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2020-12-31-accounts

- St John the Baptist, Owlerton Annual Church Meeting 25[th] May 2021

PCC Chair’s commentary and Trustee’s report of the business of the PCC and activities of St John’s for the period October 2020 to May 2021

OUR MISSION STATEMENT

‘To proclaim and demonstrate the reality of God’s Kingdom, to make disciples and lead them to become wholehearted followers of Christ’.

ELECTORAL ROLL

The electoral roll in May 2021 records 176 members, this remains unchanged from October 2020. We recognise that during Covid, it has not been easy for people to register to be on the electoral roll. We currently have 207 adults registered with ChurchSuite and 58 children.

SUNDAY ATTENDANCE

The attendance over 2020 was mainly recorded at zoom services. We have usually had around 80 households engaging with the zoom service. There are usually between 20-40 engagements with our service on Facebook each week, and our services on YouTube receive on average 25 views. Our Communion services during the autumn were not well attended, and have not been continued for this reason.

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE

The Vicar, the Wardens and the PCC wish to thank all who have contributed to the life, ministry and mission of St John’s over the past year. The challenges brought by Covid-19 have impacted all of us profoundly, and the life of the church has been changed. The willingness to innovate and the variety of gifts being exercised across the church are a real encouragement and essential to the life and ministry of St John’s. Let us never take for granted the tireless efforts put in by so many people to ensure that different ministries continue to function so well, despite such a challenging year.

THE BUSINESS OF THE PCC OVER THE YEAR 2020/21

Since October last year, the PCC has met 5 times. The PCC has given its attention to a wide range of issues, from buildings and finance to ministry, vision and mission. At the close of 2020, The PCC worked with the Diocese and the Patron to successfully recruit a new Oversight Minister for Owlerton. During 2021, the PCC have focussed extensively on the process of setting up The Family Works – which has involved decisions around policies and procedures, the operational organisation of the project and fundraising. The PCC will also be shortly recruiting for a part-time Digital Lead to oversee online communication for the church. Other PCC business has included the development of the new Eco-Church Committee and the redevelopment of the church building, including our planned upgrade of AV equipment, which is in process.

FINANCE

The Curate, Wardens and PCC are most grateful to our finance team for all their hard work and commitment during 2020/21. The team comprises:

Treasurer and church accounts - Ian Rooth Book-keeping - Steve Ward Gift Aid team - Keith Barber & Michael Ackroyd

Counting collections and banking of money - Keith Barber, Mike Ackroyd and Claire Keppas Professional accountancy oversight - Ian Rooth & Matthew Kilner

We are now into our fourth year with Steve Ward being employed to do the bookkeeping for St John’s; This is done using the Sage One online accounting system. We are now looking at financial data in real time, enabling a more accurate analysis of trends across the year.

Staff costs over the past year have been covered by regular giving. We are grateful to the Joseph Rank Trust for a grant of £10 000 per year over a 3-year period for our work with youth and young adults. The balance of the youth minister salary and on-costs is covered by our regular giving and commitment pledges made specifically for the support of the Youth Minister post. Our work on Winn Gardens is part-funded by Zest, and alongside this, we have also been in receipt of grant funding from a variety of sources which has enabled us to extend the scope of the food bank, and provide lockdown activity packs for households on the estate with children. All other staff salaries are covered from our general giving.

As a new project, The Family Works has required a focussed fundraising plan to begin to get the work off the ground. So far, including grant funding and money given to the project through the church gift-day, the project has received just over £33,500. This has been allocated towards staffing costs, website development, computers and hardware, building a Customer Relationship Management system that will enable the project to be GDPR compliant, and make it far easier for team and volunteers to work effectively.

Our regular weekday ministries continue to grow and the budget to cover these activities is also met by regular contributions from the church family. We would encourage all taxpayers to Gift Aid their giving. GiftAid enables us to reclaim the tax at 25p for every pound given.

Each year we pay into the Diocese Common Fund. This amounted to £75,000 in 2020. This supports our clergy stipendiary costs and also helps to support other smaller parishes. This figure remains unchanged for 2021.

For 2020, the accounts balanced with approximately £724 credit (net of capital spend). However, we are looking at a potential budget deficit of £20,000 for 2021. Ian and his team are investigating various ways of addressing this issue.

POLICIES AND PROCEDURES

The PCC reviews annually our Safe Church Policy and our Child Protection Policy. The PCC has recognised the need to ensure we give due diligence to best practice - we therefore seek to maintain regular training and guidance for all those involved with children and vulnerable adults. A huge thank you to our Protection Officers Katie Kerr, Ken Smith and Rosemary Bletcher, who share a particular brief to cover the care of vulnerable adults and children. Copies of our Safeguarding policy and our Safe Church Policy are available in church and on the church website.

