State of Missouri Closes Mosaic Church

No this isn’t the beginning of persecution of the church in the Missouri.  I shamelessly chose that title to get you to read about something far more boring: annual reports.  I recently got a call from a planter I worked with a few years back.  He had received a letter from the state of Missouri saying the church had been administratively dissolved because they had failed to file an annual report.

Annual reports are very easy to fill out.  Most states now allow for them to be filed online and usually you just have to update any corporate information like who your directors are if they have changed or if your corporate address has changed.  Fail to do that 5 minute task though and you may find the church doesn’t exist anymore in the eyes of the state.  There are reinstatement papers that can be filed but they are more detailed and complicated than the simple annual report.

Some states have other annual requirements as well.  For example, Missouri also requires an annual report to be given to the Attorney General’s office as well as the typical report to the Secretary of State.  The Hurwit & Associates website has a great state by state listing of requirements.  On the left side of the page click “State-by-State: Filings, Compliance & Statutes.”  Then click “Annual Compliance” and choose your state.

For other helps on legal paperwork for church plants, check out the legal category of this blog.  It’s horribly boring but might keep your church from being closed.