Has God called you to start a new church or ministry? Perhaps you are now concerned with the governing documents that you understand are essential to any new church start up. All church leaders must have a keen understanding of how to write church by law documents that contain information on the guidelines that will define different individuals’ roles and relationships to the church.  With the right guidance, you can learn more about how to draft effective by laws that accompany the constitution set forth by the church.

Let's say that a church has written a sample church by law that reads, “Any employee may be terminated at any time without reason or cause specified,” meaning that there is no need to provide a definition as to why an individual is no longer to be employed by the church. Is this an empowering or limiting by law? Is it more or less likely to subject your church leadership to potential secular intervention in the event of a dispute?

You should become conversant with how to write church by law documents that are calculated to protect the church, not subject it to potential liability. A church by law is used to state the position that will be taken by the church in a situation that is somewhat likely to occur in the context of a church ministry. It is something that should be well integrated with, and flow smoothly with the writing of the church constitution, as well.

A clearer understanding of how to write church by law and constitution provisions is found in the wonderful church-starting guide, Building On Faith: Everything You Need To Know About Starting Your Own Church.

Should a constitution and by laws document exhaustively list the doctrines of the church? Not necessarily. By trying to be exhaustive, you may end up being exclusive and thereby, hurt your church. Whatever you do, understand that all doctrines stated in a constitution and by laws, must carefully match any information provided on the application for tax exemption filed with the Internal Revenue Service.

Ordination, hiring procedures, membership rights, and so on are all essential parts of how a church is governed and should be part of your working knowledge of how to write church by law and constitutional provisions.

Also, in drafting your provisions, you should consider starting with a statement of purpose that sets forth your goal or set of goals as a new church, perhaps even including the future establishment of a physical building and the commissioning of specialized ministries and services that will draw the community closer to God.  You cannot have a church without an established congregation, so while the business and legal aspects of the church must be resolved, you must keep in mind that the goal is to have a spiritually healthy congregation that is focused on advancing the teachings of Christ and building one another up in love and good deeds.

You can't legislate that, but you can certainly encourage and facilitate those goals when you make it a point to understand how to write church by law and constitutional provisions that help the church. For the most expert help available, take a closer look at Building On Faith. Not only was it written by Abe Hernandez, Esq., a devoted Christian and church law expert... it's alo the gold standard in use today by hundreds of churches in America.