By Dillon McClain, Vice President/Attorney
Arkansas Baptist Foundation
The Foundation seeks to serve Arkansas Baptist churches (hereafter “Church or Churches”) in many ways, but we also provide guidance for Churches by reviewing their governing documents. We receive many phone calls related to tough situations going on at a Church and my initial response is typically, “What do your documents say?” Unfortunately, I usually hear responses like, “I don’t know”; “We will have to find those”; or “We don’t know where our bylaws are.”
While I understand that many churches operate without bylaws with no issue, there are too many legal and social issues facing Churches today for the above list of responses to be appropriate regarding a Church’s governing documents. A good set of bylaws can provide a Church a roadmap for stewarding the Church and how to handle tough situations.
The list below is a non-exhaustive summary of suggestions that we would give to any church:
- Locate your Bylaws – If your staff, trustees, operating committee, elders or other governing bodies your Church utilizes do not know where the bylaws are kept and stored, appoint someone to find the bylaws and make an effort for your leadership to know exactly where those documents are located.
- Review your Bylaws – If your governing bodies do not know what your bylaws say, have them review said bylaws and determine if they are adequate given the current state of the Church. If your governing documents are relatively old or have not been updated recently, we strongly recommend a staff person and/or committee look in to updating your governing documents to ensure the church has a robust guide no matter what situation presents itself in the future.
- Include Essential Provisions – The below subparagraphs briefly describe policies or provisions we recommend including in Church bylaws or Policy manuals.
- Baptist Faith and Message (“BFM”). To ensure there is a definition of the Church’s stated beliefs and how the church campus will be used, the bylaws should have a standard by which those activities are defined. One way to do this is to state that the Church adheres to the BFM and all activities on the Church campus will be defined in accordance with the BFM.
- How to add and remove staff, trustees, committee members. Including clear procedures in a church’s bylaws for adding and removing staff, trustees, and committee members helps ensure fairness, transparency, and consistency in leadership decisions, while also protecting the church from potential conflict or legal disputes
- Policies concerning gift acceptance. Having a policy detailing out the types of gifts or restrictions the church will accept helps a church ensure all donations align with its mission, values, and legal obligations, while providing clarity to donors and protecting the church from potential financial or ethical issues.
- An Accountable Reimbursement Policy. Allows a church to properly reimburse staff for ministry-related expenses while staying compliant with IRS guidelines, ensuring that reimbursements are not treated as taxable income and maintaining good financial stewardship.
The Arkansas Baptist State Convention and the Arkansas Baptist Foundation have samples or templates of church bylaws for you to review. If you would like to see a copy of these samples, you can email us at [email protected].
The information contained in this article does not constitute legal or tax advice and you should consult with your own legal counsel or tax counsel about your situation. If you have questions about this article or the Foundation’s services, please contact us at 501-376-4791, Ext. 5907 or [email protected].