ighlights of any building project are when either key stages of the project are closed out, for example the wiring or central heating, or the architects technical drawing of a building elevation or a particular building feature suddenly becomes a reality on site. Capturing these moments on camera and in video is really helpful for at least three reasons.

Firstly, highlight videos enable the leaders of a project to share progress almost instantly with supporters and stakeholders. These can include an onsite commentary whilst the video is being filmed and can be backed up later by sharing additional still photographs with sub-titles. On one of our projects the bible was shown to be the literal foundation of the building as bibles were filmed being placed into the foundations before they were poured. A follow up video showed the pouring taking place.

Secondly, highlight videos and photographs can form a very useful database for the future management of the building beyond the project itself when different people who are new to the building can use these to familiarise themselves with what was there before and what is there now. For example we have already shown previously a photograph of the underfloor heating of the Kingsbury project and that will be a helpful record for others to understand what services are where if ever there is a need to break open the floor.

Finally, it is only after the moment has come and gone that you realise that you wished you had a highlight of a part of the project. Installing a time lapse camera or cameras on a project can be very interesting and helpful in capturing the whole life of a project for posterity.

FIEC’s trusteeship services, now known as the Fellowship Property Trust (or FPT) is closing its services over the next year or so and many of the churches that have been using FPT in the past are being encouraged to use Church Growth Trust for the same services.  One of these services is the role of holding trustee, which involves holding the title to the property, so that the church do not have to register the title for the property every time a new managing trustee is appointed, and dealing with the closure of the charity if the church closes at some point in the future.  Church Growth Trust (CGT) also stores the property deeds in our secure and fireproof cabinets, scanning them and making them available for trustees to view.  As part of the holding trusteeship services, CGT signs up the occupying churches to Stewardship’s Consultancy Helpline.

We are delighted to announce that the first holding trusteeship has now been transferred and is in place for Blenheim Free Church at Maidenhead.  This was a fairly straightforward process, as CGT’s solicitors have put together standard documents – a Resolution for the church to pass and a Management Agreement between CGT and the church.  As Chris Spackman from Blenheim Free Church states “Giles Arnold from Church Growth Trust has been helpful in explaining the options available to us and co-ordinating the work with the solicitors.  He was also able to review the deeds for the property and give us some general advice, so that the managing trustees could make an informed decision.  We are pleased that the process in the end was very straightforward and we look forward to working with Church Growth Trust in the future”.

Jonathan Bond of the Fellowship Property Trust and Giles Arnold have been working closely to ensure that the transfer of trusteeships from FPT to CGT is as straightforward as possible for the churches.  Jonathan Bond states “it has been a hard decision for our trustees to close the trusteeship services, but we are confident that where churches do not wish to set up their own CIO to which the property would be transferred, Church Growth Trust will provide churches with an excellent service”.

As Giles Arnold from CGT points out “providing independent evangelical churches with our trusteeship services is part of our passion for keeping church properties in Gospel use for the future.  It is great to be able to help churches understand their options and, where appropriate, provide them with this valuable holding trusteeship services at a low cost”.

We at Church Growth Trust spend a lot of effort and time finding and matching up churches and church properties, when we have empty buildings.  Sometimes however, after all possible options have been exhausted and we cannot find a suitable church or ministry, we have to make the difficult decision to sell a property. 

One such property is Hamstall Ridware Gospel Hall, located in a small village in the Lichfield District of Staffordshire, for which there was no interest from any church or ministry in continuing its existing use.  We then sold the property and decided to use some of the proceeds from the sale to provide grants to bless and support four local church projects. 

The projects include the employment of a youth worker for one church, a children’s family and community worker for another church (one that is occupying another of our properties), the expansion of a local Foodbank project to provide an area for talking with clients, and a church project focusing on families and their physical, mental and spiritual health.  An elder at one church stated: “The grant you have provided will make a difference to some of the most needy families in our town”.  Another church leader said: “your grant will go a long way to enabling us to reach people for Jesus and advance to the Kingdom of God”. 

We look forward to sharing future stories of the impact and fruit from these blessings. 

enerous Gifts and Giving are an early indicator as to whether a building project has the potential to Get out of the Ground. This is because all stakeholders within a fellowship need to see that they have an interest in what is being proposed to be built. Gifts and Giving are a direct response to the love that God has poured upon us in the death of the Lord Jesus Christ and are a mark of faith which recognises that we are but custodians of all that God gives to us. In the case of a building project the giving that is made must be over and above the normal weekly giving. That weekly regular giving powers along the day to day work of any Christian fellowship / church.

It is extraordinary and additional generous giving for the one off building project that will either bring it to fruition or literally leave it on the drawing board. This is not about generosity with time or prayer but about money. Money is needed to pay the bills that will be generated. But the goal is to build something that brings glory to God by its use in bringing the gospel to a world that needs to hear the momentous news that Jesus saves. The result for those who do give is a deepening. A deepening unity with those who are delivering the project, a deepening insight and respect for all those who serve in their various capacities and a deepening faith in and gratitude to our God who delights to give.

aith and Trust is at the heart of what we believe as Christians. And it also should be the basis of the working relationship between participants in a building project.

