Page 13 - 2025 Plan of Organization

Standing Committee delegates shall serve on District Board as ex officio members, without vote,
if they are not already elected members of the Board.

ARTICLE 3

Legal Officers of the District

The legal officers of the District are: the Moderator, Treasurer, District Board Chair, and District
Board Secretary (District Executive) and are authorized to execute all documents on behalf of the
District.

ARTICLE 4

Property Holdings, Financial Resources, & Dissolution Statement

4.1 Property Holdings. All members of the Southern District of Pennsylvania Church
of the Brethren acknowledge they are brothers and sisters of the same family through Jesus Christ.
Though all of the same family, the District is comprised of individual congregations. Historically,
the Church of the Brethren has encouraged individual congregations to control their own future
and affairs within the parameters of the teachings of Jesus Christ and the doctrines of the Church
of the Brethren. Though each congregation legally owns its own real and personal property,
recognition is given that the family of the Church of the Brethren has equitable title. In light of
present legal realities, in the absence of formal recognition by each congregation of this balance of
legal and equitable title, and in the event of a fragmentation of a congregation, a civil court could
award the property to a majority of the congregation. To avoid this potential, congregations are
encouraged to acknowledge a trust/fiduciary relationship between the District and the
congregation. This can be accomplished, either through amendment of the congregational by-laws
or a formal Trust Agreement, to be effective and binding in the event a majority of the membership
of any congregation wishes to disassociate itself from the Church of the Brethren. To that end, the
District would avail itself to serve as Trustee for such purposes. For all other issues regarding
property holdings and financial resources, the District will defer to the denominational polity as a
guide. (SEE CHURCH OF THE BRETHREN “Manual of Organization and Polity.)

4.2 Dissolution Statement. Southern Pennsylvania District, Church of the Brethren,
though individually incorporated in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a part of the Church of
the Brethren denomination with general offices located at 1451 Dundee Avenue, Elgin, Illinois
60120. In the event of, or upon dissolution, the net assets of this Corporation shall be distributed
to the Church of the Brethren.

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