Church, does not sell but may transfer title of its facilities to another United Methodist church or agency; and (d) the congregation, in case of relocation, first offers its property to a United Methodist congregation or agency at a price not to exceed fair market value. The Separation Protocol also requires local churches who wish to become independent to pay a pension obligation, twenty-four months of apportionments, and anything else the conference wishes to impose on a departing local church that keeps its property.. JACKSONVILLE, Fla. The Florida Conference of The United Methodist Church was slapped with a 36 page lawsuit; 106 of its churches alleging the conference's . The 27 pews, which are bolted to the floor, must be removed by the buyer between Dec. 9 and Dec. 13 from the 12525 Lake Ave. building. " The ongoing master plan led the church to consider the sale," Dalton Rushing, the DFUMC's senior pastor told Decaturish. Housing allowances are considered to be current expenses so sale proceeds cannot be used in this way. TMCP holds legal title in its capacity as Custodian Trustee on trust for the local Managing Trustees by virtue of the Methodist Church Act 1976. the process of selling or mortgaging church-owned property via email: administration@fmcusa.org or call 1-800-342-5531 and ask to speak with my Executive Assistant. While The United Methodist Church is not a legal entity capable of owning assets, General Conference can make rules that impact the assets owned by units of The United Methodist Church that are legal entities. In any sale, the QSR that the Managing Trustees are obliged to obtain under s.119 of the Charities Act 2011 will provide vital guidance to the Managing Trustees on how to proceed in the best interests of the charity. Local churches and other United Methodist agencies and institutions may acquire, hold, maintain, improve, and sell property for purposes consistent with the mission of the Church, unless restricted or prevented by the Discipline. The denomination promulgates rules about uses of capital and operating money. Can the property still be used, perhaps in a different way to further Mission? Especially when it comes to financial property, local congregations may have significant assets beyond their building over which annual conferences may want to assert their ownership. The Tennessee Conference has avoided litigation since Carson assumed the chancellor position in 2012 by either keeping control of the church property or selling it to the departing congregation. If Managing Trustees have decided that they want to explore the possibility of selling property and have considered the "Strategic Guidance for Property in Mission", then there are different steps to take depending upon whether one of the firms on the Methodist Panel of solicitors (Panel Firm) will be instructed to assist in the sale. First, its important to explain two critical legal frameworks that impact all United Methodist assets: the concept of legal personhood and the trust clause. Quinquennial inspections. While the UMC as a whole does not own assets,all of the assets of each of these groups are heldin trustfor the UMC as a whole. "Of course, agencies, annual conferences, and congregations routinely make grants to support the ministry of non-United Methodist legal entities (partner denominations, non-UMC nonprofits, etc. But there is a very important point to be made about assets and legal entities within the UMC. Lay leaders often try to apply wisdom about their home ownership, but often those lessons do not apply.Similarly, clergy and lay leaders often find themselves debating moral and sentimental issues regarding property rather than tackling practical, often financial, issues. Under the first scenario, the Separation Protocol passes and thousands of progressive and conservative churches leave the denomination and fold into a new denomination, leaving the UMC without future funding. Detroit-based Dalton + Tomich PLC is comprised of land use, denominational trust law, and business law attorneys. Monday 26 April 2021, 7:55pm. St. Andrews United Methodist Church (845 N Howard Street) on Seminary Hill is seeking Planning Commission approval to demolish and rebuild its church on a smaller lot.. CONGREGATION WILL SELL PROPERTY, INVEST IN LOCAL NEEDS A new way to proclaim the Gospel Seminaries, like many institutes of higher learning, prepare students intellectually but not pragmatically, especially in matters involving property. Dalton explained that the proposed budget to be voted on at the May 2020 General Conferencecalls for a23% reductionin spending based on2017giving levels, a major budget adjustment prompted by the staggeringnumber of people fleeing local Methodist churches over the past decade due to the internal denominational schism. UM & Global is the collaborative blog of United Methodist Professors of Mission. This post is republished with permission from UM & Global, the collaborative blog of United Methodist Professors of Mission. One problem here is that most bankers, investment brokers, and real estate agents are not familiar with the intricacies of the BOD. As 2501.2 says, Property can be released from the trust, transferred free of trust or subordinated to the interests of creditors