Bylaws of DiscipleMakers, Inc.

Revised 10/17/2020 by the Board of Directors

Article I – Who we are

Preamble: Before He ascended to the Father’s right hand, Jesus gave us His Great Commission. Some of His servants have seen a strategic opportunity to make disciples of all nations among college students, and have banded together in a mission based on biblical models. We are called DiscipleMakers.

Our Vision: “Then Jesus came to them and said, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.'” — Matthew 28:18–20

Our Mission: We believe Christ has:

  • called us to make disciples of all nations.

  • strategically prepared college students to respond to that call.

  • given us effective methods to accomplish His call:

    • Bible study that transforms character and worldview.

    • Leadership development and discipling.

    • Culturally relevant evangelism.

    • Life giving, encouraging fellowship.

    • Fervent prayer and moving worship.

  • used us in unique ways because we:

    • participate in, consult with and serve churches.

    • will to go to smaller colleges.

Motto: Reaching the Campus ... Reaching the World

Name: The legal name of the Pennsylvania corporation formed to support this mission is “DiscipleMakers, Inc.” (hereinafter, the “Organization” or “DiscipleMakers”).

Legal Purpose: DiscipleMakers, Inc. shall be organized and operated exclusively for one or more of the purposes set forth in § 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code (the “Code”), as amended and none of the earnings of the Organization may inure to the benefit of, or be distributable to, its members, board members, officers, or other persons, except that the Organization shall be authorized and empowered to pay reasonable compensation for services rendered and to make payments and distributions in furtherance of the purposes set forth herein. In addition, no substantial part of the activities of the Organization shall be the carrying on of propaganda, or otherwise attempting to influence legislation, and the Organization shall not participate in, or intervene in (including the publishing or distribution of statements) any political campaign on behalf of any candidate for public office except as authorized under the Code. 

Corporate Powers: The Organization shall have all of the powers granted by the Pennsylvania Nonprofit Corporation Law of 1988, as amended (the “Act”), including the power to purchase, take, receive, lease as lessee, take by gift, devise or bequest, or otherwise acquire, and to own, hold, use, and otherwise deal in and with any real or personal property, or any interest therein, in or out of this Commonwealth.

Corporate Offices: The Organization shall have and continuously maintain in this Commonwealth a registered office and a registered agent whose office address is identical with such registered office, and may have other offices within or outside the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as the Board of Directors may from time-to-time determine. 

 

Article II – Membership

The Organization shall have no members.

Article III — Mission Society

DiscipleMakers’ mission society shall consist of those who subscribe to the Organization’s religious mission and whom DiscipleMakers has designated “missionaries”—that is, those who have been accepted as missionaries according to DiscipleMakers’ missionary application process and who have signed DiscipleMakers’ Missionary Agreement. Only missionaries are eligible for employment within the Organization.

Doctrinal Statement: All Board and missionary members of DiscipleMakers must subscribe without reservation to this doctrinal statement and resign as soon as they realize they can no longer do so. Though we believe each of these points are essential, how a member determines what is truth is ultimately more important than the individual points of a doctrinal statement. In other words, our epistemology is critical though we have not covered it adequately here.

We believe:

  1. In one true God, existing eternally as one God in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

  2. That the Bible, consisting of the Old and New Testaments, is the unique, inerrant, inspired Word of God, and is the final authority in all matters of faith and conduct.

  3. In the sovereignty and active rule of God in creation, history, revelation, redemption, and final judgment.

  4. That Jesus is the only begotten Son of God, fully human and fully divine, eternally existing as God, yet born in time of a virgin, and that He lived a sinless and perfect life.

  5. In the historic death of Jesus as the full and only atonement for our sins, in His bodily resurrection from the dead, and in His ascension to the right hand of the Father.

  6. That men are justified only by the grace of God through faith alone, only on the basis of the death of Christ.

  7. That man was created by God in His image, but that since Adam's sin, all men are sinful and subject to God's wrath and condemnation.

  8. That those justified are also sanctified, by the grace of God, as they are progressively conformed to the image of Christ.

  9. That the Holy Spirit is present and effective in applying the work of Christ to believers in regenerating and sanctifying them.

  10. In one invisible, universal church, the Body of Christ, to which all true believers belong, and in particular Churches governed by officers with the authority to rule in matters of belief and discipline.

  11. In the visible return of the Lord Jesus Christ in glory.

  12. In the resurrection of the redeemed to the enjoyment of God forever in His presence, and the resurrection of the unredeemed to judgment and everlasting punishment in hell.

