16:2-20 - Dissolution of church

16:2-20.  Dissolution of church
    Any Baptist church or religious society or any Seventh-Day Baptist church or  religious society in this State, which has ceased, or failed to maintain religious worship, or services, or to use its property for religious worship or  services according to the tenets, usages and customs of Baptist churches in  this State, or of Seventh-Day Baptist churches which are members of the Seventh-Day Baptist General Conference, as the case may be, for the space of 2 consecutive years immediately prior to the commencement of the action;  or whose membership has so diminished in numbers, or in financial strength, as to render it impossible or impracticable to maintain religious worship or services  or to protect its property from exposure to waste and dilapidation, or to  fulfill the purpose for which it was incorporated, shall be deemed and taken to  be extinct. The Superior Court in a civil action, proceeding in a summary  manner or otherwise, may dissolve any such church or religious society.

     Amended by L.1953, c. 16, p. 142, s. 5;  L.1963, c. 81, s. 3, eff. June 4, 1963.