I find it very ironic that US believers, who rightfully love the US Constitution and its amendments, are often so poor at understanding the importance of (and executing on that importance) their church’s constitution and bylaws.
This irony gets worse when you consider that we are to literally be people of the Word, People of the Book, and people who understand the power of what is written down. So, even if you are a constitutional scholar (and I am most certainly not), stay with me as we go start from the beginning about your church’s constitution and bylaws, navigate how you can avoid major problems, and end with helpful best practice tips.
If your church is organized as a corporate entity, which includes a 501(c)3 not for profit entity, then you legally MUST have a controlling operating document – usually a constitution and bylaws.
“Why?”
Because it is the law for those types of entities.
And because a constitution and bylaws is the formation and controlling document of the organization; the same way that the US constitution is the formation and controlling document for the United States government. Think of it as the DNA code of your church. It sets out who your church is and isn’t, what your church believes and doesn’t, how your church operates and doesn’t, and who qualifies to do what in your church. (Well, at least it should spell out things like that, but more on that in a moment.)
So, since these documents generally and often broadly cover these key areas of process and business, many leaders mistakenly see these documents as restrictive. And they are!
“Wait, what? Your last two sentences seemingly cancelled each other out and totally demotivated me from doing anything that you are saying.”
Those last two statements will be demotivating, but only if you don’t understand the true power of restriction. The US constitution was developed specifically to create and give power to the government, but in a way that expressly limits/restricts the government from over-reaching and over-controlling its people. Its restrictive limitations on itself actually gives the people great freedoms and power.
Your church’s constitution and bylaws give leadership incredible freedom and power, by restricting others (both outside and inside the church) from being able to subvert, and at times even oppose, what the leadership of the church has chosen to do; when done in a manner that fits within the scope of your church’s constitution and bylaws. This is where the mistake that I mentioned above plays out… by not understanding how a well written and congregationally approved constitution and bylaws, gives the leadership proper, and yet considerable, decision-making power and freedom.
Think of it this way, the restrictive fence around your yard or the restrictive locks on your doors, only feel restrictive to the people on the outside (unless maybe, if you have a Siberian Husky). To the people on the inside, those mechanisms create safety and a clear line of previously established demarcation. This becomes even more important as the outside world is consistently trying to cave in the walls of powers and boundaries that a church currently has.
I cannot tell you how many times a pastor and/or their leadership team/board, have been “caught in a corner” because they didn’t do the work ahead of time to secure in writing, the power needed to execute the calling, office, and authority that the Lord has placed upon them. Or, as I stated above, a church’s problems (including a church’s legal problems) often start and stop with the church’s constitution and bylaws.
“That’s awful Ioannis!”
Yes, it is. And what makes it more awful, is that it is simply often due to laziness.
“So, what can we do?”
Glad you asked. You have to fix your church's constitution and bylaws problems right away! Start by reviewing and acting on the 11 tips below.
Constitution and Bylaws Recommendation/Tips:
1. Review your church’s constitution and bylaws at least once a year.
a. I recommend conducting this review at least two months before your church’s annual business meeting.
i. I hate to have to say this, but I very much do have to say this: if your church does not have at least one corporate business meeting annually, you need to make changes quickly. (You can contact us here if you know that this is you.)
b. It can be helpful to have read through other examples of constitution and bylaws, prior to the review of yours, to get an idea of what good can look like. I recommend starting with the template that is linked in 4b below.
2. Have your church’s constitution and bylaws legally reviewed at least once every few years. Law's can change rather rapidly over a 2 - 4 year timeframe.
3. Understand what each provision in your constitution and bylaws actually means, and what the vast implications are of each provision.
4. Work diligently to change negative and/or outdated provisions/sections of your church’s constitution and bylaws. You don’t have to live with bad, so don’t!
a. Have any proposed changes legally reviewed and approved BEFORE presenting them to the constituency for a vote.
b. It is TOTALLY OK for you to draft a brand-new constitution and bylaws and replace the old one with the new one… just make sure you follow the process in the old one that outlines how to make such changes.
i. Rather than starting from scratch though, I recommend starting with a good template. I usually point churches to the template from these guys from the Assemblies of God District in Northern California. Yeah, it is legally scripted for the laws of California and sometimes worded from an AG perspective, but I believe that it is still a great resource to get you started. (Scroll midway down and click the PDF or MS Word download. You can also click on the “How to Adopt New Bylaws” drop down link to get helpful and practical tips on the changeover process.)
ii. Get anything and everything legally reviewed BEFORE presenting to your congregation for a vote!
