## Ilford High Road Baptist Church Report and Accounts Year ended 31 March 2023 1 Lamb's Passage, London EC1Y 8AB www.stewardship.org.uk ILFORD HIGH ROAD BAPTIST CHURCH LEGAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023 ADDRESS FOR CORRESPONDENCE 322 High Road Ilford Es58X IG1 1QP GOVERNING DOCUMENT Gon5titution adopted December 2006, as atn8nded Ma￿h 2008 and March 2022. CHARITh REGISTRATION NUMBER 1127683 TRUSTEES RESPONSIBLE FOR MANAGING THE CHARITY Revd Andrew Willis Angela Eversley Patricia Hinds Jennifer Hunte Keith Jordan Iresign8d Jun8 20221 Sana Joseph lan Morri5 ttr8asurerl Sanjeeva Reddy Ojetund8 Sangobiyi Iresigned Nov8mber 20221 Sheila Sinclair Iresign8d Jun8 20221 Onkar Singh lappoint8d July 20221 Abid8tni Tubi Iresigned June 2022, appointed August 20231 Anthony Toer (appointed Dec8mber 20221 CUSTODIAN TRUSTEES The Baptist Union Corporation Litnited BANKERS HSBC Bank plc London Baptist Prop8rty Board Ltd INDEPENDENT EXAMINER Jairn88 Young Stewardship 1 Lamb's Passage LONDON EC1Y8AB INDEX Page 1 Pag8s 2-6 Pag8 7 Pag8 8 Pag8 9 Pages 10-11 L8gal and Adtninistrative Details Trustees, R8POrt Independent Exatnin8r'5 Report Receipts and Payrnent5 Account Staternent of Assets & Liabiliti85 Notes to th8 Aocounts Page 1 ## **Report of the Trustees for the year ended 31 March 2023** ## **Introduction** Ilford High Road Baptist Church is a multi-ethnic community of Christian believers who believe that our lives will only be lived to the full when lived in fellowship with Jesus Christ and we would like others that we live amongst to share that same experience. We also believe that our society will only be at its best when lived by Christian principles as found in the Bible. Located in a highly multi-faith area of East London we seek to present the Christian faith in our worship services, the way we live our lives and the way we seek to serve our neighbours. Our report below shares something of our journey over the last year in seeking to live out our faith. ## **Structure, governance and management** Under the constitution, the executive body of the Church is the Leadership Team comprising the Church staff and elected deacons together with other co-opted members. ## **Objectives** The principal purpose of the Church is the advancement of the Christian Faith according to the principles of the Baptist Denomination. The Church may also advance education and carry out other charitable purposes in the United Kingdom and/or other places. In planning activities, the trustees have had regard to the guidance on public benefit issued by the Charity Commission. Ilford High Road Baptist Church: - Holds worship services that are open to all - Provides pastoral support and care for those in both the Church and wider community - Makes its premises available for a wide range of social action projects, which benefit the community at large. The services provided are open to those of all faiths and/or none. ## **Our Activities** ## **Services of worship:** While Coronavirus had disrupted our regular patten of services on Sunday mornings, since Easter 2021 we have been able to resume services in the church at 9.30am and 11.30am. To these services we have welcomed all, including those of other faiths or none. We are pleased to say that new congregants are attending as well as our regular congregation. Over the last year in addition to celebrating the Christian festivals we have concentrated on understanding our God and what the life of fellowship with Him looks like. Our services are structured to worship God in the Christian tradition, and include prayers for our world, country, town and our congregants. In particular we have sought to uphold our congregation in the challenges of their daily lives, have supported our work amongst the homeless in Ilford and we have continued to pray for Christian churches abroad facing religious persecution. We also regularly pray for those both at home and abroad who are affected by disaster, both natural and man-made. 2 Our worship reflects our diverse congregation and within the services in addition to the worship of God we also seek to understand the teaching of the Bible and explore its application in our daily lives. We continue to post our sermons onto our website which is open to all at https://ihrbc.org.uk In this last year our focus has been on discovering God as; creator, king, priest, a good shepherd, a God who saves and a God who provides, and understanding our life with God as Christians; Gifted, equipped to serve and bless, the hope and joy we have when we have fellowship with Him. We also have a short midweek lunchtime service accessed on Zoom for those who are able to log in. ## **Prayer Meetings:** Our services always include prayer, with intercessions not only for our congregants but also wider national and international issues. In addition, other specific times for