ASPIRE CHURCH (formerly NEW HARVEST CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP CHARITY LIMITED)
SIGNIFICANT INFORMATION
| Registered Company Number | 3831962 | |
|---|---|---|
| Registered Charity Number | 1120154 | |
| Names used | Aspire Church, New Harvest Church, | New Harvest Christian Fellowship, |
| NHCF & NHUK | ||
| Trustees | Pastor Jonathan Davies (chairman) | |
| Pastor David Whittingham | ||
| Pastor Alan Drury | ||
| Secretary | Alan Drury | |
| Registered Office | 31 Brook Drive | |
| Whitefield | ||
| MANCHESTER | ||
| M45 8FR | ||
| Solicitors | Brabners LLP | Horton House |
| Exchange Flags | ||
| LIVERPOOL | ||
| L2 3YL | ||
| Cheshire | ||
| WA4 2AH | ||
| Independent Examiner | Ian Afflick | 61 Tatton Road North |
| Heaton Moor | ||
| STOCKPORT | ||
| Cheshire | ||
| SK4 4QX | ||
| Bankers | Barclays Bank | Manchester City Office |
| PO Box 357 | ||
| 51 Mosley Street | ||
| Manchester M60 2AU |
ASPIRE CHURCH (formerly NEW HARVEST CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP CHARITY LIMITED)
YEAR ENDED 31ST AUGUST 2022 DIRECTORS REPORT
Aim and Purposes
The trustees of Aspire Church, in co-operation with the Pastor, direct and oversee the mission of Aspire Church in the UK, pastoral, social and spiritual, within the Charity's stated objectives and in accordance with the statement of faith of Aspire Church.
Structure, Governance and Management
The charity is structured as a charitable company, registered in the UK as a charity with the Charities Commission and as a charitable limited company with Companies House. The conduct and structure of the charity is defined and regulated by the Articles and Memoranda of Association lodged with and held by these bodies.
Appointment of Trustees
The appointment of trustees and other officers of the Charity is by election following recommendation of a candidate by the existing Directors. Trustees at present are the same as Directors. The board consists of no fewer than three and no more than five Directors. The current membership is three.
The trustees are responsible for making decisions on all matters of general concern and importance to the fellowship in the UK including evaluating new ministry opportunities and deciding on how the funds of the Charity are to be spent. The full board of trustees met once during the year and the UK-based trustees met an additional four times. Several business meetings were also held at which two or more trustees were present to progress specific issues such as the preparation of the annual report and accounts.
Objectives and Activities
The Charity's objects are defined in our Memoranda of Association:
Promoting, supporting and establishing Christian churches within the UK and worldwide
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Relieving those in need or hardship including those who are aged, sick or distressed within the UK and worldwide Providing and promoting education, advice, information or support services beneficial to the community within the UK and worldwide
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Promoting or fulfilling other charitable purposes beneficial to the community in the UK or worldwide as the trustees may from time to time see fit
When planning our activities for the year the Pastor and trustees have considered the Commission's guidance on public benefit and, in particular, the specific guidance on charities for the advancement of religion.
The trustees are committed to enabling as many people as possible to worship at our churches and become part of our faith community. This includes considering how our services and other activities can serve and involve the many different groups within our locality, our city and the surrounding areas.
Our aim is that as many people as possible have their lives impacted by the gospel of Jesus Christ and we are always seeking ways to bring this message to the wider community in the form of both practical relief and teaching. Biblical teaching provides people with inter-personal and practical resources to improve their lives and relationships and also equips them to face life's challenges. In particular we try to enable ordinary people to live out their faith through worship and prayer, learning about the Gospel and providing opportunities for practical Christian service and involvement. These opportunities include the various outreach projects and programmes operated by the charity as an outworking of our Christian concern for those in need:
Sunday school programme 'Yth' youth programme Men's Discipleship meetings Bible Study group and supporting resources Marriage counselling and family support Care Ministry pastoral care team Worship and music groups
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ASPIRE CHURCH (formerly NEW HARVEST CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP CHARITY LIMITED)
YEAR ENDED 31ST AUGUST 2022 DIRECTORS REPORT (Continued)
These projects and programmes are provided for the benefit of both church members and the wider public equally and without restriction.
To facilitate this work it was important that we also maintain the fabric of the Church premises at 194 Chapel Street in Manchester, when it no longer became available to us.
Achievements and Performance
The Global Pandemic Subsides
At the beginning of this reporting the pandemic that affected our work in the previous year started to subside. While Covid was still an important issue for us to address the government restrictions were eased for houses of worship we able to continue holding church services and youth (Yth) meetings during the November 2021 lockdown. We continued practicing social distancing as suggested by government health agencies.
