Opinion ID: 2507084
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Local Church Documents

Text: It is clear that Timberridge formed TPC Inc. in 1984 because Section G-7.0401 of the governing Book of Order adopted with the PCUSA's formation in 1983 required all member churches to form a corporation to hold and control church property if permitted by their state law. TPC Inc.'s Articles of Incorporation filed with the Georgia Secretary of State unequivocally submit Timberridge and its property to the PCUSA as its governing authority. The Articles provide that the corporation is to be a church institution which is a member of the Presbytery of Atlanta of the [PCUSA], or any successor Presbytery thereof. Indeed, the corporation's members must be active members of Timberridge as defined in the Book of Order of the [PCUSA], which defines an active member of a particular church to be a person who has voluntarily submitted to the government of this [general] church. BOO § G-5.0202. Thus, the corporation's charter precludes any TPC Inc. member who refuses to submit to the government of the PCUSA from continuing to function as a member of TPC Inc. [3] In addition, TPC Inc.'s Articles of Incorporation state that its bylaws cannot conflict with the PCUSA Book of Order. A corporation's `[b]ylaws' means the code of rules other than the articles [of incorporation] adopted pursuant to this chapter for the regulation or management of the affairs of the corporation. . . . OCGA § 14-3-140(4). See also OCGA § 14-5-40 (providing that Chapter 3 of Title 14 is applicable to nonprofit corporations formed for religious purposes). As discussed in Division 1 above, the Book of Order provides comprehensive rules regarding the government of a local church, its relationship to the Presbytery and the PCUSA, and its propertyincluding an explicit provision stating that [a]ll property held by or for a particular church . . ., whether legal title is lodged in a corporation, a trustee or trustees, or an unincorporated association,. . . is held in trust nevertheless for the use and benefit of the [PCUSA]. The Court of Appeals erroneously concluded that TPC Inc.'s charter sheds no light on the trust issue, saying the Articles of Incorporation do not express such clear intent to render the local church corporation subject in all matters both ecclesiastical and temporal to the authority of the Presbytery or PCUSA. Timberridge, 307 Ga.App. at 196-197, 705 S.E.2d 262. It may be that TPC Inc. did not render itself subject to the authority of the PCUSA and Presbytery in all temporal matters (and courts should pay no attention to ecclesiastical matters). But TPC Inc. holds legal title to the local church's property and its founding document plainly makes the local church subject to the PCUSA Book of Order, which contains a very explicit trust provision. And under the corporate charter and the Book of Order, any effort by TPC Inc. or its putative members to break away from the PCUSA results in the individuals no longer being members of the corporation and the property reverting to the control of the Presbytery. See BOO §§ G-8.0301, G-8.0601. By adopting these Articles of Incorporation, TPC Inc., with unmistakable clarity, agreed to bind itself to the Presbytery and the PCUSA and to abide by the Book of Order, which has included the explicit property trust and other governance provisions since the PCUSA was established in 1983well before Timberridge transferred the property at issue in this case to TPC Inc. in 1999. Presiding Justice Carley's dissent notes that Article X allows amendment of the Articles of Incorporation and does not expressly prohibit an amendment from conflicting with the Book of Order. See Dis. Op. at 460. The dissent says that this necessarily means that TPC Inc. is not subject to the Book of Order or its trust provision. But it means no such thing. As a matter of law, articles of incorporation bind a corporation and its members until the document is properly amended. What is relevant about the Articles of Incorporation is that in its own charter TPC Inc. proclaimed its allegiance to the PCUSA Book of Order, which included a provision explicitly stating that local church property is held in trust for the use and benefit of the PCUSA, and at no time during the more than two decades before this dispute erupted and the eight years after it was deeded the property at issue did TPC Inc. even seek to amend its Articles to demonstrate any different intent. Furthermore, the dissent says that this necessarily means that TPC Inc. is not subject to the Book of Order or its trust provision. Id. at 461. But it means no such thing. As a matter of law, articles of incorporation bind a corporation and its members until the document is properly amended. What is relevant about the Articles of Incorporation is that in its own charter TPC Inc. proclaimed its allegiance to the PCUSA Book of Order, which included a provision explicitly stating that local church property is held in trust for the use and benefit of the PCUSA, and at no time during the more than two decades before this dispute erupted and the eight years after it was deeded the property at issue did TPC Inc. even seek to amend its Articles to demonstrate any different intent.