prayer are also maintained: we hold prayer meetings most Wednesday evenings (on Zoom) and a half-day prayer meeting (inperson) once a month on a Saturday. All services, prayer meetings, and other weekly events are open to everyone, those of faith or none. ## **Bible studies:** We believe that the Bible is the Word of God and we have created the opportunities to study the Bible together on Sunday evenings by the use of video conferencing. Bible study has also been a regular part of our mid-week home groups. ## **Midweek Home Groups:** During the week our home groups are among the most important of our activities: they give small groups of people the opportunity to meet together, share in Bible study and pray, and through the friendships that are built up to support one another in our daily lives. Some groups meet in person while others meet by video conferencing. Needs have been shared and practical and spiritual support given. ## **Pastoral Support** In addition to pastoral support being provided by the pastor and leadership team we maintain ‘keep in touch groups’ (KIT) with the aim of the congregation supporting each other this includes regular congregants and those who came irregularly, including some whom we had not seen for some time. Group leaders look out for members of their group on a regular basis. Phone calls and text messages have enabled us to provide pastoral support in this way. ## **Children & Youth work:** Our children and young people have been actively involved in the church worship on Sundays and opportunity is made for them to share what they have been learning and doing during the service. The Red Balloon Foundation (RBF) continues to support both our children’s weeknight club and our Young Peoples group. 3 Alongside the 11.00am service, we have age-appropriate programmes for children and Young People where the Christian faith is both taught and discussed. In addition, we are working towards further developing our Young People’s work by employing a part-time youth worker at some point in the future. ## **Support to our local community** As a Christian community we believe that it is important to reach out to our neighbours to help meet their practical needs as well as their spiritual needs. During the last year we were aware of many of the stresses experienced by the people in our community and have opened a Warm Space Café twice a week, offering a place where people can begin to meet, make new friends, share their stories, keep warm and find support to face the future; this is clearly meeting a need. With the aid of a local supermarket, we have been able to support a small number of families with the provision of food, and recently we have been able to extend this help through the good services of Healthy Living Projects using a grant awarded by London Borough of Redbridge to them for this purpose. We live in a town with a number of asylum seekers, and we have been able to provide assistance to some with their application process and additional support while they await a decision from the Home Office. We have been able to open our premises for a short time during the week for private prayer and reflection. We run in-person English language classes, in this way reaching out to those in our community who are disadvantaged by a lack of the English. We run common interest groups: a Knitting Group, Women’s Group, Albanian speaking Group and a Young at Heart Group, we are also planning to restart the Men’s Group. These groups provided an opportunity for those who attended to meet and share friendship and support for one another around a common activity. When we were unable to meet, members of these groups have been supporting each other by phone, text and WhatsApp. We also run a group supporting black boys and men (YBBAMC) equipping them to find their place in society and face the specific challenges that they meet in today’s society. By working alongside Healthy Living Projects (a charity we founded a number of years ago), we host a breakfast club, pre-school and an after-school club on our premises. In addition, to the Welcome centre, which provides services to homeless men and women. A drop-in covering health, wellbeing, routes back into employment, meals, showers, clothing, help and advice covering benefits and housing. Our activities include an association with the North London Iranian Church, a Farsi speaking Christian church, and Kingdom Ministries, who are a Punjabi, Urdu and Hindi speaking Christian church. We open our premises to both churches for church services and Bible study. 