Page:The church manual (Church of the Brethren 1916).djvu/32

Rh 1. Dear brother, it is your duty to visit and oversee the poor in the church. Also to assist and attend to the annual general visit, made from house to house prior to Communion occasions.

2. When things of importance are to be investigated, it is your duty, when requested, to accompany the minister, or you may be sent alone to investigate the matter and report to the minister.

3. It is your duty to visit the sick, the poor and distressed, and report their condition, that their wants may be attended to. In all their administrations a correct account should be kept and a report made to the church.

4. It is your duty to assist the minister, when called upon, by reading the Scriptures, leading in prayer, and in bearing testimony to what has been said by the minister. When no minister is present, it is your duty to take charge of the meeting by singing, prayer, reading the Scriptures, and also to exhort, if it can be done to the edification of the congregation.

5. It is your duty, at times of Communions, to see that the necessary preparations are made, that the tables are served, and that everything is attended to in proper time and order.

In addition to the above-named officers, every organized church should have Trustees — five or seven — a Treasurer, a Clerk, and a Sexton.

Trustees.— The duties of the trustees are, to have a general oversight of all church property, attend to its incorporation, and