During early 2021, a number of policies have been adopted by the PCC for The Family Works. These are to ensure that the project is compliant with good safeguarding practice. We are grateful to Andrea Liversidge, Katie Kerr and Rosemary Bletcher for their hard work in compiling and quality assuring these policies ahead of their adoption by PCC.

CHURCH BUILDING - MAINTENANCE

No major property repairs were needed in the last year. The building has recently been assessed for our Health and Safety Risk Assessment, and has also been Risk Assessed for Covid secure activities.

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Our thanks to Mike Taylor in his role of Buildings Manager and Caretaker, and for keeping our buildings clean and in good order.

SUNDAY SERVICES

Pre-Covid, Sunday mornings regularly saw us with an attendance of up to 200 people. There were regularly up to 30 attendees at the evening service. Our 10am zoom service has proved popular, with up to 80 households joining on zoom each week, with others watching on Facebook and YouTube. During the lockdown period, we have had some new individuals and families join St. John’s. In-person services resume in June 2021, with plans to continue to stream church services online for those who are not able to attend in church. We are continually reviewing our service provision to ensure we are engaging well with those who gather and this programme of review will continue in the light of changing restrictions around social distancing and patterns of gathered and online services.

MUSIC

We owe a huge thank you to our amazing musicians and technicians. We truly appreciate what a very high standard of music we have at St John’s. We are grateful to Josh Bradbrook who has taken on the role of worship co-ordinator, planning rotas for musicians and ensuring that we are well served in our worshipping life. We maintain a commitment to training up young musicians, and new members of the worship team are always welcome.

CHURCH DEVELOPMENT PROJECT

In 2019, the decision was taken to press pause on the existing development plans, and to reconsider the primary needs for our building. There are plans to phase the development project, with phase one being changing chairs and AV provision in the worship area as soon as possible, and future building needs to be assessed with the project team and the DAC later on this year. We are conscious that we will also need to think about the location of the church office, should we lose access to Owlerton Vicarage (which is owned by the Diocese).

MISSION PARTNERSHIP

Six years ago, we formed a Mission Partnership between St John’s, Christ Church Stannington, Christ Church Wadsley Bridge, Wadsley Parish Church and St Polycarp’s Malin Bridge. In the light of the new Diocesan Strategy, this partnership is changing. Our new Oversight Minister is primarily responsible for St. John’s Owlerton, but we are formally part of a mission area, which includes St. Polycarps, Malin Bridge and Wadsley Parish Church.

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ST JOHN’S MINISTRY REPORTS OCTOBER 2020 to MAY 2021

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WINN GARDENS - Community Pioneer - Suzanne Morton

Winn Gardens is in the top 20% deprived neighbourhoods in the UK and for various reasons it is difficult to engage families, children and young people in positive activities. It is a diverse and multicultural estate, which has around 40 different ethnicities represented, including families from Somalia, Slovakia, Poland, Syria, Africa and Burma.

Suzanne has been working on the estate since January 2020 and moved to be residential on the estate in February 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic many of the “normal” groups have ceased to physically meet at the pavilion but Suzanne has worked tirelessly to create new and imaginative ways of building relationships both with residents on the estate as well as other outside partners, agencies and service providers.

Groups

During 2020 Suzanne has had to be creative in connecting people on the estate due to the ever-changing COVID-19 restrictions. She has been in close contact with Ian Watson (Nature nursery manager) to facilitate discussions of how the pavilion can be safely used by the community but each time a plan has been set the national government guidelines have restricted use of the building.

Suzanne’s intention is to support, empower and encourage residents from the estate to run the groups and begin to take ownership of their own community.

Kids Club

Unable to meet.

Homework Club

Unable to meet.

Youth Club

The youth group, under the leadership of Will Gowers, did meet for a few sessions in January / February 2020. However due to COVID pandemic this group had to cease. In addition to this Will Gowers left employment with St Johns in August 2020 to undertake clergy training. To continue building relationships with children and youth on the estate Suzanne has been actively making herself available to support both the children and youth by spending socially distanced time with them on the park. This has proven very successful, and Suzanne now engages regularly with up to 30 children per week. Suzanne along with St Johns Youth Minister (Sophie Boughton) have been regularly providing detached youth work on the Winn Gardens MUGA on a Thursday night. The session includes providing hot drinks, snacks for local young people but also providing a safe space for young people to share their stories.

