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2024-08-31-accounts

Central Methodist Church, Chesterfield Registered Charity Number 1128075

Report and Accounts for the Year Ended 31 August 2024

Contents
Reference & Administration Details 2
Structure, Governance and Management 4
Structure
Governance
Management
Objectives and Activities 5
Objectives
Activities
Achievements and Performance 6
Resourcing the Activities of the Church 7
Serious Incidents 8
Future Plans
8
Public Benefits Statement 8
Exemption From Disclosure 9
Funds Held as Custodian Trustee 9
Financial Review
Overview 9
Accounts for the Year Ending 31 August 2023 10
Declarations 13
Notes to the Accounts 14
Cornerstone 16
Designated Funds 17
Contingent Liabilities 19
Commitments 19
Ex-gratia Payments 19
Independent Examiners Remuneration 19

1

Reference and Administration Details

Charity name: Central Methodist Church, Chesterfield S40 1UH (‘Central’) REGISTERED CHARITY NUMBER 1128075

Registered Office

Central Methodist Church Saltergate CHESTERFIELD S40 1UH

Trustees: 1 September 2023 – 31 August 2024

Name Position
Rev. Mark Carrick Minister (Chair)
Rev. Sean Adair Superintendent Minister
Margaret Chinnery Senior Church Steward
Gill Ashton Church Steward
& Representative from Congregation
Sally Jones "
& Representative from Congregation
John Walker “
Sue Walker "
Nick Whitworth (until 31.01.24) Church Treasurer
Deborah Andrews Chair of Finance (until 6.02.24),
Church Treasurer (wef 6.02.24)
& Representative from Congregation
Paul Timperley Chair of Finance (wef 4.06.24)
Reg Rodda Representative from Congregation
Kay Rodda “
Alyson Franks “
Lisa Curtis “
Gillian King “
David Parkin “
Judith Timperley Pastoral Committee Secretary
Brian Offiler Church Council Secretary
Gill Daly Circuit Steward
Enid Pont Church Secretary
John French Chair of Resourcing Mission (Property)
Will Nightingale Chair of Church Life Team
David Humphrey Chair of Grants Sub-Committee
Lesley Parkin Centrepoint Committee Representative
Helen Briddon Youth and J Gang Representative
Roger Jones Music Representative
Rev Paul King Christians Together for Chesterfield
Representative

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Angela Walker Safeguarding Officer
& Cornerstone Committee Representative
Anne Hayes (wef 31.10.23) House Groups Representative
Rev Richard Harris Ex Officio
Rev Tracey Harris Ex Officio
Rev Margaret Mwailu Ex Officio

Bankers:

Trustees for Methodist Church Purposes, Central Buildings Oldham Street MANCHESTER M1 1JQ

Lloyds Bank 98 Victoria Street LONDON SW1E 5JL

Central Finance Board of the Methodist Church 9 Bonhill Street LONDON EC2A 4PE

Independent Examiner

Wilson Howe Chartered Accountants 212A Bocking Lane SHEFFIELD S8 7BP

3

Structure, Governance and Management

Structure

The Church is governed by the laws relating to the Charity Commission and the Methodist Church. The governing documents of the Methodist Church is the Methodist Church Act 1976.

In practice the Methodist Church is governed in accordance with its Constitution, Practice and Discipline (CPD) and is organised in four tiers:

Each Church, Circuit, District and the Connexion is a Charity, depending upon turnover, either registered or exempt. The Connexion determines overall policy, which is administered by Districts and implemented by Circuits and Churches. Financially, the Connexion levies Districts, Districts levy Circuits, and Circuits determine the annual amount that is to be levied upon each constituent Church. Thus, for Churches, all three organisational tiers are ‘related parties’.

Central Methodist Church is located within the Derbyshire North East Methodist Circuit within the Sheffield Methodist District.

