## **Thatcham Baptist Church** 

_The Ministers and Deacons of Thatcham Baptist Church present their Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2022.  These comply with current statutory requirements and the Statement of Recommended Practice "Accounting and Reporting by Charities" (Revised 2019)._ 

## **ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2022** 

## **Charitable Object** 

The Charity is currently governed by its Church Constitution and is registered with Charities Commission in accordance with the Charities Act 2022. The Church Constitution states that the principal purpose of the charity is the advancement of the Christian faith according to the principles of the Baptist denomination, to include the advancement of education and other charitable purposes in the United Kingdom and/or other parts of the world. The Church occupies premises which are held by the Baptist Union Corporation Ltd. on Trusts which are entirely compatible with the above object. 

## **Objectives and Activities** 

In order to achieve the principal objective, which is set out above, the Church provides a variety of activities, both to its membership and to the community at large. Individual reports on many of these activities are available separately. The overarching aim is to express the love and truth of Jesus Christ in both word and deed, and to bring people into a closer relationship with Him as living Lord. 

We have very attractive premises which include wheelchair-accessible entrance and toilet, and lift access to first and second floors. There is an induction loop system for the hearing-impaired and we ensure that the use of projected words and images is as clear as possible for those with a visual impairment, with large print song sheets also made available at services. 

## • **Worship, Discipleship and Fellowship** 

Central to the work and witness of the Church is the provision of regular public services of Christian worship.  These services take place each Sunday morning and evening.  Other events are advertised within these services, on the Church Notice Boards, on our website, via social media and through our Church Management tool, ChurchSuite.  The Church seeks to be a friendly and welcoming community, and anybody is free to attend its services. 

The Church cares for its Members and others by sharing Christian friendship and fellowship in various ways. In 2022, twelve Midweek Groups or short courses met regularly for the growth of faith and discipleship of Members and other attendees. There are also a number of prayer groups. Further details of all these groups can be obtained from the Trustees on request, or at the Sunday services. 

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The Church runs a varied children’s and youth programme, which engages about thirty children under 11 and about twenty 11-18s on a regular basis (excluding our toddler group – see below).  The Church operates systems to ensure appropriate vetting of all people working with children and adults at risk. 

The Church cares for those who are sick or in declining health by visiting them in hospital or at home, giving practical help, offering the ministry of prayer and, where appropriate, administering communion.  Our prayer chains ensure that particular needs are prayed for promptly and responded to appropriately. 

The Church offers its services to those who are facing life’s major events such as births, marriages, and deaths.  We have two Authorised Persons for the registration of marriages, and our Pastor is also registered for this purpose. 

The Church seeks to offer Christian training to its Members where appropriate. 

Our Pastor David Taylor and our Children & Schools Worker Penny Judge attended annual conferences for the purpose of their ongoing development.  They met regularly with the other local church leaders and workers in Thatcham, and (in David’s case) Baptist Pastors in neighbouring towns, for the purpose of mutual support and co-ordinated action. 

As of 31 December 2022, Penny has stood down as our Children & Schools Worker and returned to full time teaching. She will be greatly missed in this role but continues to support the children’s work as a church member. 

## • **Community Work and Evangelism** 

The Church pursues a wide range of partnerships with a varied number of stakeholders within the community, detailed as follows. 

The Church, in partnership with the other churches, supports the town’s schools. Our Children & Schools Worker Penny Judge provided weekly assemblies to primary schools.  Our Pastor David Taylor continued to co-lead the Christian group _Connect_ at Kennet Secondary School. David and Penny continued to facilitate the termly breakfast for local headteachers and church leaders. 

The Church is the West Berks Foodbank distribution centre for Thatcham. With the cost-of-living crisis the need for this is only increasing. In light of this, we partnered with Vodafone and secured three hundred and fifty everyone.connected SIMs to provide free connectivity to those in need in our community including the asylum seekers who have taken up residence at the Regency Hotel in Thatcham. We also provided a ‘Warm Space’ alongside three other churches in Thatcham offering the community somewhere warm, welcoming and safe as energy costs soared. 

The church has around twenty-five regular attendees to our church services and events who are Asylum Seekers. In response to their situation, we have hosted games nights, city trips, an Iranian Bible Study Group, a Spanish Alpha group and 

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a Christmas Lunch as part of caring for them within our community. We have supported by providing some of the basics that we often take for granted, like underwear, socks, shoes and coats. In response to our love and support, they have integrated themselves into our fellowship, serving on rotas like coffee serving and setting out chairs for Sunday Services. We have also run international events where they have cooked delicacies from their culture and shared with the community, an example of this was the Thatcham Family Fun Day on the 26[th] June 2022. 

