Church Growth Trust has been helping Kirkby Stephen Evangelical Church to purchase an old church building, which has been used as an antique furniture showroom and café for many years. One of our surveyors inspected the property to check its condition and our architect Gill Pedler carried out a feasibility study and drew up plans for turning it back into church use. She has also obtained planning consent for the change of use.
Church Growth Trust was also able to advise on the various complications with the purchase, as well as the sale of the church’s existing building, and offer back up in the negotiations. We were also able to help the church think through the charity law issues involved. John Heron, one of the church’s trustees and an elder, commented: “we were so grateful to Church Growth Trust for their advice and support through the whole process. It is pretty scary for us to take on such a big project, but their expertise and steady hand has given us the confidence to proceed and we thank God for His provision at every stage”. The sale of the church’s existing building and the purchase of the new building both completed at the end of June. The church was able to purchase without a mortgage. Praise God that this old church building is now being put back into Gospel use.
