## **The Ecclesiastical Parish of St. John the Baptist, Owlerton, Sheffield** Charity Number 1127215 ## **Chairman’s commentary and Annual Report for the year ended 31[st] December** ## **2025** The trustees present their report and financial statements for the year ended 31[st] December 2025. The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011, and comply with the charity’s constitution. ## **Charity Objectives** The charity’s objectives are: _“To proclaim and demonstrate the love of God, and to lead and support people in becoming wholehearted followers of Christ.”_ The Trustees (who are also members of the Parochial Church Council, or PCC) have the responsibility of cooperating with the incumbent, Rev’d Robert Bridgewater, and the staff team, in promoting the mission of the church, which is pastoral, evangelistic and social. The PCC has maintenance responsibilities for the church building. New trustees are briefed on their roles and their responsibilities, their legal obligations under charity law, the content of the constitution, the decision making process and the recent financial performance of the charity. The trustees confirm that they have referred to the guidance contained in The Charity Commission’s Guidance “Public Benefit: The Public Benefit Requirement (PB1)” when reviewing the Charity’s aims and objectives and in planning future activities. The Trustees are also aware of The Charity Commission’s Guidance “The Advancement of Religion for Public Benefit” and have had regard to it in their administration of the Charity. The Charity provides the following activities for the benefit of the general public: - The celebration of public worship - The teaching of the Christian faith - Mission and evangelism - Pastoral work, including with the sick and bereaved - The provision of facilities with a Christian ethos, but open to all, for the local community, (including but not restricted to) the elderly, the young and other groups with additional needs: and - The support of other charities in the UK and overseas Part of the budget is allocated to supporting mission and activities beyond St. John’s Church. Distribution is organised by the Mission Matters groups and agreed with the Trustees. All church activities rely heavily on the contribution of volunteers, whose time, effort, prayer and dedication are greatly appreciated. ## **Our Trustees and Office holders** Rev. Rob Bridgewater – Chair (from 12 November 2025) Mrs. Katie Kerr – Vice Chair Mr. Brian Wilson – Churchwarden (from 20 May 2025) Mr. Malcolm Drew – Churchwarden Mrs. Alison Crofton Mr. Keith Barber Mr. Nick Cooper Dr. Brian Hopkins Mr. Andy Wood Mr. Phillip Tapper Mrs. Pip Martin (from May 2025) Mrs. Victoria Hollings (from May 2025) Mrs. Penny Dawson (from May 2025) Mr. Jamie Hollings Parish Safeguarding Officer (from July 2025) ## **Our staff team** Rob Bridgewater - Oversight Minister Jude Cooper – Administrator Joel Hamer – Winn Gardens Community Pioneer Adam Woodhouse – Youth and Children’s team leader Mike Taylor – Buildings Manager ## **Electoral Roll** The St John’s Owlerton electoral roll in April 2026 records 113 members. In May 2025 the figure stood at 111 members. ## **Sunday attendance** We regularly gather around 86 adults and 20 children and young people each week. Due to the departure of the Digital Lead, Mark Depledge at the end of 2025, we temporarily paused streaming our services. In April 2025, we recommenced streaming our entire services specifically to those who are unable to get to church in person. ## **Oversight Minister’s report** On our first Sunday - back in November - Caroline and I got home after the service, looked at each other and said, ‘this feels like home’. What a gift it is to be the Oversight Minister at St John’s! I’m profoundly thankful to God therefore for leading us here. Many thanks too to the team who led the church through the interregnum, and for those involved in the discernment process. 2 I’m ever more convinced that the most astounding transformation for any human being is through putting their trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, and then growing in love for him. So many of our testimonies are rooted in this. Back in November, this is why we started by looking at Luke’s gospel when Jesus ‘set his face toward Jerusalem’ to face the cross, and claim victory through his resurrection. We are simply to be followers along the Way, fixing our eyes in Jesus as he fixes his on Jerusalem. My job, as well as also being a follower, is to constantly keep directing us all to him, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. (Hebrews 12:2). My prayer is that the Lord would lead us through growth, numerically and in depth of faith. There are so many good things already in place for this. - St John’s has a wonderful reputation for being a welcoming church and that has been very much our experience. - This year I’ve been involved in the Alpha course, which has introduced many to Jesus. - I’ve enjoyed getting along to Me & Thee for more mature folk, whether believers or not, and had good natters with parents at our Toddler group on Mondays, and Babies group on Tuesdays. - We have vibrant children and youth ministries which are essential to continuing well as God’s church. All these – and others – are the ways God can use us to grow his church. In terms of the vicarage, Grenoside is a lovely place to live, but Caroline and I are convinced that it would be far better to live within the parish if at all possible. The PCC and I are working with the Diocese to resolve this, whether that is recommissioning the existing vicarage, or finding an alternative. Please do pray for this: currently there is no easy solution. I am thankful to more of you than it is possible to list, but I’d like to note a few folk in particular. I’m particularly grateful to our two wardens, Brian