CHURCH RESOURCES
Matthew Morley, Esquire, the firm’s managing attorney, currently serves as the Chancellor of the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference of The United Methodist Church. In this capacity, he advisors the Bishop and his Cabinet, the Board of Trustees, and several related entities in all manner of legal matters.
Mr. Morley also serves as a general resource for the constituent United Methodist churches that form the Eastern Pennsylvania Annual Conference and has compiled a list of resources to assist local United Methodist churches with various legal issues.
Unless you have a signed engagement letter with KLM Attorneys LLC, you are not a client of our firm. The below is for informational purposes only. If you are interest in engaging KLM Attorneys LLC for a church-related matter, please email Matthew Morley at morley@klmattorneys.com.
I. Local Church Incorporation and Corporate Governance
The Pennsylvania Department of State maintains a database of business entities at https://www.corporations.pa.gov/search/corpsearch. You can check this database to determine whether or not your church is incorporated in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. If you are incorporated, you can order copies of important corporate filings.
If your local church is not incorporated, you should consider incorporating. Doing so provides important legal separation from your local church’s leaders and any related entities (preschools, cemeteries, etc.). The GCFA (General Conference of Finance & Administration) has guidance on incorporating in the local church section of their legal manual: https://www.gcfa.org/media/1270/section-2-local-church.pdf
The Articles of Incorporation must be filed with the the Pennsylvania Department of State. Copies of the PA Articles of Incorporation filing are available at (https://www.dos.pa.gov/BusinessCharities/Business/RegistrationForms/Pages/default.aspx). This site also includes useful and important forms, such as the Statement of Merger, Registration of Fictitious Name, and the Annual Statement, which must be filed when you have a change in principal officers of the Corporation.
Make sure to read the instructions to all forms carefully.
II. United Methodist Law
The United Methodist Church constitution became effective on April 23, 1968 and formally recognized the Union of Evangelical United Brethren and The Methodist Church. The Constitution is included in the United Methodist Book of Discipline, a free version of which is available online at https://www.cokesbury.com/book-of-discipline-book-of-resolutions-free-versions. The Book of Discipline functions similar to the “bylaws” of the denomination and is normally republished every four years following the meeting of the General Conference.
III. United Methodist Governance
An overview of the United Methodist basic organizational structure is available at https://www.umc.org/en/content/constitutional-structure. The General Conference, which normally the meets every four years is the primary legislative body. Its delegates include representatives from all over the world and include both clergy and lay delegates. Bishops do not vote but do attend General Conference.
The Annual Conference is the primary unit of denominational government. A Bishop typically is assigned to one annual conference but may be assigned to multiple conferences.
The United Methodist Judicial Council is the denominations’ highest judicial body and functions as the Supreme Court” of the denomination. More information on the Judicial Council, including members, dockets and decisions is available online at https://www.resourceumc.org/en/churchwide/judicial-council.
IV. Other useful sites
- GCFA’s page on the Group 501(c)(3) Ruling. https://www.gcfa.org/services/legal-services/group-ruling/
- GCFA’s Legal Manual https://www.gcfa.org/services/legal-services/legal-manual/
- GCFA’s Copyright Guidelines https://www.gcfa.org/media/1366/copyright_compliance_for_local_chuches_2015.pdf
- The Eastern Pennsylvania Conference of The UMC website. https://www.epaumc.org/
- The Northeastern Jurisdiction of The UMC website http://www.nejumc.org/
- Pennsylvania Department of State Nonprofit Corporations page: https://www.dos.pa.gov/BusinessCharities/Business/Resources/Pages/Pennsylvania-Nonprofit-Corporations-.aspx
- Don Kramer’s Nonprofit Issues https://www.nonprofitissues.com/
- Guide for Developing High-Quality Emergency Operations Plans for Houses of Worship https://www.fbi.gov/filerepository/developing_eops_for_houses_of_worship_final.pdf
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1/3/22
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