The Devil’s in the Details
More and more these days, churches are being involved in legal actions. Denominations are suing local congregations over ownership of the church property. Former staff members are suing churches, challenging what they feel was an unlawful termination. Every week it seems we’re reading about a sexual abuse case that has caused a family to bring a case against the church.
For a long time, families, local governments and even the federal government were hesitant to sue the church. Not anymore. More and more courts are allowing lawsuits against churches to proceed. Sometimes, the consequences can be devastating to a local church.
Most pastors and church leaders assume their liability insurance will take care of this, but that’s not always the case. For one thing, most liability policies have limits and there are certain situations that void the insurance. We live in very different times. Our assumptions about churches and the legal system are no longer valid. Understanding this should prompt us to immediate action.
Our first action is to review our current insurance policies.
Second, review the church’s current constitution and by-laws. What usually happens is the church adopts its governing documents at the church's founding and after that, they never look at them again. Over the years, the common practices of the church evolve — decision making is changed, lines of authority are updated — but the original documents are never updated. This means the church is in violation of its own governing rules which makes every decision null and void. Further, this ongoing contradiction between the documents and how the church actually operates is the very key to opening a church up to court intervention.
Hence, while the congregation may have grown comfortable with the new processes, according to the laws governing nonprofits and churches, the church will be considered in violation of its own rules; therefore, any protections from the ecclesiastical doctrine that all churches should enjoy, will likely no longer apply.
This will be the first place an attorney will look. Do the actions of the church line up with their governing documents? And if it’s the first place an attorney will look, it should be the first place we as pastors should look as well.
Don’t assume. We all know what assumptions do. Today, not tomorrow, check your governing documents. Make sure your church and documents are in alignment and if they’re not…take the necessary action to get them aligned. When the attorney calls, it’ll be too late.