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2023-12-31-accounts

ANNUAL REPORT

1 Jan – 31 Dec 2023

MORLEY COMMUNITY CHURCH Charity Registration Number 1083023

Correspondence to: Dr Raymond Baker 9 Hill Top Grove West Ardsley Wakefield WF3 1HP

Trustees: Raymond Baker Andrew Dalton Rowan Taylor

We confirm that this report and accounts are an accurate statement of activities and accounts for this year

…………………………………………………………………….. (Trustee)

………………………………………………………….………….. (Trustee)

MORLEY COMMUNITY CHURCH ANNUAL REPORT 1 Jan – 31 Dec 2023 for CHARITY COMMISSION

Summary of Objectives

Morley Community Church Trust exists to

(A) To advance the Christian faith in West Yorkshire and in such other parts of the United Kingdom or the world as the trustees may from time to time think fit and to fulfill such other purposes which are exclusively charitable according to the law of England and Wales and are connected with the charitable work of the trust

(B) To relieve persons who are in conditions of need or hardship or who are aged or sick and to relieve the distress caused thereby in West Yorkshire and in such other parts of the United Kingdom or the world. All the activities by Morley Community Church described in this report fulfill these two objectives and have provided direct benefit to the public.

Public Benefit

The public have benefited through a range of activities and projects that have invited them to develop their spiritual awareness and grow in their understanding of the Christian faith. This has been through Sunday services, bible studies & prayer sessions, pastoral care by leaders and members. Age-related activities have been provided for children, young and older people. All of these activities have been open to the general public, whom we have regularly invited by means of distribution of leaflets, parish magazines, press articles, the church website, social media and display of banners and ‘A’ boards near the regular place of meeting. The Christian faith has been shared in both word and deed through a multitude of activities and projects. The church has organized activities and projects often linked with other organizations (other churches, Christian agencies and secular organizations) to achieve this objective. The church is concerned about issues of poverty, deprivation and social justice. It is working to promote community cohesion through innovative social projects and initiatives. The church has been active in providing youth activities for local young people as well as offering support to the elderly in the town. People suffering from hardship, poverty, sickness and distress have been helped in practical ways both in Morley and surrounding area plus other parts of the world. Examples would be gifts of food, parcels, calendars and other items to local poor and elderly people. The church has been able to donate 13 sacks of clothes and bric a brac to Leeds City Mission for their Re-Store Charity Shop. Significant quantities of food have been made available to people in need/unemployed people who are struggling to make ends meet either directly through church referrals or to other agencies. A total of 286 trays of food plus 410 items of fruit have been obtained and distributed in this way. 270 surplus flower bunches have been delivered to scores of different individuals (eg housebound pensioners). Recycled aluminium foil and cans have been recycled and the money raised has been sent to support the work of good causes. 930 used greetings cards were collected and recycled into gift tags. 35 christmas presents were distributed to families in need. The benefit to the public has been recognized by local civic leaders. Full details are found in the various sections in this report.

Please note – throughout this report figures in brackets usually denote the previous years’ (2022) (2021) (2020), (2019), (2018) figures. Statistics indicated by an asterix * represent historical figures for January – March 2020 only (pandemic year).

A Year of Encouragement

Morley Community Church gives thanks to God for his blessings of encouragement during 2023. The number of people attending Sunday worship services continued to increase in the year. Five new people have made the church their spiritual home this year. Four of these are people who have moved to live/work in the area and one longer term resident. There have been encouraging numbers attending the midweek bible study. There have been a number of opportunities to share the gospel. Special events/guest services have been well patronized. The age profile of the church continues its downward trend. Levels of activity and velocity in church life have continued at a significant level.

Sunday Services

Most Sunday services have been held in Zion Chapel, Merlyn-Rees Avenue.

There have been 57 (57) (55) worship, devotional and evangelistic services. Six (5) (2) services had a missionary focus five (5) were guest services, one (2) (1) were joint services.

Service venues –Zion Chapel– 54 (54), Jubilee Court –2 (2), Morley Salvation Army – 1.

Excluding visiting preachers & their spouses/colleagues, a total of 248 (222) (122) (54) (95) (108) different adults and 30 (12) (3) (2) (12) (5) teenagers attended these 57 (57) (55) (12) services/events in 2023.

