The government agency responsible for regulating such corporations is usually the official holder of records, for instance, the Secretary of State.
[2] Depending on the state in which they are located, they may also be exempt from some of the inspections or regulations governing non-religious groups performing the same services.
All religious, private, and civil corporations are created for the purpose of conducting the temporal affairs of their affiliated church.
[1] Accordingly, the General Conference of 1872, in pursuance of a resolution offered, after consultation, and subsequently approved by the Committee on Church Extension, bishops were directed "to appoint, in each State and Territory, and in the District of Columbia, one person learned in the law, whose duty it shall be to furnish gratuitously to the Board of Church Extension a form of a deed, forms of mortgages and bequests, and forms for legal incorporation of churches, with written suggestions in relation thereto as may be deemed desirable.
Churches and associated corporations are automatically considered tax-exempt and are not required to apply for and obtain recognition of exempt status from the IRS.