GRACE TRUST (BRISTOL) Trustees’ Annual Report For Period: 01 January 2023 - 31 December 2023
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: Grace Church Hub Unit 2, Knightsbridge Court, North Street Downend, Bristol, BS16 5SF
Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity:
Mr. Peter Bowley Mr. Thomas Haigh Mr. Timothy Hacker Mr. Jonathan Sussex Mr Matthew Chapman
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 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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Fortnightly small groups for people to connect with each other during the week.
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Monthly Whole Church Prayer Meeting
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Monthly Read the Bible Together - Each month we both study and discuss a book of the Bible.
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Periodic daytime young mothers and older ladies Bible Study
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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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i) Fortnightly Coffee and chat morning .
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ii) 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:
2023 enabled us to continue to hold Sunday meetings at the local School.
During this time we discontinued to broadcast online our Sunday services, but provided a recording of the service after the live service.
We have seen a small increase of new people visiting the church during 2023 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.
During the year we were able to host our annual teens summer camp, and continued with our regular outreach activities including, our “Switch” teens outreach group, our food bank collections, our Monday night football outreach.
We also held a weekend retreat at Hill House Christian Centre for two nights at which practically the whole church attended.
PARTNERSHIPS:
We have continued to develop our links with other churches and pastors in the city of Bristol and surrounding areas; and re-established our interactions with other pastors in our Sovereign Grace Churches denomination, specifically in attending the Sovereign Grace Pastors Conference.
We 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.
In 2023 we started to support a Sovereign Grace partnership church plant in Italy
Members of our church have also benefitted from the partnership and ongoing work (and conferences) of Biblical Counselling UK.
OTHER:
A new trustee was appointed - Matthew Chapman
We again undertook a “Help & Hope” Christmas initiative where people in the church gave donations to allow us to work with two local schools, to give away around 100 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 40 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 £201,660 with total expenses being £181,865
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 with total expenses being £165
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 £11,884 with total expenses being £10,605.
We also open-end an account to support a church in Italy. The total income was £8,501 with total expenses of £17.
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: 4/09/2024
INCOME AND SPENDING REPORT
2023
Income & Expense Report
| 2023 | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Income | 50K | |||||||||||
| Expenses | -50K -25K 0 25K |
|||||||||||
| J | F | M | A | M | J | J | A | S | O | D N |
||
| 2023 | ||||||||||||
| Net | £19,795.75 | |||||||||||
| INCOME SUMMARY | INCOME SUMMARY | 2023 | ||||||||||
| Total | £201,660.79 | |||||||||||
| @ | Tithes | £154,379.76 | ||||||||||
| @ | Covenant Return | £32,768.65 | ||||||||||
| O | Church weekend income | £4,560.00 | ||||||||||
| @ | G2 Camp Income | £4,415.00 | ||||||||||
| @® | Ukraine | £3,156.00 | ||||||||||
| O | ITFO | £1,341.00 | ||||||||||
| O | Benevolent Fund | £570.00 | ||||||||||
| O | Nandy And Petra | £240.00 | ||||||||||
| O | Gifts Income | £100.00 | ||||||||||
| O | Short Term Missions | £70.00 | ||||||||||
| O | Office Income | £60.00 | ||||||||||
| O | General Income | £0.38 | ||||||||||
| SPENDING SUMMARY | 2023 | |||||||||||
| Total | -£181,865.04 | |||||||||||
| @® | Salaries and support | -£86,349.20 | ||||||||||
| @ | Gifts | -£25,461.31 | ||||||||||
| @ | Office Rent | -£14,000.04 | ||||||||||
| @ | Tax & NI | -£11,582.57 | ||||||||||
| @ | Ukraine expense | -£6,630.13 | ||||||||||
| O | G2 Camp | -£5,351.22 |
| SPENDING SUMMARY | SPENDING SUMMARY | 2023 |
|---|---|---|
| Total | -£181,865.04 | |
| O | Church Weekend | -£4,889.80 |
| O | Conference | -£4,815.79 |
| O | Outreach | -£4,039.39 |
| O | Professional Charges | -£2,608.01 |
| O | Catering | -£2,227.12 |
| O | Office | -£1,795.96 |
| O | IT Web/Hardware/Software | -£1,785.78 |
| O | Stationary/Postage | -£1,404.99 |
| O | Hospitality External | -£1,378.14 |
| O | Meeting Rent | -£1,309.00 |
| O | Music/Worship/PA | -£939.42 |
| O | Capital Items | -£700.80 |
| O | Telephone | -£517.72 |
| O | Benevolent Fund Expense | -£500.00 |
| O | Life & Students | -£498.64 |
| O | Books/Pastors | -£452.82 |
| O | Bookshop | -£409.83 |
| O | Hospitality | -£391.24 |
| O | Office Utilities | -£381.24 |
| O | Travel | -£338.49 |
| O | Conference Fee | -£325.00 |
| O | Switch | -£317.51 |
| O | Children/Creche | -£156.30 |
| O | G2 | -£152.28 |
| O | Teaching Materials | -£86.58 |
| O | Car Expenses & UK Travel | -£41.20 |
| O | General Expenses | -£27.52 |