METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCHES

Act 11 of 1899

AN ACT for the organization of corporate Methodist Episcopal churches; and to impose certain duties upon the department of commerce.


History: 1899, Act 11, Imd. Eff. Mar. 2, 1899 ;-- Am. 1982, Act 74, Imd. Eff. Apr. 19, 1982




The People of the State of Michigan enact:


458.21 Methodist Episcopal church; incorporators.

Sec. 1.

     That it shall be lawful for any number of members of the Methodist Episcopal church of full age, not less than 9, with the consent of the presiding elder of the district in which the proposed church is to be located, to organize and procure the incorporation of a Methodist Episcopal church.


History: 1899, Act 11, Imd. Eff. Mar. 2, 1899 ;-- CL 1915, 10915 ;-- CL 1929, 10846 ;-- CL 1948, 458.21
Former Law: See Act 110 of 1895.





458.22 Articles and certificate of consent; execution.

Sec. 2.

     The persons desiring to organize such church shall execute and acknowledge, before any person authorized to take acknowledgement of deeds, articles of association in writing, whereby they shall agree to organize a church, which shall be governed by the discipline, rules and usages of the Methodist Episcopal church. To such articles of association there shall be attached a certificate by the presiding elder of the district in which said church is to be located that the said church was organized by and with the consent of said presiding elder.


History: 1899, Act 11, Imd. Eff. Mar. 2, 1899 ;-- CL 1915, 10916 ;-- CL 1929, 10847 ;-- CL 1948, 458.22





458.23 Articles and certificate of consent; contents, form.

Sec. 3.

    Said articles of association shall contain the following items: First, The name of said church; Second, The township, village or city, and the county in which said church shall be located; Third, The time for which said corporation shall be created; Fourth, An agreement to worship and labor together according to the discipline, rules and usages of the Methodist Episcopal church. Said articles may be in the following form:
    We, the undersigned, desiring to become incorporated under the provisions of act number ......... of the public acts of 1899, entitled "An act for the organization of corporate Methodist Episcopal churches," do hereby make, execute and adopt the following articles of association, to wit:
    First, The name assumed by this corporation, and by which it shall be known in law, is "The .......... Methodist Episcopal church;"
    Second, The location of said church shall be in the ........... of ......... county of ............ and state of Michigan;
    Third, The time for which said corporation shall be created shall not exceed 30 years from ............., the date of its organization;
    Fourth, The members of said church shall worship and labor together according to the discipline, rules and usages of the Methodist Episcopal church in the United States of America, as from time to time authorized and declared by the general conference of said church and the annual conference within whose bounds said corporation is situated.
    In witness whereof, we, the parties hereby associating for the purpose of giving legal effect to these articles, hereunto sign our names and places of residence.
    Done at the ........ of ........, county of ............, and state of Michigan, this .......... day of ..........., A.D. 189....
(Signatures.) } SS. (Residences.)
State of Michigan,
County of ...........................
On this ............ day of ................., A.D. ................., before me, a ................. in and for said county, personally appeared .................................., known to me to be the persons named in, and who executed the foregoing instrument, and severally acknowledged that they executed the same freely and for the intents and purposes therein mentioned.
    ....................................................................
    I, .............. presiding elder of the ................... district, of the ............... annual conference of the Methodist Episcopal church, the same being the district in which the church mentioned in the foregoing articles of association is to be, or is now located, do hereby certify that such church was organized by and with my consent and concurrence.
    Dated at ............., Mich., A.D. 189....
    ......................................
    Presiding Elder.
    


History: 1899, Act 11, Imd. Eff. Mar. 2, 1899 ;-- CL 1915, 10917 ;-- CL 1929, 10848 ;-- CL 1948, 458.23





458.24 Articles of association; execution and acknowledgment; filing articles and certificate with department of commerce; members of church as body politic or corporation.

Sec. 4.

     Said articles of association shall be executed in duplicate, and acknowledged before some officer authorized by law to take acknowledgment of deeds. One of such duplicate copies shall be retained by such corporation and 1 copy shall be filed with the corporation and securities bureau of the department of commerce. When said articles of association and said certificate of the presiding elder shall have been filed with the corporation and securities bureau of the department of commerce, the said persons so signing said articles of association, and their associates and fellow members of said church, and all who may thereafter become members of said church according to the discipline, rules, and usages of the Methodist Episcopal church, shall thereby become, and thenceforth be, a body politic or corporation, by the name expressed in said articles of association, with all the powers, rights, and privileges appertaining to religious corporations by the laws of this state.


