Trustees’ Annual Report for the period
From 1[st] April 2020 Period start date To 31[st] March 2021 Period end date Charity name: COVENTRY CHINESE CHRISTIAN CHURCH
Charity registration number: 1035888
Objectives and Activities
| SORP reference | ||
|---|---|---|
| Summary of the purposes of the charity as set out in its governing document |
Para 1.17 | Preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ and promote the Christian faith amongst Chinese people and in the general community. To provide a programme of church life including worship, fellowship, training and services. To co-operate with Christian churches locally and in the wider Chinese community. To promote missionary activities in China and other parts of the world. |
| Summary of the main activities in relation to those purposes for the public benefit, in particular, the activities, projects or services identified in the accounts. |
Para 1.17 and 1.19 |
Our activities take account of the need to provide public benefit according to the guidance given by the Charity Commission for the advancement of religion. Worship services are held every Sunday and are open to all. Services are conducted in Mandarin, Cantonese and English to enable all to participate. Services are normally held in the church building, and online services are provided during lockdown. Sermons are provided in 2 languages most Sundays with interpretation into the 3rdlanguage. Children’s activities include Junior Worship, Sunday School and Youth Bible Study where children and young people learn in small groups appropriate to their age. Fellowship groups take place weekly or fortnightly in the 3 different languages including: an English Language Bible Study; an evening group for Mandarin speaking families, a daytime Cantonese Cell Group, daytime Mandarin Cell group and support for Student groups at Warwick and Coventry Universities. (both Mandarin and Cantonese speaking) A Bible Study group runs every 2 weeks in Rugby and an afternoon service has started in a local church. Holy Communion is taken to members who cannot attend particularly when they are in hospital. |
| The church community is promoted by taking days out together for teaching and recreation or for weekend retreats. Regular Baptism Services are held to enable young Christians to make a public declaration of their faith. Members are encouraged to co-operate with other churches in an Easter Open-Air witness and with voluntary activities in the local community. Members are encouraged to attend conferences to help them to understand and practise their faith. Subsidies are provided where there is need. The church provides support, home visitation to those who are unwell or who have asked for a visit. All our activities are open to all members of the community although, due to language restrictions, some are more suited to people of Chinese origin. The church prays for and provides financial support to other UK charities for mission work in the UK and abroad. |
||
|---|---|---|
| Statement confirming whether the trustees have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit |
Para 1.18 | The trustees have regard for public benefit – the church is run for the benefit of members and all who are enquiring or want to discover more about the Christian faith. Our services are provided free of charge including regular events as well as celebrations of various Chinese festivals in the church building or online. Our regular events are of great value to ethnic Chinese people living in the surrounding areas, students at Warwick and Coventry Universities and to visitors from China andHongKong. |
Additional information (optional) You may choose to include further statements where relevant about:
| SORP reference | ||
|---|---|---|
| Policy on grant making | Para 1.38 | |
| Policy on social investment including program related investment |
Para 1.38 | |
| Contribution made by volunteers |
Para 1.38 | The majority of the work and ministry in the church is done by volunteers. They make a huge contribution and the church would not function without them. The volunteers have continued to provide support through online bible studies, group meetings and individual cares emotionally as well as practically throughout the period of |
pandemic.
The volunteers also participated in caring ministry such as delivery/donation of face mask/PPE kits to NHS and local residents Other
Achievements and Performance
| SORP reference | ||
|---|---|---|
| Summary of the main achievements of the charity, identifying the difference the charity’s work has made to the circumstances of its beneficiaries and any wider benefits to society as a whole. |
Para 1.20 | Weekly Sunday services catering for Mandarin, Cantonese and English speaking members. Started to provide an additional Cantonese Sunday Service to cater the need of the large number of new immigrants from Hong Kong and residing in Coventry and surrounding regions. This has been welcome and well used to support the new immigrants spiritually, emotionally and practically. It has also helped new immigrants to settle down and slowly but gradually connected and integrated into the wider community. A Sunday School and Junior Worship activities. A new online Youth Bible Study to help young people to study the bible systematically has started since Oct 2020. Regular Cell Group meetings in various languages and at various times to cater for everyone who wants to join. These activities proved to be very helpful in particular during lockdown to support each other going through the period of isolation. Church prayer meetings held weekly. All these meetings including the Sunday services started to go online via zoom since the Government declared a lockdown in March 2020 because of Covid. The church had one in person Baptism Service following the Covid guidelines in Aug when 2 university students were baptised before they returned to China. The church continued to support 4 university student fellowships with international students (2 Mandarin and 2 Cantonese) of Chinese origins in Coventry and Warwick University. These activities and the support provided, again, proved to be more |
important during the pandemic. We have been able to support very anxious students getting through isolation as well as during the process of their returning home. The church’s full time pastor, Pastor Muk Lam (Sammy) Chan came to join the Church in Nov 2020 from Hong Kong, through sponsorship license.
