2022-03-31-accounts - Fresh Expressions Limited

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. Annual .'Report 20 FRES EXPRESSIONS

fx Annual Report 2021/22

Who We Are

A MOVEMENT OF MISSION-SHAPED COMMUNITIES

Calling ordinary Equipping people for the Connecting contextual

Networking

mission of the extraordinary

God

Fresh Expressions is a growing movement of everyday people across all denominations, starting new Christian communities in the nooks and crannies of people’s everyday lives. From new housing to rural, urban to suburban, messy church and third age to forests, coffee shops, beaches, pubs, barns, online and even church buildings! Fresh Expressions of church can increasingly be found across the UK and around the world, helping those who would never approach a traditional church service to encounter the reality of Jesus.

With over 30 years’ experience of pioneering in creative and contextual ways, accompanied by robust theological research, reflections and reports on how Fresh Expressions have gathered

and discipled people who weren’t connecting with traditional forms of church, we know all about the challenges and joys of pioneering, but more importantly we know this approach to mission works.

We’re not a denomination. We’re not a pathway to ordination. We’re a grassroots movement filled with people who can’t stop thinking about who isn’t in church and want to do something about it. We’re a band of misfits, visionaries, prophets, evangelists and creative entrepreneurs who can see what isn’t there and have the grit and faith to go out, listen, love, serve, tell people about Jesus and work with their new communities to create a new and authentic expression of church that makes sense to them.

info@freshexpressions.org.uk www.freshexpressions.org.uk

Photo by Ioana Cristiana on Unsplash

fx Annual Report 2021/22

the fx Prayer

GRACIOUS GOD,

KEEP US EVER MINDFUL OF YOUR PRESENCE THANKFUL FOR WHAT HAS BEEN

AND EXCITED FOR WHAT IS TO COME.

MAY WE WALK IN HUMILITY

ALWAYS HUNGRY FOR MORE OF YOU.

OPEN OUR EARS THAT WE WOULD ALWAYS HEAR YOU.

BREAK OUR HEARTS FOR WHAT HURTS YOU. HOLY SPIRIT, LEAD US ALWAYS TO WHERE YOU NEED US TO BE. EQUIP US TO BE A COURAGEOUS MOVEMENT TELLING STORIES OF HOPE AND PROCLAIMING, IN FRESH WAYS,

THE GOOD NEWS TO THIS GENERATION; TO THE GLORY OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST

AMEN

fx Annual Report 2021/22

How we work

PUBLIC BENEFIT

How do we structure a charity so it supports a genuine move of the Holy Spirit? How to support a movement that is led by God and not by any one individual?

That’s the question the FX team have wrestled with in recent years, and has led to a new structure with a board, a leadership community and a group of paid contractors. This year has been the first year of us fully implementing the below structure. The purpose of the charity is “to serve the fresh expressions movement and help it flourish”.

The relationships within and between the charity, the movement, the contractors and the leadership community can be illustrated as follows:

The fx movement is served by the charity and the leadership community through:

prophetic listening to the voice of the Spirit in the movement,
advocating for contextual mission and fx practitioners,
connecting individuals and networks enabling collaboration,
affirming and championing these individuals and networks.

Fresh Expressions Limited’s purpose has always been and will continue to

encourage innovative ways of making church available to all members of the public. The Trustees have had regard to The Charities Commission guidance on public benefit. The Trustees believe that the activities of the Charity encourage faith and moral values across all communities and are available to all. The principle of embedding actually encourages even greater local community engagement and therefore benefit for all.

The purpose of the fx leadership community is to respond to and for the fx movement by ‘fanning the flames’ of the networks and holding a common vision for the movement. It also provides strategic guidance as to how the charity can best deploy the FX contractors. The FX board provides governance and finance that enables the charity to offer...