English Conversation Class

At the time of Suzanne coming into post this group had ceased to meet. Suzanne however has identified several non English speaking women / families on the estate through her work with the foodbank. Suzanne is in contact with SAVTE and is in discussions how volunteers from SAVTE might be able to attend the proposed “International Café” at the pavilion to provide support and some basic English teaching for the people identified.

Partnership working/ meetings

Since being in post Suzanne has set up contact and had meetings with the following:

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Community Outreach

Suzanne is consistently supporting many families on the estate. This can be anything from support around debt, helping people attend meetings with schools, hospital, G.P appointments, drug and alcohol services, help with food and fuel poverty, the need for items, referral to other agencies and many other

issues. Suzanne is increasingly meeting and supporting refugee families and families who have suffered domestic violence.

WINNGS

Not met

TARA

Suzanne has worked closely with the TARA in rebuilding relationships and trust on the estate. Suzanne has worked with the TARA to obtain funding for post COVID support (South Yorkshire Police). This funding was spent to provide “Family Covid Lockdown Challenge” packs for families on the estate. Over 11 weeks 567 children and 302 adults were involved in this project. The foodbank is now well established at the TARA “garages” with a second space now being used for foodbank storage and storage for the clothing / household recycle items.

Suzanne regularly meets with TARA members, SCC housing officer and NWN Police team to identify current / new issues on the estate.

St John’s Church outreach

The “Santa Trail” and “Easter Bunny Visits” proved to be an amazing blessing to the community of WG. Many people from the estate commented that both events had lifted their spirits, improved their mental health, and provided a welcome relief from the pressures of the COVID-19 pandemic. At Christmas, all 375 households were given a box of biscuits and box of chocolates. The NWN police team and Denise Mills from Morrison’s also assisted at this event.

At the “Easter Bunny visit” all 375 households were blessed with an easter egg plus sweets / eggs and chocolates for every child on the estate.

In December 2020 Suzanne also “Angel Bombed” the surrounding area of Hillsborough with 75 angles that had been left over from the earlier WG project in 2020.

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In addition to the above 46 Christmas hampers were distributed to residents on the WG estate blessing 74 children and 72 adults. Donations for these hampers came from St Johns Church, Sheffield Soroptomists, Hallam FM, Morrisons and S6 foodbank.

Community Church

Since March 2020, the community church has be unable to meet due to COVID-19. However, Suzanne has actively encouraged people to partake in the St Johns zoom Sunday morning service and also the weekly zoom bible study. Suzanne has also visited many of the members and has undertaken to offer support and pastoral care to members.

As a part of the roadmap out of lockdown Suzanne is planning to restart a form of community church on Sunday 6[th] June 20201 3pm – 5pm. The act of worship will be family orientated and based on the model of “Messy Church”. The initial sessions will be limited to conform with covid guidelines, and all attendees will need to pre-book the session.

An additional “house church” style group is being planned for other people on the estate who do not have families or who would prefer a more structured form of worship.

Small Group

Catherine Jenkins has been offering the same bible study through zoom.

Creative café / International café

Both of these are new projects planned for when we can come out of lockdown and covid restrictions and lessened. The creative café will take place on A Monday morning at the pavilion and aims to provide a safe space for people to be creative which is hoped will also support people’s mental health and build community.

The aim of the International Café is to build cross – cultural relationships throughout the estate. The sessions will aim to educate people about a variety of different cultures through language, food, the arts, faith and cultural expression. SAVTE will also assist in this project to provide support for non – English speaking residents.

Healthy Holidays

During all the school holidays of 2020 / 2021 Suzanne led on this project. The aim of the project in 2020 was to supply food packs and activities for families on the estate who would normally receive free school meals. The project was funded through Zest and VAs and Suzanne was successful in obtaining just over £4500 to run this project. Suzanne recruited a team of 15 volunteers who were a mix of St Johns members and also residents from the estate. During the October 2020 and February 2021 half term holidays 340 children and 221 adults were supported with food and activities.

From March 2021 funding is now being directed from SCC and unfortunately SCC have taken the decision to not provide food packs for families but instead are arranging shopping vouchers for families to be delivered through the post. However, in the April 2021 “healthy Holiday” sessions Suzanne alongside SWFC and Zest provided activities for 168 children and 43 adults.