and Malc who I’ve leant on heavily in these first few months. Our PCC has taken on the task of being the ‘Owlerton Mission Society’ amazingly well, and we’ve got a fantastic staff team in Adam, Joel, Jude and Mike. We were sad to say goodbye to Claire Keppas and Mark Depledge, but their diligent handover enabled things to continue without too much mishap on my part. I’m glad to have Jamie Hollings as our Safeguarding Officer among his many other talents. Lastly, would you give thanks for all the things set out in this report? And would you also pray for me as things unfold in 2026? Would you pray for God to give me strength and joy to stay close to him in prayer and word? Would you pray for his wisdom so that I can serve and love you all as well as possible? Would you ask him to help me remain honest before you and in need a saviour as much as anyone? And would you pray for us all to know and feel joy of following Jesus along the Way, even in the middle of hardships? I’m looking forward to where God takes us all on the adventure ahead. ## **Report on the Proceedings of the PCC** 2025 was a big year of change, with Toby Hole leading the PCC at the beginning of the discernment process for the new Oversight Minister – I’m very glad to have been selected for this post and thankful for Toby’s time in his role as well. As well as our main topics, PCC meetings cover a number of standing items each month, including safeguarding. Some items are covered every other month, such as finances. 3 In terms of the main topics each meeting, these are as follows. In May 2025 the PCC received an update about Winn Gardens, with some discussion around the proposed church plant. There was an update about maintaining good Safeguarding practice at church as well. Adam Woodhouse provided a Youth and Children’s update in June, and an agenda-setting process was agreed. A substantial buildings update was given the following month, in July, along with some discussion of looking after the staff team from within the PCC. August’s meeting focused on preparation prior to the licensing service for the new Oversight Minister. In September Mark Depledge set out his communication strategy to the PCC, and the PCC also formally lodged an objection to the sale of the vicarage. The October PCC meeting including some focus on Christmas planning, a finance update, quantifying the deficit for 2025 and the new AV gallery, which is now in place. November’s meeting again focused on finances and the PCC reviewed a youth and children’s update, and a Mission Matters update. The December PCC meeting was Rob’s first, and the sole item for discussion and agreement was the 2026 budget. Rob introduced a minister’s update section in January 2026, and asked the PCC to set out a vision for itself as the Owlerton Mission Society to help us shape our priorities as a church. There was significant discussion on building maintenance projects – both priority and funding. At March’s meeting, Joel set out the plan for the Winn Garden’s church plant launch in the Autumn of this year. April’s meeting focused on how Small Groups fit into St John’s mission, alongside discussion on the future of the vicarage. ## **Finance overview** See separate report. ## **Churchwardens’ Report** A year of change! Can we first of all give a massive ‘THANK YOU’ to the staff and to the congregation, who have all played their part during this year. It has been a joy for us all to see all the church come together. And keep the name of Jesus at the forefront of all we do. We also said a big ‘thank you’ to Toby, Kirsty and Paul, who moved on from St John’s in the early summer. This has definitely been a year of two halves. The first half being one of anticipation. As we as a congregation prayed and looked forward to God providing us with a new spiritual leader whilst keeping a grip on the day to day running of the church. The second half of the year bringing inspiration. With our prayers answered in the form of Rob arriving with his lovely family. No settling in period here with Jesus at the front of all he envisages for St Johns. We are certainly blessed to have Rob as our new minister. With regards to the fabric of St John’s, some areas have been identified as needing work. The first being part of the boundary wall which needed rebuilding. 4 The one most noticeable the new AV gallery which has given more space at the entrance of the church and an upgrade for the AV team. This has been made possible by the gifts of certain members of the congregation. There are other upgrades ongoing some of which are being done to meet new legislation. Two of the major ones, for which we would appreciate your prayers, are the new notice boards outside and the changes to the entrance doors to meet the requirements of ‘Martyn’s Law’. The building committee has been busy completing the requirements of works to be carried out by the architects inspection which we are pleased to say is now on schedule. Once again, many thanks for all your support. Malc and Brian 5 ## **Building Committee** Included in Churchwardens report above. ## **Safeguarding – Jamie Hollings, Parish Safeguarding Officer** St. John's Owlerton is committed to high standards in the safeguarding and care of children, young people and vulnerable adults. Throughout the year we have ensured that: - All staff and volunteers have been recruited appropriately and safely, taking up references and ensuring that DBS checks are undertaken and maintained. - All staff and volunteers working with children, young people and vulnerable adults have undertaken safeguarding training appropriate to their role. - All PCC Trustees and Licenced Lay Readers have completed safeguarding training, and we have undertaken the relevant DBS checks. A Parish Safeguarding Policy is in place and was approved by PCC at their meeting on 10/07/2024. This will be reviewed