The trustees of the several circuits and stations of the United Methodist Church and their successors in office shall have corporate powers, with perpetuity, for the purpose of taking and holding real or personal estate to support religious worship or for church sites, buildings, or parsonages and to maintain and support deaconesses' homes and other religious work. (Amended 1969, No. 180 (Adj. Sess.), § 1, eff. March 5, 1970.)