We now have 66 members including Pastor Muk Lam (Sammy) Chan (down from 67 last year) in our current members list as 2 members have stopped attending for over one year.
Pastor Chan since then became a church trustee from the 1[st] of Nov 2020.
The church normally has days out or retreat events on an annual base, no such events for this year due to the pandemic.
Other evangelistic and local activities: Some members joined the Open Heaven Project in June – prayer walk around the streets in Coventry. Christmas: Due to the pandemic the church had its Carol Service in the church car park and online Christmas Day Service and family day. We have had families from HK during the open air Carol Service. This was the first Carol Service for these families and they started to engage with the church since then.
The church joined UKHK church network in Jan to welcome and help new HK immigrants to integrate to British lives; composed and made available an information pack in the church website for HK immigrants in Jan.
Pastor Chan ran 10-week online Praise Dance sessions on Saturdays in Jan through March which participants enjoyed very much.
We held an online marriage and parenting Alpha course from March which benefited both the none-
believers as well as believers
With Pastor Chan’s encouragement and leading, the Cantonese activities increased significantly with new immigrants, an additional online Sunday service for this group has started from March. The Cantonese fellowship has since expanded a lot to include new immigrants.
Self-help groups were encouraged and supported by the church volunteers that new immigrants has a place to turn to when encounter difficulties and problems on a wide range of aspects such as children’s education, job hunting, legal process of settling down, language barriers, looking for accommodation & etc. Some are supported when going through emotional distress during the process of settling down in the UK.
In the beginning of the Pandemic, one of our cell groups ordered a couple thousand of face mask for members as well as for donation to NHS, and local residents in Tile Hill area.
An online dental health talk by a professional dentist was delivered to members, families and friends.
Throughout the year, our Rugby group continued to join the main online Sunday services while they continued their weekly activities online. Some members took part in the donation of PPE to organizations in need.
Due to the pandemic the church was unable to have a physical Chinese New Year Celebration in church, instead we had an online celebration in Feb, well attended by the church members; families and friends living locally in UK as well as living aboard at the time.
Trainings & conferences: Students and church members had other training opportunities including Discipleship training and Peer Counselling Training.
