Epworth Baptist Church
TRUSTEES' REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2021
Registered Charity No: 1060523
Principal Address: Station Road Epworth North Lincolnshire DN91JZ
Trustees: A. Wilkinson (Minister) Resigned September 2021 C Creese (resigned) C. Todd (Treasurer) L. Wilson Ann Lane (elected September 2021) Sue Maule (elected September 2021) Claire Brown (elected September 2021)
Independent Examiner: Joyce Gail Priestley Coverdale, King Edward Street, Belton, Doncaster DN9 1QN Principal bankers: HSBC Market Place Epworth
The Trustees present their report with the accounts for the year ended 31 December 2021
The Trustees are appointed through an open and public process by the church members meeting to be responsible for the governance of the church. Trustees, except for the Minister, are appointed for an initial three-year term and serve so long as they have the support of the church members' meeting. They have the opportunity to be nominated for re-appointment at the end of each three year term.
The Trustees, who form the Leadership Team, control, manage and administer the church, subject to any specific or general directions from the church members' meeting. The Minister (when in post), who is also a Trustee, takes responsibility for the implementation of direction set by the Leadership Team and in addition, each member of the Leadership Team has responsibility for a particular area of the church's work. There are also other volunteers involved in the activities of the church.
The trustees during the year were those listed above, Andrew Wilkinson resigned as minister in September 2021 and was therefore no longer a Trustee, Carol Creese also resigned and three other Trustees were elected by the church member’s meeting in September 2021.
The Epworth Baptist Church operates under clauses 4 to 22 of a scheme of the Charity Commissioners for the regulation of Wolverhampton Baptist Church, this being imposed by the Charity Commission by an order sealed 31/05/1 935.
lt is affiliated to the Baptist Union of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and the East Midlands Baptist Association is trustee of the Church.
Objectives : The Church exists for the worship of God, the proclamation of Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour and for the deepening of the spiritual life of Christians; the doctrinal position is based on a belief in the inspiration and authority of the bible. Baptism is of believers and by immersion It has a congregational form of government, to whom the trustees are directly responsible and meetings are on a quarterly basis for the conducting of business. The Annual General Meeting is held in January each year
The principal purpose is to advance the Christian faith as well as to advance education and to carry out other charitable activities. The church's vision is to extend the kingdom of God through its members loving God, loving one another and loving the community of the Isle of Axholme.
Grants are made as directed by the donor or where the Leadership Team considers the payment would further the objectives of the church.
Review of activities and future developments in the context of the objectives, the following achievements show how the vision to extend the kingdom of God has come to life but due to the Covid Pandemic during most of 2020 and into 2021 these activities were curtailed
Congregations Looking out into the communities around us - to make church more relevant and accessible to the wider community.
Welcoming visitors and newcomers back to the church. We have reintroduced the Prayer and Bible study meetings, Thursday coffee group, Friday sewing ladies, young people’s Light Party, a Christmas Craft Evening with demonstrations and kits provided so participants could try each craft, Christmas services including a Nativity and Carols by Candlelight.
Celebrations Worshipping God in a way that is culturally relevant holding Special services including Good Friday service and Walk of Witness, Easter Sunday breakfast and service, Family Services, Carol service, Christmas morning service and other special celebrations
Care The Pastoral Team ensures the welfare of EBC members/friends and regularly contacts those who are missing from church and makes home visits.
Children
Continuing to provide activities for young people from 0 to 15 provided through children’s groups during the Sunday Service and a Mums and Toddler group once a week during term times.
Compassion Working alongside Scunthorpe Foodbank, under the Trussell Trust, the EBC Foodbank supports families on the Isle sharing food parcels to those in the community in a time of crisis. We saw an increase in the number of food parcels requested by local families in need during the pandemic throughout the year, providing extra hampers during the school holidays and at Christmas which included meat vouchers. Senior Citizens also received Christmas Hampers. Continuing support for Compassion UK - currently sponsoring children in various countries. Considering local outreach to meet the needs of the local community Involvement in Epworth Christians Together with other local churches.
Teaching Alongside a message on Sunday mornings, weekly bible study groups have been reintroduced on a Wednesday evening and Thursday afternoon. Prior to September all Church Services and meetings were online and many members and friends were able to share in worship this way. From September 2021 all church meetings, services, prayer meeting and bible studies resumed in the church building.
Minister: Our minister, Andy Wilkinson resigned from EBC in September 2021 and we thank God for the time he spent with us. The five trustees continue to manage all church life, inviting visiting speakers for each Sunday Service or having in house services.
Financial Review 2021
Available cash reserves (general fund) totalled £6894 at the year end; the ministry/building fund (EMB Trust Co account) had an end of year balance of £32774, slightly up on last year as a result of interest received.
Investment strategy - the Ministry/building fund held by the EMBTC is mainly placed in medium low risk stocks, shares and bonds, to enable higher returns on this larger amount. The Church continues to retain a reserve fund of £16,000 within this savings account in order to:
meet an unforeseen emergency in the church. eg. unexpected large repair bill.
Receipts
Church giving in the weekly Offertory and monthly Standing Order Donations totalled £28,388, down £1200 compared to 2020. This reduction was due to a lack of weekly offertory with no church services being held from January to August 2021 as a result of Covid restrictions. The church is fortunate that much of its giving is by monthly Standing Order. Services resumed in September 2021 with weekly offertory considerably down due to reduced numbers in church. Gift Aid reclaimed from HMRC was £6797 slightly down on last year as a result of the impact of Covid on giving. Other donations were also reduced as a result of the non-running of usual church activities during Covid. The church continued to receive regular donations for the foodbank from members of the public and the local Lions organisation that makes donations to charity projects.
Expenditure in 2021 :
Costs were down for the year apart from utility payments and basic running costs of the church building as a result of no services or other weekly activities because of Covid restrictions. There was concern about a further water leak in the building and a survey was undertaken to investigate. The results of this indicated continually running toilet cisterns and leaking taps that were repaired, reducing the water charges. The survey costs were reclaimed on the building’s insurance in the early part of 2021. Majority of other expenditure covers any charges to maintain the church building with no Sunday services being run until September. Music and public play back licences were renewed in late 2021 as church resumed, some of which had not been required in the previous 12 months. Foodbank expenditure covered costs for additional items for Christmas hampers distributed to families in need. There was little other missional expenditure made with no activities being carried out in church due to Covid.
Trustee payments : The Church Minister, Andrew Wilkinson, moved from a full-time position to part time working from March 2021 and left the employment of the church at the end of September 2021. As a result, the ministerial costs for the year were considerably reduced. The stipend paid to the minister from January to September 2021 totalled £10791, (which was 2 months full pay and 7 months half pay on part time hours). This amounted to less than half the stipend costs of 2020. Reduced salary payments meant a reduction in Pension contributions to £5025 down by £2000 on 2020. The costs of the Manse, home of the minister, continued to be paid in full until September 2021 giving an annual cost of £8973. This was reduced by payments received from the Andrew Wilkinson of £2260 from October to December when he was no longer minister (The lease for the manse being in the name of the church meant it could not be given up until May of 2022 and the landlord agreed the church could continue with the lease until then.)
Charity Giving: The church has given £2836 to other causes and charities which represents 10% of the church’s monthly offertory & members giving. These charities include Baptist Home Mission, BMS World Mission, other local and national Christian charities and two couples on mission working in South Africa and Zambia – these are well known to the church as previous attendees at EBC. Across all church accounts there was a slight profit of £1544 reported at the year end which compares very favourably with the deficit of the last couple of years. The main reason for this being the reduction in Ministerial expenses for the year on the resignation of the minister in September 2021.
For 2022 the expected income is £22,400 down on the previous year due to the drop in regular attendees and general weekly offertory. Forecast expenditure is a conservative £16,600, giving a positive outcome of £5800 for the year to December 2022. At this time the church acknowledges the regular monthly giving by Standing Order by the majority of its members, for which it is very grateful. Other church run activities beginning again also means there are additional small donations being made to church funds. From October onwards, with no minister in position, the church invited visiting speakers to come on a Sunday, week by week, offering them a nominal payment towards their expenses. Besides this and the payment of the Baptist Union Pension deficit the main church expenditure provides for the running costs of the building, utilities and any other replacement costs as needed. This results in a more profitable
position for the church and allows money to be put aside in savings for the possibility of a new minister in the future.
Public Benefit
The Trustees have referred to the guidance contained in the Charity Commission's general guidance on public benefit and complied with section 17 (6) of the 2011 Charities Act when reviewing the aims and objectives prior to planning and developing activities.
Statement of Trustees' responsibilities
Charity law requires the Trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charily and of the surplus or deficit of the charity for that period. In preparing those financial statements, they are required to:
Select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently
Make judgments and estimates that are reasonable and prudent
Prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charity will continue in operation.
The Trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and to enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Charities Act 2011 and governing document of the charity. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
(On behalf of the trustees)
Dated: 11/08/2022
Deacon
| GENERAL RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS ACCOUNT | ||
|---|---|---|
| ng | 202ico | 2020® |
| Rceipts: | ||
| 2P92.00 | 4273.17 | |
| Offertory | ||
| 25396.00 | 25293.00 | |
| Gift Aid Offertory | ||
| 6,797.00 | 8,707 24 | |
| Income tax recovered on gifts | ||
| 337.50 | 150.00 | |
| Patchwork group | 80.cO | 349.72 |
| rmations and other income | ||
| 282.cO | Zero | |
| Gifts for other causes - not foodhank | ||
| 1,845.cO | 7,486.00 | |
| Giftsforothercauses-FoodbankFinancialdonations | ||
| 149.55 | ||
| Miscellaneous (Insurance claim & Manse charges rquid by AW) | ||
| T otal Receipts | ||
| Payments: | ||
| Mnistry | 14,047.83 | 16£ 14.57 |
| Upkapofchurchpemises | 6273.34 | 4,966.96 |
| I,345.80 | 4228.55 | |
| Mission - not including Foodbank | ||
| 2,843.40 | 3226.60 | |
| Mission Foodbank expenses | ||
| 1214.24 | 795.16 | |
| Administmtion inc IT and AV | 331.03 | 157.05 |
| Mscelhaeou | ||
| Total Paymnents | ||
| 9,820.00 | - 15,830.55 | |
| Transfers(incmoneypaidouttoWagesA/C&infromErmTrustA/C) | 188.89 | |
| Balance brought forward | ||
| Balance carried forwnd | ||
| HSBC WAGES ACCOUNT | 2o21 (0 | 2920 {£) - |
| Total Receipts | ||
| Payments: | ||
| Net Sultry + Irmc | 10,790.84 30.15 |
21,469.37 416.38 |
| Pastor Expenses | ||
| Total Payments | ||
| Transfers | 10320.00 509.11 |
21,815.00 579.86 |
| Balance brought forward | SO9.1 | |
| Balance carried forvard | ||
| 4,805.87 | - 3,S78.72 | |
| Total(general+wages)Surplus/deficitfortheyear | ||
| Takingintoaccountunspentdonatinfrolulbank | I,544.87 | - 7,838.12 |
| 2021 (£) 2020 | (£) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| BANK ACCOUNT ADMINISTERED BY EMB TRUST CO (restricted) | |||
| Receipts:Interest | 1,184.60 | 1,036.74 | |
| Payments: | |||
| Transfers | None - | 6,000.00 | |
| Balance brought forward | 31,589.41 __ | 36.552.fl | |
| Balance carried forward | |||
| STATEMENT oF AssETs AND LIABILITIEs AT 31 DECEnmER 2o2i | |||
| IVote | 2021 (£) 2020 (£) | ||
| MONETARY ASSETS: | |||
| 1,078.13 | |||
| General Account | |||
| 509.11 | |||
| HSBC Wages Account | |||
| 7.32 | |||
| HSBC Business Account | |||
| 31,589.41 | |||
| Account administered by Elm Trust Co (Restricted) | |||
| 5.98 | |||
| Cash in hand | |||
| 33.189.95 | |||
| Total Cash Balances | |||
| NON-MONETARY ASSETS: Held for church's own use | |||
| Church premises (insurance value) | 3 | 893,563.00 | 860,944.00 |
| Fixtures, furniture & equipment (insurance value) | 47,029.00 | 45,312.00 | |
| Burial Ground | 3 |
| 2021 (£) 2020 (£) | 2021 (£) 2020 (£) | 2021 (£) 2020 (£) | 2021 (£) 2020 (£) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4. Donations & other income | 7. Mission | ||
| Donations | 282.00 | Youth work | 84.81 274.85 |
| Foodbank Donations | 1,845.00 | 7,486.00 Foodbank purchases | 2,843.40 3,226.60 |
| Gift Aid donations | 240.72 - | 100.00 21.70 | |
| PSP & Energise | 80.00 | 109.00 2020 Giving paid in 202l | N/A I,155.00 |
| 2.207.00 | 7Jro5.72 202l part of gifts to charities ** | 1.161..00 1.527.00 | |
| 4,189.21 6.205.15 | |||
| 5. Ministry | 8. Administration | ||
| Pension | 5,024.69 | 7,013.88 Printing/stationery/sundries | 275.60 97.60 |
| Expenses | 244.00 TelephoneHntemet | 261.58 182.20 | |
| Manse expenses | 8,973.14 | 9,056.69 Subscriptions & fees | 349.75 180.00 |
| Preacher expenses | 50.00 | Books, publications | 6.58 |
| 14.047.83 | 1631457 IT | 4.79 216.78 | |
| Music, AV | 247.67 | ||
| 1.139.39 | |||
| 6. Upkeep of cllurch premises | |||
| Electricity & Gas | 1,182.28 | 1,411.12 9. HSBCBusinessA/c | |
| Water & Drainage | 406.43 | 222.71 Receipts: Interest | NIL 4,806.31 |
| Insurance | I,025.64 | 990.17 Transfers | ZERO - 4.880.00 |
| Maintenance & renewals * | 3.658.99 | 2.342.96 Balance brought fywd | 7.32 81.01 |
| 6.273.34 | 4.966.96 Balance carried I/wd | 732 7.32 |