N.Y. Religious Corporations Law Section 20
Corporations for acquiring parsonages for district superintendents and camp-meeting grounds

The district superintendent and a majority of the district stewards residing within a district erected by an annual conference of The United Methodist Church, may become incorporated for the purposes of acquiring, maintaining and improving real property to be used either as a parsonage for the district superintendent of such district or as a camp ground for camp-meeting purposes, or for both of such objects by executing, acknowledging and filing a certificate stating the name and object of the corporation to be formed, the name of such annual conference, and of such district, the names, residences and official relations to such district of the signers thereof, the number of trustees of such corporation, which shall be three or some multiple of three not more than twenty-one, the names of such trustees, designating one-third to hold office for three years, one-third to hold office for two years, and one-third to hold office for one year. On filing such certificate the district superintendent and all the stewards of such district by virtue of their respective offices, shall be a corporation by the name and for the purposes therein stated, and the persons therein named shall be the first trustees thereof. The district superintendent and stewards of any other adjoining districts, in this or any other state, may become members of any such corporation, at the time of its formation or any time thereafter, with the consent of such corporation, which has for its sole object, or for one of its objects, the acquiring, maintaining and improving of real property as a camp ground for camp-meeting purposes, if such district superintendent and a majority of such stewards sign, acknowledge and cause to be filed in the office of the secretary of state, a certificate stating such object, the name of such adjoining district, and the names, residences and official relations to such district of the signers thereof, with the consent of the original corporation indorsed thereon. If such a corporation, which has for its sole object or one of its objects, the acquisition and maintenance of camp grounds for camp-meeting purposes, is composed of the district superintendent and the district stewards of more than one district, the number of such trustees shall be apportioned equally, as near as may be, between the different districts, and the district superintendent and district stewards of such district shall elect the number of trustees so apportioned to such district, and the remainder, if any, over an equal division of the trustees, shall be elected by all the members of the corporation. A person holding property in trust for the purposes of a parsonage for the district superintendent of a district, and his successors in office, or for camp-meeting purposes, for The United Methodist Church, may convey the same to a corporation formed for the purpose of acquiring such property within the district in which the property is situated. Meetings held under the direction of such a corporation upon camp grounds owned by it shall be deemed religious meetings, within the provisions of law relating to disturbances of religious meetings. Whenever such a corporation or any camp ground association owns land bordering upon any navigable waters, to be used for camp-meeting purposes only, such corporation or association may regulate or prohibit the landing of persons or vessels at the wharves, piers or shores upon such grounds during the holding of religious service thereon. If the trustees of any such corporation heretofore incorporated have not been classified, so that the terms of office of one-third of their number expire each year, the trustees of such corporation shall be elected annually by the members thereof; but if the trustees of any such corporation have been so classified, one-third of the total number of trustees shall be elected annually to hold office for three years. Such a corporation heretofore incorporated may, by a majority vote, at an annual meeting, or at a special meeting duly called therefor, determine to change the number of its trustees to three, or some multiple thereof, not more than twenty-one. On such determination a majority of the trustees shall sign, acknowledge and file in the offices where the original certificate of such corporation is filed, a supplemental certificate, specifying such reduction or increase; and thereon the number of trustees shall be the number stated in such certificate. If the number of trustees is increased, the corporation shall elect, at its next annual meeting, a sufficient number of trustees to hold office for one, two and three years, respectively, so that the terms of office of one-third of the whole number of trustees of such corporation shall expire at each annual meeting thereafter. If the number is reduced, the corporation shall thereafter elect at its annual meetings one-third of the number of trustees specified in such supplemental certificate, but the trustees in office when such certificate is filed shall continue in office until the expiration of their terms, respectively.

Source: Section 20 — Corporations for acquiring parsonages for district superintendents and camp-meeting grounds, https://www.­nysenate.­gov/legislation/laws/RCO/20 (updated Sep. 22, 2014; accessed Apr. 13, 2024).

3
Filing and recording certificates of incorporation of religious corporations 4
Property of unincorporated society transferred by its incorporation 4–A
Age qualifications of voters 5
General powers and duties of trustees of religious corporations 5–A
Investment of funds 5–B
Any investment of the funds of any religious corporation heretofore made by the trustees thereof shall not be deemed to have been restric... 6
Acquisition of property by religious corporations for branch institutions 7
Acquisition of property by religious corporations for cemetery purposes 7–A
Deeds for cemetery purposes 8
Lot owners’ rights 8–A
Reacquisition of a lot, plot or part thereof by a cemetery 9
Removal of human remains from one cemetery of a religious corporation to another cemetery owned by it 10
Acquisition of property by two or more religious corporations for a common parsonage 11
Correction and confirmation of conveyances to religious corporations 12
Sale, mortgage and lease of real property of religious corporations 13
Consolidation or merger of incorporated churches 14
Judicial investigation of amount of property of religious corporations 15
Corporations with governing authority over, or advisory relations with, churches or synods, or both 15–A
Consolidation of incorporated presbyteries 15–B
Consolidation or merger of incorporated Presbyterian and Lutheran synods 16
Property of extinct churches 17
Property of extinct Free Baptist churches 17–A
Property of extinct Seventh Day Baptist churches and Seventh Day Baptist religious societies 17–B
Property of extinct Presbyterian churches in connection with the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U 17–C
Property of Lutheran congregations 18
Dissolution of religious corporations 19
Corporations for organizing and maintaining mission churches and Sunday schools 20
Corporations for acquiring parsonages for district superintendents and camp-meeting grounds 21
Corporations for acquiring camp-meeting grounds for the Reformed Methodist denomination 21–A
Corporations for acquiring lands for parsonage or camp-meeting purposes for the Free Methodist denomination 22
Establishing and maintaining a home for aged poor 23
Powers of churches created by special laws 24
Government of churches incorporated prior to January first, eighteen hundred and twenty-eight 25
Pastoral relation 26
Worship 27
Reservation as to Baptist churches, churches of the United Church of Christ and Congregational Christian churches 28
Electronic meetings
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Accessed:
Apr. 13, 2024

Last modified:
Sep. 22, 2014

§ 20’s source at nysenate​.gov

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