yearly. - We are in the process of ensuring all individual DBS and training data is held within ChurchSuite – this is ongoing and will take time to complete, however it will be very useful going forward. - The Parish Safeguarding Dashboard is now in use to record key church data and as its use grows the level of data that can be recorded will grow, allowing reporting and analysis to PCC or for other purposes upon request. - Paul Massey was been the Parish Safeguarding Officer until last year’s APCM, and we are very grateful for his service. I (Jamie) took over in July last year. - Safeguarding training and DBS administration is undertaken currently by me who monitors and follows up with individuals as necessary to ensure that training records and DBS compliance are in date. It is planned that some of this work is to be shared with Jude as her role becomes embedded. - Any confidential information is held by the PSO and recorded in such a way as to maintain that confidentiality. - Where there has been a cause for concern this has been raised with the Parish Safeguarding Officer and a Cause for Concern form completed. - There has been regular liaison between Jamie, as PSO, and the Diocesan Safeguarding Team following the receipt of any cause for concern. The Oversight Minister is kept involved as needed. The Diocesan Safeguarding Advisors have been supportive of our actions and proposed actions on every occasion. Liaising with other PSOs from other parishes has also been a very valuable part of the job, to ensure concerns are both recorded and shared, when need be, with others within Sheffield. ## **Mission Matters** The Mission Matters group, which all church members are welcome to attend, now meet at least every 2-3 months to discuss mission matters, pray for mission and allocate funding from the church tithe to support a number of gospel-focused Christian organisations. Information about the missions we have supported over the previous year is available on the church website and we have attempted to highlight and pray for each of them during Sunday services, a mission focused café church, a youth led mission prayer and worship evening and at other mission-specific events. 6 Members of the Mission Matters team have also spoken about mission to various church groups such as Me and Thee, kids church and youth meetings. We have set up and encouraged the use of WhatsApp prayer groups to provide information and specific prayer requests for individual mission partners and to support Alpha courses at St Johns. Many church members have given generously of their time, resources and finances to support and pray for mission. In addition, St Johns Church gave financial donations to the following organisations in 2025. Further information can be found about each of these on the church website: |•|Arise Shefeld|£860| |---|---|---| |•|The Oakes|£600| |•|For Another Human|£350| |•|Faith in Acton Ministries|£1000| |•|Open Doors/Good news for everyone|£600| |•|Romans 1:11|£600| |•|Combined Hope and Aid Relief Mission|£250| Any church member may request support for a mission organisation or individual via an application from which is available from the church office or Mission Matters team. Latest applications will be discussed at the next Mission Matters meeting on 22[nd] June 2026 and a decision will be made about which missions to support in the coming year. Following this meeting, a full report of the previous year’s activity and priorities for the coming year will be made available. ## **Hallam Deanery Synod Report** I’m afraid that having only joined this deanery in November, only one meeting was held since my arrival, which I was unable to attend. Normally there are three meetings a year. Deanery Synod is an opportunity for lay members and clergy to get together in the area that covers Fulwood down to Philadelphia across to Bradfield, and down to us. Dan Brown from Wadsley is the Area Dean, and is keen to promote mission and evangelism as much as possible. We are currently without Synod representatives- it would be good to have two reps in place for the year ahead. (Rob Bridgewater) ## **APCM Ministry reports** ## **Youth (Adam Woodhouse)** Brief description of what your ministry role is: Ministry Lead for Youth Children and Families Ministry Highlights and encouragements through this year: ‘Dunkin’ sessions on a Sunday Morning continue to be well received for both Youth and guests with over 20 people sometimes attending. Sunday evenings have continued well with a successful Youth Alpha course being run in 2026. Various outings have happened including Escape room, Steelers trip with Hillsborough Methodist Church and Bowling. Summer camps around the country seem to be encouraging our young people in their faith journey supported by evening and Sunday morning youth Bible Studies. A new Lads group is 7 developing as well as conversations about how we support young adults and students, watch this space. This year we set up a support network/keep in touch with those going to university or starting a Gap Year. A very successful youth prayer and praise night was held in July 2025. Areas for growth over the next year: Look at possibilities of residentials and mission trips as a church group including a Uganda trip in 2027. We would love a few more volunteers on Sunday Mornings to give the young people different voices and faith journeys to learn from, we particularly need some more female leaders on a Sunday evening. Looking at possible high school engagement and college. More engagement with youth on planning activities and Bible Study subjects. Look at possible mentoring especially young leaders. Look at discipleship of young people including links with more advanced Bible Study or Alpha for example. Please pray for: Young people who are doing exams and those moving on to university and gap years. Various summer