Foodbank

Since reopening the foodbank on the estate in May 2020 the foodbank has seen a 1500% increase in need for food for the residents and Suzanne submits weekly food parcel request forms for at least 18 residents on the estate weekly. From July – December 2020 a total of 1076 people were supported at foodbank. Although S6 foodbank supply the majority of goods for the foodbank Suzanne has also received a huge amount of donations from Hillsborough Morrisons, Sainsburys, Highfield Playground, Sheffield Foodhall, Forest Nursery, Sheffield Soroptimists plus other donations from individuals from the surrounding community. In September 2020 the WG foodbank also started to supply packs of fresh fruit and vegetables

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to clients of the foodbank and these have been very well received. We now buy in around £60 - £80 of fresh goods every week to add to the standard foodbank packs. In the last 6 months two new volunteers have also been recruited to the Foodbank team.

In addition to the foodbank a clothing and household recycle project has been established to run in conjunction with the foodbank. Throughout lockdown this service has still continued but Suzanne has delivered items direct to people. From Thursday 6[th] April the recycle project reopened to general public and has experienced many people using the service.

Suzanne has also assisted to relocate and furnish houses for two families from the estate.

Family Works

Suzanne is an integral part of the Family Team and has completed all her training to become a Family Works link worker. As the project rolls out Suzanne will be responsible for 5 family mentors and the families with whom they are working. Suzanne has also assisted in applying for grants for this project.

Funding

During 2020 – 2021 Suzanne secured the following funding:

The Bunker

During the Covid-19 pandemic it has been identified that there is a lack of space for community meetings on the estate. Although Suzanne / WG community has access to the pavilion this is only on a limited basis and also comes at a cost. Through conversations with her landlord, Rev Joy French, local councillors, the NWN police team and SCC Suzanne is pursuing the vision of converting the “void” under her flat and the adjacent flat into a community meeting place. This project is still very much in its infancy but Suzanne hopes that in 2021 this project will be able to be realised.

Training

During 2020- 2021 Suzanne has completed the following training:

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Reflections on 2020

As with many parts of the church and its mission Suzanne has found 2020 - 2021 a very challenging year. Having moved onto the estate in February 2020 she has been hospitalised three times and still awaits further operations and treatments. However, Suzanne has spent many many hours simply being with the people of the Winn Gardens estate through one on one (covid safe) visits, doorstep visits, social media interactions, interacting with families on the park and through “arranged” events such as Healthy holidays, foodbank etc. During the lighter nights and better weather Suzanne was able to make a variety of connections across the estate but this grew more difficult as nights grew darker and poor weather returned. Many people on the estate now have Suzanne’s contact details and she often deals with variety of crisis events on a weekly and sometimes daily basis.

Suzanne’s vision for the further work on the estate is to build a community that is based on trust, understanding and mutual respect for the whole community. Her prayer is that through a variety of projects the issues of racism and ant-social behaviour can be reduced and as a community the WG estate will build a sense of community cohesion and respect for everyone. Her prayer is that as a whole the community will build for itself a greater sense of ownership and responsibility and that it will truly be able to declare that it “loves its neighbour”. By empowering local people to gain confidence, knowledge and training Suzanne would like to see the WG estate become a place of love, faith and commitment to the good of everyone. To follow Gods command that:

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– Under 5s & Families Ministry Bec Ackroyd “Nurturing Friendship, Families & Faith”

Highlights

Families have faced many challenges in the last year, and we have developed new and varied ways of reaching, nurturing and supporting them. The significant outcome of the situation we were placed in has in fact built a stronger, supportive and caring network for the families we reach, particularly through the use of social media but also in face-to-face meet-ups and one-to-one support meetings.

Throughout the year, within the ever-varying guidelines, we have managed to maintain contact with many families and in fact gained many new families.

2by2 Toddler Praise

Since the first lockdown in 2020 when both our organised on-site toddler groups closed, we have provided some activity for many families. Initially with the provision of themed activities to do at home. These were shared widely via WhatsApp and Facebook.

We began hosting 2by2 as an online Toddler Praise group on Zoom with the same structure and activities as would be done in the on-site group – with a coffee and chat time, singing, exploring, sharing, stories and prayer. These have given families a time of interaction and connection at the heart of the most isolated times. Whilst being nothing like the provision of a ‘real-life’ group they have been, in their own words, a lifeline for the parents and a point of rhythm to their week as a family. Going beyond what has happened prior to 2020 they now share so much more of their lives than they had done before, through the provision of a collective group.