...the FX contractors who serve the movement and help the individuals and networks within it to flourish through effective connecting, resourcing and communicating.

fx Annual Report 2021/22

How We Work

BANK:

CHARITY NUMBER: 1080103

The Co-Op Bank, PO Box 101, 1 Balloon Street, Manchester M60 4EP

COMPANY NUMBER: 03598030

SOLICITORS:

Anthony Collins Solicitors, 134 Edmund Street, Birmingham B3 2ES

OFFICE ADDRESS

Fresh Expressions, 236 Ashby Road, Hinckley, Leicestershire, LE10 1SW

freshexpressions.org.uk IN - @freshexpressionsuk YT - @freshexpressionsuk TK - @freshexpressionsuk TW - @freshexpression FB - @freshexpression

ACCOUNTANTS:

DNG Dove Naish LLP, Eagle House, 28 Billing Road, Northampton NN1 5AJ

DIRECTORS & TRUSTEES

Amie Buhari
Bishop Mike Harrison
Jenny Jones
Lt. Col. Drew McCombe
Rev’d Leslie Newton
Major Andrew Vertigan
Mark Williamson (chair)

CONTRACTORS

Rev’d Simon Goddard (Resourcing)
Tim Lea (Networking)
Mark Robinson (Communications)
Suzie Wall (Events & Administration)

LEADERSHIP COMMUNITY

This group is made of a number of experienced practitioners from our movement with different denominations and experiences which aim to reflect the depth and breadth of the movement. They offer a key perspective that helps us to keep connected to our grass-roots. This group grows and contracts as new people join and others relinquish the responsibility.

fx Annual Report 2021/22

Chair’s Report

The year 2021/22 was one of continued adaptation to Covid-19, and continued implementation of the new Fresh Expressions structure and strategy first adopted in 2019. Due to so much of our work moving to the virtual space, it became critical to update our online presence. We did this in several ways:

• The main Fresh Expressions website was completely overhauled, to become a professional and informative platform resourcing individual pioneers and denominational partners or agencies. www.freshexpressions.org.uk

• A new Sharing Jesus website was launched to complement this new resource, helping those starting fresh expressions of church to have meaningful conversations about Jesus. www.sharingjesus.life

• Our social media accounts were redesigned in line with this new look, and through regular content being share have all grown in number, enabling us to reach more people. We have streamed conversations and events on YouTube and Facebook, and continue to also use Twitter and Instagram to help share stories from across the movement.

We continue our partnerships with most of the major church denominations across the UK, as we support them in their various strategies for launching new missional communities and movements. In particular this year, we started deeper relationships with the Methodist Church, supporting their New Places for New People and Church at the Margins strategies, and also the Church of Scotland. A new relationship with Churches Together in England has also developed and is worth noting.

We’d like to place on record our thanks to all those who contribute to the work of Fresh Expressions, and especially to our main contractors – Tim Lea (Networking), Simon Goddard (Resourcing), Lizzie Lowrie/Mark Robinson (Communications) and Suzie Wall (Admin) – who carry so much of the load, and help resource a national movement that is bringing genuine renewal and transformation to many pockets around the UK.

MARK WILLIAMSON

Chair of Fresh Expressions Board

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fx Annual Report 2021/22

Independent Auditors Report

OPINION

We have audited the financial statements of Fresh Expressions Limited (the ‘charitable company’) for the year ended 31 March 2022 which comprise the Statement of Financial Activities, the Statement of Financial Position and notes to the financial statements, including a summary of significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

In our opinion the financial statements:

give a true and fair view of the state of the charitable company’s affairs as at 31 March 2022 and of its incoming resources and application of resources, including its income and expenditure, for the year then ended;
have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice; and
have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006.

BASIS FOR OPINION

We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditors’ responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the charitable company in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

CONCLUSIONS RELATING TO GOING CONCERN

In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the trustees’ use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.

Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the charitable company’s ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.

Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the trustees with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.

OTHER INFORMATION

The trustees are responsible for the other information. The other information comprises the information included in the Annual Report, other than the financial statements and our Report of the Independent Auditors thereon.

Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon.