History: 1899, Act 11, Imd. Eff. Mar. 2, 1899 ;-- CL 1915, 10918 ;-- CL 1929, 10849 ;-- CL 1948, 458.24 ;-- Am. 1982, Act 74, Imd. Eff. Apr. 19, 1982





458.25 Church government; ecclesiastical polity.

Sec. 5.

     Said church, when so organized, shall be subject in all matters of church government and ecclesiastical polity to the discipline, usage and ministerial appointments of the Methodist Episcopal church in the United States of America, as from time to time authorized and declared by the general conference of said church and the annual conference within whose bounds such corporation may be situated.


History: 1899, Act 11, Imd. Eff. Mar. 2, 1899 ;-- CL 1915, 10919 ;-- CL 1929, 10850 ;-- CL 1948, 458.25





458.26 Management of temporalities; trustees.

Sec. 6.

     The temporalities of said church shall be managed by a board of trustees consisting of not less than 3, nor more than 9 members, to be elected by said corporation, the said trustees to hold their office for the term of 1 year, or until their successors shall be elected and duly qualified. Vacancies in said board may be filled at any time for the balance of the unexpired term by an election as in other cases.


History: 1899, Act 11, Imd. Eff. Mar. 2, 1899 ;-- Am. 1901, Act 9, Imd. Eff. Feb. 20, 1901 ;-- CL 1915, 10920 ;-- CL 1929, 10851 ;-- CL 1948, 458.26





458.27 Powers of corporation and board of trustees; rights of ministers and presiding elders.

Sec. 7.

     Said corporation may have a seal and alter the same at pleasure; it may in its corporate name sue and be sued in all courts and places; it shall have power to acquire, hold, sell and convey property, both real and personal, in accordance with this act, and it may recover and hold the debts, demands, rights, privileges and all property, whether real or personal, of whatsoever sort it may be, belonging or appertaining to said church, in whatever manner the same may have been acquired, and in whose hands soever the same may be held, the same as if the right and title had originally been vested in said corporation. The board of trustees may authorize certain of the officers of said board to affix the corporate name and the seal of the corporation, and to execute and attest conveyances, notes, obligations, acquittances and all other necessary legal documents. It may sell, mortgage and dispose of its personal property; and may mortgage and incumber its real estate, but not for the current expenses of the church. It may hold so much land as may be needful for the proper purposes of said church and its parsonage. Said corporation shall at all times permit such ministers, belonging to the Methodist Episcopal church, as shall from time to time be duly authorized by the general conference of said church, or by the annual conference within whose bounds the said corporation may be, to preach and expound God's holy word therein; and shall permit pastors and presiding elders, duly appointed to execute the discipline of said Methodist Episcopal church, to administer the sacraments therein.


History: 1899, Act 11, Imd. Eff. Mar. 2, 1899 ;-- CL 1915, 10921 ;-- CL 1929, 10852 ;-- CL 1948, 458.27





458.28 Amendment of articles; procedure.

Sec. 8.

     It shall be lawful for any church organized under the provisions of this act, by a 2/3 vote of the quarterly conference of said church, to alter or amend its articles of association in any manner not inconsistent with the provisions of this act or the book of discipline of the Methodist Episcopal church; and such alteration or amendment shall become operative when 2/3 of all the members of the quarterly conference shall execute amended articles and the said amended articles are acknowledged in the same manner as stated in section 3 of this act, and the presiding elder has affixed his certificate thereto, as provided in said section, and the same has been recorded or left for record, as provided in section 4 of this act.


History: 1899, Act 11, Imd. Eff. Mar. 2, 1899 ;-- CL 1915, 10922 ;-- CL 1929, 10853 ;-- CL 1948, 458.28





458.29 Sale of realty; procedure, proceeds; abandoned property.

Sec. 9.