Providing a weekly craft pack and activity sheet with extra ideas to do at home for everyone enabled me to visit each family on a regular basis to chat, check in on them and have face-to-face contact. During times when meeting outdoors has been permitted, 2by2 have met outdoors rotating between 3 nature spaces - Beeley Wood, Rivelin and Hillsborough Park. We meet on a Monday at 10 and I provide an activity pack with things to see and do on our walk-about as well as a craft to do at home and a snack/treat. These have been a really special time of connectedness, with one another, with nature and creation and with God. We have provided a trail on a theme each week with things in nature to explore within the theme and with each one pointing towards creation and God’s story for all. Every week has been different and

Baby Group:

Our group for families with babies was initially run online on Zoom, as a time to connect, share and just chat. After the summer break, we ran the group ‘al fresco’ in Hillsborough Park and word got out that something was available. Once permitted, we began running from the church in Autumn using a booking system with 15 attendees, at each of 2 sessions. The demand for this provision was overwhelming. We had 50+ families on the group list, meaning that each week many were unable to access the group.

During the pandemic new parents have been adversely affected their antenatal and postnatal care has been severely pared back with very few midwife or health visitor visits or check-ups meaning negligible provision for post-natal support. Studies show that post-natal depression has been at an all-time high as a result.

Toy Library!

Since our toys were missing the children, we decided to share them! Families can borrow a selection of toys and play with them at home for a week or two. Families choose a toy from an online ‘catalogue’ on Facebook. We then deliver or they collect and have a socially-distanced chat. Toys are quarantined before being loaned out again. This has been a popular enterprise we plan to continue.

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Visits and one-to-one support.

I have been privileged to visit and see many parents. In the last year we have supported around 100 families to varying levels. Our support can be viewed on roughly three levels:

Our involved work can be with families who have experienced abuse, poverty, domestic disputes, violence, teen/lone parenting, living with a disability and/or a child with a disability, additional needs or chronic condition, alcohol dependency, housing issues. Other common issues are post-natal depression, long-term mental health issues and parenting issues.

The team - most of the team have been unable to help either due to ‘shielding’ or having children at home from school during lockdown. Huge thanks go to Marilyn, Sam and Janice for their great support in restarting the baby group - and managing me! Thanks to the rest of the team who I know always hold all our families in their prayers. Please pray for the team and for new team members to join.

Please pray for the safety and well-being of all families. Primarily, we want to be able to offer a space to meet, play and connect, wherever that may be.

Although this last year has been an unusual one, we have still enjoyed different and new ways of getting together and it has been so good to keep in touch with everyone, one way or another. We have shared our homes! We still don’t yet know what the next season will bring. Please pray for vision and guidance.

We are considering lots of different ideas and looking to how we can eventually provide more. I have shared with them that groups may not ‘look’ like they did ever again. Hopefully a new way of doing things will be refreshing. So often in our ministry Isaiah 43:19 comes back to reminds us to see the new things God is doing – even amid a pandemic.

The parents are all such a lovely support for one another, and it's been heart-warming to see them sharing life in this way. We now know, more than ever, how vital it is for us to stay connected with one another and I welcome your prayers for wisdom of how we can continue to do this .

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’ – CHILDREN S MINISTRY Amanda Pearson

Sunday School Structure

BUBBLES: Pre-School - 2½ - 4yrs SPLASH: KS1/Infants XSTREAM: KS2/Juniors, split into Y3&4 AND Y5&6

Sunday School Vision

Created Sunday School Children’s WhatsApp group – encouraged families with weekly praise songs, prayers, photos of the children, ‘I wonder’ questions & Bible verses, as well as being a ‘Notice Board’ for events. A fantastic way to share ‘after hours’ Virtual Holiday Club activities

Created Sunday School Team WhatsApp group – we pray together on Sunday mornings from 9.30am & encourage one another throughout the week. It’s been so good to stay in touch. Please get in touch if you would like to join the team: 07906 267 017

Sent ‘Together at Home*’ emails (from 22[nd] March to 12[th] July) to all Stjb Children’s families (*an All Age ‘service’ following the 10am Stjb Service theme that parents could do with their children at home. Sent feedback to the SS Children’s WhatsApp group).

Started ‘Zoom’ Kids’ Church 4[th] June - 26[th] July with 38 children filling in Zoom consent and up to 18 children of all ages coming to any one session. Restarted this in January, focusing on ‘To be like Jesus, we need to know what Jesus was like!’ We have also encouraged the children to make a ‘Prayer Space at Home’ and a ‘Prayer Space in their Garden’. Highlights: seeing children’s smiling faces and hearing their voices; photos of their ‘Prayer Spaces at Home’; praising God with families dancing in their living rooms; (inside) Picnic Church; Blessing our Mum’s on Mother’s Day; praying for one another; sharing & praying with up to 4 members of the SS team before & after.