Excluding visiting preachers & their spouses/colleagues (25 in 2023), Capernwray student team (7 in 2023) - we have welcomed 190 (163) (94) (29) (93) (108) different occasional adult visitors [defined as attending less than 10% (ie 6 in 2023) of services in the year] who have made a total of 250 (358) (199) (37) (159) (116) visits/attendances. The majority of these have been close family or friends who have visited us for an occasional service or people who have responded to an invitation to a special service. Five of these visitors have made Morley Community Church their spiritual home and were regular in their attendance at worship services and other activities by the close of the year. At the same time three people have moved from the area to live and work elsewhere in the UK

Looking at the details of the adult visitors - it is interesting to note the following:

As the year progressed there was an incremental increase of people attending Sunday morning worship services.

The worship service continued to focus very much on adults. There have been times of open and corporate prayer. The morning worship services have been taken by speakers from other churches as well as members of the congregation. We have also downloaded pre-recorded sermons for three services. There have been three ‘open’ services with people contributing testimony, prayer, scripture etc. These downloads & open services represent 10% of all services during the year. The morning worship services continued to have a varied musical style with accompaniment by Rowan Taylor on the piano and by others playing violins, guitars. flute, vocalists.

There has been a wide variety of passages, topics, missionary and evangelistic services throughout the year. The congregation has enjoyed messages on various themes and topics.

We have had 6 (5) (2) (4) (8) services with mission personnel speaking about their work – Michael Romagnoli (Caring For Life) – 23 April, Andy Little (Open Air Mission) 31 April, Claire Newton (Leeds City Mission) 14 May, Terry Garde (International Miners Mission) 22 Oct, FEBA - 21 June, Rowan Taylor (Barnabas Fund) 26 November.

We also had 5 (5) (3) (1) (5) guest services/event – Spring Event Jubilee Court (26 February) Easter Day Service (9 April), Queen’s Platinum Lunch (5 June), Pensioners Harvest Supper at Jubilee Court (24 September), Remembrance Service (5 November), Mayor’s Carols by Candlelight Service (10 December).

We have been well served by visiting preachers. 22 (17) (10) (17) (22) (21) preachers plus 3 (3) (5) (4) downloaded preachers have taken a total of 29 (30) (22) (22) (34) services between them. These preachers have come from 15 (12) (7) (12) (15) different church groupings/societies & 13 (13) (8) (11) (11) different churches. Our criteria for inviting them has been that they wholeheartedly believe the Bible and are experienced in preaching it! We have enjoyed their ministry enormously and our grateful thanks go to them. There have also been 3 (3) (2) (5) (2) (4) ‘open’ services (1 January, 16 April, 6 August) with an opportunity for people to share a testimony, read scripture, prayer, give a message etc. These have worked well.

Brad Balmer (Redeemer Church, Leeds) x 2, Nathan Bowers (Mirfield Evangelical Church), Steve Bowers (Cornerstone Church, Brighouse) x 2, Capernwray Bible Students x 2, Terry Garde (IMM), Andy Little (OAM), Mike Morfin (Latimer Congregational, Beverley), Chuck Pietrowski (Berean Baptist, Harrogate) x 2, David Puttick (Mirfield Evangelical Church), Michael Romagnoli (Caring For Life), Paul Crossley (Tinshill Free Church), Thomas Truman (Dewsbury Gospel), Steve Lancaster (Word for the World), Paul Walker (Latimer Congregational Beverley EFCC), Mike Plant (Middlesbrough), Ian Wilson (St George’s Leeds) x 2,

Mark Yeadon (Bridge Community Church), Steve Wright (Vale Baptist, Cornholme) x 2, Claire Newton (Leeds City Mission), Ian Goodson (Grace Church, Wakefield), Army Scripture Reader Steve Dougherty (SASRA). FEBA Representatives

In addition we have used our own personnel – 9 (6) (5) (6) (7) people have taken 25 (22) (26) (20) (22) services between them as follows –Andy Dalton 6 (5) (17) (5) (4) (12), Tony Lee 2 (3) (6) (7) (3) (3), Ray Baker 2 (4) (3) (4) (3) (3), Rowan Taylor 1 (1)1 (1) (1) (1), Carl Elliott 2 (3) (4) (2) (6) (1), Joshua Gillen 6 (6), Gap Year Volunteers – 1, Jonathan Chua – 2, Abraham Amioleman – 1. The church deacons took 18% of services while other lay members of the congregation took a further 23% of the services. In addition there have been 3 (3) (2) (5) (2) (4) open services where people have been able to share, pray, and contribute. Also 3 download services.

We have kept detailed records of attendances and also a record of all songs sung at all services in the year We have sung a total of 150 (172) (138) (138) different hymns and songs in 2023 of which 16 (16) (18) (23) (13) were new this year. The most popular song in this period was:

Great is they Faithfulness 6 occasions

Bible Studies & Prayer

Bible studies have continued throughout the year. They were held weekly on a Wednesday evening plus six Sunday tea time studies located in members’ homes. A variety of bible passages and topics were covered including studies taken from the on-line bible Project.

