Michigan Compiled Laws, Chapter 458. Ecclesiastical Corporations § 458.401

Sec. 1. That the minister or ministers and elders and deacons, and if during any time there be no minister, then the elders and deacons during such time, of every reformed church or congregation now or hereafter to be established in this state, and elected according to the rules and usages of such churches within this state, shall be trustees for every such church or congregation, and it shall be lawful for the said trustees, if not already incorporated, to assemble together as soon as they shall deem it convenient, and execute under their hands and seals articles of association, in duplicate, and acknowledge before some officer authorized by law to take acknowledgment of deeds. One of such duplicate copies shall be retained by such corporation and 1 copy shall be filed in the corporation and securities bureau of the department of commerce. And such trustees and their successors shall thereupon, by virtue of this act, be a body corporate by the name or title expressed in such articles of association.