Raleigh St Christian Centre Incorporated is an incorporated society, formed under the Incorporated Societies Act 1908. It acts as a legal entity for the local church body itself.
Chairperson - Geoff Crawford
Secretary - Ellen Heebink
Treasurer - Alistair Brown
Because the incorporated society is a legal entity, it’s possible for it to be involved in contracts, and lend or borrow money. In the past, if we wanted to do this, then the people who organised such things might well have been legally liable themselves.
It also means that when members or employees (like pastors) are working on behalf of the church, they are not just working on their own (from a legal standpoint). So it provides a degree of protection.
Finally, it means that we have to have an Annual General Meeting (AGM), a set of financial accounts, and a membership list. This gives you greater visibility into the running of the organisation.
Important Constitutional Updates
The Rules and Constitution of INC have been reviewed and amendments are presented for consultation with the society members prior to ratification at the AGM. The drivers for the changes are in the following three areas:
i. It has been increasingly difficult in the modern accounting model to have accounts prepared for the AGM to meet the three-month deadline. The legal requirement is six months.
ii. To clarify the role of Elders as Board members particularly in reference to having majority in attendance at Board meetings.
iii. To modernise several areas that have changed since the constitution was written.
The constitution with amendments should be read concurrently with this summary. The following key should be used when reading the amended constitution:
· Highlighted sections are where changes have been made.
· Strikethrough text is what is proposed to be removed.
· Text in red font is new material.
Regarding each of these areas the following summary is presented and can be read in conjunction with the amended constitution.
i. AGM Deadline:
a. 5.1.1 and 5.1.4 AGM to be held within six months of end of financial year.
ii. Board Member clarification:
a. 8.2 Removal of requirement for Board to ratify appointment of Elders
b. 8.3 & 8.5 Increasing number of Board members to 15 which continues to include all Elders
c. 8.9 Addition of note to clarify that a majority of Elders are not required for a Board Meeting. This enables the Elders to maintain an overall majority on the Board where necessary while not necessitating the requirement for Elders to be present at all meetings. The number of non-Elder Board members can now be increased. In practice this is likely to mean regular meetings of the full board (Elders and non-Elders) 2-3 times per year while most meetings will have smaller numbers of Elders in attendance. Section 8.17 still requires Elders to maintain spiritual direction for the affairs of the Society.
iii. Modernisation:
a. Throughout constitution - Chairman changed to Chairperson.
b. 4.2.2 Acceptance notice for membership written by chairperson rather than Elder.
c. 4.4.1 (c) changes to reaffirming membership.
d. 5.3.2, 11.1, 11.2 Modernisation of communication from mailing letter and newspaper ads to email, website and church notice.
e. 5.3.3 Addition of option to attend via video call.
f. 7.4 Removal of cheques reference and addition of electronic payments from approved signatories.
g. 7.6, 8.18(b) Books changed to records kept in electronic form.
h. 8.12(a) New name for accountant organisation.
i. 8.13 Deacons phrase removed as there is currently no deacon group.
j. 13.1 Removal of Auditor from this clause.
If you have any questions regarding these changes then CONTACT Geoff Crawford geoff.a.crawford@gmail.com