Church Personnel

Four deacons have served the congregation as its church officers supported by the Gap Year/Youth Workers. The church officers met nine times during the year. In the absence of a pastor they have sought to meet the pastoral and practical needs of the church in various ways offering help, advice, spiritual counsel and encouragement. Practical help was provided for people struggling with life. Surplus supermarket food has been provided. Deacons have sought to promote a sense of family, unity and commitment in the life of the church.

Annadora Cziczo and Rebeka Kovacs from Hungary continued as Gap Year/Youth Workers until July. In September two new Gap Year Volunteers (from Germany) arrived to replace them – Mia Strebakowski and Tina Weinreich. They were introduced to the church by Time For God from their European Exchange Scheme. They have spent their first few months gaining confidence and experience in youth work (Yzup and Chattabox Clubs), working with families, pensioners, schoolchildren and youth, adapting to English culture and British church life. Gap Year Volunteers are valuable assets in the life of the congregation. All Gap Year Volunteers contribute their abilities and talents to the life of the church and acquire a portfolio of experience for their future work and lives.

A small team coordinated the musical, technical and logistical arrangements for worship services. A group of participants have made up the music group (piano, guitars, flute, violin, sound box, vocalists) and they have assisted in providing musical accompaniment for church services

Pastoral Support

Church deacons have taken 10 (12) (26) (16) (9) (18) of the 57 (57) (55) (56) church services 18% (21%), (48%) (29%) (16%) between them. Deacons met seven times during 2023. Advice, encouragement and practical help have been provided to a wide range of people. Regular contact has been maintained with the congregation. Where possible practical help has been offered.

Church Library – Church has continued to operate a small library of Christian books encouraging attenders to read for their spiritual profit. People are encouraged to borrow a variety of books covering devotional, bible study, biography, missionary and historical topics. A handful of new books have been donated this year. The library has approximately 200 volumes in stock.

Church Membership/Church Constitution

In 2023 the church leadership conducted a catch-up exercise after the unsettlement of two changes of venue and the Covid-19 pandemic. A comprehensive constitution was written and approved by a church meeting on 16 April. In November a three part course on the privileges and responsibilities of church membership was facilitate (on invitation) by Rev Steve Bowers from Brighouse. The course was well attended. It is hoped to welcome the first batch of members in early Spring 2024

Premises

The increase in numbers attending church services/activities in 2022 has continued this year. A town centre location, public visibility through good signage and graveyard/community garden activities, excellent relationships with community leaders, recommendation by reputation and/or word-of-mouth, a revamped website, outreach activities in schools and pensioners organisations, visiting by Gap Year Volunteer Workers, attractive and innovative programmes, warmth of welcome have all been used in God’s purposes bringing numerical growth to the congregation.

A building committee has been appointed and has steered planning for the proposed reconfiguration/renovation of the premises. Some draft proposals/plans were considered and the decision was made to extend the premises upwards with a new first floor over the current building footprint. After structural and drainage surveys martin Walsh Associates of Dewsbury have been commissioned to draw up detailed plans for consideration.

The plans for renovation/extension will go forward in 2024.

Community Garden Project

A volunteer team managed by Rowan Taylor continues to renovate the graveyard and create Zion Community Garden (ZCG).

Key work undertaken:

Total number of volunteer hours: 1130

Number of volunteers: 40 (25 regular attendees of MCC; 5 friends and family; 10 Open Country Wakefield volunteers)

Total graves in cultivation – 20

Grants/donations:

Planting:

Art in the Garden:

Footpath

In 2022 a new pathway was constructed (with assistance from Housing Association Places4People) connecting the side entrance of the church with the car park of Haydn Court to facilitate access for local people. In a sample survey an average of 16 perambulations (112 each week) were made through the graveyard from/to Haydn Court. This has significantly increased the number of people using the graveyard and assisted elderly people in making shorter/simpler journey to the town shopping area.

Outreach

Outreach Week:

The annual outreach week with a team of eight students from Capernwray Bible School took place in late February. They had an intense eight days of outreach. The Journey Through the Old Testament Bible Exhibition was delivered in 6 primary schools with 11 presentations, 476 pupils plus 28 accompanying staff attending. 454 copies of the Day One book ‘Pharaohs, Kings & Bandits’ were given out to pupils as a workbook plus 4 copies of Through the British Museum With the Bible to accompanying teachers. 48 pensioners attended the Luncheon in the Labour Rooms. Two literature drop sessions circulating around the target area of the church. Coffee mornings at Chartist Court (12 attendees) and in Zion Chapel (9 attendees) were small in numbers but useful in their own right. All the activities helped the church restart its activities and its interface with the local public after the Covid pandemic.

