Single Congregation Local Ecumenical Partnerships and Charity Registration

The Charity Commission for England and Wales has approved a standard governing document for Local Ecumenical Partnerships where two or more Churches have formed a single congregation.  Existing LEPs do not need to change their constitution unless

· they have an annual income normally greater than £100,000

· they do not yet have an agreed constitution

· their constitution needs amendment.

The standard constitution permits a local church do whatever it needs to do, so should not be amended except as indicated on the LEP Approvals form.  The creativity and experimentality of the LEP should be expressed in the Statement of Ecumenical Vision and the life of the LEP itself and not in the Constitution.  

All new single congregation LEPs, whether or not they need to register with the Charity Commission, should use this new constitution.  The LEP Constitution itself should contain a clause about how it may be amended and this should be followed when adopting this new consitution.

The County Ecumenical Development Officer, or his/her delegate, has a key role in the approval process and should be kept fully informed at all times.

The Ecumenical Vision Statement takes the place of a Declaration of Intent in previous LEP constitutions but becomes a self-standing document.  LEPs which have a Declaration of Intent may use it as their Ecumenical Vision Statement.

Approval of LEP constitutions

1. Ecumenical Vision Statement

2. Completion of form for LEP constitution

3. Submission of form to the sponsoring body.

4. Circulation of first draft constitution

5. Approval of final draft constitution

Ecumenical Vision Statement

1. The Declaration of Intent will be replaced by an Ecumenical Vision Statement (EVS).

2. The member churches of the proposed LEP will as a first step contact their CEDO. The CEDO with the proposed LEP members will inform the relevant Denominational Officers.

3. In the event of the CEDO being unavailable because they are on long term vacation, sickness or maternity leave for example, or because there is an interregnum, the relevant Field Officer should be contacted. Churches Together in England have oversight of the approval system and should be able to assist with any problems.

4. The CEDO will either work on the constitution or ask a representative to work on it. If a representative is responsible they will keep the CEDO informed of progress. From here on CEDO will mean either the CEDO or their representative.

5. Depending upon the progress that has already been made, there may be some development work to be done.

6. The EVS will accompany the draft constitution for approval by the participating churches and sponsoring body. The EVS should not however be viewed as part of the constitution, and should not be included in the Charity Commission’s registration papers as part of the constitution.

7. If the EVS is to stand alone, i.e. not to be accompanied by a constitution, it still needs to be approved.

Completion of Schedule for an LEP Constitution

8. The CEDO, or LEP, will download the approval form from the CTE website. It will be completed by the applicants and returned by email to the CEDO.

9. It will require the following information:

i) Participating denominations

ii) The names of the participating local churches, their addresses and positions in their denominational hierarchy, eg name of circuit or diocese.

iii) Category of LEP

iv) Other questions relating to frequently amended clauses in the constitutions. (These can be found in the accompanying schedule.)

v) Contact details for the local responsible person.

Submission of Schedule to CTE

10. The CEDO will select the model constitution that makes a best fit, making whatever amendments (to be highlighted) they think is necessary.

11. CTE’s Group for Local Unity will need to decide what model constitutions could be made available. Here is a list of possibilities:

i.  a generic model constitution for Single Congregation Partnerships,

ii.  variants on the generic constitution e.g. for particular common duets (e.g. Meth/CE, BUGB/CE),

iii. model constitutions for other categories of LEP, whether or not they’re likely to need to register (because presumably the new model constitution will have other up-to-date elements we would like to see in all LEPs whether or not they need to register), e.g. CCPs, United Areas, mission partnerships.

12. It has already been decided constitutions will contain:

i. Material required by the Charity Commission

ii. Material required by the participating denominations

iii. Material specific to the local church (the EVS), which will accompany but not be a part of the constitution.

 

Circulation of First Draft Constitution

13. The first draft constitution should be circulated by the CEDO for approval to:

i. The local contact person (this will be an opportunity for the CEDO to explain the constitution to the LEP)

ii. Participating denominational offices, national and/or local as required

iii. The constitution will need to be approved by the sponsoring body.

14. The denominational offices will either approve the constitution or make amendments. Significant amendments might mean the constitution needs to be circulated a second time. They will also confirm the LEP has their approval.

15. The CEDO also needs to confirm approval by the sponsoring body.

16. Previous experience shows local churches can expend a lot of energy chasing LEP approvals. This new method should be clearer to the denominational offices. The CEDO should set a date for responses to the draft constitution and let the local church know the same date and that they will at that stage receive a progress report.

 

Approval of the final draft constitution

17. For the LEP approvals, an approvals form will be prepared (see attached) showing which bodies has given approval for each participating denomination, the local Partnership and the sponsoring body.

18. Once all approvals are in place the CEDO will circulate

(1) the final version of the constitution, clearly labelled as such,

(2) the schedule of LEP approvals to

i. the LEP,

ii. the participating denominational offices and

iii. CTE.

 

Roll Out of the New Model Constitution(s)

19. The priority will be to approve constitutions for those LEPs which need to register with the Charity Commission because their turnover is over £100K. The recommendation is that these LEPs enclose their current Declaration of Intent, marked as approved already.

20. The Group for Local Unity will consider whether variations on the Single Congregation Partnership model constitutions are needed for other types of LEP or particular combinations of participant churches.

Local Ecumenical Partnerships and the Charity Commission