Over the last year Church Growth Trust’s Chief Executive Giles Arnold has reviewed the deeds for 55 properties where the Fellowship Property Trust (FIEC’s trusteeship service) are trustee. He has also visited over 30 of the churches, where they have shown an interest in using CGT’s trusteeship services. A number of the trusteeships have now been transferred to Church Growth Trust (CGT). These include two recent cases, being sole trusteeship of Lindfield Evangelical Free Church near Haywards Heath and a holding trustee role of Highgate Road Chapel. As Alison Weeks, Church Secretary of Lindfield Evangelical Free Church, says, “thank you for your help to us during this transition time. We look forward to working with CGT in the future”. There are at present 23 other trusteeships where churches have made the decision to use CGT’s services and a few where churches have yet to make their decision. This continues to take a lot of time for CGT and its solicitors.
“I have so enjoyed meeting with churches across the country, helping them think through their options with trusteeship, and then working with the solicitors to achieve their preferences. Each situation is different and there is unfortunately not “one size fits all”, so in each case we have to work out what the current situation is, what the church can do legally and what is best for them in the future. Church Growth Trust’s passion is to keep these church properties in Gospel use for the future; so, we are delighted to be able to help in this way.”
It is anticipated that the remainder of the trusteeships will be transferred over the next six to 12 months, but there is still a lot of work ahead!