Governance

Central Methodist Church is governed by a Church Council consistent with the manner set out above. Members of Church Council either hold an office upon which the Constitution, Practice and Discipline confers membership, or are elected by the Church at the Church Annual General Meeting which consists of full members of the congregation, or are appointed by the Church Council to ensure a breadth of membership. The Circuit Meeting appoints a Circuit Steward to the Church Council.

Management

The Church Council is chaired by the Minister, who is appointed by the Circuit, and routinely meets three times a year.

The members of Church Council are the managing trustees. As well as managing the daily operation of the church and its three paid part-time staff members (one caretaker, one cleaner, one secretary), the Church Council exercises stewardship over the Church building (which is over 150 years old and Grade II listed) on behalf of the custodial trustees TMCP (Trustees for Methodist Church Purposes nominees of the Methodist Church of Great Britain (the Connexion)). There is no Chief Executive Office role within the church governance structure.

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Staff

Central Methodist Church employs three part time staff: a Caretaker, a Church Secretary and a Cleaner.

Objectives and Activities

Objectives

The purposes of the Methodist Church are, and shall be deemed to have been since the date of union, the advancement of:

Activities

The activities of Central Methodist Church as specified at registration are:

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Achievements and Performance

Central Methodist Church is a large religious community worshipping in Chesterfield. In terms of membership numbers, Central is one of the larger Methodist Churches in the country with the largest membership of any single church in the Sheffield District. The main activities take place in a large building which is, in part, Grade II listed and is located in Saltergate, Chesterfield. The building contains a sanctuary for worship, a large hall with kitchen, and ten ancillary rooms.

The activities of Central are grouped under a number of headings:

Worship

The principle coming together of the Church is in Sunday morning worship; which is live streamed. There is a weekday service on Friday lunchtimes.

Christian Development

There are a number of groups intended to assist in developing knowledge of the Christian Faith: House Groups (which meet fortnightly or four weekly), and ‘Women on Wednesdays’.

Young People

Work among young people has continued through various groups, including:

In addition, a good deal of the work developing the faith of the young people of the Circuit takes place on Central premises.

Meeting the Community

Central pursues a policy of voluntary community service through:

Additionally Central provides facilities for secular groups including:

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The Wider World

Central is a Fair Trade church. Church Mission and Ministry Teams, as well as specifically focussed meetings and worship, ensure that Central is aware of and responds to the needs of the wider world locally and globally.

Meeting One Another

The social cohesion of the Church is ensured by:

Resourcing the Activities of the Church

A core aspect of the ethos of Central is that of ‘Stewardship’, i.e. the generous giving of time, talents and money by the worshipping community is the basis for delivering our mission.

The activities of the Church are overseen by four teams, who report to and advise the Trustees:

In turn, these are supported by a number of groups with specific purposes, including the DLO (Direct Labour Organisation), a group of volunteers who help in the general maintenance of the Church building, thus saving significant cost.

Resourcing Church Activity (Stewardship of Money)

A core aspect of the approach to money is that day to day activities are funded to a very large extent through giving from the congregation, rather than by fund raising events. In this way, the Church is able to concentrate its energy on delivering the activities listed above, and also to set aside 10% of regular freewill giving for the ‘Caring for Others’, which includes regular donations to national Methodist Charities. Additionally, from its inception, Central resolved that any surplus from “Cornerstone” would be used, not for day to day activities which a Church ought to fund, but for “Outreach” into the community.

In the past year it was possible to commence a project for the replacement of the Church kitchen with the work to take place in the Autumn of 2024.

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Serious Incidents

No serious incidents have occurred during the year in question.

Future Plans

Central intends to continue to offer its declared charitable activities, as outlined above, in order to continue to serve our wider neighbourhood.

The town centre location, and the extensive premises, provide for new opportunities, but also require provision for future liabilities consequent upon managing on behalf of TMCP an over 150 year old Grade II listed building.

Specific tasks already identified for the coming year are:

Public Benefit Statement

The Catechism for the use of the people called Methodists states that:

The distinctive features of the Methodist Church is that its message has been summarized as ‘ The Four Alls’ :

“All need to be saved. All may be saved. All may know themselves saved . All may be saved to the uttermost.”