     Whenever it shall become necessary, for the payment of debts or with a view of reinvestment, to make a sale of any real estate belonging to said church, the quarterly conference of said church may, by a vote of a majority of all the members of said quarterly conference and the consent of the pastor of said church and of the presiding elder of the district of which such church may or shall be a part, authorize a sale of said real estate by the trustees of said church, with such limitations and restrictions as the quarterly conference may judge necessary and impose; and the trustees of said church, when so authorized, may sell and convey said property, and with the proceeds of such sale pay the debts of such corporation, or reinvest the said proceeds by the purchase or improvement of other property for the same uses and deeded to the corporation in the same manner as provided in section 7 of this act, as said trustees may be directed by the quarterly conference: Provided, That in all cases the proceeds of such sale, after the payment of debts, if any, if not applied to the purchase or improvement of other property as aforesaid, shall be held by such corporation subject to the order of the annual conference within the bounds of which such property is located. In all cases where property belonging to any church incorporated under the provisions of this act has been abandoned, and is no longer used for the purpose for which said property was acquired, or said corporation has dissolved, or has ceased to exist, the title to the said property belonging to said corporation shall pass to the annual conference within the bounds of which said property is located; and said annual conference may, by such officer or committee as said annual conference may designate for that purpose, apply to the circuit court in chancery, for the county in which such property may be, for license to sell the same; and such license may be granted by said court after such notice of said application as the court may direct; and thereupon said property may be sold, and the proceeds of such sale applied or used as said annual conference may direct.


History: 1899, Act 11, Imd. Eff. Mar. 2, 1899 ;-- CL 1915, 10923 ;-- CL 1929, 10854 ;-- CL 1948, 458.29





458.30 Reincorporation under act.

Sec. 10.

     Any Methodist Episcopal church heretofore incorporated, or the trustees of which have heretofore exercised the powers of a body corporate, may by a 2/3 vote of the members of the quarterly conference, place itself under the provisions of this act, the same as if originally incorporated under it, by 2/3 of the members of said quarterly conference executing articles of association as provided in section 3 of this act, and the presiding elder affixing his certificate thereto, as provided in said section, and recording the same, as provided in section 4 of this act.


History: 1899, Act 11, Imd. Eff. Mar. 2, 1899 ;-- CL 1915, 10924 ;-- CL 1929, 10855 ;-- CL 1948, 458.30





458.31 Construction of inconsistent acts.

Sec. 11.

     In all proceedings or suits that may arise, or be brought in any of the courts of this state, touching, or in any way concerning, churches that may be incorporated under this act, or which by vote of the quarterly conference thereof may have placed themselves under its provisions, all other acts or parts of acts inconsistent herewith shall be interpreted and construed in such manner as to give full force and effect to all the provisions of this act, and to all the rights and privileges granted by this act to churches incorporated or placed thereunder.


History: 1899, Act 11, Imd. Eff. Mar. 2, 1899 ;-- CL 1915, 10925 ;-- CL 1929, 10856 ;-- CL 1948, 458.31





458.32 Trustees; evidence of authority.

Sec. 12.

     It is further provided that the execution by the acting trustees of said corporation, in proper form, of any deed, mortgage, note, bond, or other obligation or contract of said corporation, shall be prima facie evidence of the proper appointment of said trustees and that the necessary steps have been taken to give them full authority to make such transaction.


History: 1899, Act 11, Imd. Eff. Mar. 2, 1899 ;-- CL 1915, 10926 ;-- CL 1929, 10857 ;-- CL 1948, 458.32





458.33 Extension of corporate existence; filing resolution with department of commerce; effect.

Sec. 13.

     Any corporation organized under the provisions of this act whose corporate existence is about to expire by limitation may extend its corporate existence from time to time for a term not exceeding 30 years, by causing to be filed with the corporation and securities bureau of the department of commerce, a copy of a resolution expressing a desire to so extend its corporate existence, which resolution shall be adopted by such corporation at a meeting called for the purpose by the pastor of the church or the presiding elder of the district within which said corporation is located. When such resolution is filed with the corporation and securities bureau of the department of commerce, the corporate existence of such body shall be extended in accordance with the terms of such resolution for a term not exceeding 30 years from the date of the expiration of its former term, and all rights of property and of contract shall remain unimpaired and the corporate identity of such body shall remain unchanged.


History: 1899, Act 11, Imd. Eff. Mar. 2, 1899 ;-- CL 1915, 10927 ;-- CL 1929, 10858 ;-- CL 1948, 458.33 ;-- Am. 1982, Act 74, Imd. Eff. Apr. 19, 1982



Rendered 8/17/2025 12:42 AM
Michigan Compiled Laws Complete Through PA 5 of 2025
Courtesy of legislature.mi.gov