Remembrance Service – Sunday 5 November

A Remembrance Service and Wreath Laying Ceremony focussed on the war graves in the churchyard from both World Wars was held the Sunday before Remembrance Day.

The church invited Army Scripture Reader Steve Dougherty from SASRA to lead and speak at this service. He was able to manage the service and share a message of hope to a chapel full of people.

The service targeted the local Batley Detachment E (The Rifles) Company Yorkshire (N&W) Army Cadet Force based in Birstall but attracting a substantial number of Morley young people amongst its ranks. The Cadet Detachment paraded to the church via Peel Street in which there was a ‘March Past & Salute’ of the Mayor, Mayoress & Deputy Mayor. There were 5 civic dignitaries, 10 councillors, 16 cadets, 14 family members of cadets, 4 military personnel, 4 Royal British Legion personnel, 7 ‘others’ plus church regulars in attendance. Local MP Andrea Jenkyns attended and rendered a solo song. A talk with powerpoint pictures of the men who were killed was delivered by the church secretary. Relatives of casualties also attended.

At the conclusion of the service the dignitaries, guests and congregation gathered outside the chapel in the graveyard. The Last Post was sounded, the standard bearers lowered their flags and Mayor, Councillors, Cadets, Legion members, MP, serving member of the Armed Forces, relatives and others laid their wreaths on the graves. Steve Dougherty also laid a wreath of behalf of SASRA. Refreshments were served at the conclusion. 16 Military Testaments were presented to the Cadets by the Mayor (supplied by Good News For Everyone). Additional copies were taken by the Detachment Commander for use with others at Barracks.

This endeavour was well worth organising. It took a lot of advance planning. It was deliberately held on the Sunday prior to Remembrance Sunday itself as it is normally a very busy day for such groups as the British Legion, Army Cadets & civic dignitaries. Guests significantly outnumbered regular worshippers.

Pensioners Spring Event – Jubilee Court 26 February.

23 residents and friends from Jubilee Court attended this seasonal event. It was organized by the team of Capernwray Bible Students supported by the church. This included a quiz, song, gospel presentation concluding with a delicious tea together.

Pensioners Harvest Supper – Jubilee Court 24 September

18 residents and friends from Jubilee Court attended this seasonal event. It was organized by the church and featured input from the new Gap Year Volunteers. This included a quiz, song, gospel presentation concluding with a delicious tea together.

Mayor’s Carols by Candlelight Service Sunday 10 December

A large congregation of 51 people attended this seasonal service – 42% of whom were visitors. A leaflet drop (1600 leaflets and 1883 calendars) was undertaken in the preceding week and some people attended as a direct result of this. With dimmed lights and lighted calendars a service of readings, carols, nativity play was followed by a clear, engaging multi media presentation of the gospel by dentist Ian Wilson from Leeds It was a most enjoyable and successful evening.

Day One Living Word Gospel Calendars :

A total of 1883 (1260) (1430) (1430) (500) (495) of these beautiful colour calendars with photographs (2024 edition) were distributed in December. These were via a targeted letterbox drop in areas surrounding the church and also three Sheltered Housing Complexes (Schofield, Jubilee and Chartist Courts) in the town, MEA Office reception and the Town Hall coffee morning, personal friends, contacts etc. A further 6600 surplus calendars (2023 edition) were distributed in the Outreach Week

Day One Gospel Diaries 2024

24 (362) (100) (25) (80) (80) diaries were distributed this year (cf 52 last year) via church members, Morley Elderly action and other networks at Christmas.

Greetings Cards

Seasonal greetings cards with scripture texts were sourced from the LCM Book & Card Booth for purchase/use by people attending the church. This is a means of providing relevant and sensitive cards for use with friends & relatives. A total of 216 cards (46 easter & 170 christmas) were sold.

Real Easter Egg

This unique egg has the easter message on the box and a bible booklet about Easter inside the box. 18 eggs were sold or distributed

Real Advent Calendar

This includes an accompanying nativity story Bible Booklet. 8 Real Advent Calendars were sold/distributed.