Planned & Led Virtual ‘Wonder Zone’ Holiday Club (20-24[th] July) – with SUPER slimmed down team: Crafty Chemist Suzanne (Crafts & Winn Gardens overseer); Lab Tech Bec (Under 5’s daily email with activities); Lab Tech Nicky (St Mark’s Children’s Worker – 5-11’s daily activities email); Einstein Will (Zoom Host, safeguarding, creating ICT bookings); Prof of Memory Verses (Tim, with a little help from Dr Jakenstein ☺); and not forgetting our Young Leader representatives – Prof Pointsometer (Xobeen) & Dr of Dancing (Esther)! Yes, we had lots of fun, and although we served only church children this year (58 of them, with 44 on Zoom on Day 1!), we had lots of fun and BIG answers to prayer. Putting posters on peeling, empty noticeboards was quite emotional: the church was doing something! Gave out up to 90 WonderZone Goodie bags.

All Together Slots (from Aug) – 5 min All Age introduction to 10am Church Zoom service near the beginning of service to reach children before they disappear! Thanks to anyone who has bravely led these slots!

Covid Move Up Day (Sept) - Visited all New Starters (Tiddlywink Quiet Time book), y3 (Snapshots book) & y7 (who had not been given a Higher Bible by Will). So uplifting to make doorstop visits to these families & connect face to face, but really difficult for lots of the children to keep a 2m distance! ☺ Introduced some families to Sophie, our Youth Worker.

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Delivered Birthday Books & Sunday School prizes (Oct - Dec) to the children on pre-booked weekend visits. Often came home wet & cold, but full of lovely memories of smiling faces!

Muddy Church (Oct, Dec, Feb) – Thank you so much to Suzanne for introducing this new initiative to bless our church families and my Brownie families!

Christmas Present Party ALTERNATIVE – encouraged the children to build a shelter in their homes & imagine losing everything and relying fully on God. Led the All Together Slot from my ‘Shelter’ & through Just Giving, we raised £700 for a disaster ‘ShelterBox’ for a homeless family, more than enough. A BIG highlight of my Covid year!

Virtual Christingle – led from our living room with the help of ‘Jake’, ‘Jessie’, ‘Betty the Sheep’, Brian Wilson (Host), Josh’s band, an Oscar winning team of Nativity actors, especially the year 6! Highlights: awesome moment watching the children’s faces as they lit their homemade Christingles and still managing to raise £190 for the Children’s Society.

Distributed ‘Life in Lockdown’ Activity book & Fairtrade chocolate to 40 Sunday School children during February half term. Highlights: smiles, sharing & seeing how much the children have grown!

40 Days of Lent Eco Decisions – sent via Whatsapp to Sunday School children & my Brownies: vegetarian/vegan recipes swapped; reduced, reused & recycled; water saving ideas; wildlife friendly & financial decisions; watched ‘I am Greta’; prayed more for God’s creation & joined the new Stjb Eco Church Committee.

- Advent & Easter Day Campfire Church outdoor family worship, with social distancing and a real campfire! Highlights: singing ‘Silent Night’ under the stars, laughing at the action songs, retelling Bible stories, listening to Alice & Alison sing ‘An Easter Hallelujah’ while we signed & hearing Benjamin pray.

Good Friday Eggstravaganza Trail – 19 families came at 10 minute intervals to complete an interactive trail around the church garden, ‘winning’ a Fairtrade ‘Real Easter Egg’ & an Easter story book. Highlights: seeing excited faces as we told the stories of Jesus face to face and drew our ‘chalk’ pictures to praise God.

Made Sunday School Database – finally got the time in Lockdown!

Vision for the year to come

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Prayer Requests

A HUGE thank-you to all of the Sunday School team who give tirelessly, in order to serve the children, this church, this community and our Lord Jesus, and have continued to step out of their comfort zone in Zoom Kids’ Church! It would be very lonely without you. ☺

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– Youth and Young Adult Ministry Sophie Boughton

Ministry Highlights:

Since I joined the staff team in October it feels there has been lots going on, from getting to know our young people and some of the wider congregation, to relaunching groups, a day camp at the Oakes and developing, printing and selling our hoodies. It has been a busy 6 months. Little if any youth work had been happening since Will left, but we have been slowly relaunching lots of the groups in an online form, here’s a little run down on what we’ve been up to:

Limelight relaunched in November, it is our Sunday morning group for secondary school aged young people. We have followed the readings that are in the main service and unpacked them together. We have a core group of 11 young people coming to this on a regular basis and engaging with our Sunday morning services.

