There have been recent reports in the news of a retired evangelical congregational minister who has been buying chapels in the Welsh valleys that have been considered redundant and in some cases are semi-derelict. The Reverend Robert Stivey is passionate about restoring these places of worship and seeing them again used as vibrant centres of Gospel outreach to their local communities.

As Church Growth Trust share a similar passion for keeping church buildings in Gospel use and safeguarding them for the future, Giles Arnold, CGT’s Chief Executive, met with Robert Stivey and his son Dan to explore how CGT can help. As Giles Arnold states: “Robert and Dan Stivey have a major challenge ahead of them. Some of the chapels are huge with 1,000 seats, some are Listed and cannot be altered and others are in need of major repairs to make them usable. But our God is able! It is exciting to be working with them to help them in practical ways. Particularly as we share a similar vision.”

Church Growth Trust has advised on charity matters, particularly in terms of making sure that the properties are held for charitable purposes in the future. Giles Arnold has also been able to give a number of contacts of churches and organisations that are wanting to evangelise, plant churches and make use of buildings in South Wales. “It has been a privilege to help in a small way and we hope that we will be able to work more closely with Robert and Dan Stivey in the future. We are certainly praying for them to see the fulfilment of their vision and to see these amazing chapels being used again for Gospel work and to see transformation of the needy communities in which they are located.”

We are really excited to introduce our new trustee, Richard Jones to the Church Growth Trust team.

Richard is married and lives in West Derby, Liverpool and has two grown up daughters. He has been an active member of West Derby Evangelical Church since childhood. Serving as Elder and Trustee since 2002, Richard has been encouraged by the growth of the church, the faithfulness of its people and the positive work in the community. As a Chartered Quantity Surveyor, Richard has worked in the construction industry since 1989 delivering a range of consultancy services for public and voluntary sector organisations. A particular expertise is in education building consultancy for local authorities, dioceses and multi-academy trusts. Recently he has managed over £1bn of expenditure on schools for central government with global consultancy Arcadis. Richard also runs a small property rental business. Loving the outdoors, Richard enjoys travelling with the family, walking and long distance bicycle rides. 

We look forward to the valuable contribution Richard will bring to the direction of CGT.

In October 2019 Church Growth Trust launched its latest resource and due to the initial popularity of this an additional print run was needed in December 2019. Following the many encouraging responses we have received from those who have received this booklet we have updated and added a couple more guidance subjects to the booklet ‘Your Guide to Running Church Premises’.

This updated booklet has four new and relevant subjects to be of practical help for you as you look after your church property.

The additional subjects we have added are:

• Copyright and licensing;
• Noise & legal nuisance;
• Signs;
• Leases & licences.

To request your copy email enquiries@churchgrowth.org.uk.

Work at Redhill is now complete. The church are delighted with the new stair that replaces a dilapidated external stair and the rearrangements to provide an accessible toilet and shower for the work that Renewed Hope Trust do in the building with homeless people.

Here you can see that the completed structure that now incorporates the stair within the building

The new accessible toilet and shower room that wraps under the stairs

And now that access to the first floor is safe, the meeting room has been refurbished to be used for Foodbank storage and office space.

Our previous news articles have covered the work in progress and can be viewed by clicking on the links below.

Redhill – work has commenced – July 2019

Redhill – work nearing completion – September 2019

Church Growth Trust are looking forward attending and exhibiting at the Connect Conference on 21st – 23rd February in Daventry.

With the visit of Dietrich Schindler, Executive Director of Church Planting Evangelical Free Church of Germany, we are set for an amazing gathering, enjoying great times of worship, teaching and time to connect with each other.

Bookings are still open for you to attend this gathering, just click here to sign up.

If you have already booked to attend this event, please do come and hello to either Giles or Garryl who will be on our exhibition stand.

Richard Naylor was one of two trustees that were also trustees of Stewardship, when Church Growth Trust was set up by Stewardship in 2010.  He has faithfully served on the Board for the last 10 years and has also played a significant role behind the scenes on various Committees and in writing material for the Foundations magazine, tips of the month and video productions.  He has also used his immense architectural experience in reviewing plans for altering and improving Church Growth Trust’s buildings.

It seemed fitting for Richard to be presented with an abstract painting, produced by CGT’s architect Gill Pedler, of Miracle House, Wickford, which he was heavily involved with when it was built six years ago.

Richard will be greatly missed as he retires from the Board and all at CGT wish him the Lord’s blessings in the next stage of his ministry.

There is often confusion between leases and licences and churches can get themselves in a pickle about this. This can be caused by a church innocently allowing a group to use a room for storage and then finding that they have actually been given a lease and it is difficult to get them to move.

A church that does not have its own building may wish to lease someone else’s building, but does not know what things to consider with a lease. Church Growth Trust’s latest briefing paper is designed to help churches think through these issues and is now available in CGT’s website.