Starting A Congregation


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In most states you need to have 3 people to incorporate. Officers of an unincorporated church should be a matter of the church. To have a church congregation you must have church members or at least people who attend services. This is at least to the best of my knowledge which is in no way legal advice.

Edited by Brother Kaman
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Nothing I've read requires anyone but the pastor to be in such a licensed position.

Usually the Secretary and Treasurer are merely members of said congregation, but even that is not required, just usual practice, unless you are going to Incorporate. You will also need to formulate such things as your Mission Statement, Charter/Creed/Doctrine etc and if you are going to be "Non-Profit" what IRS requires for legit 501 © 3.

There's not a whole lot of painful paperwork involved, most counties require a few simple forms. Perhaps someone who has been through this process, not just read about it, can help. I have an overtly simple, personal registration for my "congregation" and was just hoping to answer your initial question...and um yeah...what Bro Kaman said about legal advice, not here either! :)

Blessings of Peace,

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Best advice I can offer is if you seek to be tax exempt, or to incorporate, get the proper professional advice (a tax professional, a lawyer, or both as applies to your situation). Many will offer basic advice at low to no cost, and if their services are appropriate to your needs, will advise you as to the price of their services. When it comes to matters of taxes, tax exemption, or creating a business entity, there is nothing as valuable as the proper professional advice. Failure to be properly informed can be costly if someone wishes to make a matter of it, even if the omission or error is strictly accidental.

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i have been in the process of getting a church up and running and am extreamly close. We have found a wealth of info on this ULC sight and have also formed a board of directors with me being the president, my wife is the secretary (she is also ordained with ULC Hq, altho her ordination doesn't matter as only one person on the board should be a minister) and a treasurer not ordained. The ULC Seminary has all the documents ie. by-laws, resolutions and the such you can use and adapt to your own needs.We have registered the church name with our Sec. of States Office and also have an EIN# from the IRS ( this is free through the IRS and also registers the church name with them).We have been working on a web sight you can get free from many different web site providers, ( we went with Yola )and it's very simple getting a web site up very quickly. Search the different ULC pages and you can find what you need to start a real church. The only thing left for us is an actual building, but we are looking at one the shows promise and it may happen very soon. PM me if you need any additional info on this and I will be very happy to help.

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None of the board positions are required to be clergy. There are numerous churches completely run from the business aspect by the laity and even some smaller church that ordain their own clergy without some higher organization doing it.

If plan on collecting any kind of funds or want to own/rent any property in the church's name, you need to register your church with the appropriate state and federal agencies. A lawyer and accountant are highly advised if you are pursuing this option.

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