• View Digital Editions
  • Newsletter Signup
  • Contact Us
  • Advertising
Menu
  • View Digital Editions
  • Newsletter Signup
  • Contact Us
  • Advertising
Search
Close
Biscuit-Logo-60px-high
Weekender-logo-60px-high
Print
South-Londoner-logo-300px.jpg
  • News
  • Comment
  • Sport
  • Lifestyle
  • South Londoner
  • Bermondsey Biscuit
  • History
  • Public Notices
  • Digital Editions
Menu
  • News
  • Comment
  • Sport
  • Lifestyle
  • South Londoner
  • Bermondsey Biscuit
  • History
  • Public Notices
  • Digital Editions
Home News Community

Charity Commission found that a Peckham church spent £180,000 on business class flights

Kit Heren by Kit Heren
15th June 2022
in Community
0 0
0
Charity Commission found that a Peckham church spent £180,000 on business class flights

Image: Everlasting Arms Ministries / Google Maps

30
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

A Peckham church that says its aim is to promote Christianity and relieve poverty had spent more than £181,000 on business class flights over five and a half years, according to an investigation that found a wide range of “mismanagement” and “misconduct”.

The Everlasting Arms Ministries, at the corner of the Old Kent Road and Peckham Park Road, was investigated by the Charity Commission after it sold its church building to a developer in 2016 for £8 million.

Among the many findings from the commission’s years-long investigation, which ended this week, were that:

  • The church spent more than £457,000 from April 2015-March 2018 on “international outreach”, with money spent on luxuries like five star hotels and business-class flights
  • The church spent more than £181,000 on business class flights between April 2015 and October 2020, because flights “can be cumbersome”
  • Expenditure rose to nearly £900,000 in the financial year ending April 2018, while income sank to about £327,000
  • The ‘senior pastor’ got nearly £216,000 from the church for private and charity spending over the four years to March 2020
  • The senior pastor and the deputy senior pastor – his wife – got large pay rises without proper documentation
  • Some £2 million of the £8 million the church got from selling off its building was not included in its accounts
  • A company of which the deputy senior pastor is a director got more than £27,000 from the church over three years

Everlasting Arms Ministries: Probe into Old Kent Road charity amid ‘serious concerns’ over payments

The charity commission’s investigation found that “the charity was spending significant sums without proper oversight and checks and no clear long-term strategy” which “put the charity’s funds at risk”.

The church, which describes itself as “an inter-denominational Christian ministry devoted to deliverance, holiness, preaching of the word and setting the captive free”, only sold its building because it ‘could not keep up with mortgage payments’. Investigators said that this “points to a long-standing lack of sound financial management within the charity which is further highlighted by the way in which the funds of the sale proceeds were spent.”

That included payments of at least £140,000 to a now-dormant company whose majority shareholder is the church’s head of finance. The payments were for security after several burglaries on the church – but to support the payment the church could only show an unsigned contract and incorrectly filled out cheque requisition forms.

Advertisements

As a result of the investigation, the previous trustees – including the senior pastor – who were responsible for this huge outlay stepped down and were replaced by a new group. The commission also froze the church’s assets in February 2020, before unfreezing them two years later.

Investigators said: “The previous trustee board is responsible for serious management and/or misconduct in the administration of the charity. How they governed and managed the charity prior to the Commission’s intervention falls well below the standard that the Commission expects.”

But the new board has made “significant efforts” to improve the way the charity is run, investigators said. “Because of the inquiry, the current trustees are more aware of their trustee duties, the importance of proper record keeping and decision making, and have taken measures to reduce expenditure.”

The Everlasting Arms Ministry did not respond to a phone call asking for comment.

Advertisements

 

Previous Post

Three weeks of silence on Southwark school closures

Next Post

Climate Change Questioned in Master Shipwright’s House

Next Post
Climate Change Questioned in Master Shipwright’s House

Climate Change Questioned in Master Shipwright’s House

Advertisements

Stay Connected

Facebook Twitter Youtube
Advertisements

Popular Articles

Southwark Crime Snapshot: What were Southwark’s most lawless areas in March?

Bermondsey man pleads not guilty to child sex charge

3rd August 2022
‘Improve stop and search, don’t get rid of it’ says veteran Southwark schools police officer

‘Improve stop and search, don’t get rid of it’ says veteran Southwark schools police officer

27th July 2022
Witness appeal after collision outside Brockwell Park leaves man, 19, critically injured

Croxted and Norwood Road congestion caused by LTN says TfL report

21st July 2022
Exclusive: ‘Bungled’ email shows Labour councillor tried to suppress damning LTN report, claim residents

Exclusive: ‘Bungled’ email shows Labour councillor tried to suppress damning LTN report, claim residents

23rd July 2022
Exclusive: What the fork is the difference? Drivers left confused by signs

Exclusive: What the fork is the difference? Drivers left confused by signs

3rd August 2022
Woman’s Castlemead flat so infested that ‘bedbugs are nesting in her two-year-old’s bed frame’

Woman’s Castlemead flat so infested that ‘bedbugs are nesting in her two-year-old’s bed frame’

4th August 2022
Advertisements
Advertisements

Featured Articles

Southwark Council slammed for ‘cruelly’ offering new flat to domestic violence victim – before taking it away

New Southwark map where women and girls can report ‘unsafe areas’

6th August 2022
Arriva bus strikes leave commuters stranded on a day of downpour

Passenger numbers on some Southwark bus routes facing axe are above pre-pandemic levels

4th August 2022
Exclusive: What the fork is the difference? Drivers left confused by signs

Exclusive: What the fork is the difference? Drivers left confused by signs

3rd August 2022
Exclusive: Unruly pooches “taking down” Dulwich Park horses

Exclusive: Unruly pooches “taking down” Dulwich Park horses

3rd August 2022
‘I was evicted from the Heygate and ended up sleeping rough in McDonald’s’

‘I was evicted from the Heygate and ended up sleeping rough in McDonald’s’

1st August 2022
Bermondsey food bank finds permanent home at last

Bermondsey food bank calls for people to take part in charity run

1st August 2022
Advertisements
Advertisements
Advertisements
Advertisements

USEFUL PAGES

  • Signup for our Newsletter
  • The Paper
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

LEGAL

  • Cookie Policy
  • Privacy
  • Terms of Use
  • Advertising
  • Accessibility
  • Modern Slavery Statement

© 2022 Southwark News

No Result
View All Result
  • About Us
  • Accessibility
  • Advertising
  • Biscuit Home Page
  • CONTACT US
  • Contribute
  • Cookie Policy
  • Developer Test Page
  • Home
  • Modern Slavery Statement
  • News at Den
  • Newsletter Signup
  • Please contribute and help us to keep providing you with local news
  • Privacy
  • SN Style Guide
  • Terms of Use
  • Test Page
  • Thanks for signing up for our newsletter

© 2022 Southwark News

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In