Both easter eggs and calendars provided opportunities to pass on vital seasonal Christian literature to children/families

Schools

The church has continued its relationship with Seven Hills Primary School. The Headteacher continued to welcome the church running a weekly Chattabox Club (Year 4). Weekly sessions of an After School Club for Year 6 pupils were held on Wednesday afternoons in the Summer term. All these provide good opportunities to teach bible stories and Christian values and help pupils in their spiritual development. It was also possible to place Gap Year Worker Rebeka Kovacs in school to help in Year 5 classes on Fridays up to the end of the summer term, followed by Tina Weinreich in the Autumn. Three assemblies were taken in the course of the year – February, March & October.

We have continued to nurture relationships with eight schools (Gildersome, Seven Hills, Newlands, Victoria, Asquith, Queenswood (Private), St Francis Primary & Churwell Primary Schools). We were able to make a presentation of SU Its Your Move booklets in Gildersome (62), St Francis (31) Seven Hills (60), Newlands (85) Asquith (60), Victoria (62), Queesnwood (1) Primary Schools.

St Francis School welcomed a visit of the Bible Exhibition in February. The new headteacher is continuing the positive welcome to the work of MCC and demonstrated this by the placement of Gap Year Worker Mia Strebakowski from November onwards.

Victoria Primary School welcomed a visit of the Bible Exhibition (plus assembly) by Capernwray Bible Students in February and also invited them to take an assembly. Also a placement of Annadora Cziczo in school (Year 4) one day each week in the Spring and Summer terms has helped to nurture the relationship.

Older People

All Gap Year Workers have attended weekly coffee mornings both in the Town Hall and at Jubilee Court OAP Sheltered Housing Scheme engaging pensioners in conversation and friendship. The outcome of this has been reflected in the numbers who have subsequently attended events eg Spring Event, Pensioners Luncheon, Harvest Supper, Carol Services. The vast majority of these elderly folks are long standing Morley families, thus we are establishing a presence and witness with family networks which have been around for generations. This is a fruitful area of work and needs to be continually nurtured.

Morley Elderly Action officers have appreciated the input of the church recognising its positive contribution to the well being of older people in the town. Relevant statistics have ben supplied to them which assist MEA to meet targets set for them by their grant funders.

Missionary

We believe it is important to support missionary work both in the UK and to the wider world and have done this in a number of ways

We have had 6 (5) (2) (4) (8) services with mission personnel speaking about their work – Michael Romagnoli (Caring For Life) – 23 April, Andy Little (Open Air Mission) 30 April, Claire Newton (Leeds City Mission) 14 May, FEBA Representatives – 25 June, Terry Garde (International Miners Mission) 22 October, Rowan Taylor (Barnabas Fund) 26 November.

A TEAR Fund Quiz Evening was held on Saturday 14 October. A church gathering saw 36 attendees (10 visitors) who enjoyed the BIG QUIZ evening. £485 was raised for this evangelical relief agency.

The continuing war in Ukraine has seen the church continuing to support former gap year worker Stacey Chalchynska. She is in Odessa and her family provide a Christian school (the Dream School) to keep education available for children. In addition to prayer support, a further £1070 was forwarded by the church this year.

A gift of £200 was sent to Good News For Everyone (formerly The Gideons) to assist with the supply of New Testaments to Year 7 pupils at Morley Academy

We have prayed for a number of missionaries in our prayer sessions.

Home Missions

Leeds City Mission – practical help has been given to Leeds City Mission to support their work – 14 (28) (49) (48) (55) (38) (24) sacks of clothes and rags, and various other items were donated for their Re-Store Charity Shop. 147 (156) (96) (44) (42) (44) trays of food were donated to their Pantry Project . 285 (250) plastic milk cartons were also collected and donated for use in the Pantry Project . Quantities of used postage stamps were also donated to LCM in their fundraising efforts. In addition 930 greetings cards were collected and donated to LCM use for conversion into gift tags. A church attender created a total of 1400 gift tags from these and other cards which were donated to Leeds City Mission. All of the Gap Year Workers have each assisted (on average one day each week) in the LCM Charity Shop now located in the LCM Hub in Armley, Leeds.

Dewsbury Community Outreach

Three members of the church are trustees of Dewsbury Community Outreach (DCO) and a further five persons from the church help on a regular basis at this charity. Other members of the church support it financially. The Gap Year Workers also spend one day a week assisting at DCO. This charity operates out of 74 Daisy Hill Dewsbury and caters for the physical and spiritual well being of disadvantaged people by providing a drop-in where free meals are available and food, clothing, toiletries and household goods are given away for free. The charity also provide wellbeing support and assistance with housing and other issues.

Youth & Children

Yzup

Yzup youth club focussed on 13-15 year olds has continued on Tuesday evenings meeting in the church hall. The programme is a mixture of activities, trips, craft, food, discussions. 29 sessions have been organised. An average of 6 young people have turned up for these youth sessions. A team consisting of Andy Dalton, Carl Elliott, Lynda Taylor, Tim Lee and the two gap year workers have assisted in running the club in 2023.

