An agreement on the use of facilities helps protect your church from responsibility while providing space for outside groups to meet. You can set the conditions for the group to use your premises and indicate that they remain in good condition and return to church. You can also specify a language that says the group keeps your church unscathed and compensated. “Compensation” means that the group agrees to reimburse your church if you have to be compensated for an incident. Local churches are encouraged to develop agreements to use facilities for external organizations that use ecclesiastical institutions for meetings and activities. An example of agreement on the use of the facilities can be found below. It is recommended that each facility use agreement include a requirement that the external party using the entity have its own liability insurance and that the Church be designated as an additional insured in the user`s policy. Make sure that any agreement you use is verified and approved by a local lawyer, as laws vary by country. If you do not get a building permit contract and an aggrieved person sues the church, your legal status will not be as strong. For groups that already use the building, explain that you need construction use agreements to better define which organization would be responsible in the event of injuries or accidents. Then ask them to conclude your new agreement.
Most groups should have no problem taking responsibility for losses resulting from their activities. In fact, they may have taken responsibility from the beginning. To learn more about reducing risk in the church, call our risk management team at 866.621.1787 or email me at jsparks@agfinancial.org. Because of our current economy and contact programs for various other minority groups, many churches occupy all or part of the ecclesiastical institutions. Many main lines have closed their Sunday evening services, allowing other establishments to rent or use their current facility. Other facilities may have long-term or short-term use for events or activities such as the use of a gymnasium or larger church building to host a larger event. Link to the full printable version at the end of this page. Take this important step before sharing your ecclesiastical institutions with an external group The seat of lending or leasing church buildings to outside organizations is that your church may be held responsible for accidents or injuries, even if you have not been the sponsor of the event. It is easy to believe that the group and its members would be responsible for their own actions, but often they are not.