§ 16:1-37 — Incorporation; certificate; trustees; tenure

Any diocesan convention, presbytery, classis, synod, annual conference, or other governing body having jurisdiction over a number of incorporated or unincorporated churches, congregations or societies of any church or religious denomination in this state, may, at any stated or regularly convened meeting, elect trustees for the purpose of incorporation. The presiding officer and clerk or secretary of such governing body shall prepare a certificate in writing, under their hands and seals, immediately after such election, setting forth: a. The name or title of such corporation; b. The names of the trustees and their terms of office. This certificate shall be duly acknowledged by the presiding officer and clerk or secretary and shall be filed by them in the office of the secretary of state, whereupon such trustees shall be a corporation by the name mentioned therein, capable of taking, holding, managing, and dealing with real and personal property. Such governing body may elect more than one set of trustees in manner aforesaid, who may become incorporated in like manner, and who shall adopt such names as shall distinguish and designate them, reference being had to the object of their trust. The trustees shall be elected for three years, one or more each year, except that the first trustees shall be elected, one-third of the number for one year, one-third for two years and one-third for three years.