real and personal. In all such cases, and in States or Territories where Church property is required to be held by trustees (and not permitted to be held by corporations), let all deeds or other conveyances, under which the Church acquires property for any purpose, contain the appropriate "trust clause" set out in ¶234 or 4237, as the case may be; and the Board of Church Extension shall have forms of deeds suitable to each State or Territory prepared for free distribution.

SECTION III

OF THE DIVISION, TRANSFER, OR SALE OF CHURCH PROPERTY

¶239. When any charge shall be divided, each subdivision may constitute a new board or boards of trustees; and the Church property held by the trustees of the original charge shall be conveyed to the new boards thus created, and the former board or boards shall be freed from all pecuniary liabilities, such being transferred to the new boards respectively. And when any division is made of a charge or District, having parsonage property, in order to adjust the rights and equities of the subdivisions in such parsonage property, the Quarterly Conferences of the respective subdivisions, or the District Conferences (in case of the division of a Dis

trict), shall each select an arbitrator, and these arbitrators an umpire, who together shall constitute a board of reference (44820-823), to which shall be referred the question of adjusting the rights of the respective parties interested in such parsonage property; and the decision of the board of reference shall be aquiesced in and carried into effect by the parties concerned. And if any Quarterly or District Conference shall fail, after written notice, to appoint an arbitrator within one year after such division, this shall work a forfeiture of the claim of such Conference in the property.

¶240. The trustees, with the consent of the preacher in charge and the Quarterly Conference, or if a District parsonage, then of the Presiding Elder and the District Conference, shall have power to sell any Church property that has gone out of use, or that should be removed to another place, the proceeds of which shall be invested in other Church property under the direction of the Quarterly or District Conference.

¶241. The trustees, with the consent of the preacher in charge and the Quarterly Conference where property controlled by a circuit or station is involved, or with the consent of the Presiding Elder and the District Conference where property controlled by a District is involved, shall have power to execute a mineral

lease of such property for the purpose of exploring and developing same for oil, gas, and other minerals, and to receive or sell the royalties thereunder and apply the proceeds arising therefrom as may be directed by the Conference authorizing such a sale.

SECTION IV

OF CREATING LIENS UPON CHURCH PROPERTY

¶242. No person, or persons, or board of trustees shall have authority to create a mortgage or other contract lien, upon Church property: provided, nevertheless, that if these trustees, or any of them, or their successors, have advanced or shall advance, any sum or sums of money, or are, or shall be, responsible for any sum or sums of money on account of Church property, and these trustees, or their successors, be obliged to pay the money, they, or a majority of them, shall be authorized to raise this money by a mortgage on the property, or by selling it, after giving notice to the preacher in charge, or the Presiding Elder of the District, if the money due be not paid to the trustees, or their successors, within one year after such notice has been given; and if a sale take place, the said trustees, or their successors, after paying the debt and expenses, from the money arising from the sale, shall pay the remainder of the money from the

sale to the steward or stewards in the charge; which surplus of the produce of the sale shall be forwarded by the steward or stewards to the Quarterly Conference within whose bounds it is situated, at its next session; and the Quarterly Conference shall dispose of the money, by a vote of the majority, for the use of the charge.

¶243. Provided, further, that the trustees of any house of worship or parsonage, or other property held for the benefit of the Church, a majority of them uniting therein, by the consent and authority of the Quarterly Conference, or of the District Conference, or two-thirds of the District Stewards, if it be a District parsonage, may borrow money from the Board of Church Extension or any person or corporation, and secure its repayment by mortgage upon any property held in trust by the trustees, on such terms and conditions as may be agreed on by the contracting parties.

¶244. Provided, further, that the trustees, when duly authorized, as provided in ¶243, shall also have power to create a lien upon the property conditioned for the repayment to the Board of Church Extension of any conditional donation made in aid of such house of worship or parsonage by that Board, in the event that such property shall ever thereafter be aliened from the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, or

cease to be used for, or be devoted to, other uses than the purposes authorized by the trust clauses in our deeds, as prescribed by our Discipline. In the event of a sale under any mortgage provided for in this or the preceding paragraph the surplus money arising therefrom shall be disposed of as provided in ¶242. Money received under the provisions of this or the preceding paragraph shall be used by the trustees for the exclusive purpose of purchasing, paying debts upon, or improving Church or parsonage property. Whenever any property on which such conditional mortgages have been placed shall be sold by the trustees for the purpose of purchasing property elsewhere, to be used for like purposes, it shall be the duty of the officers of the Board of Church Extension to release its lien, provided equal security be given by mortgage on the new site.

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