4 The Church also supports both in prayer and financially Christian outreach programmes both in the UK and abroad, through: The Baptist Missionary Society, Baptist Home Mission Fund, Christian Education Project (Redbridge), Carmel Ministries (India). ## **Faith outreach to our local community** We have supported our local community by ensuring that our activities are open to all, by creating the opportunity for private prayer, adding relevant material to our website and the use of video conferencing. We have sought to reach out and serve our community in both practical and spiritual ways making the Christian faith relevant to the daily lives of both our own congregation and to those we live and work amongst. We have registered as a Hong Kong Friendly Church ready to welcome people who have arrived in this country from Hong Kong. In addition to the activities listed above we have been exploring the possibility of employing a Minister in Training with Spurgeon’s College later in the year. A person appointed in this way would work with us across all our activities alongside their studies at Spurgeon’s College. ## **Financial review** This financial year the total income increased by £11,400, giving a total income of £151,900. The expenditure also increased by £80,800, to £199,900. As a result, the cash held by the charity decreased by £48,000. We thank God for the generosity of our donors especially over what has been a difficult year. Our Church and hall premises date back to 1907 and are listed with Historic England as good examples of the Arts and Crafts Movement. While the church buildings are well built, repairs are inevitably more expensive. This year unexpected essential work was encountered while extending the manse kitchen adding additional costs. ## **Reserves policy** The trustees have determined that the charity should aim to hold unrestricted cash of no less than £70,000 (which equates to about 6 months of unrestricted expenditure) so that the charity could continue to operate should income and / or expenditure vary adversely. At the year end, the charity held unrestricted cash of £178,000 and the charity is holding funds in excess of this policy for the purpose of funding future activities (especially a Minister in Training and youth worker) and maintaining premises. ## **Governance** Responsibility for setting policy and for making operating decisions rest with the trustees, who meet regularly to monitor the activities of the charity. Under the constitution, the executive body of the Church is the Leadership Team comprising the Church staff and elected deacons together with other co-opted members. New trustees are recruited and appointed by a majority vote of members. Responsibilities of trustees in Charity law requires us as trustees to prepare financial statements for each accounting year that record the receipts and payments of the charity for the year. We are responsible for keeping proper accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and enable us to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Charities Act 2011. 5 We also have a responsibility to safeguard the assets of the charity and to take reasonable steps to prevent fraud or any other irregularities. ## **Approval** This report was approved by the trustees and signed on their behalf by: Ian Morris Date: 13 September 2023 6 INDEPENDENT EXAMINER'S REPORT TO THE TRUSTEES OF ILFORD HIGH ROAD BAPTIST CHURCH I report lo the Iruslees on my examination ol the a¢¢ounts ol Ilford High Road Baptist Church I'the charity'l lor the year ended 31 March 2023 on pages 8 to 11 following. Re$pon$ibilitie$ and basi$ of report As the trustees ol the charity you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 I'lhe 2011 Act'}. I report in respect ol my examination of the charity s accounts Carried out under section 145 01 the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 14515llbl of the 2011 Act. Independent examiner's statement I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come lo my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause lo believe that in any material respect= accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 01 the 2011 Act,. or 2. the accounts do not accord with the accounting records. I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in order lo enable a proper understanding of the awounls lo be reached. Jaimée Young Stewardship 1 Lamb's Passage LONDON EC1Y 8AB Dale.. 20 September 2023 Page 7 ILFORD HIGH ROAD BAPTIST CHURCH RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS ACCOUNT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023 nresirieted Fund General Designated Funds Funds Restricted Funds To 2023 Total 2022 Notes Inconje rece*ts Donations Gitt aid receipts Rental Income 2,616 150 99,393 18.033 26.913 17,087 24,387 26,913 5,000 250 1,749 391 Legacies 5,000 250 1.749 391 198 Oiher 672 rolBlrecelpts 151 879 140463 Paymenls Payments lo charitable aetivilies undertaken directly 175,196 124 175,319 94,980 aetivilies undertaken by others 20,800 850 2,952 24,602 rolBIpayn￿nts 195996 850 199921 Nel of receipts I Ipaymentsl before Iranslers 151.8831 4,150 148,0431 21,362 Transfers between