Constitution

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Constitution Documents

The Charity Commission refer to our Constitution as a Guidance Document. It is in three parts:

A Statement of Ecumenical Vision
Constitution
Schedule to the Constitution

Adopted, at a Partnership Extraordinary General Meeting, during the Joint Service on Sun 30th Jan 2011

Covenanted together for mission

We exist in order to BE the People of God and EXTEND the Kingdom of God throughout West Swindon and The Lydiards

Approvals

Signed by 5 Local Church representatives, 3 Staff Team, 4 Denominational representatives, and the Partnership Council (the Trustees).

16 signatures - the stakeholders, 30 Jan 2011

Most computers will open PDF files automatically, if yours does not, get Adobe Acrobat PDF reader to read and print some of the documents.

Section (read online)	Print (PDF)	Commentary
Vision Statement, Constitution and Schedule	(PDF 17 pages, 333 kB)
-	-
Vision Statement	(PDF 4 pages, 75 kB)
Front Cover (this page)	-
1. The Covenant	-
2. Our Shared Vision	-
3. Our Theological Basis	-
4. Our Core Values	-
5. The Mission We Share	-
6. Our Covenant	-
-	-
Constitution	(PDF 8 pages, 49 kB)
1. Introduction	-	Commentary
2-3. Purpose	-
4-8. Membership	-
9-21. Congregational meetings	-
22-27. Trustees	-
28-44. Proceedings of the Trustees	-
45. Accounting and reporting	-
46. Powers of Trustees	-
47. Application of funds	-
48-51. Trustee benefits	-
53-54. Investment	-
55-56. Amendment of Constitution	-
57-63. Dissolution of Charity	-
-	-
Schedule to the Constitution	(PDF 4 pages, 30 kB)
1. The LEP	-
2. Area of benefit	-	Commentary
3-5. Participating Churches	-
6. The Sponsoring Body	-
7-13. Christian Initiation and Belonging	-
14-16. Worship	-
17-22. Ministry	-	Commentary
23-26. Relationships with the Participating Denominations	-
27. Buildings	-
28-29. Ongoing development	-
-	-
Appendices	-
1. Glossary of terms	(PDF)
2a . List of current staff	-
2b. Partnership Council (Trustees)	-
3. Standing Orders	To be Completed
4. Geographical map of partnership area	To be Compiled

Why change again?

Previously, churches that were members of certain denominations were exempt from charity registration (or were included in an overarching registration). Local Ecumenical Partnerships were a particularly confusing issue and poorly understood by the Charity Commission. Registration is now compulsory for us, and overdue. The main barrier to application is our Constitution, which the Charity Commission refer to as our Guidance Document. There is a standard text which we must adopt, with only very minor customisation by us. This standard text was defined (by Churches Together in England) after our 2009 constitution work was already done. The new document incorporates much of the learning we went through, but also includes some legal stuff which is new.

Our registration with the Charity Commission is in progress, Chris Scarisbrick is the contact.

If you have questions on the process, or the documents themselves, do not hesitate to ask Chris, your Partnership Council rep, or fire off an email to charity (at) WSwinLyd (dot) org (dot) uk