residentials due to take place this year and for young people to grow in faith. For new ideas and fresh vision for the team. Who would you like to thank? (team, volunteers) All our volunteers who give up time to help with our youth activities. Jude who helped at Encounter. Claire/Jamie and Jude for the behind the scenes safeguarding work. And a network of volunteers who stand in often at short notice! Last but not least, all those who have survived a grilling at Dunkin on a Sunday – Well done! **Children (Adam Woodhouse)** Brief description of what your ministry role is: Ministry Lead for Youth Children and Families Ministry Highlights and encouragements through this year: Both Baby and Toddlers groups have continued to grow this year, it is great to see them progress to Toddler group from Babies and also attend some other church events like the Good Friday Easter morning. Sunday School has again established two groups an under 5s and over 5s, we pray for continued growth in this area and later in 2026 we will be starting a Creche with a new team of volunteers. The Good Friday family morning was well received this year with over 50 in attendance including 26 children. We have continued a good partnership with Rivelin School with weekly visits to school and occasional visits to church by children and their teachers. Adam is also continuing to help Open the Book Assemblies. Children moving up to Key stage 2 and 3 have also received prayer and gifts in church at the start of the academic year. Areas for growth over the next year: 8 New volunteers are always welcome and we are ensuring new team members are supported through safer recruitment and induction into their roles. There has been a steady flow of new volunteers in 2026 including for the new Creche team. We will be looking at doing some children’s activities through the summer holidays and also investigating midweek activities. We are also looking at ways to be inclusive to our children who have additional needs. Please pray for: All the children, parents and volunteers who are part of the St John’s Church. Pray for staff and Children of Rivelin Primary School and for the partnership with the church. Who would you like to thank? (team, volunteers) All the amazing helpers who encourage, equip and give up their time and energy to work with our Baby, Toddlers and Sunday School Groups. I would also like to thank Kirsty who has co-ordinated a lot of the Children’s work over the last 12 months and for Paul for moving 100s of chairs / toys and a vast amount of equipment! 9 **Winn Gardens (Joel Hamer)** Brief description of your ministry role: Community Pioneer to Winn Gardens ## Ministry highlights and encouragements through the year: - Multiple 1-1 discipleship journeys have started with people this year – this has been such an encouragement, we are hopeful that the church plant structure will provide space for them to grow in relationship with God and will draw others into relationship with Him as well. - Weekly community café is gradually growing and developing, but the great encouragement is that those that have been attending regularly are finding joy in those café times, some have been doing bible study with Jude Cooper, and others have gone to church off the back of these times. - Establishment of the Community Pantry – this started last August providing a £3 weekly parcel of food (sourced from Fareshare). This has been such a success that we have increased the number of families being served from 23 to 45 in April 2026. The pantry is self-sustaining in that the money paid for the parcels by the families on the estate covers the cost of the food from Fareshare, and even exceeds what is needed meaning we are able to re-invest some of this money into other activities on the estate. - Multiple large events held alongside other local partners that have delivered fun days for residents on the estate. These have been attended by between 150 and 200 people each time. We are running another one of these events alongside the Local Area Committee in April. - Friday Worship and Prayer has been a time of consistent encouragement, and faith being built for what God can do on Winn Gardens. It’s a joyful time and a time of sharpening each other in faith. - Over the last year the Kids Club has grown and we now have around 25 children on the books with around 15 attending each week. We use this time to share bible stories, and life lessons with the kids but also simply as a space to build relationships of trust. We are seeing that the children are trusting the volunteers more and more and we are praying this will lead to more faith conversations. - Steps have been taken towards the start of the Winn Gardens Church Plant which is incredibly exciting. We have people interested in being part of the team and are looking to start meeting as a team in May 2026. The diocese have given us backing and suggested funding. I am looking into training options to develop my own theological training as I step into this leadership role. - Christmas and Easter events have seen the gospel shared in various ways with residents and this year we tried out a new approach to Halloween encouraging light on the estate by starting conversations about Jesus and handing out hot drinks during what can be a dark night. - We started a monthly Community Meal that has seen as many as 35 people come along. During this time we provide a free meal and encourage people to share what they’re thankful for. We also put various questions on the table for people to discuss which range from ‘if you were a colour what would you be?’ to ‘what is the greatest decision you’ve ever made?’