Momentum also relaunched in November, unfortunately we can’t have the full youth group experience online, but alongside some zoom games evenings and quizzes we have had some highlights including a milkshake night, an Easter bake off and a camp fire! We have 14 regulars at Momentum and have engaged 21 young people.

Encounter groups relaunched in January, we currently have two fairly small groups for the year 7-10s, but these provide a great space to build relationships and chat about and pray for the things that are going on in their lives. Last term we looked at issues facing young people and what it looks like to act in a Christ like way in difficult situations and this term we have just begun a series of apologetics – exciting stuff!

Let’s Talk Climate is a new group aimed at year 10+, you guessed it, to talk about climate related issues. We are using some brilliant materials from Tearfund that talk about the climate, what the Bible has to say, why God cares and what that means for our lifestyles alongside pointing the young people in the direction of some interesting podcasts. At the time of writing we have had a preliminary meeting to gauge where to take the group, but by the time of the APCM we will be having our third meeting.

Detached youth work on Winn Gardens has been a regular fixture with Suzanne since the end of last year, taking a short break when the weather was too bad. We continue to engage with the young people on a weekly basis with a view to re-establishing some formal youth work when this is possible. We have seen this grow rapidly and tend to engage with around 35-40 young people each week.

Illuminate Football has been on hold for most of the last 6 months, but since Easter the league has been able to play again, and we currently have teams in the U16 & U18 leagues.

Young adult ministry took a back seat as we relaunched all the established youth ministries, but I have been reaching out to some of the young adults in the congregation and hope to see this ministry develop over the next year.

Vision for the next year:

I am so excited for all that is in store for the youth ministry at St. John’s over the next year. The easing of Covid-19 related restrictions will allow us to go forward with our plans for more in person youth work, both of the silly, energetic variety, and the studies and quiet questioning. Across the diocese youth workers have experienced lower numbers over the last year whilst engaging online, so we look forward not only to being back in person, but hopefully also fostering relationships with those who have struggled with zoom over the last year, and being able to engage better again with those on the fringes of our ministry.

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Prayer points:

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Walking the Journey Together

THE FAMILY WORKS – Andrea Liversidge

Highlights for year 2020/2021

Vision for 2021/2022

Family Mentor training starts on the 28[th] April for our first cohort of volunteers. Following a period of intensive training we will start working with our first families from our community in June 2021. In September 2021 we aim to review the number of families we are working with and how many families have been referred to us. Each Link Worker we appoint can work with up to 15 families and each Family Mentor will work with one family. Our vision is to appoint more Link Workers from the beginning of 2022 in order to serve more families.

In 2022 there may also be potential to partner with other government agencies in order to gain more secure funding and offer a more holistic range of support.

How can church family pray

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PARISH OF ST JOHN THE BAPTIST, OWLERTON

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS - YEAR ENDED 31st DECEMBER 2020

2 INCOMING RESOURCES
2 a) Voluntary income
Gift aid giving
Non gift aid giving
Tax recovery from Gift aid
Collection Plate
2 b) Other Voluntary Income
Grants
Charitable giving
Social Fund
Youth Minister
Miscellaneous
Building Project
2 c) Income from Charitable & Ancillary Trading
Memorial Hall Lettings
Church Lettings
Fees - Weddings & Funerals
2 d) Income from Deposits
Interest - Hall
Interest - Church
2 e) Other income
TOTAL INCOMING RESOURCES
GIFT Aid Adjustment
SAGE
less 2019 accrual
add 2020 estimate July - Dec		 Unrestricted
Funds
£		 Restricted
Funds
£		 Total
2020
£		 Total
2019
£
115,671
19,012
24,135
2,211		 11,665
7,668
2,917		 127,336
26,680
27,052
2,211		 125,523
22,598
38,082
7,563
161,029 22,250 183,279 193,766
900 25,251
-
-
600		 25,251
-
-
-
900
600		 28,670
1,550
789
-
551
3,720
900 25,851 26,751 35,280
-
30
3,386		 -
30
3,386		 -
1,124
3,484
3,416 - 3,416 4,608
7,456 -
-		 7,456
-		 -
174
7,456 - 7,456 174
- - - -
172,801 48,101 220,902 233,828
£
33818
-15000
8234
27052

PARISH OF ST JOHN THE BAPTIST, OWLERTON

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS - YEAR ENDED 31st DECEMBER 2020