5. I recommend a leadership first approach to working through a change process of provisions in your church's constitution and bylaws.
a. Pastor, you pray through and initially build the change, including wording, as a first step in the change process.
b. Pastor, present your proposed change to the board; wrestling through discussion until the board is in united agreement. This is one area where we tend to recommend a 100% yes vote.
c. Pastor, present the proposed change to a lawyer for legal review.
c. Pastor, present the board's proposed change to the staff; wrestling through discussion until the staff is either on board with the change or has exhausted all measures of valid push back.
d. Pastor, present the leadership's proposed change to your denominational hierarchy. Even if you don't NEED their approval, we HIGHLY recommend that you either get their approval, stand down from the proposed change, or consider a new denomination.
i. Pastor, you may need to take the provision back to the board at any point, especially if the lawyer, staff, or denominational hierarchy brings back valid pushback to the proposed change, that no one had yet thought of. Repeat steps b, c, and d until the proposed change makes it through all sections in its entirety. Now, it would be ready to go before the voting constituency.
6. Understand that when trouble comes (and the Bible promises us that it will come), your constitution and bylaws may very well be the only thing standing between smooth sailing for years to come and shutting the doors for good.
7. Clean-up your church’s constitution and bylaws BEFORE beginning the search process to locate your new Lead/Senior Pastor.
a. In fact, your constitution and bylaws should have a section on how that search process should work.
8. On most sections of your constitution and bylaws, don’t get so specific in your wording that your church constitution and bylaws will become outdated every couple of years and/or when your church has substantive growth.
9. Ratifying the major points of your church's beliefs, social practices, and other key doctrines, into your constitution and bylaws, may protect you and your church from future legal issues.
10. Distribute and teach through your church's constitution and bylaws as part of your new member process. This will clear up a lot of future problems, before they ever become problems.
11. Refer to and use your constitution and bylaws to make decisions and handle problems!
Bonus tip: I asked a long-time mentor of mine (who gave me a lot of firsts in ministry) to review this blog and let me know what he thought. His feedback was so good and on point, I want to simply quote his response in its entirety:
"There is one point that I’d like to add:
Please remember that the Constitution and Bylaws are LEGAL DOCUMENTS. Don’t expect them to be poetic and inspiring. Don’t allow them to be vague or ambiguous.
Parts of the bylaws are going to address routine business procedures (who has the power to decide certain things). You’ll need to be very familiar with these portions. Other portions of the bylaws will address issues that rarely happen--Incidents that are hi-cost, high-stress, or high-conflict. You don’t need to memorize these parts, but you should remember that they are there, because it is inevitable that you’ll find yourself in those situations.”
Dr. Jay A. Herndon, D.Min., J.D.
That right there is just plain wisdom!
Other Tips and Thoughts: (from Ioannis again)
1. Never hire a pastor, let alone fly them out to “candidate”, if they have not asked for a copy of your church’s constitution and bylaws beforehand. (If you are starting, or are already in the middle of, the search process for a new lead/senior pastor, we HIGHLY recommend that you reach out to us here. At the very least, please read through this blog to pastors (even if you are not a pastor): Does Your Church Understand How To Best Navigate Finding Their Next Pastor?)
a. If you do hire them or fly them out to candidate even though they have never read through your church's constitution and bylaws, let alone had the wherewithal to have asked to be given a copy of them, please just understand that they will probably need a great deal of ministry & leadership coaching and mentorship. You can contact us here for these services, if you know that this is you.
2. Pastor, never “take a church” before reading and fully understanding, a church’s constitution and bylaws first. I actually recommend reading the constitution and bylaws before the second interview.
a. Be ready to ask them in the second interview about any provisions that trouble you, and be VERY careful to listen to their answers.
3. Beware of any leader(s) who says things like:
a. “We don’t use the constitution and bylaws.” or “That document doesn’t really apply to how we handle church business.”
b. “That document is only there because we have to have it.”
c. “We haven’t even looked at our constitution and bylaws in years.”
4. Beware of any leader and/or organization whose normal practices and normal operations, differ greatly from their governing document.
Ok, one last statement: If you have reached this point and your mind is drowning and/or you just feel pretty overwhelmed, please reach out to us here… we want to help!