Governing Documents

All Baptist churches are charities and all should have a governing document.  This is usually a constitution.  The governing document will define the church as a religious charity, identify its charitable purposes and explain how it operates.

Churches with an income over £100,000 need to register with the Charity Commission and at that time many review and update their governing document to ensure that it meets current needs and will be acceptable to the Charity Commission.  However churches that do not need to register at present still need to adopt a comprehensive governing document that meets the requirements of modern charity law.

We have worked with the Charity Commission to produce a model constitution, an Approved Governing Document, for Baptist churches to adopt and this is available on the C04 leaflet listed below.  Alternatively, a CIO Approved Governing Document is available from our solicitors for churches that wish to incorporate as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation and further information is available in the C11 leaflet.

Leaflets
C02 Creating a New Church or Organisation
C03 Church Constitutions
C04 The Approved Governing Document
C05 Using the Approved Governing Document
C11 Churches, Charities and Incorporation
C12 Using the Charitable Incorporated Organisation Precedent Document
C14 Church Handbook (optional extra)

You can find leaflets on these topics through the links on this page, through the website search facility, or by clicking on the ‘Resources’ tab at the top of every page.