Free resources: helping you take care of your church and building

Church Growth Trust (CGT) is passionate about creating resources for planting, growing, resourcing, connecting, inspiring, and equipping independent evangelical churches. Here are some of the most recent resources, all free to read online or download and share.

Your guide to planning a building project

Considering embarking on a building project? Projects can vary from reordering existing spaces, building an extension, or an entirely new building. Whatever the project size, it is highly likely that any church embarking on such work will benefit from following the Plan of Work devised by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). These are set out in CGT’s booklet “Your Guide to Church Growth Trust’s Architectural Services and the RIBA workstages” www.churchgrowth.org.uk/category/your-guide-to/ Recently updated briefing paper

Go to the “Your Guide to” section of CGT’s website to read or download the information.

Food safety at your church

From running a café to providing tea and cakes at events, preparing food is a common activity in the life of a church. There is no reason why you should not prepare and sell food to support your mission in this way. Whilst instances of food poisoning and allergic reactions are rare, these are more likely to occur if poor food safety practices are adopted.

Although you will have fewer responsibilities if you only handle, prepare, store or serve food occasionally and on a small scale, all food supplied, sold, or provided at charity or community events must comply with Food Hygiene Regulations and be safe to eat.

CGT has recently updated its briefing paper on this subject, particularly adding details of how to deal with food allergies, food intolerance and coeliac disease, as well as applying the requirement of “Natasha’s Law”, which came into force in October 2021.

You can find CGT’s recently updated guidance on food safety in the briefing papers section of the website.

Email bulletin

Church Growth Trust produces a quarterly email bulletin, which is full of practical tips, new legislation, and updates to its briefing papers, case studies and other resources. If you would like to sign up to receive the email bulletin, please go to www.churchgrowth.org.uk/stay-informed/ where you can complete the form for this.