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Guidance on church mergers and amalgamations

This guidance was last updated on 7 February 2023.

Guidance regarding schemes to amalgamate Local Churches into a multi-site Local Church under Standing Orders 605A and 942

  

Glossary of Terms

Please note the following terms used in this guidance:

  • Chapel: the Methodist-owned building in which a Local Church meets, including for worship;
  • CPD: The Constitutional Practice and Discipline of the Methodist Church, available here;
  • Local Church: the term used in CPD for a local Methodist church; it refers to the people, rather than the building;
  • Multi-site church: one Local Church Council overseeing two or more Methodist congregations meeting in the same or different buildings under SO 942(1);

[NOTE: an alternative arrangement is where two or more Methodist congregations use the same building under SO 942(2), but that is not the focus of this guidance]

  • Scheme: the arrangement by which two or more Local Churches agree to merge; a scheme may take a variety of forms, there is no ‘magic formula’ – it is simply an agreement between the relevant Local Churches and comes into being by the passing of mutual/reciprocal resolutions, as explained in this guidance;
  • SO: the abbreviated term for a Standing Order; Standing Orders are contained in Book III of CPD.

 

Introduction

This guidance seeks to offer assistance and sample resolutions for Local Church Councils to give effect to some possible reorganisation or regularisation of Local Church trusteeship.  The sample resolutions can be used where two or more Local Churches wish to form a single multi-site Local Church together.  The arrangement, or ‘scheme’, may come about where the membership of one or more of the Local Churches falls below the minimum of 12 (under SO 605A(1)), or, where exceeding that minimum, whenever the benefits of working closely together mean that a merger is voluntarily entered into (under SO 605A(2)).  In such a scheme, some or all of the existing chapels may be retained (or some chapels may be let go of, with their congregations now deciding to worship in, say, a community hall), but, through the scheme, the trusteeship of all the chapels will be moved to a single Church Council.   To achieve this scheme of amalgamation, the sample resolutions set out below would need to be passed by the Church Councils of the existing Local Churches, before being endorsed by the Circuit Meeting.

 

