An association of churches is primarily a term used in U.S. tax law to describe a cooperative endeavor among churches that is entitled to tax status similar or identical to the tax status of the churches themselves.
5-586: The Korea Baptist Convention is an association of Baptist Christian churches in South Korea . It is affiliated with the Baptist World Alliance . The headquarters is in Seoul . The Korea Baptist Convention has its origins in the early Baptist churches established by Canadian missionary Malcolm Fenwick in 1896. The International Mission Board also contributed to the planting of churches. The Convention
10-805: A "cooperative undertaking by churches of the same denomination", the definition has been expanded by the IRS to include churches of different denominations . In parts of the United States Code , the word "church" is defined so as to include not just a church in the ordinary narrow sense of the word, but additionally such things as an "association of churches". Like any church, an association of churches must satisfy specific requirements in order to become and remain tax exempt. For example, an association of churches may have to pay an Unrelated Business Income Tax (UBIT) if it gets income by using its property for non-exempt purposes. The phrase "association of churches"
15-597: Is officially founded in 1949. According to a census published by the association in 2023, it claimed 3,442 churches and 530,000 members. It has 1 affiliated University, the Korea Baptist Theological University and Seminary in Daejeon founded in 1953 The Convention has a missionary organization, the Council of Foreign Missions. Association of churches Under U.S. law, an association of churches
20-785: Is used in several federal statutes, as well as in court opinions that interpret federal statutes. For instance, in St. Martin Evangelical Lutheran Church v. South Dakota (1981), the United States Supreme Court decided (among other things) that the Northwestern Lutheran Academy of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod was run by a "convention or association of churches" and was therefore exempt from unemployment compensation taxes under
25-577: Is usually exempt from taxes. It is normally treated as a public charitable organization for tax purposes, as distinguished from being treated less favorably as a private foundation . In 1974, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) stated that, "Neither the Code nor the regulations thereunder define what constitutes a convention or association of churches." Thus, the meaning of the term has not always been crystal clear. While initially defined as
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