that no one recruits another church’s members; that no money passes between churches and no church buys help; that no one takes part in another church’s internal decisions; that no one claims another church’s property; and that every church holds one vote.
8.3When Something Goes Wrong
| If | Then |
|---|---|
| An officer or delegate breaks the Code of Conduct | The concern is brought to the President, who may suspend the person from FCA service until the Council decides. If the concern is about the President, it is brought to the Chairperson. |
| A church has had no delegate for three months | The Secretary sends a written notice. The church does not vote or receive new worker assignments until it is current. After six months the Council may end its membership. |
| Two churches are in dispute | When both ask, the Chairperson, or a person the Council names, helps them settle it. Neither church is governed by the other, or by the Council. |
| A church loses its pastor | Its officers may ask for help under a Pastoral Transition Agreement (Form P-1). The Fivefold Alliance helps, and does not take the church over. |
| There is a concern about abuse or harm | It is reported at once to the President and to the authorities as the law requires. It is never handled privately. |
| The Chairperson breaks the Covenant | Any church may bring it before the Council. The Council may set aside the act by three-quarters of all its churches, and the delegate chosen to preside runs that part of the meeting. |
Appendix A: Who Does What@@appa@@
| Who | Decides | Carries out | Cannot |
|---|---|---|---|
| Delegate Council | The shared work; states; officers; membership; the rules | Nothing itself; it works through the officers | Decide any church’s internal matters |
| Chairperson | Whether a decision breaks the Covenant; what the Covenant means; appeals | Presides; calls meetings | Vote; hold office; handle money; replace a decision with his own |
| President | Each worker assignment and time block, within what the Council has decided | The Council’s decisions; leads the officers | Vote; preside; come from the Headquarters church or the Chairperson’s church |
| Vice President | Nothing alone | Places the workers; stands in for the President | Vote |
| Secretary | Nothing alone | Records, notices, minutes, confidential files | Vote |
| Planning Department Secretary | Nothing alone | Service time blocks; the FCA Calendar | Vote |
| Headquarters | Nothing for the Fivefold Alliance; it has one vote like every church | Hosts the training, the delegates and the Council | Govern any church, or require anything of it |
| Each church | Everything about itself | Its own promises under the Covenant | Govern another church |
Appendix B: The Meeting Sheet@@appb@@
The Secretary fills in one sheet for every meeting of the Council and keeps it with the minutes.
| Matter | Brought by | For | Against | Decided |
|---|---|---|---|---|