Youth Workers

Gap Year Volunteers Rebeka Kovacs and Annadora Cziczo (Hungary) continued in their work until early August. They were replaced by two Germans from Bavaria Mia Strebakowski and Tina Weinreich in September and they have settled into their responsibilities and are working hard for the church. The church has now welcomed a total of 25 Gap Year Volunteers since 2006.

The recruitment of Gap Year Workers plays an important part in the life of the church and its ability to organise and deliver youth and children’s projects. They are already playing an important role in delivering Yzup, school lunchtime bible and after school clubs as well as making a positive contribution to wider church life and community contact. Both are placed one day each week in a local primary school and also attend two coffee mornings to develop relationships with older people. They are also placed one day each week either with Dewsbury Community Outreach or Leeds City Mission helping in mercy ministries with those at the edge of society. They are gaining valuable experience for the future. We are grateful for the support of Time For God scheme which enables the church to run this programme.

Youth Camp

19 young people aged 11-16 years were recruited for this camp in the summer holidays. A staff team of 15 volunteers (9 from MCC and 6 from other churches) accompanied them. Five full days at the Northwood Centre at High Legh near Lymm were spent enjoying the rolling Cheshire countryside. They participated in sport, games, trips, social activities and sleeping under canvas. Campers spent time visiting a bowling alley, a swimming pool and a visit to the Crocky Trail. A further day was spent on the beach at Rhyll on the North Wales coast. Youngsters enjoyed the day swimming in the sea and playing on the sand. It was an action-packed week. Good weather was experienced for the week.

There was also an extensive social programme in the evenings. This included a Morley’s Got Talent session where youngsters had the opportunity to demonstrate a skill or talent to the rest of the campers.

Chattabox Club

Seven Hills Primary School welcomed the operation of Chattabox Club on Friday lunchtimes. Attendances by Year 4 pupils averaged 10 pupils each week (approximately 280 total attendances) and a total of 28 sessions were held in the year.

Bridgebuilding

Since its inception Morley Community Church has recognized the need to develop and maintain meaningful relationships with individuals and families. In previous years press articles in the local newspaper has helped the church to foster such relationships. The absence of a local newspaper has denied the church avenues for positive publicity which assisted this process in former years. The church has sought to compensate by developing a new website plus regular updates on Facebook.

Our relationships with Morley Elderly Action, Seven Hills, Victoria, St Francis Primary Schools, & Jubilee Court Sheltered Housing Scheme have been positive in 2023. A revived relationship with Asquith Primary School has commenced through a visit of the Bible Exhibition by Capernwray Bible Students in February. Relationships with the new headteachers at St Francis Primary and Asquith Primary Schools have commenced and hopefully will bear fruit with new activities in 2024

We have continued to keep key community personnel informed to enable them to be familiar with the existence and activities of the church.

Women

Five women attended the EFCC weekend conference for women at Oldborough Congregational Church, West Midlands in March. The opportunity to engage with women from other churches in the denomination and further afield was both refreshing and very much appreciated. The same five women attended the West Yorkshire Womens’ Conference at Dewsbury Evangelical Church in October

Social Action

Recycling

3 sacks of foam pellets & bubblewrap were donated to Day One 285 milk cartons were donated to Leeds City Mission for their Pantry Project (foodbank) 195 bottletops & 39 egg boxes were donated to a children’s play scheme (Play Hartlepool)

36 small plastic bottles were donated to Leeds City Mission for refill use for their outreach work with street people

70 second hand carrier bags were donated to Leeds City Mission Charity Shop Quantities of used postage stamps were donated to Leeds City Mission 930 used greetings cards were donated to Leeds City Mission

Foil

Aluminium cans and foil continued to be collected, recycled and cashed in at the scrap yard. Alongside the surplus generated by the donations for food, the small sum raised is reserved for International Miners Mission work.

Food

Surplus quantities of bread, confectionery, fruit, vegetables and flowers have been acquired from supermarkets – 286 (274) (260) (266) (266) (266) trays in total. This food has been distributed to people attending church, people in need & Haydn Court residents during the course of the year – 113 (100) trays (25) (34), Leeds City Mission – 147 (156) (96) (44) trays; Christian agencies, other churches and other projects – 26 trays.

