2022-12-31-accounts

New Life Christian Centre

Annual Report / Vision Sunday for Year 2022

New Life Christian Centre, Colne, West Street, Lancashire BB8 0HP Registered Charity No. 1051832 Contents:

 The Year that was

 Going Forward

 General Information

The Year That Was

After a difficult couple of years due to Covid 19, this year has seen us very much 'back in the building'. It's been amazing to hear stories of God's faithfulness and people's faith and resilience through everything the pandemic has thrown at them. In February 2023 I will have been at the church 10 years and continue to be astounded by God's goodness towards us. Over the year we have been incredibly blessed as God has continued to work in and through us.

Raising Leaders.

In February of this year we were blessed to host a student for work experience. Isaac spent 2 weeks with us learning different aspects of running a church. He organised rotas, printed bulletins, made crafts, helped at children's clubs and even produced a church news video for us. The experience was great fun and value to both Isaac and the church. Isaac was a great asset to have around.

In March of this year Miss Chloe Nawab started a voluntary year out with us. Chloe has felt the call of God on her life and wants to explore what God has in store for her. Throughout the year Chloe has led services, preached and taken on the responsibility for our Children's programmes: New Life Kids, Explosion and Messy Church. We have watched as she has grown in confidence and were amazed by her first preach which seemed like she had been preaching for years. We are excited to watch what God does with both of these young people in the years to come.

Main Hall and Building Project

It's been our desire to refurbish the main church hall for several years and the sale of the Barrett Building in 2019, alongside a grant for £10,000 from the National Lottery Communities Fund made this possible. In March of this year work began to see the main hall totally stripped and repainted, new portable seating installed, a new carpet, blinds and lighting. Alongside this we were able to reconfigure an old kitchen and prayer room into a light and airy multipurpose room which is now used as a prayer room, creche and venue for small groups. What was the old creche has now been converted into an office for our future youth worker.

This refurbishment has made the upstairs spaces much more usable and brought the décor up to date. The seating capacity of all spaces has been increased due to stackable and movable seating which is great for future growth and special events.

We are thankful to God for His provision and for members of church for their support and patience during this time.

Prayer and Connect Groups

The year began with a week of prayer and fasting in January. This is always a

great time and gives us time to focus on God and what he wants for us as a church in the year ahead. Prayer meetings were made accessible by holding a combination of in person meetings as well as Facebook prayer and Zoom meetings. People were encouraged in their faith and expectant of God for the year ahead. Alongside this week of prayer, prayer meetings are held weekly before Sunday services and once a month on a Thursday evening.

Alongside prayer we have fortnightly Connect groups. These are smaller groups where people connect with others, grow in their faith, study the Bible and encourage one another. We currently have 4 connect groups with approx 38 people in attendance. Our desire is that every person who attends church as others they can connect with and so we are continuing to try and engage more people in connect groups.

Explosion

Explosion is our weekly Kids' Club for 5 – 11 yr olds. This runs every Wednesday 6-7.15pm (Term Time). The children engage in crafts, team games, singing and lessons from the Bible. Post-Covid many children have been slow to return, however the children have a great time and continue to grow in confidence and learn about faith in Jesus. Numbers are gradually increasing and around 15 children attend weekly. As well as the weekly programme 'Explosion' also holds special events to engage with the children's families, Pancake parties and Easter parties being a couple of examples.

Start Course

In April of this year we ran the 'Start Course', a course for those beginning or enquiring about the journey of faith. This was regularly attended by around 10 people, mainly men from Elisha House, a recovery centre close to our hearts. Sheila Barrett did a fantastic job running the course which will be repeated as and when the need arises.

School's Work

It has been great during the course of this year to visit schools to do assemblies once again. Chloe and I currently visit West Street Primary and Park Primary. The children are always very attentive and it's a privilege to visit schools and teach pupils about the importance of faith. We are hoping to increase this ministry in the future.

New Life 2 U Fund

Our New Life 2 U fund which was set up to help the community continues to benefit those in need. This year not only did we fund our Christmas Hampers which were donated to Curry on the Street, but we also started a new project called Breakfast Bags. During the Summer Holidays the church was opened on Wednesday mornings and the community invited in to collect breakfast items, enjoy tea and coffee and engage in free children's crafts. This was a great success and saw up to 20 breakfast bags a week given out. Alongside this many families came just to enjoy the crafts and a free brew. This is something that we will continue to do during the school holidays.

Mission Support

The church has continued to support our missionaries Steven and Deborah Jenkins in the work they do overseas. Although they have been unable to visit

due to Covid restrictions they are hoping to go overseas after Christmas this year.

Alongside this individual church members support a number of children in Rwanda through the organisation Compassion. It always amazes me that year on year the number of people we sponsor continues to increase despite the current financial climate. New Life Kids also sponsor a child through this scheme.