In connection with our audit of the financial statements, our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether this gives rise to a material misstatement in the financial statements themselves. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact. We have nothing to report in this regard.

fx Annual Report 2021/22

MATTERS ON WHICH WE ARE REQUIRED TO REPORT BY EXCEPTION

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters where the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:

the information given in the Report of the Trustees is inconsistent in any material respect with the financial statements; or
the charitable company has not kept adequate accounting records; or
the financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or
we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit.

RESPONSIBILITIES OF TRUSTEES

As explained more fully in the Statement of Trustees’ Responsibilities, the trustees (who are also the directors of the charitable company for the purposes of company law) are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the trustees determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

In preparing the financial statements, the trustees are responsible for assessing the charitable company’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the trustees either intend to liquidate the charitable company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

OUR RESPONSIBILITIES FOR THE AUDIT OF THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

We have been appointed as auditors under Section 144 of the Charities Act 2011 and report in accordance with the Act and relevant regulations made or having effect thereunder.

Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue a Report of the Independent Auditors that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate,

they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.

The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud is detailed below:

Our approach to identifying and assessing the risks of material misstatement in respect of irregularities, including fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations, was as follows:

the engagement partner ensured that the engagement team collectively had the appropriate competence, capabilities and skills to identify or recognise non-compliance with applicable laws and regulations;
we identified the laws and regulations applicable to the company through discussions with directors and other management, and from our commercial knowledge and experience of the industry sector;
we focused on specific laws and regulations which we considered may have a direct material effect on the financial statements or the operations of the company, including the Companies Act 2006, taxation legislation and data protection, anti-bribery, employment, environmental and health and safety legislation;
we assessed the extent of compliance with the laws and regulations identified above through making enquiries of management and inspecting legal correspondence;

We assessed the susceptibility of the company’s financial statements to material misstatement, including obtaining an understanding of how fraud might occur, by:

making enquiries of management as to where they considered there was susceptibility to fraud, their knowledge of actual, suspected and alleged fraud; and
considering the internal controls in place to mitigate risks of fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations.

To address the risk of fraud through management bias and override of controls, we:

performed analytical procedures to identify any unusual or unexpected relationships;
tested journal entries to identify unusual transactions;
assessed whether judgements and assumptions made in determining accounting estimates were indicative of potential bias; and
investigated the rationale behind significant or unusual transactions.

fx Annual Report 2021/22

Independent Auditors Report

In response to the risk of irregularities and non-compliance with laws and regulations, we designed procedures which included, but were not limited to:

reading the minutes of meetings of those charged with governance;
agreeing financial statement disclosures to underlying supporting documentation;
enquiring of management as to actual and potential litigation and claims; and
reviewing correspondence with HMRC and other relevant parties.

There are inherent limitations in our audit procedures described above. The more removed that laws and regulations are from financial transactions, the less likely it is that we would become aware of non-compliance. Auditing standards also limit the audit procedures required to identify non-compliance with laws and regulations to enquiry of the directors and other management and the inspection of regulatory and legal correspondence, if any.

Material misstatements that arise due to fraud can be harder to detect than those that arise from error as they may involve deliberate concealment or collusion.

USE OF OUR REPORT

This report is made solely to the charitable company’s trustees, as a body, in accordance with Part 4 of the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charitable company’s trustees those matters we are required to state to them in an auditors’ report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charitable company and the charitable company’s trustees as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed. for and on behalf of DNG Dove Naish LLP, Statutory Auditor

Eligible to act as an auditor in terms of Section 1212 of the Companies Act 2006

Eagle House 28 Billing Road

Northampton Northamptonshire NN1 5AJ

Date: 21st December 2022

A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at www.frc.org.uk/auditors responsibilities. This description forms part of our Report of the Independent Auditors.

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fx Annual Report 2021/22

Financial Review

FINANCIAL POSITION

The balance of the charity’s funds now stands at £151,797 including a restricted fund balance of £34,268.