Fibres

11 (21) (40) (43) (55) (38) bags of second hand clothes and 2 (7) (9) (5) (7) (8) bags of rags plus other items have collected and donated to the Leeds City Mission Charity Shop (Re-Store) throughout the year

Fairs

Two street stalls were held in the pedestrianised area of the town centre – Saturday 25 February selling a variety of clothes, bric a brac and books with profit being donated to LCM. This was not primarily a fund raising event but for ‘awareness raising’ of the presence of the church plus literature distribution. A Christmas outreach on 23 December took a similar format (£55 raised)

Christmas

A total of 35 (60) (39) (64) (28) (49) presents were obtained from a charity & individuals. 16 were used with local Morley families in need and 19 (23) (52) (20) (39) presents were passed to Leeds City Mission for use with needy children/young people at Christmas in connection with their Toy Project. 930 used greetings cards were donated to Leeds City Mission for recycling into seasonal gift tags. LCM donated back 600 greetings tags and these were then distributed to a couple of local organisations – Town Hall Coffee Morning – 300, MEA Office – 300,

Emergency Support

Significant quantities of food have been made available to people in need/unemployed people who are struggling to make ends meet either directly through church referrals or via other agencies outlined above in the ‘Food’ paragraph.

Flowers

20 (13) appropriate graves have been used as raised beds for growing edible and ornamental plants. 270 (121) (41) surplus flower bunches supplied by supermarkets have been delivered to 59 (60) (25) different individuals (eg housebound pensioners) and these have been gratefully received.

Environmental

Under the management of Rowan Taylor the transformation of the church graveyard into a Community Garden continued throughout the year. The team has maintained lawn and grass areas, created a wildlife pond, a new bulb area and a wildflower border, grown edible and ornamental plants in 20 grave raised beds, generated a range of composts, installed bird boxes, bat boxes, insect hotels and aa hedgehog house. A selection of perennials & annual edibles have been planted. 17 pond plants, 3350 Bulbs have been planted by volunteers – largely at the fortnightly Saturday morning volunteer drop-in sessions in the Spring and Summer. Three ‘Art in the Garden’ mornings have been successfully organised

Publicity

The publicity boards are put out each Sunday and signs are displayed outside the front gates of the church on Merlyn Rees Avenue. Also by the boundary wall with Haydn Court. A new banner continues to drape the old Zion Chapel noticeboard at the front of the car park.

We continued to advertise on the world wide web and can be found in the “ Find A Church ” Directory (findachurch.co.uk). A completely new website was produced by Antony Hepworth and uploaded onto the World Wide Web and can be found at www.morleycommunitychurch.org.uk. This new website has elicited a number of visitors to the church. We also have a publicity page on Facebook.

We are listed on the Leeds Network Directory of Churches website. Also the EFCC website, EA Directory and Affinity Directory.

We sent the church magazine to most church ministers in Morley and the leaders of every evangelical church in a five mile radius.

The demise of the local newspaper in 2020 has meant there has been no local news coverage in print for the church. However it has been possible to publish some news on Facebook. The Community Garden Project has its own Facebook page

There have been five editions of the church magazine in the year. Circulation is usually 100 copies but we estimate approximately 250 people read it. The magazine is primarily designed for people who are not regular in church activities. Its significance is that it has provided a public face externally raising our profile locally in the church and bringing a sense of identity and common purpose within the congregation. The issues have been produced by the collaboration of Tony Gray (Birstall CC) and Andy Dalton (Morley CC) who share material that appears in the respective magazines of each church. Articles are syndicated to two other churches for use in their magazines.


RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS ACCOUNT
FOR THE YEAR ENDING31DECEMBER 2023
OPENING BALANCES
Lloyds Bank accounts&Petty Cash
RECEIPTS
Donations
Gift Aid Tax Refund
Zion House Rent
Other Churches
Heart For Truth/ Shout Aloud
Bank Interest
Fountain Tots
SaleofFurniture
Council Tax Refund
YSix - Trip fees&Tuck shop income
Zion Chapel Rent
Insurance Refund
Reserved Funds
Zion Community Garden (See R1)
Morley Camping Venture (See R2)
Specified Donations
for Tear Fund
for Leeds City Mission
for Dream School Ukraine
for Mayors Charity
for IMM
TOTAL RECEIPTS
PAYMENTS
Reserved Funds
Zion Community Garden (See R1)
Morley Camping Venture (See R2)
Charitable Donations
Dream School Ukraine
Leeds City Mission
International Miners Mission
Tear Fund
Open Air Mission
Good News for Everyone
SASRA
Mayors Charity
Royal British Legion
Local needs
£
20,162.26
4101 .74
6318.00
526.00
450.00
292.58
78.42
475.00
270.00
70.00
41.25
20.00
1070.00
837.50
600.00
485.00
300.00
300.00
300.00
200.00		 £
32,893.30
31,929.00
2346.33
3353.96
876.25
38,505.54
972.72
3438.60
4,092.50		 Last Year
£
28,904.93
I
17,767.89
3594.38
6300.00
501.11
14.69
435.52
150.00
161.00
30.00
24.76
28,979.35
732.85
3620.88
415.00
1063.39
920.00
83.00
2,481 .39
35,814.47
1031.95
3097.83
2420.00
1725.08
1000.00
415.00
1000.00
104.50
40.00
33.54
6,738.12
Outreach
Booklets/BiblesNideosfor SchoolWork
SpecialServices (food,BSbooks etc.)
CapernwrayStudents
YZUPI
Pensioners Events
SundaySchool
Chattabox&Gardening Club
Holiday Club
Calendars, Diaries, Christmas
Pastoral Support
YouthWorker's Living Costs
YouthWorkersExpenses
Zion Building
Architect
Utilities
Zion Chapel Repairs
ZionHouseMaintenance
Con sum abies
Other
Insurance
MembershipSubscriptions
Speakers'Expenses
HeartofTruth/ShoutAloud
Publicity
DBSChecks
Administration
Capital
Microphones
MusicBooks
Small Capital Items
TOTAL PAYMENTS
NET SURPLUS/DEFICIT FOR THE YEAR
CLOSINGBALANCES
L/oyds Current &DepositBankaccounts
Petty cash
Signed bytwotrustees onbehalfofallthetrustees
Sianat
.-
-
-
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-
.
-
. .
fV?~v:-..,-
R~""i~~\I<.c....tL.
/I.(}.~U:YA_
1-1~oftzq~JAI
1904.80
576.85
487.58
234.21
166.25
128.95
20.54
6390.62
2619.05
1980.00
1215.24
1027.71
495.00
24.40
1608.72
1111 .00
1315.00
950.00
528.07
194.00
76.46
236.11
143.25
~
~
~		 3,519.18
9,009.67
4,742.35
5,783.25
379.36
31,937.63
6,567.91
38,807.65
653.56
39,461.21
Date
.li\'4**1~
_l_('f\14­**		 1045.20
196.78
452.85
609.86
441 .11
46.15
1983.25
127.10
4,902.30
7904.34
2388.301
10,292.64
1151.46
193.98
458.00
153.27
1
1,956.71
1469.33
1047.50
770.00
211.91
268.75
3.09
3,770.58
35.97
35.97
~~-~~
31,826.10
3,988.37
32,619.47
273.83
32,893.30
.li\'4**1~
_l_('f\14­**

R1ZION COMMUNITY GARDEN
£
£
Opening Balance
11.73
RECEIPTS
Community Foundation Grant
1500.00
Gifts
846.33
TCV Chestnut Fund Grant
Refund
TOTAL RECEIPTS
2346.33
PAYMENTS
PlantsandEquipment
891.45
Water&Fuel
81.27
TOTAL EXPENDITURE
972.72
ACCOUNT BALANCE
1385.34
R2MORLEY CAMPING VENTURE
£
£
Opening Balance
523.05
RECEIPTS
Campers Fees
970.00
Morley Town Council Grant
750.00
Newlands&Denshaw Res. Assn.
672.96
Gifts
600.00
Childhaven Trust
300.00
Bookstall&Tuck Shop
61.00
Leeds City Council Grant
TOTAL RECEIPTS
3353.96
PAYMENTS
Mini-bus
900.00
Rides, Attractions and Activities
532.40
Premises
540.00
Travel Expenses
497.22
Food&Tuck Shop
444.71
Speakers Expenses
300.00
Prizes&Gifts
224.27
TOTAL EXPENDITURE
3438.60
ACCOUNT BALANCE
438.41		 Last Year
£
310.83
I
391.971
275.881
65.00
732.851
944.221
87.73
1031 .95
11.73
Last Year
£
148.05
1610.00
500.00
152.83
1210.00
3472.83
1036.65
550.00
420.78
529.42
500.00
60.98
3097.83
523.05

ASSETS AND LIABILITIES
AS AT THE31DECEMBER 2023
Lloyds Current account
Lloyds Deposit account
Petty cash
OTHER ASSETS
Microphones
Music Books
Laptop Computer
Barbecue
490 XRP Tokens@£0.49
LIABILITIES
Heart For Truth Funds
£
180.00
110.00
52.50
Nil
242.85
Nil		 £
1237.05
37570.60
653.56
39461 .21		 Last Year
£
991.45
31628.02
273.83
32893.30
70.00
21.00
501.11