Constitutions & By Laws

Forming the Constitution and By-Laws is one of the most important legal aspects of organizing a church. In decades past, most churches had a one—or two-page Statement of Faith, which might also include the number of deacons and how long they would serve. Other items included following Robert's Rules of Order for all business meetings. Today, those documents will not suffice as protection for the church corporation, its ministries, or its members.

We have already begun to see churches in legal jeopardy because they lack well-written and culturally up-to-date Constitutions and bylaws. We have also seen churches lose legal cases because they were not faithfully practicing and upholding their own rules and regulations. If your Constitution and bylaws contain a written document, you must follow it. If your church's culture and practices have changed or need to change due to growth or decline, your documents must be amended to reflect those changes.

Wise leaders will include protections regarding doctrinal beliefs and other potential subjective religious beliefs that could affect the church in the coming decades. As society continues to fall away from traditional values, the church must also include in detail their beliefs on such cultural hot topics as marriage, homosexuality, transgenderism, abortion, euthanasia, etc. While this may not provide complete protection from persecution and/or legal action against the church, it may help in any potential litigation. The Statement of Faith section should contain the church's biblical beliefs on doctrine, religious topics, and cultural issues. This section should not be able to be amended except to add further clarification and protection for the church, not to diminish the beliefs found within.

We fully understand that each church may have its way of doing things, wording things, varying beliefs on doctrine, and religious and cultural issues. The documents provided are simply a sample, not a dictate for churches to follow. However, the documents may be your Constitution and By-Laws if you wish. Feel free to contact us for any assistance you may need in making the documents your own or to answer any questions that arise.

To aid those evaluating their current documents or those planting churches, we have provided a Sample Constitution and bylaws to give a comprehensive overview of what to include and how to organize a church Constitution and bylaws. Yes, the document provided is lengthy and consists of the verses written out rather than simply providing references.

We have also provided the same Sample Constitution and By-Laws in an editable format in certain places to accommodate the fact that different churches refer to positions or boards by different names and may desire different requirements or time frames for accomplishing certain items.

A third Sample Constitution and By-Laws is provided with notes explaining sections and the reasons for including those sections and protections in the document. Too often, many in leadership follow someone else's work without fully understanding the "why" something is included or done. We do not want anyone to leave our website without a complete understanding of the importance of this document.