THE CHURCH ARMY

Registered charity 226226 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as CHURCH ARMY, PORTMAN HOUSE TRUST, THE MARYLEBONE PROJECT · also registered in Scotland as SC040457 (OSCR)

We are a mission-focused community of people transforming lives and neighbourhoods through the work of evangelists, staff and volunteers. We are committed to sharing the Christian faith through words and action in a variety of contexts across the British Isles and Ireland. Our evangelists and staff work beyond church buildings among some of the most broken, rejected and hurting people in society.

Objects

TO BRING PEOPLE TO A PERSONAL FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST BY (A) PROVIDING TRAINED EVANGELISTS AND LAY AGENTS TO ASSIST THE ADVANCEMENT OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, (B) PREACHING THE NEED OF CONVERSION, HOLINESS OF LIFE AND CHURCH MEMBERSHIP, (C) RELIEVING POVERTY AND DISTRESS

Area of benefit: NOT DEFINED

The charity’s charitable objects and area of benefit, quoted from its governing document as held on the Charity Commission register.

Causes: Education/training · The Prevention Or Relief Of Poverty · Accommodation/housing · Religious Activities · website · Get email alerts

Registered contact address: Sheffield, Yorkshire and The Humber, England (from the postcode on the register)

Financial health, per its FY2024 accounts

The accounts state that the charity reported an operating deficit of £3.8m for the year, funded by drawing down on unrestricted free reserves which reduced to £8.4m. The trustees acknowledge the need to sell investment properties and utilize a £2m loan to maintain working capital while pursuing a strategy to achieve financial sustainability by 2027-28. Despite the deficit, the trustees confirm adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future.

Automated summary of the FY2024 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by BHP LLP. Discloses 3 of 6 completeness components.

In its annual return the charity told the Commission it is also regulated by: Care Quality Commission; Care Inspectorate Wales (CIW); Homes England; Welsh Government (Social Landlords And Housing Associations). This is the charity’s own declaration; it is not a rating and has not been verified by the Commission or by this site.

Policies the charity declares

In its annual return the charity told the Commission that it has the policies listed below. This is self-declared: it is not verified by the Commission or by this site, and it is not evidence of how a policy works in practice.

• Bullying and harassment policy and procedures
• Campaigns and political activity policy and procedures
• Complaints handling
• Complaints policy and procedures
• Conflicting interests
• Engaging external speakers at charity events policy and procedures
• Financial reserves policy and procedures
• Internal charity financial controls policy and procedures
• Internal risk management policy and procedures
• Investing charity funds policy and procedures
• Investment
• Paying staff
• Risk management
• Safeguarding policy and procedures
• Safeguarding vulnerable beneficiaries
• Serious incident reporting policy and procedures
• Social media policy and procedures
• Trustee conflicts of interest policy and procedures
• Trustee expenses policy and procedures
• Volunteer management

From the charity’s annual return (Part A, self-declared)

Answers and figures the charity gave in Part A of its annual return to the Charity Commission. They are self-declared: not verified by the Commission or by this site. Only positive answers and figures are listed; items not listed are simply not shown.

Source: this charity’s annual returns on the Charity Commission register.

Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — Church Army (matched by registered charity number).

Funders the charity credits

Named as funders/supporters on the charity’s own website (the charity’s claim, distinct from accounts-verified grants).

• Church of England — “Church Army has received funding from the Church of England to help launch a three‑year Level 3 Apprenticeship pilot to raise up youth minis…” (source page)

Property (HM Land Registry)

22 registered titles in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (13 freehold); recorded price paid £681k. All charity-held property. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright, OGL v3.0.

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

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/03/2025)

Reported reserves equal ~4.7 months of spending — below the median for charities its size (median 4.7 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 28.3% of total income — in the top quarter for charities its size (median 5.3%) (benchmarks).

Register events

• Received assets from another charity (23/07/2024) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
• Received assets from another charity (15/12/2022) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.

Trustees · trustee networks

• Rt Revd Dr Gulnar Eleanor Francis-Dehqanichair
• Amy Hayes
• Benjamin Preece Smith · trustee of 1 other charity
• Captain Andrew Payne CA
• Dr Solomon Osagie
• Jeremy Duff
• John David Whitfield MA ACA · trustee of 3 other charities
• Karen Webb
• Mark Kerry Preston
• Matthew George Barlow
• Olamide Olajide · trustee of 1 other charity
• Ravi Gidoomal · trustee of 2 other charities
• Rev Malayil Lukose Varghese Muthalaly
• Rt Rev Andrew James Forster
• SIMON DENNIS

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

Operates in: Ireland · Northern Ireland · Scotland · Throughout England And Wales

Income and spending

Common questions

Known funders

Grants to this charity found in funders’ own accounts filings.

Grants marked “Unverified read” were flagged by automated checks as possibly misread from the funder’s filed accounts. They are listed, but left out of the totals, counts and funder relationships this site computes.

Government & lottery funding

Grants to this charity published as open data by government and lottery funders (360Giving).

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.

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with THE SALVATION ARMY.

• THE SALVATION ARMY income £338.3m
• THE LIBERTY ARMY income £25k
• CHURCH MISSION SOCIETY income £8.3m
• BRAVE CHURCH income £585k
• CHURCH ON THE WAY income £126k
• THE MISSION CHURCH income £45k

Side by side with its peers

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