## **Adat Yeshua Messianic Synagogue**
# **Annual Trustees Report for Financial Year 2021/2022**
**31 August 2022**
## **Trustees Report for the year ended 31 August 2022**
The Trustees present their report along with the charity accounts for the year ended 31 August 2022. The accounts have been prepared following the Adat Yeshua accounting policies and comply with the applicable law and the requirements of SORP 2005, Accounting and Reporting by Charities.
## **Constitution and objects**
The Adat Yeshua Messianic Synagogue is constituted under a deed of trust established in 2006 and is a registered charity No 1116976.
The principal objects of the Synagogue are to function as a community home for Jews and Converts who follow Messianic Judaism and the Jewish Messiah and to promote Messianic Judaism in the spheres of public worship, religious, educational, social, cultural, and charitable activities.
## **Structure, governance, and management**
The Synagogue's governing document is its constitution, which is reviewed periodically. The Synagogue Leadership Team elects the Trustees of the Synagogue.
The Trustees normally meet officially three times a year and liaise frequently to review the operational and financial activities of the Synagogue. The Trustees cooperate closely with the Executive Leadership of the synagogue, which makes all significant operational decisions for the running of the synagogue.
## **External affiliations**
The synagogue is affiliated with the Union of British Messianic Synagogues (‘UBMS’), for which annual benefit membership fees are payable. The UBMS provides leadership, training, and accountability structure for the affiliated synagogues and acts as an employer to the Rabbi appointed to the synagogue's leadership.
The synagogue is also affiliated (via the UBMS) with the Union of Messianic Synagogues (UMS). There are currently no membership fees for this affiliation.
## **Achievement of objectives and review of activities**
Our objectives are set in the charity’s Trust Deed and are summarised below:
- To advance the Jewish faith through the teachings of Yeshua the Messiah in such ways and in such parts of the United Kingdom or the world as the Trustees from time to time may think fit;
- To relieve sickness and financial hardship and to promote and preserve good health by providing funds, goods, or services of any kind, including through counselling and support in such parts of the United Kingdom or the world as the Trustees from time to time may think fit.
Our objectives are set to reflect our faith and community aims. Each year the Trustees review the objectives and activities of the synagogue to ensure they continue to reflect our aims. In carrying out this review, the Trustees have considered the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit, particularly its supplementary public guidance on advancing religion for the public benefit.
We offer public services on Shabbat and High Holy Days, where people are welcome to come and learn about our faith and worship with us. The services are led by our Rabbi and supported by a
leadership team. This team also contributes to leading the synagogue liturgy and teaching. The leadership team continues to develop with the Rabbi providing ongoing rabbinic training and mentoring under the UBMS/UMS, which acts as the oversight organisation for the affiliated messianic synagogues. The Rabbi has taught a specific Leadership Skills track throughout the year, including instructing UEMS rabbinic interns via Skype. This year we have four candidates undergoing rabbinic training, one of whom has travelled, with his family, from India to spend three years with Adat Yeshua in Norwich to do his training.
An important element of our faith is charitable giving (Tzedakah), including tithes and donations to the synagogue. Those donations are used not only to fund the operational expenditure of the synagogue but also to provide help and relief for the need and financial hardship of the synagogue members and affiliated organisations. A special fund set up to specifically support people in the community suffering financial hardship continues to make several donations to those in need. Once again, we also supported the work of the JNF by sponsoring their tree planting program. We also continued to support a UK-wide Mitzvah Day event. This year we sent team members to the local neighbourhood to clean the streets. This litter-picking event was exceptionally well received by the local community.
This past year, our continuing aims and objectives have been to improve and expand the synagogue's work, its commitment to local and national membership and the local community.
With the planning permission for our new annex to be built on the rear of the building being successful, we opened to tender for the building work and selected the builder to undertake this work. Our fundraising program raised the required finance, meaning we could complete the work debt free. Work began on January 8th, 2022; the new annex was completed, and the new facility was officially opened on 8th May, 2022.
The annex contains a new purpose-built food bank, a second office/storage space, a children’s room, and a teaching hub/meeting room. The food bank supports a growing number of needy within the local community and is run entirely by volunteers. Food is also delivered to those who cannot collect the food in person due to age, infirmity, etc.
An essential and fast-growing element of the synagogue function is education and welfare. The synagogue offers several courses to the members throughout the year, such as Hebrew classes. In addition, the synagogue continues to offer a Conversion course for those requesting it. These courses have been significantly increased to cater to the growing interest locally, nationally, and even internationally. The synagogue also oversaw the immersions of those who had concluded their conversion program and welcomed the new ‘Jews by choice’ into the community as members.