Induction and training of new directors

Prospective directors undergo a formal briefing by the Chairman of the Board and other directors as appropriate. Relevant documents, procedures and policies are supplied in connection with the day- to- day running of the organisation as part of an induction plan. Any training or personal development needs in line with the roles and responsibilities of Board Directors are arranged as required.

Key management remuneration

The charity has no paid staff. Contractors are paid monthly and reviewed annually.

Risk management

RESERVES POLICY

The trustees consider the reserves currently held, as shown above to be more than adequate to meet all the resource demands of the future. The charity does not now have any employees and has arranged flexible contractor services to meet the light touch strategy.

STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

Governing document

The charity is controlled by its governing document, a deed of trust, and constitutes a limited company, limited by guarantee, as defined by the Companies Act 2006.

Recruitment and appointment of new directors

Directors are appointed by The Board of Directors.

Organisational structure

The Board of Directors meets three to four times a year and receives reports on finance and projects from contractors and specialist advisors. Interim board meetings are occasionally arranged between meetings.

Individual Directors have light touch operational responsibilities for specific areas of expertise and activity and contracts will be negotiated to both facilitate a light touch and ensure strategic focus.

The Directors review the activities of the charity on a regular basis for exposure to a range of risks and are satisfied that arrangements are in place to mitigate these.

fx Annual Report 2021/22

STATEMENT OF TRUSTEES’ RESPONSIBILITIES

The trustees (who are also the directors of Fresh Expressions Limited for the purposes of company law) are responsible for preparing the Report of the Trustees and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

Company 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 charitable company and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the charitable company for that period. In preparing those financial statements, the trustees are required to

select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;
observe the methods and principles in the Charity SORP;
make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charitable company will continue in business.

The trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charitable company and to enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charitable company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

In so far as the trustees are aware:

there is no relevant audit information of which the charitable company’s auditors are unaware; and

the trustees have taken all steps that they ought to have taken to make themselves aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the auditors are aware of that information.

AUDITORS

The auditors, DNG Dove Naish LLP, Statutory Auditor, will be proposed for re-appointment at the forthcoming Annual General Meeting.

This report has been prepared in accordance with the special provisions of Part 15 of the Companies Act 2006 relating to small companies.

Approved by order of the board of trustees on 21 December 2022 and signed on its behalf by:

M P Williamson - Trustee

fx Annual Report 2021/22

Statement of Financial Activities

(INCORPORATING AN INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT)

Activities
Donations and legacies Income And Endowments From Charitable activities Networking Core/Running Costs Charitable activities Other trading activities Raising funds Reconciliation Of Funds Total funds brought forward Net Income/(Expenditure) TOTAL FUNDS CARRIED FORWARD Resourcing Investment income Networking Total Total Expenditure On	107373 Unrestricted Funds £ - 22,919 - 9,723 877 133,158 -15,629 117,529 23,499 29 85,459 117,125 132,754	7825 Restricted Funds £ - - - - - 43,918 -9,650 34,268 17,375 - 100 7,825 17,475	115,198 2022 Total Funds £ - 22,919 - 9,723 877 177,076 -25,279 151,797 40,874 29 85,559 124,950 150,229	2021 Total Funds £
				72,760 225 22,106 - 18,205 4,349 201,475 -24,399 177,076 23,846 389 65,677 91,579 115,978

fx Annual Report 2021/22

STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION 31 MARCH 2022

Net Current Assets Net Assets Total Assets Less Current Liabilities Stocks Unrestricted funds Tangible Assets Debtors Restricted funds Prepayments and accrued income Cash at bank Fixed Assets Current Assets Funds Amounts falling due within one year Creditors TOTAL FUNDS	1,231 420 117,109 117,529 117,529 7,701 8,860 120,064 137,856 Unrestricted Funds £ -20,747	- - 34,268 34,268 34,268 - - 34,268 34,268 Restricted Funds £ -	1,231 117,529 420 151,377 151,797 151,797 7,701 34,268 8,860 154,332 172,124 2022 Total Funds £ -20,747 151,797	2021 Total Funds £
				560
				948
				9,374
				8,791
				167,578
				186,691
				-10,175
				176,516
				177,076
				177,076
				133,158
				43,918
				177,076

The charitable company is entitled to exemption from audit under Section 477 of the Companies Act 2006 for the year ended 31 March 2022.