Guidance Notes

  1. The sample resolutions are designed for Local Church mergers where existing congregations continue to worship in existing chapels. The illustrative scheme below comprises three congregations, but if more or fewer are involved, then each Church Council will need to pass a similar set of resolutions.  If the congregations were instead merging to worship on a single site, the resolutions could be varied to reflect that.  
  2. If worship is ceasing in any existing chapel, the process and approvals under SO 943 would also be required for that chapel (but not if worship is being maintained in a chapel: SO 943 concerns worship in a building, not the closure or merger of the associate Local Church. For guidance on closing the chapel and associated building(s), see here).
  3. The sample resolutions suggest transferring the members of the constituent Local Churches to whichever Local Church may reasonably be expected to maintain regular worship for at least some time; in the example below, that has been assumed to be Local Church ‘C’. Effecting the transfer of members in this way reflects the provisions of SO 605A(3) (and sometimes the receiving Local Church may conveniently already be registered as a charity, for whenever that is also going to be necessary after amalgamation – and see note 12 below).  It is not necessary (and is indeed more cumbersome) to close all the previous Local Churches and to form a new one.  However, transferring members to one of the constituent Local Churches should not imply a takeover by that particular Local Church: the objective is to merge into a single multi-site Local Church and, in whichever way the merger is brought about, it is important to ensure that no one previous congregation presumes to dominate the new scheme.  This always requires careful communication and attentive and sensitive understanding. 
  4. Therefore, it may be helpful for the new multi-site church to be given a new name such as ‘N’ Methodist Church, with the possibility of adding in each location an informal suffix, such as: ‘N…in [or at] a’, “N…in [or at] b’, ‘N in [or at] at c’, or similar (where ‘N’ is the name of the new church and ‘a’, ‘b’ and ‘c’ etc. are the names or locations of the former Local Churches and/or of their continuing chapels). This would mean that no one existing congregation’s name or location predominates in the new structure, and a new overall Local Church name is adopted.  The template resolutions below reflect the inclusion of a new name (but it also recognised that in more of a ‘hub and satellite’ model, with a larger congregation and one or more much smaller congregations involved, the need to change the name of the receiving Local Church may be less compelling).  The reference to the new name for the receiving Local Church (Local Church ‘C’ below) is given an additional resolution because that might provide easier identification or clearer reference for financial institutions if ever bank account names or mandates also need to be changed.
  5. To help ensure mutual sensitivity and engagement, there should be provisions for the election of stewards and Church Council representatives from the existing congregations, and, to the extent appropriate, for maintaining local pastoral identities. Sometimes it may also be helpful to organise any committees and officers with appropriate and proportionate arrangements for all the congregations in mind: for example, there might be one treasurer, but with assistant treasurers in each congregation, able to deal with banking collections and the like.  Sometimes it can help to maintain existing lines in the accounts, even when they are consolidated, so that offerings and assessments might initially be kept separate rather than any one congregation feeling anxious that they might bear a greater cost, at least for the first year or two perhaps, hopefully with the support and understanding of the Circuit.
  6. No sample resolutions are provided for the transfer of the funds or property of the constituent Local Churches to the amalgamated Local Church. This is because generally they will not be needed: once the multi-site scheme is adopted, the members of the new single Church Council become the trustees and hold those assets on the model or other general trusts (if on the model trusts by virtue of being the appropriate Church Council under Model Trust 2(1); or as general charity trustees by virtue of having the general control and management of the administration of the charity under Section 177 of the Charities Act 2011).  (The exception might be if there are funds or assets held on particular trusts, perhaps resulting from a legacy, on which the advice of TMCP regarding their transfer might need to be sought.)
  7. The sample resolutions assume that all the Local Churches belong to the same Circuit (in the example ‘X’ Circuit), but if one or more are presently located in another Circuit, then the Circuit Meeting of ‘Y’ Circuit would also need to pass an appropriate resolution (and the provisions of SO 501 would also need to be observed).
  8. The date for the scheme to come into effect is given as the 1st September, meaning that the previous year’s accounts and all other arrangements can have a convenient end and start date with changing of the connexional year. An alternative date could be chosen, but is likely to be less convenient.
  9. In any scheme, adoption of a new name, or decisions about which might be the ‘receiving’ Local Church (in terms of receiving members or continuing accounts or maintaining existing charitable registration, etc.), along with the other suggested elements below, are all for the common agreement of the various meetings involved. This emphasises that good communication and discussion, discernment and consensus as to what should happen, should take place for a sufficient time with enough consultation before formal resolutions are put to the relevant meetings in the suggested form below.
  10. Thus sometimes it may also be appropriate to vary the template resolutions set out below, although, if doing so, the fundamental principles and process, and in particular the provisions of the relevant Standing Orders, should still be respected and reflected in whatever is agreed. In any event, any Local Churches and Circuit Meeting adopting the resolutions will need to insert the relevant names involved in place of ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’, ‘N’, ‘X’ (and ‘Y’), and so on.
  11. There is no need for Synods or District Policy Committees to approve proposals to merge churches or enter into schemes to create multi-site churches under SO 605A. Approval is only required for the physical closure of a chapel under SO 943(1), but that is a separate decision (see note 2 above). For guidance on closing the chapel and associated building(s), see here.
  12. If two or more of the Local Churches involved in the scheme are registered charities, then it is important to follow the Charity Commission’s requirements for charity mergers here (or, for Local Churches in Scotland, the requirements of the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, here), If one of the Local Churches is a registered charity and the others are not (because they are ‘excepted from registration’ - more details here), then it would be possible for the excepted Local Churches to merge with the registered Local Church and then change the registered Local Church’s name if desired.

 

Sample Resolutions

  

Local Church ‘A’

The Church Council of ‘A’ Methodist Church should be invited to pass the following resolution:   

Provided that the other trustee bodies involved pass similar resolutions pursuant to Standing Orders 605A(2) and 942(1) to adopt the Local Church scheme set out in this resolution, the ‘A’ METHODIST CHURCH COUNCIL hereby RESOLVES to:

  1. merge with ‘B’ Methodist Church and ‘C’ Methodist Church to form a single multi-site Local Church under the trusteeship of a single Church Council;
  2. transfer (pursuant to SO 605A(3)) the members of ‘A’ Methodist Church to ‘C’ Methodist Church, with the new merged Local Church to be known as ‘N’ Methodist Church;
  3. affirm (pursuant to SO 605A(4)-(7)) that the pastoral identity of each constituent chapel and Class shall be maintained; that the new Church Council shall exercise managing trusteeship over each chapel; and that there shall be appropriate representation from each chapel when electing church stewards and Church Council members in the new merged Local Church;
  4. request the ‘X’ Circuit Meeting to approve this scheme and for it to take effect from 1st September [year], and thereafter (pursuant to Standing Order 605A(8)) to keep the scheme’s arrangements under review.