The traditional features of the Methodist Church include:

Central Methodist Church exists to make this offer to the people of Chesterfield and so meets the Charity Commission’s “Public Good” criterion.

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Exemption from Disclosure

No exemptions are claimed.

Funds held as Custodian Trustee

No such funds are held.

Financial Review

Overview

Central’s financial aim is to live within its means. In the year 2023/24 operational activity resulted in a surplus of £42,487.

The full accounts show an overall increase in funds of £69,969. The main reason for this is the receipt of interim payments on two bequests. These were from the same estate. One of the bequests is for use by the church, the second is held in trust by the church for the support of Ukrainian refugees.

We operate within a ‘balanced budget’ in terms of day to day activities. Funding for new initiatives is very constrained. Funding for major maintenance has been eased by receipt of an interim payment from a generous bequest.

Overall, the finances are reasonably satisfactory, although it will be necessary to continue to monitor the medium-term financial position in the coming and future years, taking account of regular income and expenditure, as well as exceptional items, such as the receipt of bequests and the funding of major property repairs.

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Accounts for the year ended 31 August 2if24 R istered Chariti. 112W75 Sue Walker John Wa S&lly Jones

Central Meth￿￿￿t Churth. Chtstertield. Attounts for the Year Erthj 31 Au ! Ge[￿ Deslgnated Fund Fund8 Total 2022.11 st J124 115962 115962 115178 Bank & CFB interest & 1757 Ill￿2 10576 10576 44155 7402 Total Receipts 16418 4918 16418 174( Utilities 28213 62974 I￿2PA} 38725 127841 16144 37481 Totsl Pa%'r*nts 165322 Net R￿IptsIPayll Totsl Furth brought forward 52146 Z4215 7WI -21(r70 S8￿ I4{￿33 1(M29 0 110442 164048 27449) ￿45 Transfers & adilL4t￿ts Total Funds at end of l'ear 2744 Bal￿￿e from last l'ear Received for External organizati(ms Bala￿e Still to be

5101 Fknvol ArtGry_ 5101 165322 75361 'TOTAL FUNt6HELD BYCHURCH I X5ThI 1707871 7￿￿• 201521 I￿5&31 281 937 21152 In Is￿53 55162 2744 1181 Atji

the COUfzoi of d>e &ptute Df TreJ8urtr Sk2 fc* the yut t￿led 31 Av8u•¢ 3r24. (]MzitiU 4¥ct ￿11 Cthe Ad). 145 (5)0>) of the ALt dmir on . . O&e/PowM￿...￿.i￿jl￿[￿.-........... 13

Notes to the Accounts

1. Basis of Preparation

The accounts have been prepared in accordance with the Historic Cost Convention and with, Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP) (FRS 2) on Accounting for Charities except that it does not use the accrual concept.

2. Accounting Policies

Valuation of assets: The charity owns no fixed assets.

Depreciation: Furniture, computers, printers and other such equipment are expensed in the year of acquisition.

Recognition of transactions:

Income is recognised upon receipt. Income from endowments is recognised when transferred to Restricted Funds. Income from grants and gifts is recognised upon receipt. Payments under operating leases are charged to expenditure when paid.

A liability is recognised when a commitment is entered into.

Designated Funds: Funds are designated for specific planned expenditure.

3. Fixed Assets

The Constitution, Practice and Discipline of the Methodist Church provides that Church (Charity) Trustees may with permission erect buildings from charitable funds and for Custodian Trusteeship to be vested in the Trustees for Methodist Church Purposes (TMCP), with the Charity Trustees acting as Managing Trustees of the building on a basis akin to a peppercorn repairing lease. The Managing Trustees may not alter the building structurally without TMCP authority (which is in some circumstances delegated to District Committees). Permission has to be sought from TMCP to dispose of land and buildings and the proceeds are shared between the Connexional Advance and Priority Fund and the Circuit Advance Fund. Since the Charity Trustees merely manage the church complex and the charity would not benefit from its disposal, its historic cost (which is unknown) is not included in these accounts.

