GRACE TRUST (BRISTOL) Trustees’ Annual Report For Period: 01 January 2021 - 31 December 2021
A. REFERENCE & ADMINISTRATION DETAILS:
Charity Name: Grace Trust (Bristol)
Other names charity is known by: Grace Church Bristol
Registered Charity Number: 1094803
Charity’s Principal Address: 37 Sutherland Avenue Downend Bristol BS16 6QW
Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity:
Mr. Peter Bowley Mr. Thomas Haigh Mr. Timothy Hacker Mr. Jonathan Sussex
B. STRUCTURE & GOVERNANCE:
Grace Trust (Bristol) is governed by our Declaration of Trust Deed dated 14[th ] July 2002. Trustees have been appointed at the declaration of trust and are appointed according to Sections (5) and (6) of the trust deed.
The chairman of the trust is elected or reappointed annually (according to Section (10) of the trust deed) at the Annual General Meeting usually held in October.
C. OBJECTIVES & ACTIVITIES:
Summary of our objects:
The objects of the charity are set out in our governing trust deed and are:
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The advancement of the Christian faith in accordance with the doctrines set out in the First Schedule of the trust deed; the worship of God in the city of Bristol and elsewhere by any means whatsoever including (but not by way of limitation) the preaching and proclamation of the Christian gospel and the teaching of Christian doctrine and principles and the pastoral care of Christian people.
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The relief of persons who are in a condition of need, hardship, distress or who are aged or sick.
Summary of the main activities undertaken for the public benefit in relation to these objects:
In planning our activities for the year we kept in mind the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit, and in particular the specific guidance on charities for the advancement of religion.
In particular we try to enable ordinary people to believe, live and represent the truth of God and his gospel to the community in which we reside.
The focus of our activities remains the weekly Sunday Morning Church Service. This regular gathering includes worship and prayer, studying the Bible, the gospel and developing knowledge and trust in Jesus Christ. This church service is aimed at people of all ages and we provide weekly Sunday morning creche activities for children from six months to the age of four, a full Sunday school program for children between five and ten years old, and an additional teaching program for children aged 10 to 12 years old.
In addition to the weekly Sunday morning Church service we offer:
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A weekly Sunday evening gathering for 18-25 year old students and singles.
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A fortnightly gathering called ‘G2’ designed for teenagers between 12-17 years old, who are part of the church family.
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A fortnightly gathering called ‘Switch’ designed to reach out to teenagers in the community.
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Weekly small groups for people to connect with each other during the week.
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Pastoral care for people within the community.
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Various missionary and outreach work which include:
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Weekly Monday Night Football Outreach.
A great contribution is made by church member volunteers. We are grateful for the many hours volunteers have spent preparing and participating in all of our activities. Without their valuable contribution of time, energy and expertise we would not have been able to achieve so much.
D. ACHIEVEMENTS & PERFORMANCE:
GENERAL:
2021 continues to be an exceptionally unusual and disrupted year due to the deep, lasting and ongoing effects on the Covid-19 Pandemic.
We continued to have “in-person services” but were unable to use the local school to meet, so had to move our public services to another venue. We used this venue until May 2021 at which time we returned to the school. We returned to the school with social distancing and no creche or children work until September 2021 when creche and children’s work was restarted on Sunday morning.
During this time we continued to broadcast online-only our Sunday services.
We have seen a small increase of new people visiting the church during 2021 period.
During the year we welcomed in new members whilst at the same time there were some members who left the church for a variety of reasons.
The pandemic stopped us from hosting our annual teens summer camp, and curtailed all of our regular outreach activities including our mothers and toddlers group, our participation in the homeless shelter, our children’s holiday clubs, our “Switch” teens outreach group, our food bank collections, our Monday night football outreach.
G2 and Switch recommenced in September 2021.