. Our hope is to draw people into life-giving conversations and start thinking about faith at the same time. We’ve had various opportunities to share about Jesus and pray with people off the back of this. 10 - Foodbank has been forced to shrink to only provide 20 parcels per week due to financial issues that S6 foodbank are experiencing. As such we have ceased fresh fruit and veg provision as this was not the best use of finance. The clothes bank continues to provide essential clothing and household goods for families, and we have seen a real impact of this during the year. We are encouraging foodbank users to move to the community pantry giving them more financial responsibility and independence. Citizens advice continue to provide vital support to people during foodbank sessions – unfortunately the funding for the debt support worker has run out so we are attempting to pick up some of this work at community café. ## Areas for growth over the next year: - Establishing a mentoring scheme in Hillsborough Primary School through Transforming Lives for Good. Hillsborough Primary are showing us an open door to mentor children that are struggling through school. I have partnered with the families worker from Christchurch Hillsborough Wadsley Bridge to make this possible such that our church mentors children from Winn Gardens, and their church mentors the children from other parts of the area. We are waiting on the school to progress this further but hope to start in September. - Growing a church family/consistent congregation at Winn Gardens and beginning to establish structures and patterns that will lead to long term growth. - Looking into the potential for funding for a secondary worker on the estate as I transition into leading the church plant part time. - We continue to be hopeful for the establishment of a Community Garden to grow food and teach skills to residents, and provide a space for children, youth, and adults to gather together. With the promised building of a new youth and community building we are hoping that the area behind this might become the community garden as plans for the bowling lawn have stalled time and time again. - We’d love our foodbank team to litter pick on the estate during Thursday sessions now that the sessions have reduced in size. And we want to provide breakfast for foodbank users – we have found it difficult to build meaningful relationships through the foodbank over the last year and are attempting to find ways to naturally build relationship and friendship with people. ## Please pray for: - All of the above!! - Team for the Winn Gardens church plant – we’d love a team of 20 and 7 are currently interested. Pray that as I share with other churches in the area there are people in those congregations who are called. - Funding decisions as I transition into leading the church and the possibility of taking on another paid worker for the estate. - More volunteers for our weekly activities! ## Who would you like to thank: - First and foremost we thank God for the way he is drawing people to himself, and we thank holy spirit for bringing transformation in people’s lives! - The wonderful volunteers who help with Kids Club, Community Pantry, Community Café, Walk and Talk, and Foodbank each week. You are wonderfully generous with your time and I am loving seeing your hearts for the people of Winn Gardens grow! 11 - Rob for bringing wise oversight that has been so valuable especially as we look to establish the church plant. - The St John’s staff team that has been supportive throughout the year prayerfully and practically – thanks team! - Brian Wilson for taking charge of paying invoices and holding some of the financial admin elements after Claire left for her new job and before Jude took on the role. - Those of you who faithfully pray for the work at Winn Gardens, keep it up, we are seeing how prayer shifts the atmosphere! ## **Music worship (Laura Whittaker)** Brief description of your ministry role: Co-ordinating, developing and leading the sung worship and music for the community of St Johns Owlerton. Ministry highlights and encouragements through the year: This year has been a big year of change for the worship team at St Johns Owlerton. We started the year with lots of new songs to introduce to the church and a strong team of musicians. The Carol service has been one of the big highlights of the year - the whole team of musicians worked together to bring this service back in house after a few years of trying other things. It really was a team effort with everyone bringing their skills and experience together to bring worship into the heart of the carol service. In January we saw Mark Depledge move on from his role in St Johns and Laura Whittaker has now taken over the co-ordination of the worship within the church. This, along with other changes in the worship team has meant that we are getting used to a smaller band on a typical Sunday morning but it has been so encouraging to see the team pull together and continue to lead us all in singing worship to our awesome God! It has been really encouraging over the past year to see people joining the worship team and bringing their skills and expertise to the team. The worship and AV team have also been working to try and gain greater control of the volume levels of the band and especially the drum kit. We have been trying out various solutions and will continue to work together to ensure our sung worship is as accessible to everyone in the church. Areas for growth over the next year: After a year with much change in the team and church leadership, the next year feels like it needs to be one of settling and reflection. Over the next year my hope is for the team to grow in strength and number. To find new ways to bring music into the heart of St Johns 12 both on Sunday mornings and at other times and occasions to aid the ministry and mission of the church. Please pray for: - More musicians to come forward and join the team - Strength and grace in our relationships across the team to support one another and build each other up. - God to speak