As we end another year, the whole staff team at Church Growth Trust are grateful for all the amazing achievements during 2019 year and we want to rejoice and share some of these with you.
12 Tip of the Month articles
9 new church lettings
8 new church properties
3 completed church building projects
2 Research staff
2 staff training days at Launde Abbey
1 new Property Administrator
1 new Marketing Consultant
1 new Chairman
Church Growth Trust staff team (left to right – John Duffield, Mandy Harris, Carol Brown, Gill Pedler, Garryl Willis, Elaine Roberts and Giles Arnold)
Thank you for your support and encouragements during 2019 and we look forward to 2020 and many future years helping and providing the support you need.
Now is a time of year when going into a church building can present something of a hazard, especially if you are opening it up for the first time. Where is the lock and when you get in the building, where are the light switches?
Many churches find that outside lights, whether operated by switches, timers or movement sensors, are vulnerable to vandalism of one form or another meaning that other solutions are called for. Whilst most mobile phones do have torches, they are somewhat unwieldly. Using mobiles results in a juggling and contortionist act of trying to enter the building without dropping the very valuable phone whilst keeping hold of the various bibles and papers in the other hand and still having hands free to turn the key in the lock and the handle of the door, all at the same time. Solutions might include attaching a small pen torch on the key ring or using luminous markers on both the key and the lock. In some situations it may be that “borrowing light” say from street lighting is possible. It may be that this light is obscured by bushes and trees that have become overgrown and pruning these may allow sufficient light into a darkened area.
Once in the building, and without “local” knowledge, finding a light switch can become increasingly frantic and hazardous so use of luminous stickers around either the light switch plate or on the switch itself will be helpful. Indeed, this will also work in the main areas of the building as there will often need to be a mini route march from switch to switch to arrive at the main bank of light switches.
Also consideration needs to be given to getting to the fuse board in the event of a power outage – is there emergency lighting, how do you make your way to the fuse board and can you see what is in there when you get there?
Giles Arnold, Church Growth
Trust’s Chief Executive, has over the years built a close relationship with
Brian Knowles, the Chairman of Western Counties and South Wales Evangelization
Trust. They have met up regularly to
compare notes on the two organisations, which share a similar vision of keeping
independent church buildings in Gospel use.
It was therefore a great shock to Giles Arnold to hear of Brian Knowles
being called to glory only four days after Giles Arnold had, by Brian Knowles
invitation, attended the Western Counties Trustees’ Meeting.
The meeting was very positive. “I felt very welcomed by the trustees and was delighted to be able to talk about our common vision and ways of being able to work more closely together, even though we have different structures to our organisations” stated Giles Arnold. “I will miss Brian’s friendship”.
Brian Knowles will be a hard act
to follow. Although he was in his 80s,
he was carrying out the majority of the work for the Trust. Please continue to pray with Church Growth
Trust for the work of Western Counties, as the trustees make the necessary
changes over the coming months.
In 2017 Church Growth Trust helped Windmill Community Church to restore a dilapidated Victorian Chapel in Wolverhampton.
Chapel building before restoration in 2017
Since it’s opening at the end of 2017 the building has become a thriving community centre reaching the local community throughout the week and facilitating a growing fellowship for worship on Sundays.
In fact the fellowship has grown to such an extent that they already need more space and Windmill Community Church have invited us to help them with the second phase of their building project to provide another meeting room.
As a building of local interest the local planning department were keen to be involved and have encouraged us to develop the proposals into a contemporary structure that will enhance the original chapel building. Planning permission was granted earlier this year and building work is hoped to start in 2020.
Abridge Evangelical Church approached Church Growth Trust for help with their church property. They had been exploring ways to provide better wheelchair access into their building and also needed to provide an accessible toilet along with some other internal improvements. They instructed Church Growth Trust to carry out a feasibility report to explore these issues and to propose a way of overcoming them.
Gill Pedler (CGT’s Architect) visited the building and carried out a measured survey and assessment of the building.
The main entrance had a number of steps and providing a ramp here would have been difficult due to the proximity to the drive way and to the boundary of the site in front of the building.
Internally the existing kitchen was roughly the same size as a compliant accessible toilet so it made sense to incorporate the toilet within this space and build a new room for a larger kitchen that would be adjacent to the main hall and could include serveries into both adjacent areas for serving hot drinks in a safer way.
After the church had considered the proposals we agreed a scheme that would include the essential work to provide level access and wheelchair accessible toilet facility as a first phase along with some other alterations required to make this possible.
Church Growth Trust drew up the working drawings in preparation for a building regulation application and for going out to tender for quotes from local builders. The church building is used throughout the year by the local primary school and it was important that the building work was carried out inside the school holidays so that the school could continue to use the building uninterrupted. These dates were presented to the contractors at tender stage to ensure that they would be available to carry out the work within the time available.
The work was carried out within the time allocated and within budget, the church are really pleased with the finished project and the photographs featured show the different areas of the building before and after.
This is a question normally asked by a huddle of people standing in the pouring rain outside a darkened building and the organiser of the meeting has not turned up. Or perhaps, more embarrassingly, a visiting speaker or contractor has turned up but no-one can get in. There then follows a series of mobile phone calls to track down a key followed by logistical deliberation about how the key is going to be transported from where it is to the building or identifying someone who is closer.
But who has a key, if you will pardon the pun, is a key piece of information which all those with responsibility for a building should know AT ALL TIMES.
All groups, church or other, should keep a record of all people who have which keys, when they were given to them and when they have been returned. This record needs to be reviewed regularly – perhaps every six months – to ensure that keys are accounted for and produced. Whilst some will consider this to be an irritant, the discipline of keeping tabs on who has keys and that they have not lost them will ensure that you are confident that the building is secure and, when meetings are organised, who will be giving access.
