### Union Church Incorporation Ordinance 《佑寧堂法團條例》

1. Short title
This Ordinance may be cited as the Union Church Incorporation Ordinance.

2. Interpretation
In this Ordinance, unless the context otherwise requires—
adherent (信徒) means a person who has been listed as an adherent in accordance with the provisions of section 8;
Chairman (主席) and Vice-Chairman (副主席) mean respectively the chairman and vice-chairman of the committee of management appointed in accordance with the provisions of subsection (4) of section 11;
Church (教會、該教會) means the Minister and members of Union Church, Kennedy Road, Hong Kong, and the buildings thereat;
committee (委員會) means the committee of management elected in accordance with the provisions of section 11 including any person co-opted to be a member thereof;
Corporation (法團) means “The Trustees of the Union Church in Hong Kong” incorporated under section 3;
deacon (執事) means a member of the Deacons’ Court;
Deacons’ Court (執事會) means the Deacons’ Court established in accordance with the provisions of section 13;
general meeting (大會) means a general meeting of the members of the Church;
member (成員) means any person who has been enrolled as a full member or as an associate member in accordance with the provisions of section 7 and who is still so enrolled;
Minister (牧師) means the minister of Union Church or, if at any time there shall be more than one minister, the senior minister in Hong Kong, appointed in accordance with the provisions of subsection (1) or (2) of section 15 or an acting minister appointed in accordance with the provisions of subsection (3) of that section;
prescribed (訂明) means prescribed by rules made under section 16;
secretary (秘書) and treasurer (司庫) mean respectively the honorary secretary and the honorary treasurer elected in accordance with the provisions of section 12;
voting member (有表決權的成員) means a member who, in accordance with the provisions of subsection (2) of section 10, is entitled to vote at a general meeting of the Church.

3. Incorporation
The Trustees for the time being of the Union Church in Hong Kong shall be a body corporate and shall have the corporate name “The Trustees of the Union Church in Hong Kong”, and in that name shall have perpetual succession and shall and may sue and be sued in all courts in Hong Kong and shall and may have and use a common seal, and may from time to time, break, change, alter and make anew the said seal as to the Corporation may seem fit.
(Amended 32 of 1999 s. 3)

### Union Church Incorporation Ordinance 《佑寧堂法團條例》

4. Powers of Corporation
(1) The Corporation shall have power to acquire, accept and grant leases of, purchase, take, hold and enjoy any lands, buildings, messuages or tenements of what nature or kind soever and wheresoever situate, and also to build, rebuild, alter, vary, renew, maintain and repair any building, messuage or tenements, and also to invest moneys upon mortgages of any lands, buildings, messuages or tenements, or in debentures, stocks, funds, shares or securities of any government, municipality, corporation, or company, and also to purchase, acquire and possess goods and chattels of what nature and kind soever and to sue, carry on and defend all legal arbitration and other proceedings.
(2) (Repealed 74 of 1974 s. 3)(3) The Corporation shall further have power by deed under its seal to grant, sell, convey, assign, surrender, exchange, partition, yield up, mortgage, pledge, demise, reassign, transfer or otherwise dispose of any lands, buildings, messuages, tenements, mortgages, debentures, stocks, funds, shares or securities or goods and chattels whatsoever, which are for the time being vested in or belonging to the Corporation, upon such terms as to the Corporation may seem fit.

5. Execution of deeds
(1) All deeds, documents and other instruments requiring the seal of the Corporation shall be sealed in the presence of two or more of the trustees, and shall also be signed by the Chairman or, if he shall be absent from Hong Kong or otherwise for any good reason unable to act, by the Vice-Chairman, and by such trustees so present, and such signing shall be and be taken as sufficient evidence of the due sealing thereof.
(2) The seal shall be kept in the custody of the Chairman of Trustees elected in accordance with the provisions of subsection (6) of section 14 or, if no Chairman of Trustees shall have been elected or if he shall be absent from Hong Kong or otherwise for any good reason be unable to act, in the custody of the person who has been trustee for the longest period.
(Amended 32 of 1999 s. 3)

### Union Church Incorporation Ordinance 《佑寧堂法團條例》

6. Trusts
The Corporation shall hold the property vested in it and all property subsequently acquired by it and any other premises which may be substituted therefor and all the other property of the Church upon trust for the purpose of a church for the public worship of God and for preaching the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ according to the principles and usages of Protestant Christians, and for the sole object of spreading the knowledge of Christ, as shall seem most agreeable to the Word of God and not for the purpose of introducing or supporting presbyterianism, independency, episcopacy or any other form of church order and government about which there may be difference of opinion, but under such form of church government as the members shall direct, and also, subject to such direction, for the instruction of children and adults, and for religious and philanthropic purposes and for the providing of a residence for the Minister, provided that the Church shall always accept as its primary standards the Word of God as witnessed to by the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, the Trinitarian Doctrine of the Christian Faith and the Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

7. Members
Every member of the Church shall have been baptized in or in accordance with the rites of a Christian Church and shall be either—
(a) a full member, that is to say, a person who has been received into the Church by—
(i) profession of faith;
(ii) letter of transfer from another Christian Church; or
(iii) re-affirmation of faith; or
(b) an associate member, that is to say, a person who is a regular member of a Christian Church other than the Church and who signifies his desire to worship with and to help and support the Church while he is in Hong Kong but still to retain his membership of his own church, (Amended 32 of 1999 s. 3)
who has been enrolled as such in such manner as may be prescribed:
Provided that, subject and in such manner as may be prescribed, any person who was on the mailing list of the Church immediately before the commencement* of this Ordinance may be so enrolled. Editorial Note:
* Commencement date: 1 May 1962.

8. Adherents
Any person who, though not a member of a Christian Church, wishes to take part in the worship and other activities of the Church while he is resident in Hong Kong may, subject as may be prescribed, be listed as an adherent.
(Amended 32 of 1999 s. 3)