The Charity Commission is to investigate one of south London's leading evangelical churches.
The Government's charity watchdog has opened a statutory inquiry into Rhema Church in Croydon, London.
The Church, led by Pastors Martin and Sandy Phelps, originally from South Africa, describes itself on its website as a "thriving multi-cultural church in the heart of Croydon" which "is focused on building up people of all ages and walks of life, with a particular passion for children and young people". It uses dance and live music in its popular outreach ministry. "Rhema" is the Greek word for "utterance".
The investigation has been launched seven months after the Charity Commission began looking into Rhema about "compliance" issues in February this year, after the accounts for 2013 were filed late.
The auditor had been unable to obtain enough evidence to state how much of the charity's credit card spending of £203,707 and petty cash spending of £76,161 was incurred in line with the charity's objects. This included £86,055 spent on overseas development workshops.
"This raises regulatory concerns that charitable funds may have been misapplied," the commission said in a statement. The trustees only partially complied with an order made under the Charities Act in an attempt to allay concerns. The trustees also rejected the conclusion of the auditor's report.
The investigation will be into the administration, governance and management of the charity and whether the trustees are willing and able to take steps to rectify the problems. The commission is concerned about the "possible missappropriation" and "misapplication" of charity funds
The commission emphasised however that setting up an inquiry is not in itself a finding of wrongdoing.
Christian Today has requested a comment from Rhema.
