Two of Church Growth Trust’s (CGT) values, relationship and generosity, are the focus and aims shown to our church connections, sister organisations, and friends of CGT, as well as values shown to the staff team in many ways throughout the year. 

One such way is the annual staff away-day out of the office with the aim to spend some quality time together. In recent years the team have visited York, Norwich and Belvoir Castle in Grantham.  

The recent away-day was more local but no less interesting. The visit to Althorp House in Northamptonshire was enjoyed by everyone with the viewing of the beautiful house inside and out and the surroundings of the estate.  Food is always a key part of the day and the picnic lunch was provided to end the day which supplied the favourite food choices shared by the staff in advance.   

Since Church Growth Trust (CGT) was launched as a separate ministry from Stewardship in 2010, it has seen extraordinary growth, which can only be attributed to the blessing of God.  Continuing Stewardship’s original ministry of holding independent evangelical church properties for these to continue in Gospel use for the future, CGT has seen the number of properties within its care increase from 50 to 120.  This looks set to continue to grow, as Giles Arnold, CGT’s Chief Executive, says, “There is a great need with the independent evangelical churches for our services, as many are struggling to find trustees and expert advice.  A number of churches, partly due to the pandemic, have decided to close or are concerned that they may have to in the near future. They are wanting their buildings to be secured for the future.  This is where CGT comes in, by providing a service to ensure these church properties are kept in Gospel use, by finding new evangelical churches to rent them.  The Lord has enabled us to do with so many buildings around the country.  We also help the occupying churches to keep their properties in good condition, compliant with legislation and suitable for modern church use.”

In recent years the Fellowship Property Trust (FIEC’s trusteeship services) have decided to close and many of their churches are asking CGT to hold their properties.  Other trustees across the country are doing the same.

To cope with the increasing number of properties and the enhanced services that CGT offers to churches, new staff have been taken on over the years.  From a part-time General Manager and part-time Administrator in 2010, CGT now has seven members of staff, four of whom are full-time, and it is looking to recruit a new Building Surveyor to help churches with their condition surveys. 

The trustee Board has also changed over the years, with a number of the original trustees retiring and new trustees coming on board.  As Neil Walker, CGT’s Chairman says, “Recognising that a mixture of continuity and fresh blood is required with any Board, CGT is looking for new trustees who have a passion for its work, are committed Christians with an independent evangelical church background and come with some skills that will complement others on the Board.  Having property or legal, HR or accounting experience is really helpful with our ministry.  We have been very blessed in the last 12 years with such a great set of trustees and know that the Lord will continue to provide the right mix of people and skills to serve Church Growth Trust’s ministry in the future.”

If you are interested in supporting the work of Church Growth Trust or need to use CGT’s services, please contact Giles Arnold on 01536 647164 or 07721 666660 or email him on giles.arnold@churchgrowth.org.uk.

South Elmsall is a town located near to Wakefield, West Yorkshire which had links to the coal mining industry up until the early 1990s.  Elm Chapel, which was built in the 1930s, came into Church Growth Trust’s ownership in 2010, having been held by Stewardship prior to that.  The previous tenants decided to stop meeting at Elm Chapel during the Covid lockdowns and Church Growth Trust (CGT) spent many months praying and looking for new tenants to take over the property and continue the Gospel work from the building.

Matthew Henry of Potters House Wakefield contacted CGT in the autumn of 2021, as he had heard about Elm Chapel from another local Potters House pastor, and he sensed a call to plant a church in the area.  Things moved speedily from there and Matthew took over the tenancy of Elm Chapel in December 2021 and quickly began services and outreach events in January 2022.

The new church has grown rapidly and Matthew comments, “Since starting the church in January God has really been helping us and moving in the local area.  We have done a number of events, including music concerts to reach the local community.  We have seen a number of people respond to the Gospel at these events and some are now baptised or due to be baptised.  Even in these early days we are seeing a faithful core of believers who are growing in their faith.  I’m excited to see what God is going to do as we’ve seen so much already in a short space of time.”

Nigel Brown, Senior Pastor for Potters House Christian Fellowship in the UK, told Church Growth Trust, “We are thrilled at the opportunity given to us by God through Church Growth Trust.  The new church in South Elmsall has started so well and we believe it has huge potential of growth and ability to touch the surrounding areas.  Thank you Church Growth Trust for your support.”

Church Growth Trust began to produce property books for each of its occupying churches in the autumn 2019.  During the various lockdowns of 2020-21, we emailed a ‘virtual’ version to each church, following this up with a hard copy version when we returned to working in the office in September 2021 and now each of our occupying churches have their own property book.   

The property book is a large lever-arched folder for churches to store their compliance documentation and other important documents so that this information can be easily to hand in a physical format and accessible by the whole church team as and when required.  A gas safety check is legally required to be carried out annually and it is recommended that an electrical fixed wire test is carried out every five year, and being able to easily access this documentation in the property book will mean that churches can book a gas or electrical engineer in good time before their gas safety or electrical test certificates expire. 

We also include in the property book a copy of our booklet; “Your Guide to Running Church Premises” which contains lots of useful information on subjects such as asbestos management plans, fire risk assessments, food safety policies and safeguarding policies, all of which are also included in the property book.  A downloadable copy of the booklet is available on our website: Your Guide To Running Church Premises. 

