It is just over a year since Giles Arnold, Church Growth Trust’s Chief Executive, met with trustees and elders at Clarence Road Evangelical Church, East Cowes on the Isle of Wight. With trustees spread around the country and a complicated Trust Deed to sort out, it has taken quite a while since the trustees made the decision to gift the property to CGT for the transfer to be completed. Fortunately there is no particular hurry, as the existing fellowship are continuing. Church Growth Trust (CGT) are working with the church to ensure that the property is compliant with current legislation and suitable for ongoing and modern church use. CGT has employed an architect to review the property and put forward proposals for phases of work to improve the property.
The situation was different with Waterloo Road Chapel, South Yardley in the West Midlands, where the trustees and assembly took almost a year of meetings and discussions with Church Growth Trust to decide to gift the property to CGT. However the transfer has been able to happen quickly, as the title to the property is registered and the Trust Deed was very straightforward, allowing for a direct gift to CGT. The paperwork and property queries were dealt with in a couple of months and CGT’s own architect has already reviewed the property in relation to its condition and compliance issues, to help the assembly deal with these.
Giles Arnold states: “some properties are more complicated than others, but we are committed to resolving issues in the best way possible, to enable the property to be gifted or for us to be appointed as sole trustee as quickly as we are able. We are delighted to work closely with assemblies to help them make best use of their buildings, to ensure that these properties are kept in effective Gospel use for the future.”