 

Core Values: All Board members and missionaries of DiscipleMakers must give themselves to our Core Values which further DiscipleMakers’ religious mission. If they cannot, they must resign. While it's important to believe our Core Values, it's even more important to live them by actively seeking to implement them in every area of life. The Core Values of DiscipleMakers are:

 

Scriptures

The Scriptures direct our lives. They should drive all that we think, say and do—not just what is religious or spiritual. We apply them to family, politics, work, study, leisure and every other area of life. As a mission we are particularly concerned that our ministry conforms to the Scriptures. We don't quote verses mindlessly; rather, using the common standards of human language, we determine what the original author said, what that meant to the original audience in their context, and how it applies in our context.

Scripture: Psalm 1; 2 Timothy 3:16,17; Matthew 24:35; Psalm 19; Psalm 119

 

Laborers

We, the laborers, are the key resource and our character is what counts. We are often told that money is limited, that the harvest is not what it used to be, or that God must pour out His Spirit in revival. According to the Scriptures none of these things is true! Rather, God promises all we need; He declares the harvest is plentiful and that His Spirit indwells us. He tells us what is actually in short supply: workers for the harvest. His Great Commission is that we make disciples. Jesus’ conception of a disciple or a laborer is far beyond someone who claims to be a Christian. He must give up everything, he must hold to His teaching and he must love others. In doing so, he will bear much fruit. This may be an unbelievably high standard, but Jesus has commanded us to pray and to work for this end. The quality of our student discipleship is high because we are examples of the image of God worthy for them to imitate. More quality staff laborers are critical to our efforts.

Scripture: Matthew 9:35-38; 2 Timothy 2; Genesis 1:27,28; John 4:34-38; Acts 6:1-7

 

Unity

Real unity is hard work. It comes from adopting a servant's attitude and speaking the truth in love. But normally, our relationships are so shallow that we cannot know if we have real unity. We maintain the Sunday morning facade rather than developing one heart and one mind. We must penetrate below surface issues and know each other at the heart level. Then we must work to expand what we agree on and minimize the areas of disagreement. We must be careful to work through conflicts and not avoid them. We must also hear each other out with sensitivity and affirmation, build agreement around the Scriptures, and not coerce one another. We are called to work together as one Body. We consider the welfare of the whole mission as more important than our own. We do what is needed regardless of our gifting or ability. As individuals we have not succeeded until the whole team has succeeded. We support the whole team and our leaders.

Scripture: Philippians 2; John 17:20-23; Psalm 133; Ephesians 4; 1 Corinthians 12-14; Romans 12; 1 John 3-4; 1 Peter 1:22-25

 

Faith

God asks us to see things from His point of view and then to act on them. It's not enough to see His truth ourselves; He calls us to make every effort to influence the world around us for Him. Sometimes that may mean working behind the scenes and other times that may mean leading the charge, but in every situation we take the initiative to do what we can for Him. We may have a formal leadership role, or we may have none. Whatever our organizational position, we are to ask ourselves what we can do to help. We do not allow fear of failure to stop us from trying. We keep failing in the right direction until the Lord calls us home.

Scripture: Hebrews 11; Luke 17:5-10; Nehemiah; Romans 4:20-21, 1 Timothy 6:11-12

 

Gospel

The gospel is the glorious truth that God saves us from our sin through Christ's perfect life, death, and resurrection. As we believe this truth, God transforms us into His image over time. Nonetheless, we stubbornly trust in other things or in other things plus Christ. Faithfully revealing these as idols of the heart, God calls us to worship Him alone. By His grace He saved us, continues to save us and will one day save us. We certainly make choices that have real consequences, but our hope is in Him and not us. He disciplines us to show us the horror of our sin. He teaches us to renew our minds. He enables us to live as holy, pleasing sacrifices. Our family, ministry, dreams, hopes and accomplishments may disappoint us. All DiscipleMakers will be forgotten, but we will rejoice in God our Savior forever.

Scripture: Romans 1-8; Matthew 5-7; Isaiah 53; Genesis 3-9; Ezekiel 14:1-6; Psalm 32,51; Ephesians 2:1-10; Philippians 2:6-11

 

Care for One Another

We trust in the Lord, but as a human organization, caring for one another is the source of our power. We, as a mission and individually as missionaries, shepherd each other. We love each other by doing what is best for one another. Many times that will mean a sympathetic ear and words of affirmation. At other times that will mean truth spoken in love frankly and directly. A helping hand can get us through a rough spot, but to make significant progress we must have our issues clearly identified and addressed. We will make mistakes in caring for each other, but we will keep trying until we get it right. The Lord has given us a fabulous opportunity, and we have banded together to take advantage of it. We need every member of our staff team, but we also need each member to be at his best and to be putting the team first. As we do this we develop energized missionaries who constantly re-energize each other. This gives us tremendous power.