The Renew Wellbeing group continued throughout 2022 with twelve people attending on a regular basis. In a year where the population’s mental health continued to be severely challenged this gentle ministry became even more relevant. 

Our Tuesday Café, Fellas games afternoon, Queen Bees and Toddler group have continued to provide a valuable service to the local community. These groups provide excellent support to individuals and families, and as a Church we are grateful for their leaders’ care, thought and prayer in the way they run these outward facing activities. 

The Church building is widely used by community and individual groups. This includes social and other events run by U3A (The Third Age Trust), autism society carers courses, family support mediation, music classes and groups for parents and children, Alcoholics Anonymous, and other local groups.   Southern Counties Baptist Association make use of our premises for their committee meetings. 

The Church offers introductory courses for newcomers and those exploring the Christian faith on a regular basis. In 2022 we held three Alpha Courses (two English speaking and one Spanish speaking) and one Bible Course which enabled people from both within and outside our local area to participate. We also provided a Bereavement Course along with partners from other local churches, due to many within the community continuing to feel a sense of loss following the Pandemic. Around 40 people attended a ‘Freedom In Christ’ course which aimed at helping people to become more fruitful disciples of Jesus. It was well received with some great stories of positive change from participants. 

The Church has well-developed relationships with Christian organisations working in the UK and abroad. It partners with BMS World Mission and Christian Aid, both major NGOs across the developing world.  One of our church members continued to serve with the Church Mission Society in Ecuador in 2022 and another went to Narok in Kenya with Mission Direct for a 2 week visit. 

The Church offers a school term time Toddlers group. It is in contact with 83 parents and carers, plus toddlers with around 35 attending weekly. They enjoy age-appropriate activities and conversational time together. They have excellent support and as a Church we are grateful for the toddler group leaders’ care and thought in this outward facing work. 

A weekly Café is run by the church on Tuesday morning, providing a welcoming place for anyone to drop in with a core group of regular customers 

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Our Men’s Breakfast continues to meet each month and has a varied and interesting programme of speakers. This event continues to attract a variety of men from both within and beyond the church fellowship. 

The Church continues its presence on social media to enable our community to know about events that may interest them. Although we can now meet in person, we continue to also livestream our Sunday services over Facebook with individuals joining us from all over the World including South Africa and Ecuador. We have continued this medium as we have seen many newcomers join us in person having first seen us online. 

## • **Achievements and Performance** 

The Church does not measure the success of its programmes only in numbers, whether of people or pounds sterling, but also in less tangible areas like obedience to God and depth of fellowship. In terms of both the quantity of people involved in the church and the quality of Christian discipleship the Trustees believe that 2022 was a very positive year in the life of the church, with several important developments. 

Following the pandemic, we expected to settle back into ‘normal’ life however the decision to use the Regency Park Hotel to house c. 120 Asylum Seekers saw a new mission begin. We have sought to provide love, care and practical support to the asylum seekers and trust God’s Spirit to lead us.  Seven of our friends from the Regency Hotel were baptised and four have been received into church membership. We have seen two of our baptised friends move on to new locations and have we have put them in touch with local churches. 

These individuals plus a number of Hong Kong families who have moved into the area have seen our Sunday Services adapt to the international community it now supports. We now include Farsi, Spanish, Chinese and English within our Sunday services and worship. 

Seventeen people were received into church membership during the year. Five others resigned their membership with three of those moving away from the area. Average attendance at worship services remained steady during the year 2022 although with many different people attending. 

Eleven people were baptised during the year which include the seven Asylum Seekers.  Our pastor conducted nine funerals and one wedding, with a further wedding held on our premises. 

At 31 December 2022 the membership stood at ninety-three. 

Our Sunday morning teaching programme this year included the Whole Life Worship course, the Gospel of Acts and 1 Peter. Our children’s and youth groups continued to provide an invaluable service to our young people each week. 

On Sunday evenings we continued our varied programme. This included monthly 

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Bible studies, weekly 8pm prayer meetings and youth services. 

Our weekly programme of activities continued strongly during the year. Seven small groups met regularly for prayer and Bible study. Tuesday Café, Fellas games afternoon, Queen Bees, Renew, Flower Fellowship Mornings, Monthly Youth Group TBC Toddlers all proved popular. Saturday morning prayer breakfast continue to meet faithfully every week, enabling God’s work among us in ways that cannot be measured. The monthly men’s breakfasts were increasingly well attended. 