clearly about the direction and role of music within the life and worship of St Johns and a willingness amongst his church here to follow where he leads. - Who would you like to thank: Everyone in the worship who gives up their times early on Sunday morning and during the week to prepare, practice and use their skills to lead us all into God’s presence through sung worship each week Martin Lymn and the AV team who work tirelessly behind the scenes to pull everything together so well. You are all absolutely superstars! ## **AV and digital media (Martyn Lymn)** ## Brief description of your ministry role: AV Team Leader, responsible for coordinating the team, training the team, and supporting the team. ## Ministry highlights and encouragements through the year: Having only been coordinating the team since the end of December 2025, I can onlyu comment on my experiences since then, the key take homes for me as the oversight of the team are as follows. - The real sense of team, everyone supports each other, and is so willing to serve. The team has been really helpful to me, enabling us to provide the AV provision for Sunday services and various other events, it is great to have a team so willing to serve. - The building of the AV Gallery, this really has been a blessing, giving the team greater visibility of what’s happening up front, and the way it makes the area tidier and clears the entrance into Church. - As noted by Malc Drew on Sunday 19[th] April, it is great to have so many younger members of the team serving on Sundays, I know when I was younger getting involved with tech at Church was what kept me going, we are incredibly blessed to have such a great group that are so willing to volunteer and step in at late notice, I have also learnt a lot from the younger members of the team, even though I work in IT and use computers on a daily basis, I am still learning different ways to get to the same point. It never ceases to amaze me how quickly the younger members pick up the skills, and their abilities will soon exceed anything I can do! 13 - The support of the Church, thank you to everyone who takes the time to say well done to the team, it really is appreciated, and thanks to those who have shown patience and grace to me. - The sense of fun we have as a team on a Sunday morning, it really creates a great vibe within the team. ## Areas for growth over the next year: - There is always a need for more volunteers, please get in touch if you feel this is an area where you feel called to. No previous experience is required, just a willingness to learn and to serve, there are 3 distinct roles, Sound, Stream, and ProPresenter. Full training will be given, and you won’t be thrown in the deep end, there will be an experienced team member with you until you are confident. The more people we have that are available the better for everyone. - For the entire team and myself to progress how we utilise the technology we have available, I have been learning a lot from YouTube videos, these can give great ideas about how we can improve. My vision and thoughts are that when we are serving on the AV Team, it is an act of worship, because of this I feel we need to strive to give the best we can as this act of worship, and as we as team get more confident, the physical act of running the technology becomes an extension of our worship to God. - The final updates to the AV Gallery, the storage drawers and camera mountings. - Look at growing the YouTube channel by creating shorts from the service streams. - Closer integration with the Music team, to create a WORSHIP team, the music team need us, and we need the music team, so let’s work together! ## Please pray for: - The team, that they are blessed in their service. - New members of the team, that God stirs up people to add strength and depth to the team. - A person who can look at the social media and YouTube channel, an how best to extend our reach. ## Who would you like to thank: - The AV Team, thank you for all that you do, this whole thing would not work without your hard work and dedication, thank you all for supporting me, and thank you for enabling the services to go so well. - I know he won’t want it, but immense thanks have to go to Phil Tapper for the hard work and dedication to build the AV gallery, I think we can all agree it has made a huge difference. Thanks also for the generous donations that allowed this project to go ahead. - The younger members of the team, for keeping me on my toes and showing me that I still have things to learn, you are all brilliant. **Me and Thee (Tony Aldworth)** 14 Brief description of your ministry role: To be part of St John's Pastoral Care team, offering a safe space for senior church folk, to meet once a month. The meeting facilitates opportunities for friendships to be nurtured and developed between the members and the leaders, to share life experience, any problems, have fun together and combat loneliness. Ministry highlights and encouragements through the year: Members have attended regularly with a few new faces joining throughout the year. Feedback has been positive with members feeling a sense of belonging. Friendships have strengthened. Laughter is commonplace. Areas for growth over the next year: Ideas for the sessions to enable a variety of entertainment; ie speakers, choirs, craft ideas, games etc. Encourage the members that attend M&T to invite friends to come along. Additional volunteers. Please pray for: Funding to enable the group to continue (2 generous grants enabled M&T to start) Pray that God will continue to provide all that is needed for the M&T group to continue into 2027 & future years. Pray for the team who lead and those who help each month. Pray for those who attend but who have yet to make a commitment, to come to faith. Who would you like to thank: For all the volunteers who help the team serve