Church Polity Resources

CB Northwest is available to help you in the process of updating your constitution and/or bylaws. For more information, or questions please contact our office at cbnw@cbnw.org, or 503-669-1515.

Information on Incorporating

• Incorporation Requirements

 

• Alaska
• Idaho
• Oregon
• Washington

Sample Constitution and Bylaws

• Introduction Letter
• Sample Constitution and Bylaws, with Attachments (.doc)
• Sample Constitution and Bylaws, with Attachments (.rtf)
• A Signable Copy of the Church Covenant (.doc)
• A Signable Copy of the Church Covenant (.rtf)
• A Word Study

These documents are only samples. They should be adjusted as needed to fit the unique needs and situation of each local church. Some items have been stated to comply with Idaho and Oregon state laws. If your church is in a different state you should contact your state to determine your own state laws.

The name of the church through out the sample is "FirstChurch". The city and state are "ThisCity" and "ThisState" respectively. This has been done to allow for an easy find and replace in a word processor.

Other Resources

The following resources have been provided by Rev. David Paine for further study on Church Polity:

• A Consideration of New Testament Church Polity
• Biblical Eldership, The Pattern of Leadership in the New Testament Church
• Congregational Church Government: A Study Paper
• Bylaws Manual

Unless a different format is noted, the documents above are in Adobe Reader(pdf) format. You can download Adobe Reader for free from www.adobe.com.