I am reviewing our church Articles of Incorporation that were submitted through the state of Illinois. They are incredibly basic and just cover our name, address, board members, purpose (religious), and another address of the incorporator.
There is no language in our Articles about our relationship with the CRC, etc, as seen here.
Do we need to expand our articles of incorporation to reflect these models? If so, why?
OK, first off I am not an attorney. Second, the rules of Illinois are probably different than those of Michigan. That being said, I believe that the primary purpose of modeling articles of incorporation became evident when churches began splitting and leaving the denomination during the long national nightmare of the WIO (Women in Office) issue. The practical question was this: If half of the congregation votes to leave the CRC and join the XYZ denomination, are they entitled to take the property with them? Who owns the property? By designating the relationship as one with the CRC, it helps with that question. One less piece of agony to work through during what can be an otherwise messier divorce situation. Read Article 6 D.
Hi Michael:
Here are a couple resources that may be helpful for you:
The first is a blog (found here) that includes brief background on Bylaws as well as a sample church Bylaws document.
Second, there was a communication (found here) that came out August 2015 about some revisions to the articles due to issues with same-sex marriage.
Thanks!
Sheri