3 RESOURCES USED
3a) Grants
Missionary & charitable giving:-
Overseas mission, social relief, development
agencies, Home Missions, Busaries, Relief
3 b) Activities directly relating to the work of
the church
Administration
Capital Expenditure
Childrens Work
Church Running Costs
Routine Maintenance - Church
Ministries
Common Fund (paid to Diocese)
Employment Costs (Staff)
Staff Expenses
Sunday services
Youth Ministry
Hall Running Costs
Social Fund
Music/ Misc
Winn Gardens
Church Exension Project
TOTAL RESOURCES USED		 Unrestricted
Funds
£		 Restricted
Funds
£		 2020
Total
£		 2019
Total
£
11,582 11,582 11,306
11,582 - 11,582 11,306
9,789
724
1,205
11,473
2,078
825
75,000
42,030
1,007
4,980
-
875		 45,714
6,491
853
-
5,542
-		 9,789
724
1,205
11,473
2,078
825
75,000
87,744
7,498
4,980
853
-
-
875
5,542
-		 11,521
-
1,923
12,349
1,780
1,171
89,300
74,872
9,497
3,800
6,371
-
231
554
3,135
15,155
149,986 58,600 208,586 231,659
161,568 58,600 220,168 242,965

PARISH OF ST JOHN THE BAPTIST, OWLERTON

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS - YEAR ENDED 31st DECEMBER 2020

4) Staff Costs
Salaries
5) Debtors
Tax Recoverable re Gift Aid estimate July - Dec
Prepayments per SAGE
Lettings and Other Debtors
6) Liabilities
Other Accruals per SAGE		 Total
2020
£
87744
2020
£
8234
7599
15833
5290
5290

7) Analysis of Funds

Analysis by asset
Current Assets
Current Liabilities
Analysis by fund
General
Church Development Fund
General Account
Yorkshire Bank - current
Church Development Fund		 Unrestricted
Funds
£		 Restricted
Funds
£		 Total
2020
£
303312
-5290		 35364 338676
-5290
298022 35364 333386
17740
280282		 35364 53104
280282
298022 35364 333386
2020
2019
Diff
15822
15821
1
26739
27804
-1065
280282
272231
8051
322843
315856
6987

PARISH OF ST JOHN THE BAPTIST, OWLERTON

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS - YEAR ENDED 31st DECEMBER 2020

Notes 2020 2019
£ £
CURRENT ASSETS
Fixed Assets
Debtors 5 15833 22204
Cash at Bank 7 322843 315856
338676 338060
LIABILITIES
Amounts falling due within one year 6 5290 5408
NET ASSETS 333386 332652
FUNDS
Unrestricted 7 298022 297288
Restricted 7 35364 35364
333386 332652

Approved by the Parochial Church Council on x

Chairman: Revd Joy French :

Examine r s R epo r t 2020

In d epen d ent Examine r ’s R epo r t of the r T ustees of St John’s Owle r ton Chu r ch . I report on the accounts of the church for the year ended 2020, which a re set out on pages XX to XX.

R espective r esponsibilities of r t ustees an d examine r The church’s t rustees a re responsible for the p reparation of the accounts. The church’s trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year under section 144(2) of the Charities Act 2011 and that an independent examination is needed.

It is my responsibility to:

Basis of in d epen d ent examine r ’s r epo r t My examination was carried out in accordance with the general D ri ections given by the Charity Commission. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and comparison of the accounts p resented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items o r disclosures in the accounts, and seeking explanations f rom you as t rustees concerning any such matters. The p rocedures undertaken do not p rovide all the evidence that would be required in an audit and consequently no opinion is given as to whether the accounts p resent a ‘t rue and fair view’ and the report is limited to those matters set out in the statement below.

Since the g r oss income fo r the yea r excee d s the amount p r ovi d e d in section 145 (3) of the Act, I conf r m that I am qualife d to act as In d epen d ent Examine r un d e r the p r ovisions of that section of the Act an d that my qualifcation is as shown below .

In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention:

Name: Matthew Kilner

Date: 13th May 2021

Relevant p rofessional qualifcation o r body: Association of Accounting Technicians Address: 100 C rimicar Lane, Fulwood, SHEFFIELD, S10 4FE

D etail of Examination

Due to the ongoing Covid 19 pandemic, I was unable to look at any physical invoices.

Que r ies

Notes - 2

Balsheet

Explanation 1

This relates to how the gift aid is calculated. We accrue for the last 6 months of the year as there is no chance of submitting the claims before the accounts a re p roduced. How it works is we knocked of the 2019 accrual b/f and dda ed in the estimate for 2020. The 2020 estimate of £8,234 is also included as a debtor on the BS. dIt is ifcult to do estimates on SAGE, hence the diference.