|PIC1|Details of the new Model Trust Deed for independent churches have been released at an official launch at the Evangelical Alliance and African & Caribbean Evangelical Alliance (ACEA) headquarters in London, Thursday 18th May 2006.

The launch took place with independent churches and the Charity Commission looking to tackle issues of transparency and accountability in new legal reforms.

A Trust Deed is a governing document which sets out the details of how a charity should be run. The Trust Deed for Independent Churches is a model which new charities or those wishing to change their governing document, can choose to adopt but is not mandatory.

The new model is the first of its kind for independent churches, and provides organisations that have non-voting membership with a ready-made legal structure to help govern their charity.

|TOP|The Evangelical Alliance has also declared that “Further models for a memorandum and articles of association and also for a constitution are in the pipeline.”

The core aims of the model trust deed are to manage any potential conflict of interests, and to make it clear the difference between trusteeship and spiritual leadership. It hopes to help facilitate those leading the spiritual direction of a church to also be able to hold appropriate responsibilities for charity governance.

The Trust Deed was produced by the Evangelical Alliance (EA) and the African and Caribbean Evangelical Alliance (ACEA) in collaboration with Stewardship and Anthony Collins (solicitors) and the Charity Commission.

More details and the full text can be accessed by clicking HERE