Our AGM took place in March with three deacons standing down as their terms came to an end and four new ones were voted in. 

At Easter we held our usual programme including an Easter Egg Hunt for children of the local community. Services were held on the Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday. 

In June, we held our big event of the year “The Big Jubilee Lunch” which had started from a vision our church member based in Ecuador had. She saw the gospel message being taken out to all of Thatcham as we celebrated the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.  A team was pulled together to pull off the event with over 1000 people attending from the community. We had the Christian band “The Sense” perform at the event and attend organised groups at the local school, Kennet finishing with a concert at the end of the week with over 150 young people attending. 

In September, we mourned the death of our Queen and opened up the church to the community to come in and pray. We showed the funeral on the big screen at the church and invited anyone to come in and join us. 

At the end of October we held an alternative Halloween party for local children. 

In November the Church was once again able to be a collection point for Operation Christmas Child’s Shoebox appeal.  We also supported the town’s Remembrance Parade by supplying stewards for the event. 

The Advent and Christmas period was as busy as ever.  We held a Children’s Nativity Service, a Service with our Children’s Choir, Carols by Candlelight and also sang to the Maltings (our elderly neighbourhood community). This year we also provided Christmas Day lunch to 28 of our friends from the Regency Hotel. 

Beyond the local church our Pastor continued to work with local schools, serve as Chair of Churches Together in Thatcham, Chair of West Berkshire Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education, attend SCBA meetings, Moderator for Newbury Baptist Church and occasionally write for the Newbury Weekly News Christian Viewpoint column. 

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## **Financial Review** 

The Church continues to raise the funds which it needs to carry on its activities from within its own membership and congregation. No wider public appeal was made for funds during the year. We did however receive £3746 from outside sources towards the Jubilee event and £500 towards the Warm Space initiative. The most significant expense related to our Pastor who leads, and co-ordinates the church’s activities including the Sunday Services, provides pastoral care for the congregation and other people, and equips and encourages the membership in their life, Christian witness and service. The Church expressed its part in the life of the wider church by making grants to national and international Christian organisations and societies with Christian aims and objectives compatible with the Church’s own charitable purpose. The Church is heavily dependent on its membership working as volunteers in all aspects of the Church’s activities, many of which run with little or no impact on the Church’s expenditure, but nevertheless contribute substantially to the achievement of the Church’s objectives. The financial results for the year, together with a summary of the accounting policies adopted are set out in the accompanying financial statements. 

The Church owns the following properties: 

The Church Building, Wheelers Green Way, Thatcham, Berkshire 16 Cochrane Close, Thatcham, Berkshire (the owned manse). 

Both these properties are under the trusteeship of the Baptist Union of Great Britain and insured through The Baptist Insurance Company Plc. 

During 2022 the Church made charitable donations of 15% of its general fund income to the following charities: Baptist Home Mission (£6,000), BMS (£4,500), CMS (£2100), CAP (£2400), with £2700 to other charities. 

## **THATCHAM BAPTIST CHURCH** 

## **STATUTORY INFORMATION** 

## **1. Principal Address** 

Wheelers Green Way Thatcham Berkshire RG19 4YF 

## **2. Registration** 

Thatcham Baptist Church is established as a charitable unincorporated association registered with the Charity Commission, No. 112869. 

## **3. Custodian Trustee for Property Assets** 

Baptist Union Corporation Baptist House 129 Broadway 

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Didcot Oxfordshire OX11 8RT 

## **4. Organisational Structure** 

Members of the Church are accepted in accordance with our Church Constitution. The Members’ Meeting generally takes place five times per year and has responsibility for the overall policy of the church. These are a mix of online (Zoom) and in-person members’ meetings. 

All members are encouraged to take an appropriate part in the spiritual and practical tasks involved in the furtherance of the charitable objective. Relevant matters may be submitted to the Church Members’ Meeting by the Trustees for guidance or may be raised by members in Church meeting for further consideration by the Trustees. Though the Constitution requires certain decisions to be made at Church Members’ Meetings by appropriate majorities, the Church seeks to work by consensus wherever possible. 

