How can you get legal documents signed quickly when your signer is across town or across the country? Use one of these digital signature software options to digitally sign church legal documents.

Whether you’re a corporation or an unincorporated association, every church organization has legal documents to sign, like meeting minutes and bylaws. The old offline version went like this:

1. the church Board meets at the church office
2. the Secretary takes notes with pen & paper during the meeting
3. they type up the notes as official meeting minutes
4. then the Secretary signs them,
5. maybe mails each Board member a copy, and
6. files the original in the corporate records binder at the church office

Here are some problems with that in our current digital age and church planting context:

• oversight or management teams can include members from out of the area or even out of state
• management team meetings get held virtually via video conference
• the Secretary takes notes electronically
• meeting minutes get distributed by email
• you have no physical church office

For things that need to get signed, you could have the Secretary print them, sign them and then scan them back in to electronic format. Or you can save time, paper and toner and digitally sign church legal documents.

Digital Signature Apps

Pricing as of April 2018:

• HelloSign : 3 free per month, then $13/mo (paid annually)
• SignNow : $5/mo (paid annually)
• DocuSign : $10/mo (paid annually)
• SignEasy : $10/mo (paid annually)
• RightSignature : $12/mo (paid annually)
• other options are proliferating

How to Digitally Sign Church Legal Documents

These apps follow a pretty simple, straightforward process:

1. create the document that needs to be signed, leaving room for signatures just like you would old fashioned ink signing
2. upload that document to their site via your browser or mobile app
3. add names and email addresses of signers
4. optionally, add email addresses of people who will be CC’d on the finalized document
5. drop signature blocks for each signer where you want them to sign
6. optionally drop other blocks in, like their printed name, the date, etc.
7. press send and let the signers do the rest

Other Things You Need to Know

Security and Legality

All of the apps above have prominent pages on their websites that explain their security protocols and how their digital signature process is legally binding.

The SOS May Not Accept

Despite that, your state’s Secretary of State may not yet accept a digitally signed document. So check with them first before you try to incorporate or file other government forms with them using a digital signature.

Unanimous Written Consent

Sometimes your Board may need to make an official decision or action between Board meetings. Did you know they cannot vote by email? But your state probably allows for a Board to take action by unanimous written consent. That requires every Board member to sign an action/decision document (yes, unanimously). So that ends up being roughly like signing by email, but the extra security attached to every signature (above) makes all the difference.

When you digitally sign church legal documents, you save time. And bonus: you create a built-in digital record of your signed documents all in one place.