PARTNERSHIPS:
The pandemic also curtailed our links with other churches and pastors in the city of Bristol and surrounding areas; and limited our interactions with other pastors in our Sovereign Grace Churches denomination.
We did continue our partnership with Covenant Mercies; a non-profit organisation based in the USA that seeks to provide spiritual, physical and educational care for poverty stricken orphans in Africa. People from the church have continued to sponsor orphans in either Zambia, Ethiopia and Uganda.
Members of our church have also benefitted from the partnership and ongoing work (and conferences) of Biblical Counselling UK.
OTHER:
In December 2021 we held a special church meeting where our Lead Pastor, Nathan Smith offered his resignation from his eldership of Grace Church to take effect from July 1st 2022..
We also undertook a “Help & Hope” initiative where people in the church gave donations to allow us to work with two local schools, to give away around 80 gifts bags to disadvantaged pupils and families, and older, vulnerable members of the local community. These gift bags contained supermarket vouchers, food and drinks and a message of hope.
Once again people from the church participated in the “Operation Christmas Child Shoebox Appeal” and we were able to contribute more than 25 shoe boxes to the Samaritan’s Purse charity for them to deliver gifts to underprivileged children overseas.
Members of our church have also continued to give to our Benevolence Fund, which is designed to financially assist other members of our church who might be in financial hardship. We are grateful for the sacrificial giving and compassion of the members of our church to care and support one another in this manner.
E. FINANCIAL REVIEW
Summary of the charity’s policy on reserves:
It is the trust’s aim to maintain a balance on unrestricted funds (if possible) which equates to at least one month unrestricted payments, or approximately £5,000, to cover emergency situations that may arise from time to time.
Details of any funds materially in deficit:
Not applicable.
Further financial review details:
Our main source of funding this year has been through voluntary donations from members of the church.
The total income for the year was £148,179.48 with total expenses being £137,825.72
We continued to operate an account for all income and expenditure associated with Sovereign Grace UK. The total income for the year on this account was £240.25 with total expenses being £0
An account was operated for all income and expenditure associated related to Covenant Mercies UK. The total income for the year on this account was £8,884 with total expenses being £4,578.78
F. DECLARATION
The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above. Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees:
Signature:
Full Name: Peter John Bowley
Position: Chairman of trustees
Date: 13 October 2022
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INCOME AND SPENDING REPORT
2021
2021
| -20K -10K 0 10K 20K Income Expenses |
2021 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|
| D N O S A J J M A M F J |
||
| INCOME SUMMARY | 2021 | |
| Total | £148,472.43 | |
| Gift Office Income Short Term Missions Benevolent Fund ITFO Nandy And Petra Covenant Return Tithes |
-£137.99 £90.00 £350.00 £660.00 £1,150.00 £2,060.00 £19,306.98 £124,993.44 |
|
| SPENDING SUMMARY | 2021 | |
| Total | -£132,464.62 | |
| Meeting Rent Capital Items Professional Charges Gifts IT Web/Hardware/Software Office Utilities Office Rent Pastoral Support |
-£1,815.76 -£1,958.35 -£2,210.04 -£2,289.00 -£3,130.08 -£3,602.85 -£14,000.04 -£95,772.00 |
| SPENDING SUMMARY | 2021 |
|---|---|
| Total -£132,464.62 |
|
| Conference Fees £384.23 Covenant Mercies £40.00 Life & Students £10.26 G2 -£1.80 Office -£9.58 Conference -£45.20 Switch -£87.80 Travel -£159.25 G2 Camp -£160.62 Bookshop -£177.10 Office General -£204.61 Hospitality External -£220.30 Hospitality -£254.30 Children/Creche -£323.68 Books/Pastors -£492.60 General Expenses -£544.67 Telephone -£615.61 Stationary/Postage -£621.48 Music/Worship/PA -£629.62 Conference Fee -£660.73 Outreach -£702.04 Teaching Materials -£910.00 Benevolent Fund Withdrawal -£1,300.00 |