  

Local Church ‘B’

The Church Council of ‘B’ Methodist Church should be invited to pass the following resolution:

Provided that the other trustee bodies involved pass similar resolutions pursuant to Standing Orders 605A(2) and 942(1) to adopt the Local Church scheme set out in this resolution, the ‘B’ METHODIST CHURCH COUNCIL hereby RESOLVES to:

  1. merge with ‘A’ Methodist Church and ‘C’ Methodist Church to form a single multi-site Local Church under the trusteeship of a single Church Council;
  2. transfer (pursuant to SO 605A(3)) the members of ‘B’ Methodist Church to ‘C’ Methodist Church, with the new merged Local Church to be known as ‘N’ Methodist Church;
  3. affirm (pursuant to SO 605A(4)-(7)) that the pastoral identity of each constituent chapel and Class shall be maintained; that the new Church Council shall exercise managing trusteeship over each chapel; and that there shall be appropriate representation from each chapel when electing church stewards and Church Council members in the new merged Local Church;
  4. request the ‘X’ Circuit Meeting to approve this scheme and for it to take effect from 1st September [year], and thereafter (pursuant to Standing Order 605A(8)) to keep the scheme’s arrangements under review.

 

Local Church ‘C’

The Church Council of ‘C’ Methodist Church should be invited to pass the following similar resolution:

Provided that the other trustee bodies involved pass similar resolutions pursuant to Standing Orders 605A(2) and 942(1) to adopt the Local Church scheme set out in this resolution, the ‘C’ METHODIST CHURCH COUNCIL hereby RESOLVES to:

  1. merge with ‘A’ Methodist Church and ‘B’ Methodist Church to form a single multi-site Local Church under the trusteeship of a single Church Council;
  2. i) receive by transfer (pursuant to SO 605A(3)) the members of ‘A’ Methodist Church and of ‘B’ Methodist Church into the membership of ‘C’ Methodist Church, with the new merged Local Church to be known as ‘N’ Methodist Church;
  3. ii) change the name of ‘C’ Methodist Church to ‘N’ Methodist Church;
  4. affirm (pursuant to SO 605A(4)-(7)) that the pastoral identity of each constituent chapel and Class shall be maintained; that the new Church Council shall exercise managing trusteeship over each chapel; and that there shall be appropriate representation from each chapel when electing church stewards and Church Council members in the new merged Local Church;
  5. request the ‘X’ Circuit Meeting to approve this scheme and for it to take effect from 1st September [year], and thereafter (pursuant to Standing Order 605A(8)) to keep the scheme’s arrangements under review.

 

‘X’ Circuit Meeting

Once the resolutions set out above have been passed by the ‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘C’ Church Councils, the ‘X’ Circuit Meeting is invited to pass the following resolution to approve the proposed Local Church scheme:

Noting that the ‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘C’ Methodist Church Councils have passed resolutions pursuant to Standing Orders 605A(2) and 942(1) to adopt the Local Church scheme set out in this resolution, the ‘X’ CIRCUIT MEETING hereby RESOLVES to:

  1. note the proposed merger of ‘A’ Methodist Church, ‘B’ Methodist Church and ‘C’ Methodist Church to form a single multi-site Local Church under the trusteeship of a single Church Council;
  2. note the proposed transfer (pursuant to SO 605A(3)) of the members of ‘A’ Methodist Church and of ‘B’ Methodist Church into the membership of ‘C’ Methodist Church, with the new merged Local Church to be known as ‘N’ Methodist Church;
  3. affirm (pursuant to SO 605A(4)-(7)) that the pastoral identity of each constituent chapel and Class shall be maintained; that the new Church Council shall exercise managing trusteeship over each chapel; and that there shall be appropriate representation from each chapel when electing church stewards and Church Council members in the new merged Local Church;
  4. approve this scheme and that it shall take effect from 1st September [year], and thereafter (pursuant to Standing Order 605A(8)) the ‘X’ Circuit Meeting shall keep the scheme’s arrangements under review.