Transition from a Charter church to a Covenant church
Transition your existing Foursquare Charter church to a Covenant Foursquare church? Let’s get started!
Why Covenant, Why Now, What Changes?
“Banking compliance expectations around KYC have intensified, and nonprofits—especially religious nonprofits—are increasingly affected by de-risking behaviors. In a Charter structure, banks can struggle to verify authority because the local church is a subunit of a broader corporate system, sometimes triggering account disruption—especially during signer updates. Covenant status establishes a clear local legal entity with local corporate officers, which supports smoother banking verification. We’re streamlining the process into six steps and pairing automation with hands-on support so churches aren’t doing this alone.”
The Birth of The Covenant Church
The idea of a Covenant church has been in the heart of Foursquare leadership for many years as one option for churches to be part of the Foursquare family through something called the Foursquare Association. The concept of Covenant church was totally recast in 2016 to fulfill a longtime goal of creating new options for local Foursquare churches to own and manage real property, which is a contrast to our historical model for property ownership where title to real property has been jointly owned by all Foursquare churches via our corporate structure.
The transition to a Covenant church is a complex process because state, federal and IRS regulations govern the closure of one church and the beginning of another. The Foursquare Church has provided documents and charts to simplify, outline and coach a church through these processes, and consultation is available as needed.
The Covenant Agreement Adopted
In June 2016, the Foursquare convention body adopted a bylaw revision to provide for a Covenant church to be a local Foursquare church, but with its own corporate existence. The unique feature is the existence of a written covenant agreement, voluntarily entered into by the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel (ICFG) and the local Covenant church. In the covenant agreement, the local Covenant church pledges itself to adhere to the bylaws of ICFG and to operate fully as a local Foursquare church. In turn, ICFG pledges itself to provide the same covering and care to a local Covenant church that would be given to a Foursquare Charter church.
This new provision is an important step intended to remove barriers for existing churches that want to be part of the Foursquare family and yet maintain direct responsibility for decisions to buy, sell, improve, encumber or lease property.
Charter to Covenant Transition
Process Overview
The steps below outline a clear pathway from Charter to Covenant status. It is worth noting that there are significant demands on the administrative and leadership functions of a local congregation. Please be sure to fully review the FAQ document for details on costs—in dollars, personnel and time—that the legal process requires.