Broomfield Road Evangelical Church (BREC) in Chelmsford began in 1935 as a church plant 85 years ago and, due to a concern over a lack of leadership, it has recently decided to merge with City Church Chelmsford (CCC), which was planted by Danbury Mission in 2020.

As Stephen Hall, an elder of BREC, says, “We are thrilled to report that there has been evident blessing since our start in October 2021, with up to 130 joining our Sunday morning services, a third group of new people starting without a background in either BREC or City Church Chelmsford, six integrated home groups meeting weekly, weekly student and new-comer Sunday lunches in place, a vision for evangelism and church growth and on Easter Sunday we saw two young adults obeying their Lord in the waters of baptism.  This is a wonderful step forward for us all and especially for BREC recognising the crisis situation we were in during the spring of 2021.”  

It has been recognised from the start that meeting in the current BREC building is a temporary measure due to the limited capacity this has for a growing church.  To this end Danbury Mission have been looking for a suitable building in a suitable location as a new home for CCC.  Planning permission was granted for change of use on the Waterfront Building, a former restaurant in the city centre, and in the last few weeks contracts have been exchanged on a long lease.   

The Waterfront building is an ideal new home for CCC.  lts city centre location aligns with their vision to serve all of Chelmsford and be a hub for church planting and revitalisation across Essex. It is a significant upgrade from the current BREC building.  As well as improved safety and accessibility, its meeting room will have 100 more seats.  lt also has additional breakout rooms, offices, a coffee shop, and outdoor space.

Church Growth Trust (CGT), who owns BREC’s current building, are working with the church to agree the best way of using the existing building to help fund the new building.  As Giles Arnold, CGT’s Chief Executive says, “We have had a long and happy relationship with Broomfield Road Evangelical Church and are delighted for them that the merger is going well and there is an amazing opportunity to use this new building in the city centre.  We are loathed to have a to sell a church property, but believe the Lord is directing us to obtain best value for the existing site, so we can invest as much as possible in the new venture.  It is great to support City Church Chelmsford with their clear vision and evidence of the Lord’s favour”. 

Watch out for more news on what happens with the church and their new building.

Over the last year Church Growth Trust’s Chief Executive Giles Arnold has reviewed the deeds for 55 properties where the Fellowship Property Trust (FIEC’s trusteeship service) are trustee.  He has also visited over 30 of the churches, where they have shown an interest in using CGT’s trusteeship services.  A number of the trusteeships have now been transferred to Church Growth Trust (CGT).  These include two recent cases, being sole trusteeship of Lindfield Evangelical Free Church near Haywards Heath and a holding trustee role of Highgate Road Chapel.  As Alison Weeks, Church Secretary of Lindfield Evangelical Free Church, says, “thank you for your help to us during this transition time.  We look forward to working with CGT in the future”.  There are at present 23 other trusteeships where churches have made the decision to use CGT’s services and a few where churches have yet to make their decision.  This continues to take a lot of time for CGT and its solicitors. 

“I have so enjoyed meeting with churches across the country, helping them think through their options with trusteeship, and then working with the solicitors to achieve their preferences.  Each situation is different and there is unfortunately not “one size fits all”, so in each case we have to work out what the current situation is, what the church can do legally and what is best for them in the future.  Church Growth Trust’s passion is to keep these church properties in Gospel use for the future; so, we are delighted to be able to help in this way.” 

It is anticipated that the remainder of the trusteeships will be transferred over the next six to 12 months, but there is still a lot of work ahead! 

Church Growth Trust is offering a tenancy to a substantial church building known as Roe Green Hall in Kingsbury, North London which is available to rent immediately. The property has been let to King’s Church Harrow for nearly six years as they pioneered the establishment of a new church in the area. Unfortunately, some recent unexpected personnel changes have resulted in their pioneering work becoming unsustainable and so reluctantly the church has decided to give up the tenancy.  In the last two years King’s Church partnered with Church Growth Trust in the building of the modern extension to the front and committed both funds and labour to the renovation of other parts of the property.  

The Main Hall seats approximately 150 people. There is a newly built glazed reception area of 1,300 sq ft, a fully fitted kitchen with two servery openings and there are an additional four separate rooms / offices. There is also on-site parking.  

An Ofsted approved nursery hiring currently operates on site providing a valuable income to any incoming church who wish to rent this church property. Please click on the link to view the particulars for Roe Green Hall and the link to view the floor layout plan for this church property as seen below.

Kingsbury is situated in the London Borough of Brent with Stanmore to the north, Hendon to the east, Wembley to the south and Harrow to the west. The church property is located in a mainly residential area which in 2011 had an estimated population of 29,000*. There is a bus stop in front of the property for the 303 Kingsbury Circle route and Kingsbury Tube station on the Jubilee Line is just over a 10-minute walk away. In addition, Roe Green Infant School, Roe Green Junior School and Kingsbury High School all lie adjacent to the property on the same side of Princes Avenue. 

*Source – Wikipedia Kingsbury 

Church Growth Trust 

We are hiring – full-time or possibly part-time role 

Building Surveyor (or equivalent) – Committed Christian, with a passion for working with evangelical churches across England and Wales 

A unique opportunity to provide surveying and building construction services to our occupying churches and clients.  A range of work from condition surveys to details on building projects on church buildings. 

Our office is based in Seaton, near Uppingham, Rutland.  For further details and an application pack please contact Garryl Willis (Operations Director) on 01536 647161 or email garryl.willis@churchgrowth.org.uk.