This year the trustees initially worked to deliver events and projects prepared for during the previous financial year whilst also preparing for further strategic developments to come in the year ahead.
Leadership and Governance
Working to achieve our goals have remained constant during this reporting period. With the tragic loss of our church premises and being forced into rented accommodations we pressed forward albeit with a reduced schedule. The focus of our church has been and still is on helping people with gospel and personal interaction. Fortunately, the leadership has been able to continue the work that was started at our inception.
Worship and Prayer
Throughout the year, we continued to offer Pentecostal teaching and worship, both in-person and online. Our attendance remains is it was during the previous year, but with a renewed vigour to revitalise the church. In addition to our lively worship services where offer Bible based teaching and preaching, we held Prayer and Praise nights that was well attended by adults as well as young people. again as necessary.
Our Wednesday night services, now named Connection Services offer and intimate setting with acoustic guitar worship and interactive Bible teaching.
Mission and Evangelism
We are a local church with a world vision, and in accordance with our objectives have continued to support other churches and ministries around the world in response to Christ's great commission.
Youth Group
Our youth group continued on Friday nights and some of the local young people in the area started attending with some attending Sunday worship services. The Yth drama team performed a live skit at one of our Sunday services that well received by the congregation. The Yth group is now one of our outreach groups as they invite their family and friends.
Women's Bible Study
We've held women's bible studies on various Saturday mornings that were well attended. The video teaching combined with group Q- was helpful for the attendees.
Church Premises
After the loss of the Chapel Street building that we called home for 30 years we held services at a local banquet hall for more than a year. Whilst we were grateful to have a location to worship it wasn't ideal. On 1 May 2022 we were able to move all of our meetings, Sunday worship, Wednesday Connection services, Friday Yth meetings in one location, St. Aidans Church, Littleton Road, Lower Kersal. We are grateful to St Aidans for allowing us to utilize their church building as we search for a more permanent location. We also use St Aidans building for one Saturday a month to hold various meetings.
Online Ministry and Multimedia
The internet livestream broadcasts of our Sunday services continue to prove popular serving those unable to attend due to sickness or having to care for others.
Our podcast service continues to automatically publish every sermon to subscribers on any mobile device and hosts them in an online sermon library freely available to all. The automated system also announces each new recording on our various social media feeds as soon as it becomes available. This has continued to prove very popular with many taking the opportunity to 'listen again' to popular messages and new people have visited the church who first heard our services online. We have also had enquiries from other churches about the system.
The online ministry is useful for those who are away and university and remote job assignments. The livestreams and podcasts have been an excellent tool for evangelism as members share links amongst friends and families as well as posting to social media sites.
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ASPIRE CHURCH (formerly NEW HARVEST CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP CHARITY LIMITED)
YEAR ENDED 31ST AUGUST 2022 DIRECTORS REPORT (Continued)
Marriage Counselling and Family Support
Our Marriage and Family ministry continues with Pastor Tom offering prayer and advice to those with family needs. We held a Marriage Workshop offering helpful tools for couples to strengthen their marriage. Prepare-Enrich continues to be offered to couples in need and for those desiring pre-marital counselling.
Care Ministry
Our Care Ministry provides the framework for the church's pastoral care by greeting visitors and keeping in touch with individuals and families both within the congregation and the surrounding communities. Needs identified during these encounters have been referred to the appropriate ministry team and to the Pastor throughout the year and have included requests for prayer, counselling, home and hospital visits and emergency food parcels.
Sunday School & Youth Ministry
As we've now moved our new location to St Aidans our Sunday School programme is up and running. We've seen numerical growth which blesses us as we desire to help families, including children, navigate this ever-changing world. Our future goal is to start a new curriculum that uses videos to communicate a lesson with group participation.
We hold weekly Youth meetings that are often led by teens in the group. Singing, learning the Bible, asking questions and some spirited debates are all part of the group activities. We held a ten pin bowling night and Treetop Adventure golf outings for a time of fun and fellowship. St Aidans has provided table football and a pool table for the youth to use on Social nights.
Gift Aid Scheme
Our Gift Aid giving scheme (HMRC reference XT27713 effective from 20th February 2008) has continued to bring in useful additional funds. Most of our regular givers use the scheme, and £23,692 has been given under the scheme this year, resulting in an additional income for the Charity of £5,923.
Support and Volunteers
The charity is supported both financially and practically by the congregation members of New Harvest Christian Fellowship in Manchester and our daughter churches in Leeds and Nottingham.
In accordance with the Biblical principle of Tithing, a large number of congregation members dedicate 10% of their income to the work of the charity. A large number of these also participate in the Gift-Aid scheme, making their support even more effective.
The day-to-day work of the charity and its various practical ministry projects is undertaken by volunteers; and the trustees would like to take this opportunity to recognise and applaud the valuable work being done by so many.