funds 189.0001 89.000 Net movemenl in funds 1140.8831 93.150 148,043 21,362 Cash funds as al lasl year end eash funds at this yearend 225.730 4,781 230,511 209,149 84.846 182468 230511 The notes on pages 11kl I form part of these accounts. Page B ILFORD HIGH ROAD BAPTIST CHURCH STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND UABILITIES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023 Unrestricted Funds Gener Designated funds fU￿S Restricted funds Total 20Z3 TDIBI 2022 A Cash lundg Cash ai bank with imrnediaie access 44.179 40.526 142 4.472 48.651 133.676 142 98.456 131.927 128 Notice deposits Petty cash .150 84,846 93,150 4,472 182,468 2￿,511 Other monetary assets 3.766 425 3.766 425 4.166 2.097 other debiors FAlllng due wfthln one wr.. PAYBNI due BU pension scheme delieil Fee lor Independent Examination 286 Note 6 2.709 1.230 1.230 5.403 FAlllng due after one wr.. Pension Note 6 16.891 16.891 TotAI 1,516 1,516 D Assets retAlnÈd lor chArftys r•wn uge Value 20Z3 Vdue 2022 Church ￿l￿1n9S Church contenis and eqtsipmenl The Welcome Centre 78. Souih Park Road. Illord 8. Sl Road, IIIDrd 11.943.346 84.518 2.691.591 .000.000 287.523 16,006,978 10,759.771 76.765 2,427.043 1,OM.000 259.263 14,522,842 The church buildings lincoyporaiing the Skylightl a￿ U￿er thecust￿laI trusteeship ol the B8plist Union CorporaliDn Ltd. The trustees have used Insurance values gs the trusiees are unable lo religbly estirnate current values.. Insurance values may differ In order to raise sullicient funds to corn￿e1e Ihe buikling DI Ihe Welcome Centre. the iop iwo floors were leased In November 2011 10 Cenlrepoinl lor eo years lorlhe sum of £800.000. The accounis were approved by the trusiees Sign￿ on their behalf daie lan Morris 1S September 2023 The wles on pages 10-11 form ol these attDunls. Page 9 ILFORD HIGH ROAD BAPTIST CHURCH NOTES TO THE ACCOLINTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH %523 1 Accounling polld85 Th& accounls havg bggn ptgpargd on a rgcgpts ar￿ patrThgnts basis ard comprisg a slaToThgnt Ihal shows thg charivs rgcèipts paymgnts. a slatgmgnt T￿1 s￿MarIS￿S charity's assgts and 113bilitigs and rglalgd notgs accounlancy profgssion havg d&te￿ingd that only accounts prwarod In accordancg with aPpI￿a￿ accouThtiry sTa￿a[dS prosgnt a Iru& and fail, vigw a￿. as Ihgsg rocgipts ar￿ paym&Thts accounts mt la￿ canmtl b& ptgpargd In accordar wrth accountlll9 star￿ardS. th8s8 accounls do pres￿1 lar￿ ar8 ￿t Int￿r￿￿d to pr8s8ntl a'tru8 ar￿ fair, vi&w of th& charty's fina￿la1 activrtiés ar￿ slate of aflairs. G8n8tal lUr￿S ai8 UnT88trLtsd knds which ar8 availab￿ at th8 d￿cretion of In of lh8 98n8ral ￿1￿Cliv￿8 lh8 charity- D8signat8d furds compris8 unt￿Str￿téd funds that hav8 b88n sél asid8 by lh8 trust￿ for particular purpos8s ￿esIr1ct8d furds at8 donations are to b séd In aCcorda￿￿1thspeC11￿ I￿Str￿110nS impos8d bydonois.th8y I￿l￿d8 dOnal￿nS r8c8Nédfrom appé& forspgcrfic activili&s 01 pro1￿ts. unr￿lrict￿d Fu￿S G8￿ra1 Desig￿tsd f￿dS funds R￿St￿l￿d FUr￿S Total 2022 2023 2 PayThntsln r8L4tlon toChartt•￿0•rtlvltl￿5 unthrtak8ndlr8ct Ministry 8mploYm￿l￿￿ 8xp8nS8S miss￿￿￿￿O￿tr￿ach Pr￿n￿8S cosls Prop8rty ￿kt￿rts￿Tr AdMinistrat￿n andoth8r sup GoV￿rna￿a costs Not84 30.442 30.442 S2.463 124 44.448 82.302 6.070 44.448 82.302 6.070 43.910 6.155 1.320 94.980 3 Grnits and 91tts Pa￿ to others ArabWO￿ Mini8tri8s l.S50 6.320 6.300 6.300 Catm81 Minislri8s UK HoTh8 Mission Fund 6.300 6.300 Chiistian EducalioTh Projéct ITht8mal￿Tha1 FdlowshipTw8t Batha UK 2.500 324 2.824 3.900 3.900 1,403 1,080 DrgaThisations < £l.000 336 850 850 850 24.602 1.600 20.800 Transl￿an5 wlth ￿l¥tOd partl85 Andrgw Willis s8tvéd as a cthrch 18ad8r and was paid £25.187 12022. £24.5631 for se￿1￿9 In Ihal capacily, ￿t I(￿ s8￿1￿ as a tw8t88.- th888 paym8nts ar p8rmirtéd by lh8 charrty's goV￿r￿￿ docuTh8nt. In addrtion charrty Incuir8d @XP8r￿lIur8 in r8SP8cI of th8 provis￿￿ ol xcOmThodatir￿ (which Is customaryfor mirristst81 loAndr8wWillis. Is atrusl8@. so that Ih8ycould b8tter￿rfo￿n th81rd￿laS. w8r8 mad&to any o1h8rtrusl￿ or pars0￿ r8laléd toth8m. &xwtfor reimburs￿￿￿nt0f 8XP8nS8s paid 0￿0￿b8￿ ol th8 charrty. Pag8 10 ILFORD HIGH ROAD BAPTIST CHURCH NOTES TO THE ACCOLINTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH %523 MowThnt offunds Closing balar bala￿8 Paym8nl8 Transf8rs G￿￿8￿f￿r 225.730 1195,9961 84.846 yo￿hW0[k￿r fnistgr InT￿TrI atdship atthy ￿VIng Projécts Ro.laying churchfor8COUrt 5,000 6.000 33.000 5.000 ss.ooo 4.150 18501 30.000 so.ooo 225.730 1196,8461 Rastr￿1￿dfU￿ Yo￿hw0￿￿r Cornpassio 750 478 50 744 225 2.657 142 13361 TurkgylSyTia3tp8al YBEAMC JIGSAW choirf￿d Olh8rfurrfls 17441 405 574 543 6SO 574 14691 2.766 4.472 182.468 Youlh wor￿[. donalions g￿n￿Of￿111￿at￿I￿adIry ouryouthWr￿k, COM￿aSsion rglatgsto child sponsoiship wilh Ihg charity Compassion UK U￿JaI￿a￿al swortfor Bar￿ (Charily No 11321081 suppolliry r&li81 lo Ukrain8 Thyrants In Pola Turf