Legal Resources

Creating Church (or Region/District) Bylaws

This tab includes:

1. A list of specific considerations before writing your bylaws.
2. A general template to start from.

You will find:

• Some specific examples of other Missionary Churches’ bylaws that you could use as a springboard for yours:

• Elder led 
• Large-staff led
• Elected church board/deacons/elders
• Spanish

• Many organizations, including many attorney practices, can help you to create your bylaws for a fee. Make sure they are familiar with the specific needs of churches. Here are two Christian organizations:

• Luke 9:23 Ministries
• StartChurch

Once you have considered these things and started writing your bylaws, feel free to contact the national and/or your regional office for help with specifics, if needed. There is NO FEE for our services. For the national office, email [email protected].

• Any time you reference the Constitution of the Missionary Church, don’t use numbering to specify which article; instead, use the article title or wording similar to this: “the corresponding article(s) in the        Constitution of the Missionary Church.” In this way you don’t need to change your bylaws when the MC changes theirs. This is also true for references to the Regional/District/Network bylaws if referenced.
• Be careful that you don’t write the bylaws so tight that you limit flexibility in areas where it is helpful. For example, avoid specifying the time of the business meeting or setting term limits. If you say a maximum of one term of three years, you’re stuck.
• Decide in advance what the leadership structure of your church will look like by considering the following options:

• Elders, board, or a combination?
• Pastor & staff roles in leadership (The MC Constitution has clear guidelines for the selection of a pastor.)
• Election and nomination process – who nominates, and is it an affirmation vote or a vote for one of a number?
• Will there be term limits?

• Details of the local business meeting:

• How often and how is it going to be announced
• Who can vote? (the MC Constitution requires people to be 16 years of age and members of the local church)
• What constitutes a positive vote? Specify what number of people would constitute a quorum.
• Can it be done virtually?

• What officers does your state require you to have?
• Please do not write bylaws based on previous bad experiences, but write them based on what is biblical and what has worked well in other churches. Many times policies can be effectively used to deal with specific issues.
• Bylaws can be proactive about risk. So, you will want to decide how you will provide indemnification. In other words, how is the church going to secure (protect) an individual against future loss or damages arising from events that occur while the individual serves in his/her capacity as a board member, staff (employee), officer, or volunteer? This can be done in two ways:

• If the church has sufficient resources, the bylaws might state that the church will indemnify those  acting on behalf of the church. However, this is generally not a good approach as the resources needed can be large.
• State in the bylaws that the church will purchase what is commonly referred to as a D&O policy to provide indemnity for individuals while serving in their capacity for the church. Any insurance company that provides coverage for churches will have this kind of policy available.

Churches organized as a 501(c)3, or under a denominational 501(c)3, are usually tax exempt and do not need to pay taxes. See this IRS site for details.

However, though taxes do not usually need to be paid certain filing requirements are required as this link explains.

The IRS makes this illuminating booklet available to help churches and other religious organizations ensure their compliance with the current federal tax code. The table of contents includes the following topics: tax-exempt status and how congregations may unintentionally jeopardize it, reimbursement of business expenses, record keeping and the length of time that records must be kept, paying employee taxes, tax audits in relationship to religious organizations, and housing allowances and other regulations relevant for clergy compensation.

A number of great sources are available to the church to help with the financial and legal side of starting a church. The Generate team at Missionary Church Headquarters can help in some cases, but here are some organizations that can provide comprehensive training, support or services for a fee.

Church Law & Tax, a ministry of Christianity Today

Luke 9:23 Ministries 

Most churches are blessed with significant facilities with which to serve the Lord in ministry to their own people and the community around them. Using them to the fullest extent possible to extend hospitality to members and guests is clearly a stewardship issue.

When making the facility available to individuals in the church and services outside the church it is important to have a very clear understanding of the responsibilities of each party. This resource from Church Law & Tax clarifies and leads you to some best practices in this area.

A church is not exempt from copyright laws for its printing, PowerPoint presentations, music, videos and any other form of copying information written or produced by others. CCLI is an organization that specifically keeps track of music and video copyright details used in worship whereas Church Law & Tax can help with general copyright issues.

Computers help make the day-to-day operations of running a ministry easier to manage. It’s important for ministries to take special care with the information that’s housed on them- everything from financial records to personal information about employees to banking information. Be aware of how much damage could be done if the security of your ministry’s computer were compromised.

Brotherhood Mutual’s Safety Library has many free articles, checklists, sample forms, and other resources that can help your ministry make cyber safety a priority. Here are some examples of what you’ll find:

SEE RESOURCES >

CYBER SECURITY CHECKLIST >