In accordance with the Church Constitution, the Members appoint Ministers (also referred to as Pastors) and Deacons.  Ministers are appointed to office for an indefinite period.  Deacons are elected by the church members by resolution at the Annual General Meeting to serve for periods of 3 years. The Ministers and Deacons are responsible for the day-to-day running of the Church’s work and witness, and the financial and legal aspects of the charity. 

Those who served during the year 2022 are as follows: Minister: Rev. DJS Taylor (Pastor) Deacons: Mr. D. Carter (Treasurer) Mrs. R. Andrews (Secretary) Mrs. J. Andrews up to 24 March 2022 Mr. R. Appleby Mrs. C. Collis up to 24 March 2022 Ms. S. Deering-Punshon Mr. S Goss from 24 March 2022 Mr. M. Hurd from 24 March 2022 Mr. R. Sneddon Mrs. A. Stopher from 24 March 2022 Mrs. E. Spencer from 24 March 2022 Mr. J. Webb up to 24 March 2022 

The Ministers and Deacons are the managing trustees of the Church.  The Baptist Union Corporation acts as custodian trustee in respect of the property assets of the Church. All major decisions are taken to a full meeting of church members, which are held five times a year. 

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## **5. Reserves Policy** 

The Trustees consider that since the church owns the church building and the house currently in use as a manse there is adequate reserve coverage and no formally agreed reserve policy is needed.  The church does however endeavour to maintain a buffer of approximately six months of normal expenses in its bank accounts. 

## **6. Risk Management** 

The Ministers and Deacons have assessed the major non-financial risks facing the church and have satisfied themselves that there are policies in place to mitigate these risks wherever possible. Alongside the formal Constitution, the Church has specific policies in place covering Health and Safety, Equality Diversity & Inclusion, Disability Discrimination, and Children and Young People; these being reviewed annually. 

## **7. Statement of Charity Trustee Responsibilities** 

Charity law requires the Charity Trustees, in our case the Ministers and Deacons, to prepare financial statements for each financial year that give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the Church and of its financial activities for that period. In preparing those financial statements, the Ministers and Deacons are required to: 

- Select suitable accounting policies and apply them consistently. 

- Make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent. 

- Prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to assume that the activities of the Church will continue. 

The Ministers and Deacons are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the Church. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the Church and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities. 

## **8. Grant Making Policy** 

There are a number of different processes by which the church gives money to other organisations and individuals.  Special offerings held during the year are for certain projects as agreed by a Church Meeting.  Donations are also made to other causes as funds are available or as designated by donors. 

## **9. Connected Charities** 

The Baptist Union Corporation continues to act as custodian trustee for the Church and all of its properties are held in the name of the Corporation on behalf of the members. The Church remains affiliated to Southern Counties Baptist Association, the Baptist Union of Great Britain and the Evangelical Alliance. 

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## **10. Adviser** 

Independent Examiner:   Rachel Belshaw 

Church Bank:    HSBC, Newbury 

_Approved by the Ministers and Deacons on 14 March 2023, and signed on their behalf by:_ 

_Mrs Rachel Andrews Church Secretary Thatcham Baptist Church_ 

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That¢ham Baptl$t Church {Chartty No. 1128697)
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## Hill Top Accounting Ltd 

## 18 August 2023 

The Trustees Thatcham Baptist Church Wheelers Green Way Thatcham RG19 4YF 

## Dear Trustees 

INDEPENDENT EXAMINATION — ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2022 | 

As you will be aware, | was appointed to undertake the independent examination of the charity's receipts and payments accounts for the year ended 31 December 2022. 

| have completed my work and my report attached to the accounts did not identify any material defects regarding the accounts. 

## However, 

| should like to bring your attention to the following points: 

1. | note that the charity does not have a formal reserves policy. While it is not a legal requirement to have a reserves policy it is strongly recommended by the charity commission. Detailed guidance is available on their website about how to set the policy. 

2. As |raised last year | would continue to recommend that the financial policies and procedures are regularly reviewed and formalised as necessary. There is a helpful checklist on the charity commission website which can be used to identify any areas which may need further work. It can be found at www.gov.uk/government/publications/internal-financialcontrols-for-charities-cc8. 

Thank you for trusting me with your independent examination and | look forward to working with you again next year. 

## Yours sincerely 

## Aeo2Ka Deeren 

## Rachel Belshaw 


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Mit iinxAAcA “>| Registered office: Hill Cottage, Church Lane, Ufton Nervet, Reading, RG7 4HQ Tel: 07900678393 

Email: rachel@hilltopaccounting.co.uk Registered in England and Wales, Company Number 11369947