in this ministry. We are particularly thankful for the guests and friends who attend M & T every month. For St John’s supporting this ministry by providing the space for the group to meet and tea and coffee. For Rob who supports this ministry and serves communion at M&T. ## **Alpha (Jude Cooper)** Brief description of your ministry role: Provide a mission outward facing focus for us as a church to be able to bring friends and family members to through hosting the Alpha series of talks and discussions. Ministry highlights and encouragements through the year: We had a good second course last year with some people attending who had recently come to church and some who were enquiring. This pattern has repeated this year. We have also had people return to the course as helpers who had attended the previous year. The main focus of encouragement has been seeing people grow in whatever stage of faith they are at. We have been so blessed to see how God is working in people’s lives. And to see new people added into the church family and become regular attenders. Areas for growth over the next year: - Potential to offer a similar course next year or to change to something different if appropriate. - Ensure a good strategy for linking people who attend Alpha into home groups or into some ongoing discipleship. Please pray for: The last few sessions of the current course, that again people will come to have a real faith and transition in to become part of our church family. 15 Who would you like to thank: Those who have prayed faithfully throughout the course. Those who have provided all the amazing food and the wonderful people who have come to wash up. Plus of course the team who turn up each week to set up and to lead the discussions. It is really a wider church joint effort and as a core team we feel very much supported and encouraged. 16 ## **2025** ## **FINANCIAL REPORT & STATEMENT OF ACCOUNTS** The vision of St John’s church is to proclaim and demonstrate the love of God and lead and support people in becoming wholehearted followers of Christ. ## **Page Contents** 2. Summary 3. Income 4. Expenditure 5. Other notes and balance sheet 6. Independent Examiner’s report Approved by the Parochial Church Council on 13[th] April, 2026 Chairman: Revd Rob Bridgewater ## **2025 FINANCIAL REPORT SUMMARY** _(if you don’t read any other pages, please read this page)_ |||**INCOME**|**INCOME**|**INCOME**|||**EXPENDITURE**||**SURPLUS/DEFICIT**| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| |Area of activity||**“Restricted Income”**
_Donations and grants restricted by the_
_donor and so must be used for specific_
_areas of expenditure_||**“Unrestricted**
**Income”**
_Donations with no_
_restrictions as to_
_their use_
|

Total
Income||Total
Expenditure||Difference
between Income
and Expenditure| |||External Grants
+ Other Income|
Donations from
Individuals *
+ Other Income|
Donations from
Individuals *
+ Other Income|||||| |**General**
_(incl. Children's, Under 5s,_
_Digital, Admin, Buildings)_||£0|£598|£156,733|£157,331||£165,992||-£8,661| |**Youth & Young Adults**||£10,000|£13,492||£23,492||£34,696||-£11,204| |**Winn Gardens**
_(incl. Foodbank)_||£28,038|£10,407||£38,445||£45,402||-£6,957| ||||||||||| |Totals||£38,038|£24,497|£156,733|**£219,268**||**£246,090**||**-£26,822**| ||||_(* income figures above include Gift Aid)_||||||| ## **Key highlights** - We want to thank God and the church members for all the ways people contribute to our shared church life and our mission and ministry. This may be through prayer, through volunteering, through caring for one another, and through financial giving. God has faithfully provided for the needs of the church through the individuals and families giving, as well as other grants and income. - Having expenditure higher than our income in 2025 is a difficult financial situation to be in, for both the short and long term. The PCC has responsibility for this and is seeking to address it in different ways. This is a change to our financial situation from previous years and so the PCC has examined why. 2024 was an unusual year as some staff positions were unfilled and so comparing our current position with 2023 is more helpful. This shows that our expenditure has stayed roughly the same (and decreased in some areas) but our income has significantly fallen. - Thanks to the reserves we have in the building development fund we will be able to cover the deficit and the PCC has agreed to undesignated the amount needed to cover this year’s shortfall. However, this isn’t sustainable in the long run and so we are looking at other ways to improve our financial situation. We can see that giving has significantly decreased in the past few years which has brought us to this position. - For 2026, the PCC has set a budget that brings income and expenditure much more in line (a small deficit). This has been done by temporarily reducing the amount that we pay to the diocese (Our Common Fund) and not yet seeking to replace the post vacated by Mark DePledge at the end of last year. 18 ## **Current funds** _(as at 31[st] December, 2025)_ ## _(= money held in bank accounts; this is part of the Balance Sheet on page 5)_ |Designated Reserves|_Church Building Development Fund_
_(remainder of fundsfrom the £300,000 sale of Memorial Hall)_|£83,178| |---|---|---| |Restricted Reserves|_Outstanding amounts from restricted grants and donations_|£28,542| |Operating Reserve|_Reserves policy: Equal to 3-months of 2026 expenditure_|£47,740| |Unrestricted /
General Reserves|_Free Reserves_|£479| |||£159,939| ## **INCOME** _(note 2)_ ||2025|2025|2025||2024| |---|---|---|---|---|---| ||**Unrestricted**
**Funds**
**£**|**Restricted**
**Funds**
**£**|**Total**
**2025**
**£**||**Total**
**2024**
**£**| ||||||| ||||||| |**2 INCOMING RESOURCES**|||||| ||||||| |**2 a) Voluntary income**|||||| |Gift aidgiving|99,675|8,338
108,013