Scripture: Colossians 3:16; 1 Thessalonians 5:11; Hebrews 3:13; 10:24,25; Ephesians 3:17b-19; 1 Thessalonians 3:6-13

 

Article IV – Board of Directors

The Organization shall have a Board of Directors who is responsible for the overall policy and direction of DiscipleMakers. The Board of Directors may delegate responsibility for day-to-day operations to the President or his or her agents. The Board of Directors shall create, or cause to be created, in addition to the herein bylaws, a Board Policy Manual. The Board Policy Manual shall include such items as policies on governance principles and responsibilities, Board composition, the Organization’s conflict of interest policy, as well as composition for each committee of the Board. In any instances of conflict between the policies or content of the Board Policy Manual and these bylaws, the provisions of the Organization’s bylaws shall prevail. 

The Board of Directors may from time to time appoint or employ such additional agents, employees and independent contractors as the Board deems advisable. The Board may prescribe their duties and the conditions of their employment, fix their compensation and dismiss them at any time, without prejudice to their contract rights, if any.

 

Article V — Insurance and Indemnification 

Insurance: The Organization may purchase and maintain insurance on behalf of any person who is or was a Director or officer or representative of the Organization, or is or was serving at the request of the Organization as a representative of another corporation, partnership, joint venture, trust or other enterprise against any liability asserted against him/her and incurred by him/her in any such capacity, or arising out of his/her status as such, whether or not the Organization has the power to indemnify him/her against such liability under the laws of this Commonwealth or any other state. 

Indemnification: To the full extent not prohibited by law, as the same exists or may hereinafter be amended, interpreted or implemented (but in the case of any amendment, only to the extent that such amendment permits the Organization to provide broader indemnification rights than the Organization is permitted to provide prior to such amendment), the Organization shall indemnify, defend and hold harmless any present or former officer or Director for all costs, expenses, monetary damages and attorneys’ fees incurred by reason of the fact that he or she was an officer or Director of the Organization to the fullest extent permitted by law; provided, however, that the Organization shall not indemnify any officer or Director of the Organization to the extent that his or her costs, expenses, monetary damage and/or attorneys’ fees were incurred as a result of his or her willful misconduct or gross negligence. 

Article VI — Grants, Bequests and Contributions 

Solicitation and Acceptance: The Organization may solicit and accept (whether or not solicited) grants, bequests and contributions from governmental units and agencies, other Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c)(3) organizations, private corporations, individuals, estates, trusts and others. Such grants, bequests and contributions may be in cash or in kind and may be encumbered or unencumbered. The Board may, in its discretion, refuse to accept a grant, bequest or contribution if the donated property is itself undesirable, if the donated property is deemed to be too heavily encumbered or if the grant, bequest or contribution is subject to an unacceptable restriction on its use. 

Use: All grants, bequests and contributions accepted by the Organization shall be used for the purposes for which they were given and in accordance with any terms and conditions prescribed by the donor. To the extent not used for operating expenses or capital expenditures pursuant to such prescribed terms and conditions, such funds may be turned over to a supporting organization for the Organization (if any) and/or a segregated endowment fund (if any), for investment and/or other application, as appears necessary or proper in carrying out the mission of the Organization and its tax-exempt purposes. Unrestricted gifts may be sold or otherwise disposed of, as necessary, by the Organization. 

Article VII — Books and Records 

The Organization shall keep correct and complete books and records of account and maintain appropriate internal control procedures and requirements. 

Article VIII — Fiscal Year 

The fiscal year of the Organization shall begin on the first day of July and end on the 30th day of June in each year. 

Article IX – Amendments

These bylaws may be altered, amended, or repealed and new bylaws may be adopted, by two-thirds of the entire Board of Directors at any regular meeting or at any special meeting called for that purpose, provided that: (i) a brief description of such proposed amendment(s) shall have been published at least seven (7) calendar days in advance of the meeting, and (ii) no such action shall be taken if it would in any way adversely affect the Organization’s religious purpose or qualification under Section 501(c)(3) of the Code (or any successor provision).