(Editor’s Note:  We have reposted this article with the ‘read more’ link corrected.  Our apologies for the slowness in getting this fix done.)

The latest edition provides a new subsection on “electronic meetings,” with substantially expanded treatment of the topic.  The new edition devotes three pages to “electronic meetings,” up from one paragraph in the 10th edition.

Does your church use Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised as its parliamentary authority, either by a specific reference in the church bylaws or by common usage? If so, it is important for you to be familiar with the key provisions in the new and revised 11th edition of Robert’s Rules of Order, which released in late 2011, to ensure that your board and membership meetings are being conducted consistently with your parliamentary authority. The 11th edition replaces all earlier editions of Robert’s Rules, including the most recent 10th edition that was published in 2000.   

This new edition contains more than 100 substantive changes in parliamentary procedure. It is important for church leaders to be aware of this development since most church bylaws identify Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised as the official parliamentary authority in the conduct of membership meetings.     

Any church that has identified Robert’s Rules of Order or Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised in its governing document will be bound by the rules contained in the 11th edition. Following are three key changes in Robert’s Rules 11th edition that churches need to know about.   

1. Disciplinary matters.

The first significant change is a thorough revision of Chapter XX, Disciplinary Procedures, including more detailed treatment of removal of officers and trials as well as expanded provisions on remedies for abuse of authority by the chair in a meeting and on handling disruptions by members.    

This change illustrates a fundamental flaw that has persisted in recent editions of Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised. Henry Robert’s purpose in compiling his original Robert’s Rules of Order in 1876 was to provide a body of rules to assist organizations in conducting meetings with order, decorum, consistency, and efficiency. The original work was devoted entirely to an explanation of these rules. Its table of contents included two parts: rules of order and conduct of business. But subsequent editions of Robert’s Rules of Order have introduced several new subjects pertaining to matters of church governance and administration rather than parliamentary procedure. Matters of church governance and administration are addressed in a church’s bylaws or, in some cases, in the nonprofit corporation law under which a church is incorporated. For instance, church bylaws almost always define a quorum for both board and membership meetings, a quorum being the minimum number of members present in order for business to be transacted. If a church’s bylaws fail to designate a quorum, then the state nonprofit corporation law under which the church is incorporated will define a quorum. It is almost inconceivable that Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised will ever be the authority that defines a quorum in meetings of a church’s board or members.   

Many of these new, expanded topics in Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised have nothing to do with parliamentary procedure and therefore their inclusion in the new edition not only is inappropriate, but creates needless confusion due to the inevitable conflicts that will arise between a church’s bylaws and its parliamentary authority.     

Note the following two rules of construction:   

Rule 1. A church’s bylaws take precedence over conflicting provisions in Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised, since bylaws are a higher legal authority and are superseded only by a church’s charter (articles of incorporation) and in some cases by a church’s constitution and denominational rules.   

Rule 2. Any provision in Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised that does not pertain to parliamentary procedure exceeds the purpose of Robert’s Rules and is superseded by conflicting provisions in a church’s charter, constitution, or bylaws.   

This rule is illustrated by the following example:

Example. A church’s bylaws specify that the quorum for annual membership meetings is “20 percent” of all members. State nonprofit corporation law under which the church is incorporated specifies that a quorum is 10 percent of members. Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised specifies that the quorum in church meetings “consists of those who attend.” This is a perfect example of the impropriety of Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised addressing issues of governance in addition to rules of parliamentary procedure. The definition of a quorum in Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised is irrelevant. The operative quorum is the 20 percent specified in the church’s bylaws.

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