4. Income

The charity’s principal source of income is freewill offerings and associated Gift Aid. Other income is from a miscellany of sources, including lettings.

A grant of £1,000 was received from Derbyshire County Council for the Warm Spaces initiative.

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Two bequests, both to the value of £34,000, have been received. These are both interim payments with further payments to come. One bequest is for the use of the church and is unrestricted, the second is to be held in trust by the church for the aid of Ukrainian refugees.

5. Reserves Policy

It is the policy of the Church to maintain liquid funds in the General Fund and some Designated Funds sufficient to cover one year's Assessment and other non-discretionary costs, together with working capital equivalent to one quarter's expenditure. Based on the year 2023/24 this amounts to £91,908. On 31 August 2024 sufficient funds were available in the agreed funds (General fund, Church Fabric fund and TMCP) to cover this, with a margin of £44,266. The excess of liquid funds over that required to meet the reserves policy will assist in the financing of significant Property renewal projects in the next 1 – 2 years.

As explained in the section on “Achievements and Performance”, the Charity enjoys the use of, and is responsible for, a comprehensive suite of buildings. The main church building is over 150 years old and is Grade II Listed by virtue of its frontage and sanctuary ceiling. The Trustees therefore maintain a buildings development and maintenance schedule, reflecting specific short and medium-term projects, including replacement of the central heating boilers and work on the sanctuary roof. In order to provide for the costs of these as they arise, and to smooth their impact on the charity’s finances, sums are periodically designated to meet those costs.

6. Trustees’ Remuneration

During the Connexional year 2023-24, of the Trustees listed in the Report, no Trustee received remuneration or expenses for their duties as Trustees, although the Rev S Adair and the Rev M Carrick received a Ministerial stipend from the Circuit for their services as Ministers; and Mrs E. Pont received a salary as Church Secretary.

7. Related Party Transactions

Transactions with the related parties specified in the report under ‘Structure’ (i.e. other Methodist Church registered charities) are clearly shown in the accounts and, where appropriate, are detailed below:

7.1 Assessment

The Connexional hierarchical organization of the Methodist Church provides for the costs of the Connexion to be met by the Districts; for the costs of Districts (including their share of Connexional costs) to be met by Circuits; and for the costs of Circuits (including their share of inclusive District costs) to be met by churches. In this way, the cost of the overall church organizations bears upon churches.

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In addition to the surcharged costs, the costs of the Circuits include the costs of ministerial stipends and manses, the costs of lay workers and any specific Circuit initiatives. The figure stated in the accounts from the General Fund is the share of these costs paid by Central.

Cornerstone

As an expression of the Methodist Church’s social conscience, the Trustees offer for sale, refreshments, cards with Bible texts, Bibles, and Christian books, five days a week. This outreach venture is known as ‘Cornerstone’ and is staffed by volunteers from the Church, the Circuit, and beyond, and the net surplus is applied to organisations whose charitable purposes “reach out’ into community; and to individuals undertaking projects/training sympathetic with the Christian message.

The summary accounts of this venture are as follows:

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Designated Funds

As a matter of principle, the Trustees (i) set aside funds for specific purposes and (ii) encourage groups not to maintain accounts separate from the Church. The summarized accounts for those groups that do maintain separate accounts are shown as a sub-set of the accounts, whilst movements on those included in the accounts as “Designated” Funds are shown below:

Explanatory Notes

i. Church Fabric Fund (previously Provision for Capital Renewals):

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Grants made are as follows:

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Contingent Liabilities

There are no contingent liabilities.

Commitments

There are no commitments.

Ex-gratia payments

There were no ex-gratia payments made during the year.

Independent Examiner’s Remuneration

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The Independent Examiner charged £510.00 for their services examining the 2023/24 accounts.

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