The Sunday School teachers joined the Sunday school teachers training
| delivered by Dallas Church in |
|---|
| America. |
| We continue to support various |
| missionaries and missions, including |
| WRRCN led by Comfort Davis in |
| Nigeria, Heartlink in India, Andrew |
| Smith (OMF Int’l), Lawrence Sin |
| (COCM), OM UK, CCHC-UK and |
| Hope Coventry. |
| All these church activities are free to those |
| who attend with the exception of trips, but |
| these are also subsidised to avoid anyone |
| being excluded for lack of funds. |
| Our activities not only enable members and |
| enquirers to grow in faith but also provide |
| them with a network of friends who support |
| one another in times of need and prevent |
| people from becoming isolated and lonely. |
| Members cared and supported each other, |
| especially when there were people |
| diagnosed with Covid-19. |
| The church also supports international |
| students through student fellowship |
| activities. These have proven to be |
| beneficial for maintaining and strengthening |
| their Christian faith and continue to benefit |
| both themselves and others close to them |
| even after they return to their own countries. |
| The church building was used by the city |
| council as a Polling Station. But the local |
| elections were cancelled last year and the |
| church buildings have had very little use. |
Additional information (optional) You may choose to include further statements where relevant about:
| Achievements against objectives set |
Para 1.41 | |
| Performance of fundraising activities against objectives set |
Para 1.41 | |
| Investment performance against objectives |
Para 1.41 |
Other
Financial Review
| Review of the charity’s financial position at the end ofthe period |
Para 1.21 | |
|---|---|---|
| Statement explaining the policy for holding reserves stating why they are held |
Para 1.22 | Reserves will be used to fund the church’s staff salaries, and to maintain and improve the church buildings. |
| Amount of reservesheld | Para 1.22 | |
| Reasons for holding zero reserves |
Para 1.22 | |
| Details of fund materially in deficit |
Para 1.24 | |
| Explanation of any uncertainties about the charity continuing as a going concern |
Para 1.23 |
| Additional information (optional) You may choose to include further statements |
Additional information (optional) You may choose to include further statements |
where relevant about: |
|---|---|---|
| The charity’s principal sources of funds (including any fundraising) |
Para 1.47 | Expenses for church activities and salaries are met by regular offerings given by current and occasionally from previous church members. No fund-raising is actively promoted although we encourage giving to help other causes. |
| Investment policy and objectives including any social investment policy adopted |
Para 1.46 | |
| A description of the principal risks facing the charity |
Para 1.46 | |
| Other |
Structure, Governance and Management
| Description of charity’s trusts: |
||
|---|---|---|
| Type of governing document (trust deed, royal charter) |
Para 1.25 | Constitution |
| How is the charity constituted? (e.g unincorporated association, CIO) |
Para 1.25 | Unincorporated association |
| Trustee selection methods including details of any constitutional provisions e.g. election to post or name of any person or body entitled to appoint one or more trustees |
Para 1.25 | Trustees are nominated and elected by church members |
Additional information (optional) You may choose to include further statements where relevant about:
| Policies and procedures adopted for the induction and training of trustees |
Para 1.51 | |
| The charity’s organisational structure and any wider network with which the charity works |
Para 1.51 | |
| Relationship with any related parties |
Para 1.51 | |
| Other |
Reference and Administrative details
| Charity name | COVENTRY CHINESE CHRISTIAN CHURCH |
|---|---|
| Other name the charity uses | |
| Registered charitynumber | 1035888 |
| Charity’s principal address | COVENTRY CHINESE CHRISTIAN CHURCH 151 Elm Tree Avenue Coventry CV4 9EN |
Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity
| 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 |
Trustee name | Office (if any) | Dates acted if not for whole year |
Name of person (or body) entitled to appoint trustee(if any) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Linda Cubitt-Smith | Chair | Church Members | ||
| Muk Lam (Sammy) Chan |
Church pastor | From Nov. 2020 | Church Members | |
| Joachim Brandt | Treasurer | Church Members | ||
| Haifeng Wei | Secretary | Church Members | ||
| Elaine Leung | Church Members | |||
| Xiao Jia | Church Members | |||
| Chen Rong | Church Members | |||
Corporate trustees – names of the directors at the date the report was approved Director name
Name of trustees holding title to property belonging to the charity
Trustee name Dates acted if not for whole year
Funds held as custodian trustees on behalf of others
Description of the assets held in this capacity
Name and objects of the charity on whose behalf the assets are held and how this falls within the custodian charity’s objects
Details of arrangements for safe custody and segregation of such assets from the charity’s own assets
Additional information (optional)
Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)
Type of Name Address adviser Rev Edward Wei 75 Gurnards Avenue, Milton Keynes MK6 2BW
Name of chief executive or names of senior staff members (Optional information)
Exemptions from disclosure
Reason for non-disclosure of key personnel details
Other optional information
Declarations
The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.
Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees
| Signature(s) Full name(s) Position (eg Secretary, Chair, etc) Date |
||
|---|---|---|
| Elaine Leung | ||
Current Chair of the Church Council |
||
| 13thJan 2022 | ||
| 13thJan 2022 |
CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGIAND AND WALES Section A iidcpeiideiit Ex31niiiÈr s Report m•mb•rn of On ceowts for th• ye•r 31 Marth 2021 Ch•rfty no Ilf 1035888 lorlm yeor er•W 31h)3r4021. Ropon•lbllllM •nd bwl• ol As the tnts1. yj are pr•parobcffl of xoJunt¥ In aCrd wilh rnquIrnnrbts ofthe Chib•s Acl 2011 fth8 Acai. I rw in res1 of My examknw of the TrusfB actounts rattied OLrt uTrder s8(#ion 145 of lh• 2011 and n c•ryvw wl my •xommtion, I hove foMTh¥ed 011 the Dire¢lio 9r4w Chwity Ci¥nrTw myer wlion 14515)(b) oftho A(a. Ind•p•r¥J•nt•xamlnorf• I ha¥e cmt•J my •x8mlrwlicffl. I cznfimi that r•) mater491 m4iters have cx)me to my mfjlenal re8p8tt. the 8CC4unts d#1 ncrt K¢4) wth the 8oxunlirrfJ rKord8', the nLrt crynpty ith the aPFltible rewlrem•nts cc•M1n9 the for and conteni 01 aC£S)t8 Set ¢Jrt in the Chaiitps (ALrnts 8ThJ Reports) Regulabons 2CK18 other than 8ny requirThnt thal the a(xxwntS 9i¥e a'tru• fairf viow IJ nol 8 matter o)n6Klered 88 fy8rt of an 1ndwot examination. examinatw to whith atteri shtyjld be in r•F<rft In (v¢gr lo 8 proper undorn14ThJiN3 of the arUnts to be reached. SSgn•d: Z? b5 21 N•m•: sort Relevant pYof••8lonl quallficationl•l or body Ilf Addr. Coventy CW2 5LQ IER Oct 2018
Financial Rert 2020121 Receipts & Payments Account untricted Restrlcted Fund Funds Yoar Rè¢oi Sunday Offèrings Bank Transfe Speu81 Offerings Other Ino)rna Tax Claimed on Grft GivirKJ Total RK•lpts 10.642 34.070 376 33.556 7.395 7.914 432 13 7945 7 408 49 848 53 294 432 441 Pa Church Stafflng Staff Salaries RelcKalton Total Church StsfflNJ 25,107 25.107 14,882 0 30107 Church Ml$$lon Cell Groups Ministry suppyt Love Gifts Conferences l Rètreat Mission Projects I Speci81 Meetings Church Tithe Total Church Mtssl¢ 1.035 1,035 893 2,450 449 $9) 6.027 5.767 Church 8ulldlng fy)7 761 607 761 1.389 742 219 1.072 Insurance Cleaning & Housekeeping Maintenance & Repaws catal items Total Church 8ulldlng 1,160 619 8,830 9,9 619 8830 12031 4,419 Church Servlces Caledng & Fknsprtality Training Gifts Speaker Fees Worship Materials Sunday S¢hc(4 Total Church Swvi¢•s 517 517 420 1.045 11 118 40 Covcntry Chinesc Christian Church Registered Clwity 1035888
Financi8J RepK)rt 2020121 Receipts & Payments Account (contlnuodj Last Yoar Funds Funds Total Travel CMts Trav81 Expenses Totd Trav•1 Cost• 162 162 182 182 Church Admln Admin Fae$ IT Maintenance Prof6s8ion81 Fee8 Totsl Chur¢h Adnln 719 1.C69 744 719 1,C69 744 1,581 Totsl PaYnnI• 8 830 61623 N•t of R•c•lpl8 I IPayrnnl8) -1423 -1775 71)0 Fund balanc• as at 1•t Aprfl Fund balan¢• a• at 31•t Mar¢h 66.016 16.880 71.877 57,178 15,438 70.101 71,877 Coventry Chinese Christian Church R¢gistered Clwity 1035888
Financial Rew>rt 2020121 ststement of Assets and Liabilities Cash . Unrestrlcted Funds Cash - R•slrict•d Funds Total Cash 70,101 Chw¢h Bulldlng Equlpment and bulldlng cont•nts 3LN).OCrt) 28.289 Ll•bilitl•s 127 Totsl 398.263 Coventry Chincsc Chrsstian Church Registered Charity 1035888