Quote:
Originally Posted by Margies3
Who has ownership of the actual church buildings and the property that it is built on? If a church is affiliated, does that mean that the UPC owns the property? (I had heard that somewhere but didn't know if it was true or not. Maybe someone can clarify it for me).
If the UPC DOES own the property and church when said church is 'affiliated', what happens when a church decides to unaffiliate? Does the church body have to vacate that building and turn it over to the UPC organization?
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No...the UPC owns very few buildings that I know of...usually if a district owns the property it is because the property was being foreclosed and the district bailed it out financially at some point in its history...this happened more further in the past than in the last 15 years...
Even in an affiliated church the church remains autonomous and owns its own property...but the district kindof owns the pulpit because affiliation is a legally binding agreement between that church and the UPC that ONLY a UPC licensed preacher will pastor there...
It is important to note that there have been cases where the church was affiliated, the pastor lost his card, and he had to leave with a majority of the congregation with him because affiliation is binding! So if a preacher thinks he might be leaving the UPC...he'd best disaffiliate before anyone catches on...LOL
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