Policies
The charity holds a deposit account into which funds are regularly set aside for projects and contingency. Our policy is to maintain a minimum deposit balance of £1,000 to cover emergencies. From the start of the year we continued to hold a reserve of £32,000, as a confidence buffer against unforeseen cash flow issues.
................................ Mr A Drury, Secretary 2nd April 2023
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ASPIRE CHURCH (formerly NEW HARVEST CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP CHARITY LIMITED)
STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES YEAR ENDED 31ST AUGUST 2022
| Year to 31st August 2022 | Year to 31st August 2022 | Year to 31st August 2022 | Year to 31st August 2022 | Year to | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| INCOME & EXPENDITURE | Notes | 31 08 21 | ||||
| Unrestricted | Restricted | Total | Total | |||
| INCOMING RESOURCES | Funds | Funds | ||||
| £ | **£ ** | **£ ** | £ | |||
| Offerings & Donations Received | 1 79,410 |
45 | 79,455 | 108,875 | ||
| Investment Income | 6 | - | 6 | 34 | ||
| Other Income | 874 | - | 874 | 943 | ||
| TOTAL INCOMING RESOURCES | 80,290 | 45 | 80,335 | 109,852 | ||
| Less: RESOURCES EXPENDED | ||||||
| Direct Charitable Expenditure | ||||||
| Ministry Gifts & Tithes | 1,668 | 45 | 1,713 | - | ||
| Other Ministry Expenses | 59,985 | 59,985 | 38,698 | |||
| Poor Relief | 20 | - | 20 | 301 | ||
| Property Costs | 3,087 | - | 3,087 | 11,280 | ||
| 64,760 | 45 | 64,805 | 50,279 | |||
| Support | 12,718 | - | 12,718 | 22,568 | ||
| Administration | 8,183 | 8,183 | 12,931 | |||
| TOTAL RESOURCES EXPENDED | 85,661 | 45 | 85,706 | 85,778 | ||
| NET (OUTGOING) / INCOMING RESOURCES | For the Year | |||||
| (5,371 | ) | - | (5,371 | ) | 24,074 | |
| FUND BALANCES as at 1st September 2021 | 138,117 | 99 | 138,216 | 114,142 | ||
| & as at 31st August 2022 | 132,746 | 99 | 132,845 | 138,216 |
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ASPIRE CHURCH (formerly NEW HARVEST CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP CHARITY LIMITED)
BALANCE SHEET AS AT 31ST AUGUST 2022
| Notes FIXED ASSETS 3 Current Assets Debtors & Prepayments Cash at Bank Cash in Hand Less: Current Liabilities payable within one year Creditors & Accruals NET CURRENT ASSETS Represented By: FUNDS (Per Income & Expenditure Account) Unrestricted General Fund Restricted 5 5 |
31 08 22 £ 7,217 121,887 - 129,104 ) (1,600 £ £ |
£ 5,341 127,504 132,845 132,746 99 132,845 |
31 08 21 £ 12,101 121,549 45 133,695 ) (2,079 £ £ |
£ 6,600 131,616 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 138,216 | ||||
| 138,117 99 |
||||
| 138,216 |
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ASPIRE CHURCH (formerly NEW HARVEST CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP CHARITY LIMITED)
BALANCE SHEET (continued) DIRECTORS STATEMENTS REQUIRED BY S 249B(4) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31ST AUGUST 2022
In approving these as of the company we hereby confirm:
(a) that for the stated above the company was entitled to the exemption from audit under section 477 of the Companies Act 2006 ;
(b) that the members have not required the company to obtain an audit in accordance with section 476 of the Companies Act 2006;
(c) that the directors acknowledge their responsibilities for complying with the requirements of the Act with respect to accounting records and for the preparation of accounts.
The Financial statements were approved by the Board on 19th March 2023 and signed on its behalf by
...................................... Pastor T Watson
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ASPIRE CHURCH (formerly NEW HARVEST CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP CHARITY LIMITED)
INDEPENDENT EXAMINER'S REPORT TO THE TRUSTEES OF ASPIRE CHURCH YEAR ENDED 31ST AUGUST 2022
I report on the accounts of the Company for the Year ended 31st August 2022, which are set out on pages 1 to 8.
Respective responsibilities of Trustees and Examiner
As the charity trustees of the Trust, you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (‘the Act’). I report in respect of my examination of the Trust’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act
Basis of Independent Examiner's Report
My examination was carried out in accordance with the General Directions given by the Charity Commissioners. An examination includes a review of the accounting records presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and seeking explanations from you as Trustees concerning such matters.
The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit, and consequently I do not express an audit opinion on the view given by the accounts.
