N.Y. Relig. Corp. Law § 180
Any seven or more persons of full age, citizens of the United States, and a majority of them being residents of this state, who shall associate themselves for the purpose of founding and continuing one or more free churches, may make, sign and acknowledge, before any officer authorized to take the acknowledgment of deeds of land to be recorded in this state, and may file in the office of the secretary of state, and also of the clerk of the county in which any such church is to be established, and record as provided in section three of this chapter, a certificate in writing, in which shall be stated the name or title by which such society shall be known in the law, the purpose of its organization, and the names of seven trustees, of whom not less than five shall be persons who are not ministers of the gospel or priests of any denomination, to manage the same; but such certificate shall not be filed, unless with the written consent and approbation of a justice of the supreme court of the district in which any such church shall be intended to be established, to be indorsed on such certificate.
N.Y. Relig. Corp. Law § 180