8,253
36,381
-
27,003
-
214|||102,487| |Nongift aidgiving|28,128||||31,112| |Tax recoveryfrom Gift aid|27,003||||25,622| |Collection Plate|214||||1,000| ||**155,020**|**16,591**|**171,611**||**160,222**| ||||||| |**2 b) Other Voluntary Income**|||||| |Grants|||||42,652| |Other Charitablegiving|||||-| |Food Bank|||||4,782| |Social Fund|||||420| |Miscellaneous|100||||700| |BuildingProject|||||-| ||**100**|**43,417**|**43,517**||**48,554**| ||||||| |**2 c) Income from Charitable & Ancillary Trading**|||||| |Church Lettings|513|513
3,331
277
277
-|||2,075| |Fees - Weddings & Funerals|3,331||||3,374| |Eventspayments|||||1,428| |Commissioned Work(TFW)|||||0| ||**3,844**|**277**|**4,121**||**6,877**| ||||||| |**2 d) Income from Deposits**|||||| |Interest - Church|19|19|||22| ||**19**|**-**|**19**||**22**| ||||||| |**2 e) Other income**|||||| ||||||| |**TOTAL INCOMING RESOURCES**|**158,983**|**60,285**|**219,268**||**215,675**| 19 ## **EXPENDITURE** _(note 3)_ **----- Start of picture text -----**
2025 2024
Unrestricted Restricted 2025 2024
Funds Funds Total Total
£ £ £ £
3 RESOURCES USED
3a) Grants
Missionary & charitable giving:-
Overseas mission, social relief, development
agencies, Home Missions, Busaries, Relief 9,075 12,800 9,075
9,075 - 12,800 9,075
3 b) Activities directly relating to the work of the church
Administration 3,798 6,798 8,087
Capital Expenditure - - -
Childrens Work 851 851 910
Church Running Costs 15,387 15,387 14,492
Routine Maintenance - Church 9,329 9,329 4,426
Ministries 1,142 1,142 1,091
Common Fund (paid to Diocese) 75,000 75,000 75,000
Employment Costs (Staff) 36,987 65,730 102,717 64,057
Staff Expenses 3,015 1,999 3,014 4,496
Sunday services 3,337 3,337 4,822
Weddings / Funerals 1,919 1,919 1,919
Youth Ministry 707 707 283
Music/ Misc 1,015 1,015 -
Winn Gardens Outreach 6,454 6,454 9,527
Food Bank 5,620 5,620 17,545
Family Works Outreach - - 5,223
Church Exension Project - -
151,780 80,510 233,290 211,878
TOTAL RESOURCES USED 160,855 80,510 246,090 220,953
**----- End of picture text -----**
20 ## **OTHER NOTES** _(notes 4 to 7)_ **----- Start of picture text -----**
Total Total
2025 2024
£ £
4) Staff Costs
Salaries 102,717 64,057
5) Debtors
Prepayments (Bolier Project 2024) - 37,100
6) Liabilities
Other Accruals 4,300 3,375
Current Liabilities (Boiler Project 2024) 25,000 25,000
29,300 28,375
7) Total Funds Available
Analysis by type of asset
Current Assets (bank balances) 189,239 179,429
Current Assets (prepayments - Bolier Project 2024) - 37,100
Current Liabilities (accruals) - 29,300 - 28,375
= Total funds available 159,939 188,154
Analysis of Total Funds by fund
Church Building Development Fund 83,178 110,000
Restricted Grants and Donations
28,542 39,595
- not available for general church activities
Unrestricted Funds / General Reserves (incl. Operating Reserves) 47,219 38,559
159,939 188,154
**----- End of picture text -----**
## **BALANCE SHEET** |**BALANCE SHEET**|**Notes**||**2025**||**2024**| |---|---|---|---|---|---| ||_(see above)_||**£**||**£**| |**CURRENT ASSETS**|||||| ||||||| |**Fixed Assets**|||||| |Debtors/Prepayments|5||-
189,239||-| |Cash at Bank(bank balances)|7||||216,529| ||||189,239||216,529| ||||||| |**Less LIABILITIES**|||||| ||||29,300||| |Amounts fallingdue within oneyear|6||||28,375| ||||||| |**NET ASSETS**|||159,939||188,154| ||||||| |**FUNDS**|||||| ||||||| |Designated Reserves - Church Buildings|7||83,178
28,542
48,219||110,000| |Restricted Grants and Donations
- not available forgeneral church activities|
7||||39,595| |Unrestricted/General Reserves|7||||38,559| ||||159,939||188,154| 21 Inde endent Examiner's Re ort 2023 CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examinerfs report on the accounts Report to the trusteesl members ol St John's Church (hvlerton On accounts for the year ended 31. C￿Mter X125 Charity no Irf any) 1127215 Set out on pa I re￿rt lo the knjstees on my examinalDn of ￿ aCcO￿ts of the amve chatty Ttusf) for Ihe year eTrJ&J 31112r2025 Rest￿nsIbIlItIeS and basis of report As the chanvs trustees. Y￿ are ￿$t￿nSible for the PfeparatKm of the accounts in accordan￿ with the rewirenEnts of the Charibes Act 2011 (Ihe Acr). I report in reyct of my exaMn2tK￿ of the Tnjsfs aCc￿nts cnd cut uThJer Sed]"C￿ 145 of the 2011 Act and n crn ￿J1 my examination. I have followed all the arolicabÈ DireC￿n$ gven by Ihe Charity Convniss urmder seckn 145(5Kb) oflhe Act. Independent I have comt4et&J my examnal￿. I cc￿firm that no material matters ha examiner's statemeni ccrfne to my akntJ￿ n Connect￿ with the examination which gtves me cause to trElieve that in. any material reSt￿cti the accounb.ng record5 were not kept in accord￿￿ SeC￿n 130 of the Chanties ACL or Ihe accounts did nol accoru wrth Ihe accounting rec(KOs.' or the accounts did rK)t c(¥ntyy Wrth me applicable requIre￿nts conceming the fomi and content of accounts sel (MJI in the Charrt (Accounts and Rep)rtsl RegulabJns 2008 other th￿ any requrement that the act￿nts give a Yrue and fair view which L8 rnl a matter consbjered as part of ￿ Inder￿dent examnalM. I have rm) C(￿CernS aThJ have cm across other matter5 in cOnr￿Cl wrth the examinakn to which attenkn be ¢Yrawn in Ihis rewrt in or￿r to enable a prO￿r un(*rslaTrJing ofthe acc(Knts to be reach&J. Signed: Date: 26r3r2026 Name: J￿￿an Buckley Relevant wofessional qualificationlsl or body lif any): Msc in Chanty Re9)Ur￿ m¥￿geM￿t Dvjm Yi Chw ACC(￿ting Address: 62 Roaj. Sheffiekl. S5 9FN IER 22 Disclosure Only complete If the e'rfaminer needs lo higtt Iighi nialerial n13tters ol C￿CeM (see CC32. In¢JeFeThJeni examiroTh)n of chanty accounts.. direct￿5 and guidance for examiners). Give here br￿f delails of any ilems that the examiner wtshes to disclose. IER 23 St John’s is enormously appreciative of the wonderful generosity of our church members who enable the mission and ministry activities to continue to bear fruit. 24