The recent Charities Act, in response to the Law Commission’s review, received Royal Assent in February and is now in place.  However, it is proposed that this will take the next 18 months for the Charity Commission and Government to implement through secondary legislation/regulations.  The new Act updates and amends the Charities Act 2011 and there are many aspects that will affect independent churches and other charities, including:

• Allowing trustees to be paid for services to the charity;
• Making CIOs and charitable companies trust corporations to be able to hold trusteeships of church properties;
• Allowing more flexibility on changing the governance of charities; and
• Making the process of granting leases and selling property easier.

Church Growth Trust has produced a briefing paper giving the details of these changes and this can be viewed here.  A summary of the changes can be found here.

For more information on the above please contact Giles Arnold at Church Growth Trust on 01536 647164 or email on giles.arnold@churchgrowth.org.uk.

On the Saturday between Good Friday and Easter Sunday, together with the local Parish Church, Hollywood Christian Life Centre in Birmingham ran an Easter trail in their local park.  They used the benefits of technology and put up posters around the park with QR codes on.  Each QR code took people to a video telling part of the Easter story with both churches having recorded two videos each.

Once each video had been watched people could come and get a goody bag with chocolate and an Easter book.  As Steve Crosthwaite, the pastor, says, “We very quickly gave away 200 goody bags and wished we had double that amount available.  With the number of views on the videos and the number of people in the park during day we are confident that around 600 people heard the Gospel that day!  We have also seen new faces at our mid-week children’s club since this event and we are really encouraged by it.”

Calverton Baptist Church is a split-site church which comprises a Main Hall site on Main Street, Calverton, and a separate smaller Hall building located in ‘The Nook’, a few minutes’ walk away. The church has found that in recent years the Hall building located on The Nook was not being used as frequently, and therefore they had concerns about the future viability of the building and the possibility that it may fall into disrepair and become a financial burden. 

The church therefore approached Church Growth Trust for advice on whether planning permission could perhaps be secured for the change of use of the premises to residential, with the view being that the site could then perhaps be sold, with the proceeds of the sale being used to fund extension and renovation works to the main church site. 

Church Growth Trust worked alongside the church to put together a scheme proposal for the submission of a change of use planning permission application. The design proposal for this required careful consideration, and quite a lot of dialogue with the local planning authority, given that the existing Hall building was designated as a ‘locally important heritage asset’ and located within the conservation area of the village.  

Planning permission has recently been granted, and the church are currently looking into the marketing of the application site, and onwards towards the prospect of enhancing their main site to allow them to hopefully further their Gospel outreach work within Calverton. 

‘We would like to thank the Church Growth Trust for holding our hand through the complicated application for planning permission, which was made very difficult during the pandemic and for their constant prompt attention and support’.

Judith Fox, Church Secretary. Calverton Baptist Church

Giles Arnold, Church Growth Trust’s Chief Executive, attended a service on 24 April to say goodbye to Mike Pavlou, who has led Oakleigh Community Church in Whetstone, North London since it was planted in 2002.  Giles first met Mike in 2003 when Giles was working for Stewardship, who then held the trusteeship of Oakleigh Chapel, where the church has been based.  “I was always struck by Mike’s humility, as he felt ill equipped to lead a church and had the “wrong mix” of people who had come with him to plant, so was completely reliant on God in everything.  It has been such a pleasure working with Mike over the last 19 years and has been so encouraging to see the church grow and get established.”  The church outgrew the building and has just completed a major project to reconfigure the inside layout and its external appearance.  The building and the church are in a great place to go forward, as Mike retires.  His humility allowed Mike to receive and reflect to the Lord praise given to him at the service.

Mike also stated, “I want to thank Giles and the team at Church Growth Trust for all their encouragement and support over the years.  We could not have asked for better trustees, they have been immense!  Oakleigh continues to grow and it seems we are getting new people in every week”.