Independent Examiner's Statement
I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:
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to keep accounting records in accordance with section 130 of the Act; or
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the accounts do not accord with those records; or
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the accounts do not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a ‘true and fair view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination.
I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
Ian Afflick Chartered Accountant 61 Tatton Road North Heaton Moor STOCKPORT Cheshire SK4 4QX 3rd April 2023
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ASPIRE CHURCH (formerly NEW HARVEST CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP CHARITY LIMITED)
NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS YEAR ENDED 31ST AUGUST 2022
1. ACCOUNTING POLICIES
The Financial Statements are prepared on a historical accounts basis, taking into account accruals and depreciation where relevant, in order to ensure consistency.
Gifts to Restricted Funds are accounted for upon receipt, though Restricted Tax Refunds are included when net donation is received.
All Restricted gifts are separately recorded when received, though expenditure is not separately analysed when made, outstanding amounts being noted at the year end.
Gifts in kind are only recorded and included if material as income in the year given.
Only reimbursements of expenditure are netted off against such and not counted as income. Unpaid voluntary services, though not measured in monetary terms, are invaluable.
Unrestricted Funds are incoming resources, which can be used in accordance with the charitable objects at the discretion of the trustees.
Designated Funds are unrestricted funds set aside by the trustees for particular purposes.
Restricted Funds are to be used for specific purposes. Restrictions arise when specified by the donor or when funds are raised for particular restricted purposes.
Assets are Capitalised, irrespective of finance sources and methods, provided such are permanently intended to be used by the Trust. Only items costing more than £100 will be capitalised.
Current Assets are shown at the lower of cost and net realisable value.
Current Liabilities are shown at settlement value.
2. FUNDS & FUND TRANSFERS
Small amounts are given from time to time and Restricted Funds kept for such, though none are of any material amount or held for any great length of time.
| 31 08 22 | 31 08 21 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| **3. ** | DIRECTOR'S EMOLUMENTS | £ | £ |
| Remuneration and other emoluments | 24,472 | 26,262 |
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ASPIRE CHURCH (formerly NEW HARVEST CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP CHARITY LIMITED)
NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED) YEAR ENDED 31ST AUGUST 2022
| **4. ** | FIXED ASSETS | Musical & PA | Fixtures | Fixtures | Equipment | Equipment | Equipment | Office | Total | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Equipment | & Fittings | Equipment | |||||||||||
| COST | £ | £ |
£ | **£ ** | £ | ||||||||
| Cost as at 01 09 21 | 12,978 | 966 | 2,233 | 5,188 | 21,365 | ||||||||
| Additions in Year | - | - | 160 | - | 160 | ||||||||
| As At 31 08 22 | 12,978 | 966 | 2,393 | 5,188 | 21,525 | ||||||||
| DEPRECIATION | |||||||||||||
| As at 01 09 21 | 8,935 | 618 | 2,202 | 3,010 | 14,765 | ||||||||
| Charge for Year | 1,011 | 53 | 29 | 327 | 1,420 | ||||||||
| As At 31 08 22 | 9,946 | 671 | 2,231 | 3,337 | 16,185 | ||||||||
| NET BOOK VALUE | |||||||||||||
| 31 08 22 | 3,032 | 295 | 162 | 1,851 | 5,340 | ||||||||
| 31 08 21 | 4,043 | 348 | 31 | 2,178 | 6,600 | ||||||||
| Normal Depreciation Rates | |||||||||||||
| (Reducing Balance) | 25% | 15% | 15% | 33.3% | |||||||||
| **5. ** | ANALYSIS OF NET ASSETS BY FUND | Unrestricted | Restricted | Total | |||||||||
| £ | £ | £ | |||||||||||
| Fixed Assets | 5,341 | 5,341 | |||||||||||
| Current Assets | 129,005 | 99 | 129,104 | ||||||||||
| Current Liabilities | (1,600 | ) | (1,600 | ) | |||||||||
| Fund Balance at 31st August 2022 | 132,746 | 99 | 132,845 |
6. TRUSTEES & CONNECTED PERSONS CONTRACTS
Expenses incurred in non-trustee capacities have also been claimed by Trustees and their spouses.
Three (Year to 31 08 21 - Three) Trustees received £ 785 (Year to 31 08 21 - £1,070) for non trustee related services.
Four (Year to 31 08 21 - Three) Trustees received £ 7,276 (Year to 31 08 21 - £5,858) for travel & subsistence, mainly on training, pastoral and outreach activities.
7. INDEPENDENT EXAMINER'S FEE
The Independent Examiner received £ 395 (Year to 31 08 21 - £380) for the independent examination of the accounts. He also received £ 940 (Year to 31 08 21 - £955) for bookkeeping, the preparation of Accounts and other advice.
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