CHURCH GROWTH TRUST LIMITED

Registered charity 1138119 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as CHURCH GROWTH TRUST

Church Growth Trust offers not only property and trusteeship services but also ways of helping churches to grow. It aspires to glorify God by securing for Gospel use independent church properties and together with churches making them fit for their God-given purpose. Services include managing existing properties, new trusteeships and ownerships, building projects and advising churches.

Causes: Religious Activities · Grant history (this charity is a funder) · website · Get email alerts

Latest income

£1.5m

Latest spending

£931k

Registered

2010

Accounts read

FY2025

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity reported a net surplus of £2,218,796 for the year ended 30 September 2025, with total net assets increasing to £24,942,530. Per the trustees' report, the charity maintains free reserves of £688,174, which exceeds its stated policy target of approximately three months' routine general fund expenditure. The financial position is described as satisfactory, supported by a nominally strong portfolio of fixed property assets.

Automated summary of the FY2025 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.

What the accounts disclose

Highest-paid employee band: £80,001 - £90,000 — above the median for charities its size (£70k)

“The number of employees whose employee benefits (excluding employer pension costs) exceeded £60,000 was: 2025 1 £80,001 - £90,000” — page 25

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Employees paid over £60,000: 1

“The number of employees whose employee benefits (excluding employer pension costs) exceeded £60,000 was: 2025 1” — page 25

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Reserves policy: three months of unrestricted expenditure (held: £688k)

“The Trustees consider that, given the nature of CGT's work, free reserves should be equivalent to approximately 3 months' routine general fund expenditure, plus committed future expenditure on other projects, where funds permit.” — page 8

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Payments to trustees: One trustee (SK Sanlon) was paid £2,679 for planning services.

“One trustee (SK Sanlon) was paid £2,679 (2024: £1,398) for planning services provided to the charity during the year.” — page 25

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Related-party transaction: Grant to Counties

“During the year the charity gave a grant of £21,000 (2024: £44,500) to Counties (Charity no. 264278) one trustee; Mr Richard Canham, is a trustee of Counties. The named individuals took no part in the discussions or decision making regarding these grants.” — page 31

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Accounts audited by Lewis Brownlee (Chichester) Limited. Discloses 6 of 6 completeness components.

Leadership, per the charity’s website

Giles Arnold — Chief Executive (source)
Garryl Willis — Operations Director (source)

Listed on the charity’s own website when we last crawled it; roles may have changed. Pay-band disclosures above are anonymous statutory disclosures and are not attributed to any named individual.

Property (HM Land Registry)

218 registered titles in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (204 freehold); recorded price paid £1.5m. All charity-held property. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright, OGL v3.0.

Public profiles (found on the charity’s own website): facebook

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 30/09/2025)

Total income

£1.5m

Total spending

£931k

Reserves (reported)

£420k

Employees

9

Reported reserves equal ~5.4 months of spending — above the median for charities its size (median 4.8 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Charitable activities (53% of income) — components as reported reconcile to the return’s total income; not from the accounts narrative.

Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 0.0% of total income — below the median for charities its size (5.2%) (benchmarks).

Register events

Received assets from another charity (25/09/2025) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
Received assets from another charity (06/09/2024) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
Received assets from another charity (21/12/2022) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
Received assets from another charity (18/02/2013) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.

Trustees · trustee networks

Kevin John Russell
MARK ARTHUR WALLACE · trustee of 3 other charities
Neil Walker · trustee of 3 other charities
PAUL WITHAMS · trustee of 2 other charities
Richard Canham · trustee of 2 other charities
Richard Jones
SIMON RICHARD DAVID
Susanna Katherine Sanlon

Trustee list from the Charity Commission register (current, not historical).

Operates in: Throughout England And Wales

Income and spending

Financial year end	Income	Spending
30/09/2025	£1.5m	£931k
30/09/2024	£1.9m	£853k
30/09/2023	£1.4m	£829k
30/09/2022	£1.7m	£579k
30/09/2021	£1.2m	£685k

Common questions

Is CHURCH GROWTH TRUST LIMITED financially healthy?

Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that the charity reported a net surplus of £2,218,796 for the year ended 30 September 2025, with total net assets increasing to £24,942,530. Per the trustees' report, the charity maintains free reserves of £688,174, which exceeds its stated policy target of approximately three months' routine general fund expenditure. The financial position is described as satisfactory, supported by a nominally strong portfolio of fixed property assets. Its FY2025 accounts were audited by Lewis Brownlee (Chichester) Limited.

What does the highest-paid employee of CHURCH GROWTH TRUST LIMITED earn?

Per its FY2025 accounts, the highest-paid employee was in the £80,001 - £90,000 band, and 1 employees earned over £60,000.

Funders of similar charities

Funders whose accounts show grants to charities similar to this one (and no recorded grant to this charity) — a starting list for fundraisers.

Funder	Similar charities funded	Amount to them
NEW COMMUNITY CHURCH S.E. LONDON	1	£200k
SANTANDER UK FOUNDATION LIMITED	1	£124k
THE FYRISH FOUNDATION	1	£14k
THE HOBSON CHARITY LIMITED	1	£5k
THE COLE CHARITABLE TRUST	1	£2k

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with GRACE BAPTIST TRUST CORPORATION.

GRACE BAPTIST TRUST CORPORATION income £619k
THE C3 CHURCH income £2.4m
THE PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL PARISH OF ST JOHN THE EVANGELIST, CHURT AND RUSHMOOR income £128k
THE REDEEMED CHRISTIAN CHURCH OF GOD LIVING BREAD NEWCASTLE income £209k
Islington Gospel Trust Limited income £240k
THE REDEEMED CHRISTIAN CHURCH OF GOD NEWNESS OF LIFE CHRISTIAN CENTRE income £229k

Side by side with its peers

Charity	Income	Top pay band	Staff >£60k	Reserves vs policy	Fundraising cost	Going concern
CHURCH GROWTH TRUST LIMITED	£1.5m	£80,001 - £90,000	1	unclear	—	no doubt
GRACE BAPTIST TRUST CORPORATION FY2025	£619k	—	0	unclear	—	no doubt
THE C3 CHURCH FY2024	£2.4m	—	0	unclear	—	no doubt
THE PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL PARISH OF ST JOHN THE EVANGELIST, CHURT AND RUSHMOOR FY2024	£128k	—	0	above	—	no doubt
THE REDEEMED CHRISTIAN CHURCH OF GOD LIVING BREAD NEWCASTLE FY2025	£209k	—	0	unclear	—	no doubt
Islington Gospel Trust Limited FY2025	£240k	—	0	above	—	no doubt

Each row is that charity’s latest analysed filing; every value is quote-backed on its own page.