and other third parties only to the extent authority is given by the Discipline.. This article was originally published at UM News.Richard Reinhard is associate of The Lakelands Institute and principal of Niagara Consulting Group. Conferences, councils, boards, agencies, local churches, and other units bearing the name United Methodist are, for the most part, legal entities capable of suing, and being sued, and possessed of legal capacities. (emphasis added). This applies to most famously to local churches, but also to districts, annual conferences, jurisdictions, and boards and agencies. If Managing Trustees intend to instruct one of the Panel Firms (see box above), then they can take advantage of the streamlining process for sales introduced in September 2021. Selling the real estate, especially in Nashville, makes sense because there is so much attractive, vacant Methodist Church property throughout the country that can be repurposed; but convincing a Bishop to give up a beautiful building in a vibrant downtown and move somewhere less desirable can be difficult at best, Dalton said. Sincerely, The local church makes decisions almost without regard to a national or regional body. Several other places in the BOD also give the annual conference explicit powers regarding the sale or transfer of local church property or its release from the trust clause. Quick Statutory Reference Guide Sale, mortgage and lease of real property of religious . Moreover, in multiple-point charges, there may be both local church trustees for the property of each congregation and a board of trustees for property owned by the charge as a whole. 3. b) Upon a recommendation by the district superintendent, and with the consent of the presiding bishop, a majority of the district superintendents, and the appropriate district board of church location and building, the annual conference may declare a local church closed. It becomes easier to send in a team to work on a churchs services, music and sermons than to confront a church whose real estate outsizes and outspends its congregation.The net result is that churches that need to close do so one at a time, often with deteriorated property and decimated finances, rather than as part of any sort of local or regional strategy.A few savvy churches are looking into sharing their properties. First, the denominations structure and the pronouncements of its Book of Discipline make dealing with properties difficult. Separate to the Methodist panel of solicitors, a Methodist panel of surveyors is also available to help Managing Trustees managed by the Property Support Team. A hundred years ago, when many United Methodist churches were founded, a worshiper needed to be able to walk or ride a horse to church on Sundays, but no more. (If you are following the streamlining process for sales then please read the general sales guidance together with the Streamlining Sales Focus Note to understand where the usual sales requirements fit into the Streamlining Process). This trust requirement is an essential element of the historic polity of The United Methodist Church or its predecessor denominations or communions and has been a part of the Discipline since 1797. Following a review of the Connexional Property Strategy in early 2021, new guidance from Property Support is now available which sets out key priorities to enable effective use of property for Mission across the Connexion. The church and Rob Lanphear of Pivot Development are planning to build 25 townhomes on part of the church's property at 13000 Gayton Road. Under the second scenario, no separation plan passes, and local churches will immediately leave, either to become independent, or to form a denomination with others. Incidentally, thats true not just for the UMC, but also for the Episcopalian Church and other bodies that also have a trust clause in their church law. The church is headed to the Planning Commission on Tuesday, Jan. 5, seeking permission subdivide its current lot to reconstruct the church on one part of the property closer to the street and sell the rest to St. Stephen's . obtain confirmation as to whether the seller is connected to the charity within the meaning of s.118 of the Charities Act 2011. ask your legal advisers to ensure that the draftsale contract, transfer and/or lease include the. This array of decision-makers increases the chances for conflict over assets within the local church itself. Philosophy. Others, such as the United Church of Christ and other congregational denominations, are bottom-up. Please use the Template Instruction Letter when you instruct your surveyor and provide your surveyor with this link to the Template QSR (https://www.tmcp.org.uk/property/sales/resources/standard-documents-and-forms/template-qsr). Please refer to the Streamlining Page of the TMCP Website for guidance on the six stages of the process, the key steps for Managing Trustees to take, when and how TMCP and your professional advisors will assist throughout the process and links to all the resources that have been prepared to help you. St. Mark United Methodist Church, at Peachtree and 5th streets, wants to sell about an acre of its land. From Junior Church to leading the drive to support a foodbank. religious corporation intends