The members have not deposited notice, pursuant to Section 476 of the Companies Act 2006 requiring an audit of these financial statements.

The trustees acknowledge their responsibilities for

ensuring that the charitable company keeps accounting records that comply with Sections 386 and 387 of the Companies Act 2006 and
preparing financial statements which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable company as at the end of each financial year and of its surplus or deficit for each financial year in accordance with the requirements of Sections 394 and 395 and which otherwise comply with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 relating to financial statements, so far as applicable to the charitable company.

These financial statements have been audited under the requirements of Section 145 of the Charities Act 2011.

These financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to charitable companies subject to the small companies regime.

The financial statements were approved by the Board of Trustees and authorised for issue on 21st December 2022 and were signed on its behalf by:

M P Williamson - Trustee

fx Annual Report 2021/22

Networking Report

We found new ways to connect people over the year as the context has changed.

In March 2022 we ran our first ever fully hybrid FX Gathering, which meant an increased reach and those who could not afford to travel able to log in online. This became our biggest gathering ever with over 110 people over the 2 days. Alan Hirsch spoke about movements as we explored together “for such a time as this.”

In Sept. 2021 another Gathering explored evangelism as a solely online community, with nearly 80 present.

The Denominational partners Learning Community was held face to face at Swanwick in early December, with 5 partners represented:

The following hubs met regularly as we weathered lock down and began to emerge from the pandemic; the Pioneer Development hub, The Rural hub, coaching training and The Leadership community. The Leadership

community has begun to transition, growing younger and more diverse, and getting to grips with listening to the wider movement in order that it might flourish.

Networking with a number of key organisations has begun to grow out of lock down; Hope, CAP, CTE, Kick, MYCN all with the expressed intent of growing more fresh expressions of church out of the work they are doing in loving and serving in their neighbourhoods by encouraging them to take the next step of exploring discipleship.

fx Annual Report 2021/22

REV. LUANNE M. STANLEY HOOK DIRECTOR OF COMMUNITY FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH OF

fx Annual Report 2021/22

REV. LUANNE M. STANLEY HOOK DIRECTOR OF COMMUNITY FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH OF HOLLAND, MICHIGAN, USA

fx Annual Report 2021/22 19

Resourcing Report

At the beginning of the 2021/22 year, working in collaboration with Fresh Expressions US, we were involved in the distribution of the book 21st Century Christian.

We were pleased to be able to distribute 1,200 copies of the publication within the UK, as well as offering associated resources (e.g. videos and study/sermon notes) for those purchasing the resource in bulk.

The costs of importing books from the USA, however, caused us to explore publishing options in the UK, and over the year we’ve been able to use Kindle Direct Publishing to make two books available via Amazon. These include a paperback version of our core Godsend resource (available freely on our website and in an app), as well as the book Mindfulness as Mission Gift written by two previous board members – Chris Edmondson and Karen Openshaw. We were pleased that in the first two months of being available after its launch in February 2022, we had sold more than 200 copies of this resource. Our online shop generated an additional revenue of £1996 selling other resources produced in previous years and still held in stock.

In October 2021 we also launched a new online group evangelism resource – sharingjesus.life and have been pleased with the response to this – with the site having more than 7,000 page views in its first 6 months. This is in addition to almost 13,000 views of the fxresourcing. org website. As part of this our ‘visual reading list’ (a new part of the site) has generated an average of 21 visits per week – enabling those interested to access books and other resources that might help them in being equipped to start and nurture mission-shaped communities.

Cover photo by Jed Villejo on Unsplash Rear photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash