MARANATHA COMMUNITY CHURCH TROWBRIDGE TRUST
MINUTES OF MEETING HELD:
DATE : 1[st] March 2024 at 11:30 pm
LOCATION: 32 Pound Lane, Semington
ATTENDEES: Jerry Francis (Chairman), Jan Francis, (Trustee), Rob Dewsbury (Trustee) Gaie Marshall (Trustee), John Mills (Clerk and Trustee), Amanda Preston (Accountant) Trevor Lee (Trustee plus).
ACTIONS: Highlighted in red
Opening
The meeting commenced with a short time of prayer led by Trevor.
Minutes of previous meetng
The minutes were approved by the Trustees as a true and accurate record of discussions and decisions.
Review the church actvites, services and study groups.
Services have been taking place at the Castle Mead school and this move is proving very beneficial as the church has more room to offer better facilities for creche, Sunday school and other activities.
The current format is to still to have one Sunday 10:30am service and allow it to be flexible, catering for families and adults. This Sunday morning service has been complemented with a communion service before the main service commences around 9:45am. This is proving to be an extremely important development and is receiving very positive comments. We have
also implemented a once-a-month venture looking into aspects of faith called “upper room” which is having good success.
We plan to implement a prayer meeting once a month to 1) pray into the growing needs of the church and the next month 2) prayer for Israel.
We recently had a prayer day for Millie where church members were asked to select one hour in the day and pray for Millie’s total recovery from the curse of Cancer. All the 24 hours of the day were covered with a final prayer meeting at Jermy & Janet’s to round off. A prayer cloth was handed to Millie at the end of the day.
All the study groups meeting weekly, twice-monthly and monthly are doing well. The discipleship group and the youth group have doubled over the last few months.
The Alpha course for adults in special needs, which has only recently commenced has also had a good response. This course is being held at the Paxcroft Mead community centre on a Monday evening and is open to all adults with special needs. A strong team has been assembled with considerable experience and it is attracting people from local towns and villages. This event is proving very strenuous, and we pray for strength for all active participants.
The Church has a need for more Sunday school teachers with the number of children now attending making it better if they are split into two groups. Our Counties intern Jacob is helping but we still need further help.
Financials – Latest accounts
Amanda had already issued the latest accounts for January prior to the meeting. All very good with a healthy balance of around £48K. Gift aid of £6K will be added to the account in the month of February.
Sadly, Amanda is relinquishing her role as the Church accountant/treasurer and we all approved the future appointment of Holy Withers. An announcement will be made at the appropriate time of handover. We wish to thank Amanda for the exceptional job she has done over the years, and we have invited her to become a full trustee. We are awaiting her decision.
A gift to Jonathon of Counties Evangelism of £500 was agreed to.
A gift of Around £50 a week for travel expenses was awarded to Jacob (intern from Counties Evangelism) who is proving a good asset to our church community.
We are proposing to sponsor a Passover meal on Maundy Thursday, 28th March.
We are delighted that CMJ - www.cmj.org.uk - (Christian Ministry among Jewish people) have offered Maranatha to come and lead this event and a budget of £1200 has been allocated.
Safeguarding/Risk Assessment
We have become more aware of late that we would value an external view of all the safeguarding issues that we need to gain complete compliance.
After careful deliberation we all agreed that it would be sensible to appoint a person who knows all about safeguarding issues for church organizations and who has experience in setting up all the procedures and protocols that are needed.
Jermy & Janet have found a suitable candidate who does this very thing for a group of churches around Devizes.
His name is David Fiddy and we are all meeting him on Friday the 15[th] March. The meeting will be to get to know each other, to share the objectives and to get an idea of costs for David to advise, assist us on the whole aspect of safeguarding.
Any other business
-
1) Joseph, a member of the congregation, is looking at preparing a plan for us to have a new building. Rob will liaise with him and when he has a suitable plan, he will distribute to the Trustees. Still pending.
-
2) Passover meal has been organised and so far over 80 will be attending
-
3) The extra gathering of Trustees went well and another one is scheduled for Monday April 8[th] 12:00 at Jermy & Jan’s
-
4) A new life POD is required to “mop” up those people that cannot meet when the current life POD’s gather. So, we need to pray for a new leader to come forth to take ownership of this new group. Joseph/Holy want to be more involved so they might well provide the solution.
-
5) Jacob has offered to help Ashley with the drums.
-
6) Our relationship with the Icthus church group has to be worked out. Should we be part of their church network? They plan to visit us in the next few weeks (Kadeem) and we will use this time to determine if we should join with them.
-
7) Fire Practice we will leave till Summer.
-
8) Outreach is still ongoing with Phil Bradley, Jacob is helping Phil, and the husband and wife team David and Rachel are also going strong with their evangelism.
Next meeting 7[th] June 2024 11:30pm at 32 Pound Lane, Semington.
Maranatha Community Church (Wiltshire) - 1 January 2023 - 31 December 2023
| INCOME | 2023 | 2022 | EXPENDITURE | 2023 | 2022 | |||||||
| TITHES & OFFERINGS | 45673.82 | 43126.07 | BANK CHARGES | 109.40 | 195.71 | |||||||
| OTHER | 468.28 | 218.36 | COURSES AND CONFERENCES |
610.00 | 0.00 | |||||||
| BANK INTEREST | 757.17 | 82.25 | EQUIPMENT | 971.98 | 980.73 | |||||||
| ESTABLISHMENT COSTS | 3377.80 | 3138.74 | ||||||||||
| EVANGELISM | 2216.55 | 505.61 | ||||||||||
| EVENTS | 0.00 | 168.71 | ||||||||||
| GIFTS | 20340.00 | 28972.89 | ||||||||||
| INSURANCE'S | 428.87 | 400.41 | ||||||||||
| MUSIC / LITERATURE | 474.44 | 551.33 | ||||||||||
| PASTORAL EXPENSES | 0.00 | 0.00 | ||||||||||
| RENT OF PREMISES | 6380.00 | 5154.90 | ||||||||||
| SALARY | 0.00 | 0.00 | ||||||||||
| SUBSCRIPTIONS | 437.82 | 216.61 | ||||||||||
| YOUTHWORK | 628.46 | 502.39 | ||||||||||
| EXPENDITURE over INCOME | INCOME over EXPENDITURE |
10923.95 | 2638.65 | |||||||||
| TOTAL | 46899.27 | 43426.68 | TOTAL | 46899.27 | 43426.68 | |||||||
| SURPLUS ACCOUNT | 2023 | 2022 | CURRENT ASSETS | 2023 | 2022 | |||||||
| Balance brought forward | 78360.32 | 75721.67 | HSBC Current Account | 47202.03 | 36694.63 | |||||||
| Kingdom Bank Ltd Savings | 41962.72 | 41205.55 | ||||||||||
| Petty Cash | 119.52 | 460.14 | ||||||||||
| INCOME OVER EXPENDITURE | 10923.95 | 2638.65 | ||||||||||
| TOTAL | 89284.27 | 78360.32 | TOTAL | 89284.27 | 78360.32 | |||||||
| Signed | ||||||||||||
| AMANDA PRESTON (TREASURER) | ||||||||||||
| Signed | Signed | |||||||||||
| JEREMY FRANCIS (TRUSTEE) | JANET FRANCIS (TRUSTEE) | |||||||||||
| Signed | ||||||||||||
| GAIE MARSHALL (TRUSTEE) | ROB DEWSBURY (TRUSTEE) | |||||||||||
1
Independent Examiner's Report to the Trustees of Maranatha Community Church (Wiltshire)
I report on the accounts of the Trust for the year ended 31 December 2023, which are attached.
Responsibilities and basis of report
As the charity trustees of the Trust, you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (“the Act”).
I report in respect of my examination of the Trust’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I have followed the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.
Independent examiner's statement
I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention ) in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect:
-
accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Act; or
-
the accounts do not accord with the accounting records.
I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
Signed: John Edwards
John Edwards B.Sc. (Econ) 5 Sandalwood Road Westbury Wiltshire BA13 3UP
11 June 2024