Fortunately, with the virtual end of the Covid restrictions, the Rabbi has been able to renew our outreach work. This has included teaching and leading school assemblies to demonstrate Jewish life to children without contact with it. We have had several schools expressing an interest in visiting the synagogue. The Rabbi has also had several speaking invitations from local churches that have expressed an interest in learning more about Messianic Judaism.
As part of the Synagogue’s continuing activities, we offer marital guidance, either before marriage or after, and cater to couples of ‘mixed faith’ backgrounds. In particular, we focus on couples and families with a Jewish/Christian faith combination. Our Synagogue is uniquely placed to minister to such families and offers a significant public benefit from this aspect of our work.
The Rabbi has received several invitations from radio stations, both locally and nationally, to be interviewed about Messianic Judaism in general and the work of Adat Yeshua in particular. He has also been invited to participate in several educational podcasts. Those have been exceptionally well received, and the number of invitations continues to grow.
With the continued success of the streamed services and the addition of a professional camera and broadcast system installed, the growth and interest in Messianic Judaism continue to gather participants from many countries worldwide. Adding the new annex teaching hub means we are seeing a new level of interest and growing demand for offered courses.
With the release from Covid restrictions, we were able to have once again our annual conference, which was held at the Kings Conference Center in Northampton and was a huge success. Members from around the UK attended it, and we had speakers from Israel, India, and Malta.
The Leaders and Trustees regularly undertake a full review of Synagogue activities which are circulated to all synagogue members via the Virtual Jewish Community (an internet community hub).
## **Public benefit**
The charity carries out several activities in pursuance of its charitable aims. The Trustees consider that these activities (summarised above) benefit both the synagogue membership and Norwich's local and broader community.
## **Plans for the future**
Within each of our main categories, the following are the short and medium-term goals:
- To research and plan for the further development of our building to continue to facilitate the vision and ministry direction of the Synagogue. This will include the future role of the completed annex at the rear of the building;
- To set up and embed a series of smaller ‘focus groups’ working with common/shared identities within the community. These will enhance individual strengths and interests while continuing to build community cohesion;
- To develop internal structures further to allow the Rabbi to devote time to building the wider European and worldwide dimension of the work of the UBMS/UMS;
- To expand the vision of the synagogue further into possible growth in online work and ministry;
- To continue to develop the Foodbank and Foodhub situated in the synagogue complex;
- To develop a working model supporting the weaker and more vulnerable members of society, especially those of non-UK origin.
|**Adat Yeshua Messianic Synagogue**|**Adat Yeshua Messianic Synagogue**|**Adat Yeshua Messianic Synagogue**|**Adat Yeshua Messianic Synagogue**|**Adat Yeshua Messianic Synagogue**|**Adat Yeshua Messianic Synagogue**|**Adat Yeshua Messianic Synagogue**||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|**(Charity no. 1116976)**||||||||||
|**Receipts and payments accounts**||||||||||
|**For the period from**||||Date
31 Aug2021||**To**|Date
30 Aug2022|||
|**Section A Receipts and payments**||||||||||
|||**Unrestricted Funds**
**to the nearest £**||**Building Fund**
**(restricted)**
**to the nearest £**||**Financial Support**
**Fund (restricted)**
**to the nearest £**|**Total funds**
**to the nearest £**||**Last year**
**to the nearest £**|
|**A1 Receipts**
Donations
Interest
Other||**88,000**
**4**
**4,890**||**41,267**
**0**
**0**|
|**7,040**
**0**
**0**
**7,040**|**136,307**
**4**
**4,890**
**141,200**||91,736
4
6,496|
|**_Sub total(Gross incomefor AR)_**||**92,894**||**41,267**|||||**98,236**|
|||||||||||
|**A2 Asset and investment sales, (see table).**
Loan received towards refurbishment of the
synagogue building||**Unrestricted funds**|
|**Building Fund**
**(restricted)**|
|**Financial Support**
**Fund (restricted)**
**0**
**0**
**0**|**Total funds**
**0**
**0**
**0**|
|**Last year**|
|||**0**
**0**||**0**
**0**|||||0
0|
|**_Sub total_**||**0**||**0**|||||**0**|
|||||||||||
|**_Total receipts_**||**92,894**||**41,267**||**7,040**|**141,200**||**98,236**|
|||||||||||
|**A3 Payments**
Salary
Administrative costs
Food
Building costs
Repair and Maintenance
Equipment
Gifts (given)
Miscellaneous
Travel
Loans||**Unrestricted funds**|
|**Building Fund**
**(restricted)**|
|**Financial Support**
**Fund (restricted)**
**0**
**0**
**0**
**0**
**0**
**0**
**3,700**
**0**
**0**
**0**
**3,700**|**Total funds**
**54,514**
**3,139**
**335**
**98,413**
**0**
**1,098**
**3,976**
**615**
**54**
**-100**
**162,046**|
|**Last year**|
