United Church of Canada Requirements for Incorporated Ministries – “Section 429”

First, a bit of history…

Across the United Church of Canada, hundreds of Church-related organizations outside congregations/pastoral charges undertake a variety of community outreach programs (camps, seniors facilities, housing, outreach, even hospitals) or serve congregations and presbyteries directly (extension and development councils, foundations).

A large number of these are incorporated under provincial and federal legislation, and are referred to as “incorporated ministries.” Many were started locally in the 1960’s and 1970’s (and even earlier) as the church’s community outreach and social justice work expanded.

Starting in 2004, the national Church reviewed the changing nature and needs of these ministries, including their role within the Church and their communities, and how changes in law, government regulation, and program standards were affecting incorporated ministries. 

Proposals were made and adopted at General Council 39 (the Church’s national “parliament”, meeting in 2006). Changes in the United Church of Canada’s Manual were made in 2007 (known as Section 429 because of their location in the Manual). Detailed guidelines for incorporated ministries were released in late 2008. 

A major change adopted by General Council 39 was to move the responsibility for the creation, supervision and support of incorporated ministries to the 13 Conferences. Until then, many ministries were supervised by presbyteries and congregations, often by the same people that formed the membership and board of the ministries.

Some new requirements change or clarify the relationship with the Church and in some cases reduce the Church’s involvement in ministry decisions (for example, approving all fundraising plans and all members of incorporated ministries).  Others continue, including sharing corporate information (annual reports, financial statements) and setting minimum levels of insurance and other stewardship practices, and applying church duty of care standards to incorporated ministries serving children, seniors and other vulnerable members of the community.

These “section 429 guidelines” apply to all incorporated ministries associated with the United Church of Canada.  They do not apply to projects, committees and other programs that are not governed by the boards of separately incorporated groups. 

The national Church announced in late 2007 that Conferences were to begin to assume the responsibility of working with incorporated ministries once the detailed guidelines were released and to finish the transition by the end of 2011.

Conference Guidelines and Support:

London Conference formally started working towards their new oversight role in early 2010. We are committed to helping its incorporated ministries to be strong and successful.  This includes setting standards on stewardship, helping ministries change the new requirements in their by-laws, and making decisions on local requests and approvals as expeditiously as possible.

Stewardship and Accountability:

A key part of our work is to provide direction and advice on important stewardship roles that you have as both community Church-based ministries and as corporations.

The revised guidelines following the 2006 General Council decisions on incorporated ministries reduced the amount of oversight by Church bodies in some areas but maintained it, at the Conference level, for these four areas in particular:

• London Conference has developed a policy on minimum insurance requirements that incorporated ministries need to use in providing protection to their program participants, staff, volunteers, property and other assets, and to the Church as a partner.
• London Conference has also developed a policy on independent review of financial statements that confirms the need for all incorporated ministries to have their annual financial statements, records and stewardship procedures reviewed, either by a licensed auditor (a “full audit”) or an independent reviewer (a “review engagement”).
• The Conference’s Committee on Incorporated Ministries (“CINC”) reviews annual reports, financial statements and other key documents.  
• CINC also reviews proposed land transactions by incorporated ministries, including sales, purchases, mortgages and leases. 

Helping you change your by-laws:

Most incorporated ministries have included the previous rules (known as “Appendix IV” because of its location in the pre-2007 Manual) in their by-laws.  The new requirements, some similar, some new (and some dropped) need to be included in by-laws.

For example, the new guidelines have updated and reduced the Church’s direct involvement in who you choose as the members and leadership (the board) of your ministry.  You no longer need the Church’s approval of all your membership and individual board members – the only requirement is that the Conference approve “a majority of the members of the board.”  

The Committee has developed a simple Board nomination form for you to use in telling us who is on your “slate” of board members.  Send that in to the Conference Office, preferably before your Annual General Meeting so that the elections are final. 

Dealing with the Basics and Reducing Duplication:

We are very much aware of the need to be practical and helpful in doing our work with incorporated ministries. London Conference has the authority to set debt limits for incorporated ministries (no change from the previous Manual requirements) but has chosen not to do that for all ministries, only if it is a needed tool to foster good stewardship practices or to work directly with groups that have financial challenges.  

Conference has also decided at this time not to do “oversight” reviews of incorporated ministries (similar to pastoral visits of congregations) since most of the London Conference ministries are camping or community outreach organizations and already have United Church and sector accreditation requirements.

What we will do is provide advice and fast turnaround on approving changes in your by-laws (use our By-Law Writer tool), on major capital fundraising requests, and on any property transactions that are covered by the Incorporated Ministries Guidelines.