CHURCH COMMUNITIES UK

Registered charity 229226 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as - PLOUGH PUBLISHING HOUSE, BEECH GROVE COMMUNITY, BRUDERHOF COMMUNITIES IN THE UK, DARVELL COMMUNITY

Advancing the Christian faith and particularly establishing church communities where members devote themselves to the service of Jesus Christ that includes work, worship, apostolic mission, education and family life. We welcome visitors and give charitable assistance in support of peace, justice, reconciliation, non-violence, community, education, and alleviation of poverty and suffering.

Objects

The Company is established to advance the Christian faith, and to promote the moral and spiritual welfare of the general public in accordance with the principles set out in Foundations and for the public benefit, in such manner as is exclusively charitable pursuant to English charity law, in particular but not exclusively by: 4.1 advancing the vocation of Christian church community described in Foundations and inspired by the early Christian community described in The Acts of the Apostles 2:44-45 and 4:32-35, as a witness to the world and in service of humanity;4.2 establishing, supporting and maintaining Bruderhof church communities that are open to all people, thus enabling their participants to devote themselves to the service of Jesus Christ and the proclamation of the gospel through a shared life of worship, mission, common work, education and family life, recognising that productive labour is a vital aspect of church community life and is, in this context, a religious activity that advances the message of the Christian gospel;4.3 relieving poverty, advancing education, and supporting the principles and practice of the Christian faith in relation to peace, justice, reconciliation and non-violence; and4.4 furthering the purposes of the Bruderhof throughout the world insofar as they are exclusively charitable under English law.

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: General Charitable Purposes · Education/training · The Prevention Or Relief Of Poverty · Religious Activities · Grant history (this charity is a funder) · website · Get email alerts

Registered contact address: Rother, South East, England (from the postcode on the register)

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the group held free reserves of £8,987,290 at 31 March 2025, which is within the trustees' stated policy target range of £5m - £10m. Although the group reported a net expenditure for the year, the trustees are confident in the charity's ability to continue as a going concern for at least 12 months.

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

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by Azets Audit Services Limited. Discloses 5 of 6 completeness components.

In its annual return the charity told the Commission it is also regulated by: Care Quality Commission; Ofsted (Office For Standards In Education). 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
• Complaints handling
• Complaints policy and procedures
• Conflicting interests
• 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
• 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

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.

Annual return filing dates (Charity Commission record)

Of its last 5 annual returns with a recorded received date, 1 was received after the due date: year ending 31/03/2022 (received 06/03/2023, 34 days after the 31/01/2023 due date).

Due and received dates as recorded in the Commission’s annual-return data; the data does not say whether an extension was agreed. Source: this charity’s annual returns on the Charity Commission register.

Corporate structure

• Registered company of the charity Companies House 00455366 · Financial health read from its filings
• Trading subsidiary: COMMUNITY PRODUCTS (UK) LIMITED Companies House 03498955
• Trading subsidiary: BRIGHTLING SERVICES LTD Companies House 10683230
• Trading subsidiary: ASHDOWNE RESOURCES LIMITED Companies House 13970904

Company officers (Companies House)

Current officers of the charity’s own company per the Companies House register, cross-checked against the Charity Commission trustee list by name. A director not on the trustee list is usually a timing or naming difference between the two registers — check both records before drawing conclusions.

• SHIRKY, Lara Joy — director, appointed 11/01/2024on trustee list
• WRIGHT, Marianne Else — director, appointed 11/01/2022on trustee list
• KEIDERLING, Darlene Susanne — director, appointed 05/11/2019on trustee list
• PAGE, Lael Andre — director, appointed 04/10/2010on trustee list
• HIBBS, Bernard Denman — director, appointed 28/10/2008on trustee list
• KEIDERLING, Darlene Susanne — secretary, appointed 12/11/2025

Official officers record.

Property (HM Land Registry)

34 registered titles in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (33 freehold); recorded price paid £8.0m. All charity-held property. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright, OGL v3.0.

CQC provider record: Church Communities UK — Registered, 2 registered locations, 3 regulated activities, last inspected 04/12/2013.charity number confirmed by CQC CQC record

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

Reported reserves equal ~2.9 months of spending — below the median for charities its size (median 4.6 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Charitable activities (87% 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 (3.7%) (benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

• BERNARD HIBBS · trustee of 1 other charity
• Darlene Keiderling
• LAEL PAGE
• Lara Shirky
• Marianne Wright

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

Operates in: Austria · East Sussex · Germany · Kent

Income and spending

Common questions

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 CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY SERVANTS LIMITED.

• CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY SERVANTS LIMITED income £51k
• RESTORE COMMUNITY CHURCH income £520k
• CHRIST COMMUNITY CHURCH ATTLEBOROUGH income £997k
• KERITH COMMUNITY CHURCH income £2.4m
• CULCHETH COMMUNITY CHURCH income £59k
• BROOKHOUSE COMMUNITY CHURCH income £84k

Side by side with its peers

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