|||**54,514**
**3,139**
**335**
**57,413**
**0**
**1,098**
**276**
**615**
**54**
**-100**||**0**
**0**
**0**
**41,000**
**0**
**0**
**0**
**0**
**0**
**0**|||||48,759
3,054
105
3,149
8,039
52
745
-552
85
-2,400|
|**_Sub total_**||**117,346**||**41,000**|||||**61,036**|
|||||||||||
|**A4 Asset and investment purchases, (see**
**table)**
Loan repayment
Office equipment||**Unrestricted funds**||**Building Fund**
**(restricted)**|
|**Financial Support**
**Fund (restricted)**
**0**
**0**
**0**|**Total funds**
**9,678**
**0**
**9,678**||**Last year**|
|||**9,678**
**0**||**0**
**0**|||||0
0|
|**_Sub total_**||**9,678**||**0**|||||**0**|
|||||||||||
|**_Total payments_**||**127,024**||**41,000**||**3,700**|**171,724**||**61,036**|
|||||||||||
|**_Net of receipts/(payments)_**||**-34,130**||**267**||**3,340**|**-30,523**||**37,200**|
|**A5 Transfers between funds**||0||0|
|0
0|0
68,166||0|
|**A6 Cash funds last year end**||68,166||0|||||34,116|
|**_Cash funds this year end_**||**34,036**||**267**||**3,340**|**37,643**||**23,785**|
|||||||||||
**Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period**
|**Categories**||**Details**||**Unrestricted funds**
**to nearest £**||**Building Fund**
**(restricted)**
**to nearest £**||**Financial Support**
**Fund (restricted)**
**to nearest £**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|**B1 Cash funds**||Current bank account
Savings bank account
Cash
Accounts Receivable||**18,556**
**15,327**
**152**
**0**||**267**
**0**
**0**
**0**||3,340
0
0
0|
|||**_Total cash funds_**||**34,036**||**267**||**3,340**|
|||||||||OK|
|||**Details**||**Unrestricted funds**
**to nearest £**||**Restricted funds**
**to nearest £**||**to nearest £**|
|**B2 Other monetary assets**||||**0**
**0**
**0**||**0**
**0**
**0**||0
0
0|
||||||||||
|||**Details**||**Fund to which asset**
**belongs**||**Cost (optional)**||**Current value**
**(optional)**|
|**B3 Investment assets**||||||**0**
**0**
**0**||0
0
0|
||||||||||
|||**Details**||**Fund to which asset**
**belongs**||**Cost (optional)**||**Current value**
**(optional)**|
|**B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own use**||Synagogue building
Office equipment||General
General||**294,277**
**900**||294,277
900|
||||||||||
|||**Details**||**Fund to which**
**liability relates**||**Amount due**
**(optional)**||**When due (optional)**|
|**B5 Liabilities**||Loan for purchase of synagogue building||General||**89,540**||**9 year loan**|
||||||||||
|**Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of**
**all the trustees**||**Signature**||**Print**||**Name**||**Date of approval**|
|||||Daniel A||brahams||29/06/23|
||||||||||
## **Independent examiner's report on the accounts**
## **Section A Independent Examiner’s Report**
|**Report to the trustees/**
**members of**
**On accounts for the year**
**ended**
**Set out on pages**|Charity Name
Adat Yeshua Messianic Synagogue|Charity Name
Adat Yeshua Messianic Synagogue|Charity Name
Adat Yeshua Messianic Synagogue|
|---|---|---|---|
|||||
||31 August 2022|**Charity no**
**(if any)**|1116976|
|||||
||1-2|||
**Respective responsibilities** The charity's trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. The **of trustees and examiner** charity’s trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year under section 144 (2) of the Charities Act 2011 (the 2011 Act) and that an independent examination is needed.
- It is my responsibility to:
- examine the accounts under section 145 of the 2011 Act;
- to follow the procedures laid down in the general Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the 2011 Act;
- and to state whether particular matters have come to my attention.
- **Basis of independent** My examination was carried out in accordance with general Directions given by the
- **examiner’s statement** Charity Commission. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts and seeking explanations from the trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit, and consequently no opinion is given as to whether the accounts present a ‘true and fair’ view and the report is limited to those matters set out in the statement below.
- **Independent examiner's** In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention, which **statement** gives me reasonable cause to believe that in, any material respect, the requirements:
- to keep accounting records in accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act; and
- to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and comply with the accounting requirements of the Charities Act
- have not been met; or
1. to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
**Date:** 28/06/2023 **Signed: Name:** Lenka Carbonell Marvan **Relevant professional** Institute of Chartered Accountancy in England and Wales (ICAEW) **qualification(s) or body (if**
1
**any):**
## **Section B Disclosure**
Only complete if the examiner needs to highlight material problems.
**Give here brief details of any** No matters for disclosure noted. **items that the examiner wishes to disclose** .
2