In addition people who move on should return any keys they have been given and an up to date record will demonstrate this has been done.
An occupier should think carefully about the rules there should be for visitors borrowing the building and also for key holders. For example, it might be sensible to tell keyholders that they should not lend their key to someone outside the organisation. Whilst this may sound like common sense, it can often be difficult for a keyholder to decline to lend a key to a friend as they want to appear helpful. But by establishing ground rules, embarrassment on both sides can be avoided and control maintained.
Keys can also give access to places such as boiler rooms, roof areas and safes. Clearly access in these instances needs to be firmly controlled from a Health and Safety and Insurance perspective. An up to date record will demonstrate this is being done. Where valuables are involved, consideration should be given to locks which require high security keys – these can be either patented or restricted – so that keys cannot be cut at someone’s whim or for a stranger but only for someone who is authorised and has the authentication with them. Whilst this can carry an increased cost, the cost will force occupiers to think carefully about how many keys are genuinely needed and making sure they are controlled. More generally, where an organisation has lost track of who has had keys, then serious consideration should be given to replacing locks and starting again to be sure that the occupier is in control of access to the building.
Either as a DIY project or with help from local builder arrange for all gutters (especially valley and parapet gutters), rainwater pipes and gullies to be checked and cleared every autumn after trees have shed their leaves.
If children play anywhere near your premises don’t forget that a tennis ball is just the right size to block a flat roof rainwater outlet unless it has a protective grille over it.
Church Growth Trust has played a major part in producing a new booklet on Church Revitalisation. The booklet is already being sent to churches across the country and will help them to consider where they are in their growth cycle and whether they need help with revitalisation.
The booklet has been written in conjunction with Partnership, who carry out Church Checks, Counties and GLO. These and Church Growth Trust are all involved in helping churches grow in different ways. They are sure that this will be used to encourage and inspire churches to consider revitalisation and to obtain the appropriate help to achieve this. The booklet contains a number of examples of different models that have already worked.
Anyone wanting a copy of the booklet can apply to Church Growth Trust’s offices on telephone 01536 201339 or email enquiries@churchgrowth.org.uk
We are delighted to welcome Elaine Roberts to the team here at Church Growth Trust this month. Elaine is commencing the brand new role within the charity as Property Administrator which is a fundamental role in the strategic growth of our work.
Too read more about Elaine and the other members of the staff team with Church Growth Trust check out our staff page
Normally this question is asked only when something is going wrong and water is running freely either across an area or areas of a ground floor or pouring through a ceiling from either a roof void or an upper floor. At that point it would be really useful to know quickly and with confidence at least three things –
(1) the location of the stop tap,
(2) that it is easy to get to and
(3) that it works.
Often, for historic reasons, the location of the stop tap may be in the most unexpected place. It may be “hidden” in a cupboard, often made expressly for that purpose, and in an inaccessible location. Sometimes the space around the stop tap is very limited meaning that actually gripping and turning the stop tap requires near super-human strength to exert sufficient torque to turn it. Finally, on many occasions the burst will be the first time in many, many years that the stop tap has been called upon. Often it will fail to budge or by contrast it will turn freely indicating it is broken. In both cases it will not turn off the water which is the moment when you will find that you need a plumber to arrive as soon as possible to freeze the pipe and install an effective shut off. Meanwhile, the water will still be running.
So, how many people in your church building know the answer to the three questions
(1) the location of the stop tap,
(2) that it is easy to get to and
(3) that it works?
Could anyone who does not know find out the answer easily? If the answer is “no“ the following steps may be helpful:
Prepare a diagram of the church building which shows the location of the stop tap clearly. Put this where it can be seen.
Check that the stop tap is easy to get to. If not, make arrangements to deal with this and make it accessible.
Make sure that it works. Again if it does not work, then deal with this while there is no emergency so that in an emergency it will be effective.
As we approach winter make sure that any pipework that is likely to be exposed to cold temperatures in the winter is properly lagged to prevent bursts.
Finally, as a general tip, you could also mark on the diagram where the electricity fuseboard and meters are located and the main gas shut off and meters. All this information is very helpful, especially in an emergency, and should be readily available.
Church Growth Trust is introducing a Property Book with its church buildings where all this and other property information is kept in a binder in one location, accessible to all. You may like to do this for your church building too.
Clarence Road Evangelical Church in East Cowes on the Isle of Wight has recently been gifted to Church Growth Trust (CGT). As the building does not comply with the Equality Act in providing reasonable access for disabled people, and needs modernising in other ways, CGT agreed with the church to appoint an architect. The brief for the architect was not only to ensure that the property is compliant for legislation, but also that it is suitable for modern church use, enabling the church more effectively to reach the local community.
Clarence Road Evangelical Church in East Cowes, Isle of Wight
Plans were drawn up by John Quinlan Architects. These included raising the floor of the main worship area, so the whole ground floor is at one level, as well as providing a new more welcoming entrance. The draft plans were presented to the church and a meeting was held recently to discuss these. Giles Arnold from CGT attended the meeting and was encouraged that the church were willing to have a very open and frank discussion. Although this included concerns over the potential cost of the building project and the practical details of how the work might be phased, there was a real sense of vision for reaching the local community, growing the church and seeing the Lord provide the resources that are needed to change the building.
Clarence Road Evangelical Church – sketch drawingCurrent church building
As Giles Arnold states: “we always encourage churches to start with their God-given vision, so that any plans for their building fit with the vision. It was encouraging for me to see the church engage with this. There was a sense of excitement over the idea of carrying out a survey in the local community and seeing the building transformed to enable the church to open it up for the community to use. It is a great privilege to work with churches like this, to enable building projects to happen that would not have taken place otherwise. I can see the church’s faith growing through this.”
