UPCI by-laws

[pelathais]

Originally Posted by ImThankful

Our pastor gets all of the tithes so he isnt officially set on a salary at all. I would just think he would want to hold some sort of business mtg yrly so as not to have any so called secrets. I dont feel he is doing anything wrong whatsoever. Im simply saying that way no one would think he has anything to hide. Does most churches hold these mtgs yrly?

Legally then, the "tithes" he takes from the church's other income are his salary. He is required to report this as income on his Federal and state tax returns.

The IRS makes no distinction as to how a donation to a church is designated - whether it's a "tithe" or "offering." In the IRS's eyes it's all a "donation" to a (presumably) 501c tax exempt corporation. Any funds that any of the officers of that corporation remove and convert to personal use are to be reported as income and are subject to the standard tax rates.

I was at a General Conference once back in the 1980s when a brief "Tax Seminar" was given to the assembled ministers. Basically, the law was explained and the consequences for failing to abide by the law were explained as well. Many of the ministers expressed shock at the quandary they were in.

If they were to suddenly report their incomes after having hidden them for so many years, can you imagine the back taxes and interest? One man actually stood up before the entire conference and asked repeated questions about how he might be able to "come clean" and become "legit" without raising all sorts of flags.

I guess this whole "Apostolic Church" and "Pentecostal Revival" was quite the racket back in the day. Not so much, any more.

[Kings Kid]

One question does the church have to have openly displayed or do they have
Have then onhand in case if a titheing saint asks for a copy.

[Kings Kid]

Originally Posted by pelathais

Legally then, the "tithes" he takes from the church's other income are his salary. He is required to report this as income on his Federal and state tax returns.

The IRS makes no distinction as to how a donation to a church is designated - whether it's a "tithe" or "offering." In the IRS's eyes it's all a "donation" to a (presumably) 501c tax exempt corporation. Any funds that any of the officers of that corporation remove and convert to personal use are to be reported as income and are subject to the standard tax rates.

I was at a General Conference once back in the 1980s when a brief "Tax Seminar" was given to the assembled ministers. Basically, the law was explained and the consequences for failing to abide by the law were explained as well. Many of the ministers expressed shock at the quandary they were in.

If they were to suddenly report their incomes after having hidden them for so many years, can you imagine the back taxes and interest? One man actually stood up before the entire conference and asked repeated questions about how he might be able to "come clean" and become "legit" without raising all sorts of flags.

I guess this whole "Apostolic Church" and "Pentecostal Revival" was quite the racket back in the day. Not so much, any more.

.

Besides the pastors pastors salary what is the tithing money used for.

[crakjak]

Originally Posted by ImThankful

Our pastor gets all of the tithes so he isnt officially set on a salary at all. I would just think he would want to hold some sort of business mtg yrly so as not to have any so called secrets. I dont feel he is doing anything wrong whatsoever. Im simply saying that way no one would think he has anything to hide. Does most churches hold these mtgs yrly?

Getting all the tithe is pretty unique to the UPC, and to not disclose the total of the tithe has been very common in the past. I don't know if it is still or not.

I totally disagree with this, and believe that there should be complete disclosure, independent audits so that all is on the table.

[deltaguitar]

Is the practice of one man taking all the tithe biblical? Where are the elders, deacons, administrators, etc that are mentioned in the bible? There seems to be very little accountability in some of these "churches".

[acerrak]

money comming into church should be discussed by the church,

The church of God when i was in it. Help a Meeting every so often told how much came in and how much went out for bills. Also the pastors paychech was decided to and agreed by the decons and the pastor.

there was also a weekly allowance that the pastor could use with out having to ask the deacons for permission. I belive the limit was 1500 dollars. This was money used for church sponsored events,

another evangelist broke off and started his own church, and i believe he shows everything monthly. were it goes what its spent on and believe the congregations votes on it.

Money should never be a issue. But problem is there is greedy men out there using it for themselves.

When the church was told to take care of the poor, hungry and homless.

[pelathais]

Originally Posted by Kings Kid

One question does the church have to have openly displayed or do they have
Have then onhand in case if a titheing saint asks for a copy.

The thing the church must be careful to do is to follow its own by-laws. If the by-laws call for a full public accounting of all funds, then it must do so. In any event, all of these records must be made available to federal and state tax officials no matter what the by-laws say.

Originally Posted by Kings Kid

.

Besides the pastors pastors salary what is the tithing money used for.

There is nothing in the New Testament to give us any guidance as to how a "tithe" is to be divvied up in the church. It's simply not a New Testament practice.

In the New Testament, the saints "gave all" and the community shared all. The ministers (apostles, prophets, evangelists and deacons) lived in near poverty except for the benevolence of the saints.

Perhaps the closest example today would be the Roman Catholic clergy and religious orders, though the "Princes of the Church" (bishops and cardinals) enjoy a level of luxury that was unknown to the New Testament.

[mattmds6638]

Originally Posted by pelathais

The UPCI Manual has a section called "Local Church Government" which used to have a heading "Recommended Local Church Constitution..." or words to that effect. When incorporating, the local church (and every other corporation in the state) must have a set of by-laws to which it adheres. These by-laws can be amended and changed by a vote of the members of the incorporated entity but they must be followed or legal ramifications can result.

If you are not certain what by-laws your church had adopted at its founding, and if it's a UPC church, there's a reasonable likelihood that they adopted the "Recommended By-Laws" from the UPC Manual. The consequences for being wrong about this would depend upon just how dicey your local situation is.

The UPC's "Local Church Government" states that a meeting "must be announced publicly in at least three services," and "the first announcement being at least 10 days before the meeting."

Thank you for posting this, exactly what I was loooking for

[commonsense]

Most churches I've attended had an annual business meeting and you were given a hand out with expenditures for the year.
Some have a general total and others show the actual electric, gas, water

For the pastor's salary.......in larger churches, they lump all salaries together so you don't have actual individual breakdown.