Once a project has begun it is the original contracting parties who need to remain visibly engaged in it and committed to one another. This is not to say that everything will go forward without a hitch. The best plans are derailed by unforeseen events. The acid test in a crisis though is how, collectively, the project team responds to secure the best outcome and this requires faith and trust that everyone is focussed on the same objective. This can help the realisation that every person involved, whether client or contractor, is essentially on one team. Whilst it almost goes without saying that one party has contracted the other to deliver an outcome, a successful outcome will be for the mutual benefit of both parties.

Faith and Trust can and should lead to Openness and Honesty which are the highpoint of any relationship and particularly so in a building project. It allows the experience to become truly enjoyable despite the challenges. When both client and contractor embrace this approach wholeheartedly then faith and trust will be the glue that holds the team together and allow the desired outcome to be achieved. And what actually happens, and has happened at Kingsbury, is that it leads participants to reach further and higher together. It leads them to achieve more and to see more of God’s blessing and guiding hand.

There has been recent significant delivery at Cornerstone Church in Crewe in the form of a fifty square metre cabin. The cabin arrived as a fully finished unit complete with fitted kitchenette and accessible WC. The main body of the cabin offers a large flexible open plan space which will be used for youth work and church activities and functions, giving a vital overflow to the main church building.

The new cabin is located to the side of the main church building on the grassed lawn area, and an accessible ramp will be provided to the door of the cabin, granting an accessible approach from the church car park. Given the size and weight of the cabin unit, it had to be craned into position from the church car park, over the corner of the main church building and on to the pre-prepared concrete foundations.

The contractor who installed the foundations will be returning to site shortly to complete the installation works of the cabin, ensuring that it is has the required drainage connections and incoming water and electric supplies, along with installing the ramp and making good the external areas generally. The cabin will then be ready to be used by the church, and we hope and pray that this facility will be a real blessing to the church in their ongoing ministry and outreach.

The building works have recently been completed at King’s Church, Kingsbury. The works comprised a new open plan ‘Welcome Area’ extension, offering with this a new centrally located entrance to the church complex between the existing main worship hall to the left and the ancillary meeting rooms to the right.

This new extension presents an expansive full height glazed elevation facing towards the main road and bus-stop directly outside. This in essence is a move to allow the church complex to reach outwards and connect with the wider community and passers-by, rather than promoting a sense of disconnection by shielding the complex from public view. It is a hope that through this move more people will be inspired to become a part of the wide variety of community outreach activities undertaken by the church.

The new facilities are helping the church to widen the offering of its community outreach to include initiatives such as a ‘Baby Bank’, which will offer baby items and care packages to disadvantaged young families, and English language classes taught with a Gospel focus. The church has also been able to grant the use of part of the premises to a Nursery school, providing excellent surrounding for this much needed facility.

The building works were completed to an impeccable standard by North London based Contractors Coste & Beno Ltd. Both Directors of the Company are Christians and offered a fantastic level of commitment, diligence, and expertise to the project, delivering outstanding results.

It is hoped that the building project will help to assist the church leaders moving forward in the delivery of their already wonderful outreach and mission work within the local community.

We are always excited to share news about our Foundations magazines with you and delighted that the Spring 2021 edition has now been sent out.

This edition features some interesting, useful and encouraging articles from hearing about two recent building projects, stories of churches and their journey through Covid-19, our working with other Trust Corporations, a guide to help unpack church insurance and may other helpful and interesting articles.

If you have not received your copy or want additional magazines to send to your connected church leaders, please get in touch, email enquiries@churchgrowth.org.uk or call 01536 201339 to request your extra copies.

ngaging the contractor is a key part of any building project. This is usually managed by an architect or building surveyor acting as project manager. The first task is to identify contractors. Normally the best way to do this is by word of mouth where effective contractors are either already known to the project manager or someone within the project has either worked with them or seen them at work. A list can then be drawn up of at least three firms but before this is finalised, the financial viability of lesser known contractors should be checked since a seemingly competitive price later could lead to the appointment of an unviable and unreliable party with disastrous consequences. It should be said that at the moment clients should not be surprised that finding three viable contractors can prove to be a genuine challenge.

Once the tender prices are in, the project manager will check these with the contractors so that they can be presented to the client in a format that compares one with the other easily. In addition to price, there will be equally important considerations such as good working relationships, a shared vision, safe working practices and perhaps most important of all, availability. The best contractors with an excellent reputation may not have immediate availability. There can be hard decisions at the point of engagement including whether to wait for the preferred contractor, which has a further risk that the tender price might rise with a few months delay, or move forward more quickly with another. Prayer, careful planning and co-operation will be key to moving forward with the engagement.

ecision-making needs to be Delegated to a nominated person in a transparent manner and with clear Directions from the outset of any project. Dealing in a Direct and Decisive way with Demonstrable backing and support from all sides is the Distinctive that Defines nearly all successful building projects and allows the project manager to Drive things forward. Without this, there is a great Danger that there will be Disruption and Disputes. These will nearly always lead to Delays which can be Deadly both to the control of finance and momentum in the Delivery of the intended building project. Disharmony of this type will often Demoralise participants and Depress supporters.  In the end everyone in a Christian building project is Doing everything for the glory of God. Demonstrating this in our Dealings with all will be Transformative in every Biblical sense of that word. Avoiding Dramas and Distractions will be Decisive in Delivering the Desired outcome. DV.