Sunday Services

Our Sunday services take place weekly at 11am where people of all ages and backgrounds are invited to attend. We encourage people to engage in their faith through worship, times of prayer, sharing testimonies and hearing from the word of God. It's been great this year to see new people in our worship band using their gifts and abilities to lead others in worship. We are thankful to our leaders and those playing an active role in Sunday services. Alongside the service we have creche facilities and a kids programme for children aged 5-11.

Online Engagement

Our Sunday services continue to be streamed online to Youtube. This has been great for those who can't always attend and many people watch back to hear the teaching again. Subscriptions to this service have continued to grow and we are thankful to Brian Hopwood and Jimmy Nawab for making this possible.

Facebook has also been another way in which people have engaged with church and this is used to keep people up to date with things going on and also occasional prayer meetings.

Sabbatical

After waiting a number of years due to Covid restrictions, in August of this year I was finally able to take my Sabbatical. I was very kindly allocated a month off which was a great time of rest and reflection. I visited Keswick Convention, family and attended a retreat at Wydale Hall. I would like to thank the Church Council for this vital time off and recognising that rest is so important for the life and health of their Pastor.

Going Forward

We are excited about what God has in store for New Life in the future. During the coming year we aim to continue to put our vision statement into practice: To Love God and Love People, to Reach people with the love of Jesus, Raise disciples who are full on followers of Jesus Christ and Release people to serve.

We want to continue to be an outward looking church and with this in mind aim to restart our Men's Ministry and Women's ministry. These will be occasional events for our own church family and any others wishing to attend such as curry night and breakfasts.

Cafe Connect

After the success of Breakfast bags we will aim to open up the basement on Wednesday mornings for a cafe where people can connect and enjoy Tea, Coffee and light refreshments. This will start after the October half term.

Messy Church

In 2023, on the last Sunday of every month we aim to start Messy Church. This will be family orientated with crafts, songs and Bible stories for all the family. While this is taking place an alternative service will be held upstairs for those whom Messy Church is not suitable

Talking Jesus Course

In October we will be holding the 'Talking Jesus Course'. This is a 6 week course to encourage people and give them tools to be able to share their faith in a natural way. We believe Jesus makes a difference in people's lives and want to illustrate how important it is to talk about Jesus with family and friends.

Youth Worker.

In 2023 it is our hope that we can employ a Youth and Children's worker to work with our own children and young people and have greater connection with those in the community. We are currently putting together job descriptions and an application form and hope to have someone in place to start work in April 2023

Building Work

A vision offering will be taken over the next few months to redecorate the stair well from the main church to the basement, sure up our general fund and also top up our New Life 2 U fund.

Leadership

We will endeavour to keep encouraging people in their varying roles and responsibilities and grow leaders through leaders away days and connecting with the Assemblies of God area and zone days. As well as this we want to encourage people to use their God given gifts and talents and recognise and develop emerging leaders.

Summary

After almost 10 years of ministry at New Life I continue to be amazed by God's goodness. We have a great core group of people who are full of faith and hope for the future and after a quiet couple of years due to the pandemic are seeing new people come into church. For a small church we have great reach and I am truly believing that the best is yet to come. We currently see an average of around 60 people in our services, some weeks more, some weeks less. If everyone came at the same time the church would be full. As we continue to serve him and to reach out in the community I know that God has got great things in store for us. We are looking forward to what is ahead and to seeing the impact a youth worker will have upon our church. We are also believing that as the church has made more room for growth through the refurbishment, that will happen. We continue to endeavour to put God first, to

love Him and to love others by reaching out to the community of Colne in which He has placed us.

General Information

Trustees of New Life Christian Centre for 2022

Pastor Pauline Street Mr Barry Dingle Mrs Charlotte Hindle Mr Peter Eaves Mrs Joan Eaves

Mr Jimmy Nawab

Miss Alice Mann

Mr Glen Threlfall

Mr Derek Wick

Mrs June Wick

New Life Christian Centre is a church with an organisational and decision making structure as follows:-

1. The Church Council are the management trustees of the church, responsible for all legal and financial decisions on behalf of the church. The Senior Minister leads this council and has the casting vote in split decisions.

2. The Oversight of the Church – usually the Senior Minister and the leadership team is responsible for the spiritual leadership of the church and reports to the church council.

3. All other departments are responsible to the Oversight and ultimately to the church council.

Legal and Administrative Information

1. The name of the charity is 'New Life Christian Centre'.

Charity Number 1051832

Address: West Street, Colne, Lancs, BB8 0HP

1. The governing document is the 'Model Constitution with Trust Deed for Local Assemblies of God'.

2. Trustees are appointed by the Church Council.

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