to sell or otherwise dispose of all or substantially all of its assets, regardless of their form, including intangible property such as bonds, stocks or certificates of deposit, Article 2-b of the RCL should be consulted. . As previously discussed, The United Methodist Church as a whole is not a legal entity capable of owning property or financial assets. Churchgoers' offering accumulates to support the work of bishops and general agencies, among other global church efforts. Kenya Methodist University belongs to the church. Yet before United Methodists make plans to divide their assets, it is important to come to a clearer understanding of just what those assets are and how they may (or may not) be disposed of in the future. Two years ago, factions in the United Methodist Church (UMC) agreed on a plan for splitting the denomination with conservative churches keeping their property as they leave. The trust clause may or may not apply to other UMC-related entities like colleges and hospitals. The annual conference board of trustees shall dispose of the property in its discretion, unless otherwise directed by the annual conference or as required by law. References to the United Methodist Church in a congregation's articles of incorporation, for instance, can be damaging. Rev Kanyaru said they published the caveat after discovering that there was a plan to sell church land valued at more than Sh20 billion at Gitanga in Nairobi. 2549. All of these provisions add up to clear enforcement of the trust clause on local churches by annual conferences. Westland Free Methodist Church. Lot 22 Sold 300,000 5 Bed Detached House. But Rev Ntombura said money and property has never been a source of trouble in the Methodist church. There will be a substantial loss of churches if either one of two likely scenarios occur. If the annual conference board of trustees sells or leases the property, consideration should be given to selling or leasing the property to one of the other denominations represented in the Commission on Pan-Methodist Cooperation and Union. As one colleague said: We force churches to collect information on every aspect of their worshipers but next to nothing about their property.2. A Primer on UMC Assets: Local Church Assets. If houses of worship follow trends predicted for U.S. restaurants and retailers, as many as 20% of the national total could close up to 100,000 over the next several years with The United Methodist Church being no exception to the nationwide trend.The pandemic isnt the only reason for closings. All the deeds, records, and other official and legal papers, including the contents of the cornerstone, of a closed local church shall be collected by the district superintendent and shall be deposited for permanent safekeeping with the annual conference commission on archives and history. Staff Directory. However, such grants would be at the discretion of the (still-UMC-affiliated) agency, annual conference, or congregation. After that, who cares who keeps the Sunday School books, right? If a local church in a non-urban center is closed, any proceeds of the sale of its property may be used for new churches, new faith communities, new missional initiatives, relocating churches, churches building multi-campus facilities for the purpose of evangelistic church extension, or an organization that is a nonprofit and has values consistent with The United Methodist Churchs values and is consistent with our Wesleyan heritage, theology, and United Methodist polity. Contact: Matt Garfield, United Methodist Foundation of Western NC 888-450-1956 Ext. Such a plan could make local property a prize to be fought for between local leave and stay factions, with each group seeking control of the property. Trustees for Methodist Church Purposes 2023, Granting a Non-Residential Lease to a Third Party, Charity law and Methodist law, policy and best practice requirements on sales, Section F of the Sales Guidance for Managing Trustees, First Legal Steps on a Property Project chart, External Links GNJ Events. Third, even with the property tax exemption that houses of worship enjoy, real estate has become more expensive to maintain, with hikes in utilities, insurance and capital repairs.Today, the pandemic has made it questionable whether worshipers will return to closed houses of worship.Many churches are in a downward spiral: congregations dwindle, contributions decline, reserves erode, buildings deteriorate, staff is less able to be supported, the church becomes less attractive to attend. more than 3 years ago, If you really want to know where they get their money you can see that on their annual audit.https://www.gcfa.org/media/2002/2b1b2-general-board-of-church-and-society-12-31-18-financials.pdf. John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement, kept the various Methodist societies and small groups bound together through covenants, shared practices (such as love feasts and night watches) and the model deed, or "trust clause."The model held all church property under a shared trust and ensured the various societies and bands used their assets and facilities to faithfully carry out . The United Methodist Church as a whole is not a legal entity itself, as 141 of the Book of Discipline makes clear: These terms [The United Methodist Church, the general Church, the entire Church, and the Church] refer to the overall denomination and connectional relation and identity of its many local churches, the various conferences and their respective councils, boards and agencies, and other Church units, which collectively constitute the religious system known as United Methodism. The loss of local members has resulted in less donations to the local church, which in turn, has resulted in lower apportionments to the annual conferences, Dalton said. There are several possible implications when making this type of move. Barring action by General Conference, UMC assets will continue to be held in trust for the UMC as a whole, regardless of who may or may not be part of the denomination at any future point. Requirement of the Trust Clause for All Property-1. Except as provided in 2549.3, the district superintendent may, pursuant to this paragraph, recommend the closure of a local church, upon a finding that: a) The local church no longer serves the purpose for which it was organized or incorporated ( 201-204); or. It also applies to all financial assets owned by a local church. Although the exact requirements will depend upon the type of property being sold and method of sale, in summary the Managing Trustees will need to: The Sale Guidance Notes aim to help Managing Trustees and their professional advisers to navigate their way through the charity law and Methodist law, policy and best practice requirements on sales: If you are following the streamlined sale process then please use the resources on the Streamlining page of the TMCP website: If you want the sale to be considered as a replacement project please address any questions relating to logging a project to the Web Applications Team and any other questions to Property Support who are responsible for decisions relating to replacement projects. Procedurea) Prior to a recommendation to close a local church, the district superintendent shall: (1) Guide the congregation in an assessment of its potential as outlined in 213, in consultation with the appropriate agency assigned the responsibility of the conference parish and community development strategy; (2) Obtain and consider an opinion of legal counsel as to the existence of any reversion, possibility of reverter, right of reacquisition, or similar restrictions to the benefit of any party; (3) Develop, in consultation with the appropriate district board of church location and building, a plan for the future use of all the real and personal, tangible and intangible property of the local church; and. Multiple use such as the sanctuary and other rooms used by other congregations or mixed use such as an education building converted into child-care center help bring revenues into a church and may generate activity that grows the congregation. The same small congregation that currently meets in a relatively huge building could gather in smaller, less expensive space and survive, if not thrive maybe in a worshipers living room as a dinner church.Before the pandemic, one annual conference rated churches based upon nine performance criteria relating to economic health and congregational size. Is any additional support or assistance available to the Managing Trustees if they wish to explore alternatives? The legal owner of nearly all Methodist land and property is TMCP. Plus, commercial real estate considerations of prime church properties, Media Contacts: Barbara Fornasiero, EAFocus Communications; barbara@eafocus.com; 248.260.8466; Daniel Dalton; ddalton@daltontomich.com; 248.229.2329. He managed economic-development organizations and city agencies for 30 years before working for the past five years in management positions involving properties for The United Methodist Church. "The church is the people - not the building," said Mike Moyer, chair of the Biltmore UMC Church Council. 1011 Northcrest Road Lansing, MI 48906 Phone: 517-347-4030 Updated: 10:44 PM EDT July 18, 2022. This trust clause applies to the property of all parts of The United Methodist Church, but local churches are in a unique position with regard to the trust clause for several reasons: 2503 . Learn more about our services for businesses and religious organizations at https://www.daltontomich.com/. 1/18/2017. For information on the panel surveyors please refer to the panel surveyors page on the Methodist Church website contact sheet produced by the Connexional Team:: Panel Surveyors Page Methodist Church Website. Stay up-to-date on important announcements, events and more. It is common to hear congregational trustees say that they are one new roof (or boiler or steeple repair) away from closing.The high costs of too-large, too-burdensome real estate can smother congregations. Sell or redevelop the assets of one. 4. From The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church - 2016. A United Methodist Church in Marathon, N.Y. Creative Commons photo. A Methodist building that is welcoming, eye-catching and that . Stay or leave, there are costs that local churches must consider in the exploration of the life of their local church after the United Methodist Church General Conference in May 2020, Dalton said.
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