Praise God for this humble man of God.  We pray for Oakleigh Community Church as it goes into its next stage of growth and as Seb Cummings takes over as leader.

The Gospel Hall in Wroughton near Swindon was recently gifted to Church Growth Trust (CGT), after Giles Arnold, CGT’s Chief Executive, met with the last of the assembly and some of the trustees in September 2020.   

Although the assembly was very small in number, they had expressed a desire to be helped by CGT in finding others to help them with revitalisation or replanting.  We considered the options with the assembly and, working with our sister organisation Counties, looked at the opportunity of replanting through the Counties Planting Network.  This looked positive with a local evangelist being supported by a couple of stronger evangelical churches in the area, as well as CGT helping with building work that is required to the property.  Unfortunately, they were not able to progress with this and therefore we have agreed with a church that is already based in the village for them to take a tenancy.  It is hoped that the local evangelist will work with this church.  We are helping the church with building works that are required, both with advice and further concessions on the rent. 

The local church is Discovery Church, which has planted a number of separate congregations in the area and also rent another of CGT’s properties in Swindon.  They have been meeting in the village until recently in a community centre, and are delighted to have use of the Gospel Hall, particularly for their mid-week activities.  As Giles Arnold states, “although it has been a long process, as we have explored all the different options and opportunities, we are so pleased that the building will be given a new lease of life, that its appearance and layout will be improved and, above all, that the Gospel work in the village will be strengthened”. 

We are always excited to share news about our Foundations magazines with you and delighted that the Spring 2022 edition has now been sent out.

This edition features some interesting, useful and encouraging articles from looking at our journey over the last ten years following the merger with the Midland Evangelization Trust, a guide to maintaining your church building, the first of a series of article on discipleship, confirming that waiting on the Lord’s perfect timing provides the best outcome, our reflection on the Living the Passion Conference from last year, and many other helpful and interesting articles.

If you have not received your copy or would like additional copies to pass on to people you know who would benefit from reading this, please email us on enquires@churchgrowth.org.uk and we will be delighted to send these to you.

Church Growth Trust (CGT) has produced a new briefing paper aimed at helping churches keep on top of repairs and maintenance to your church buildings.  This sets out practical tips for each part of a building, giving you a clear idea of what to look out for.  The paper also includes checklists of items to be inspected on a monthly basis and items that need to be reviewed annually. 

As John Duffield CGT’s Property Manager points out, “keeping your church building in good condition is not only a good witness to the Gospel in your community, but is also likely to save considerable costs in the future.  Small items of repair that are not carried out in good time, can end up causing major problems later on; so, it is always good to keep on top of the maintenance.  We hope that this paper will not only be a great benefit to our occupying churches, but also to other churches that have access to our website”. 

This is one of many practical briefing papers available on CGT’s website.  We hope that you will find it helpful.  The paper “How to look after your church building” can be found here.

Over the last couple of years Giles Arnold, Church Growth Trust’s Chief Executive, has been working with a number of newly formed independent evangelical churches that previously had connections with the Methodist Church.  A few of these have been in Lancashire, including in the village of Wray.  As Andrew Wright of Wray Chapel states “it is probably once in a lifetime that as a church you get involved in buying your own building and so everything is new, with all sorts of legal complications.  It has been a real blessing having Giles advise us on our various options and walking with us through this process.” 

Wray Chapel have now agreed the terms for purchasing the old Wray Methodist chapel, school rooms and car park and are committed to continuing their evangelical witness in the village and the surrounding area. 

Giles Arnold comments, “In this day and age where many traditional churches are closing and properties are being lost for the Kingdom, it is so heartening to see new and established evangelical churches growing, taking on new (and old) buildings and having such a level of commitment that they can raise the funds to do this without having to take a mortgage!  We are looking forward to helping other churches in similar situations across the country.  In many ways we are already doing this, by matching up buildings that are vacant with evangelical churches that need a building in order to establish a base for their Gospel work in their localities.”