The Brookhouse Hill Trust (BHT) is an evangelical Christian charity, established in 2013, to support gospel ministry in Fulwood, Sheffield. Currently this is principally delivered through the ownership and rental of houses to the church for accommodation for Word ministry staff on a long-term basis. To date, BHT has invested in three residential properties.
The BHT is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (‘CIO’) formed and registered with the Charity Commission in 2013. Its charitable objects are broad, but its Activities (as defined at its formation and since unchanged) are more specific, being to raise funds from private individuals and charitable trusts for:
- the purchase of capital assets to be used in the support of the objects – specifically, for example, making available housing to Christian ministers engaged in the proclamation of the Christian faith; and
- the financial support of Christian ministry through local churches and other charitable organisations.
Since 2013, the practical application of the Trust’s Activities has been the provision of accommodation for Christian ministers engaged by the local Anglican church’s Parochial Church Council (PCC) to proclaim the Christian faith within the local area at a discount to market rent.
The initial property was gifted to the BHT in 2013 with the approval of the Charity Commission upon the winding up of another charity which held the legacy funds from the sale of a local Mission Chapel in the 1980s, which then acquired the property in 1997. In 2017 the Trust raised approximately £105k from private gifts and interest-free loans to extend and modernise the house.
The Trust acquired a second property in 2015, by raising a mortgage against both its properties. In 2021, a further property was acquired by increasing its mortgage once more.
The Trust continues to manage and rent all three properties and seek further ways to support local gospel ministry.