It brought in more than £1.4m in donations
The super church founded by evangelical preacher James McConnell is now worth almost £8m, Christopher Woodhouse writes in Sunday Life.
Whitewell Metropolitan Tabernacle also brought in more than £1.4m in donations according to the latest set of accounts filed with the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland.
The north Belfast church once counted former DUP leader and First Minister Peter Robinson and his wife Iris among its regular congregation.
But it hit the headlines in 2014 when Mr McConnell called Islam a “heathen” religion and said it was a “doctrine spawned in Hell” during a sermon.
His remarks landed him in court charged with improper use of a public electronic communications network and causing a grossly offensive message to be sent by means of a public electronic communications network. He was found not guilty at Belfast Magistrates Court in 2016 with the judge finding that while the remarks were offensive they did not meet the threshold for a conviction.
The church recently found itself briefly back in the news after a number of its pastors and congregation tested positive for Covid-19.
The church’s accounts for the year to September 2019 show its income from donations and legacies was £1,492,996 with £61,447 from “other trading activities”.
Total funds available to the church sat at £7,844,373, of which just under £1.2m are listed as investments.
In the same period it spent £1,729,868 on charitable activities, of which £814,940 was spent on staff costs in Northern Ireland.
The church also funds mission establishments in Kenya and Ethiopia on which £27,406 was spent on staff. A further £103,033 was spent in Ethiopia and £59,973 in Kenya.
The accounts state maintenance cost the church £114,648 and motor expenses £146,489.
According to the church’s Facebook page Mr McConnell (83) is in hospital after suffering a stroke and requires treatment for a foot infection.
Asking that its members pray for him, a spokesperson wrote: “Sadly the infection in his foot is not clearing as we all would have hoped and he will now require surgery. In addition, while at the hospital Pastor has suffered another small stroke.”
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