# **Olton Baptist Church Trustees Report and Accounts 31 March 2021** **Charity number 1130659** **OLTON BAPTIST CHURCH ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021** ## **INDEX** ## page ||Section A Reference and Administration details|| |---|---|---| |3||| ||Section B Trustees Report|| |4||| ||Section E Financial Review Independent Examiner’s Report|| |7||| ||Section G Declaration of Trustees|| |9||| ||Declaration of Independent Examiner’s|| |10||| ||Statement of Financial Activities|| |11||| ||Balance Sheet
|12| ||Note to Accounts
|13| Page **2** of **18** **OLTON BAPTIST CHURCH ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021** ## **Section A Reference and administration details** ## **Charity Name: Olton Baptist Church** ## **Charity Number: 1130659** ## **Registered Address:** The Branch, 85 Warwick Road, Olton, Solihull, West Midlands B92 7HP ## **Principal Place of Worship:** Langley School, Kineton Green Road, Olton, Solihull, West Midlands B92 7ER ## **Trustees:** **Name Term of Office** Pastoral vacancy 25/8/2019 - Karen Russell – Church Secretary 07/02/2017 – current Jim Hopton– Chair of trustees & Treasurer 18/06/2019 – current Bernice Lingard (re-elected Jun 2019) 12/06/2014 – current Paul Cheesman (re-elected 2018) 05/06/2013 – current Bill Green 10/09/201517/10/2020 Mark Tindale 10/09/201517/10/2020 Kara Williams 18/06/2019 – current Jonathan Fortnam 18/06/2019 – current Rebecca Ford 17/10/2020 - current ## **Property Trustees:** The Heart of England Baptist Association BMS International Mission Centre Selly Oak Birmingham B29 6QX ## **Bankers:** HSBC Bank Plc 34 Poplar Road Solihull West Midlands Page **3** of **18** **OLTON BAPTIST CHURCH ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021** ## B91 3AF ## **Section B Structure, governance and management** Olton Baptist Church (‘OBC' or the 'Church') is governed and guided by the Trustees, which consists of the Minister, the Vision and Leadership Team (‘VLT’). The VLT is led by the Minister leads and consists of up to 6 Members in addition to any Ministerial staff, the Secretary and the Treasurer. The Trustees each have delegated responsibility for overseeing particular areas of OBC life, in which they are ably supported by other members of the Church. OBC still continues to employ a part-time Children’s Ministry Co-ordinator as children’s ministry constitutes a major part of our church make-up. The same person also acts as our Church Administrator, the role of which facilitates and guides the back-office function of the Church. The Trustees are elected by a vote by the members of OBC. The Trustees meet at least 4 times each year, and the VLT meet up to approximately 20 times per year. Members of the Church are accepted in accordance with the Constitution, where they are encouraged to have been publicly baptised on the profession of faith in Jesus Christ or following other modes of baptism to renew their public profession of faith in Jesus Christ. The Church meets in a Members’ Meeting approximately 5 times per year and holds a pivotal role in shaping and agreeing the direction of the Church, as outlined in the Constitution. Relevant matters may be submitted to the Church Meeting by the Trustees for guidance or may be raised by Members in Church Meetings for further consideration by the Trustees. Though the Constitution permits decisions to be made at Church Meetings by appropriate majorities, the Church seeks to work by consensus wherever possible. The Trustees maintain a strong suite of policies which are aimed at safeguarding all those with whom OBC has contact as well as our obligations, legal and otherwise, as an Employer and as a Charity. ## **Section C Objectives and Activities** ## **Charitable Objective** OBC is a charity by virtue of its Approved Governing Document (Constitution) which states that the principal purpose of the Charity is _‘The advancement of the_ Page **4** of **18** **OLTON BAPTIST CHURCH ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021** _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 parts of the World._ ’ OBC owns and occupies premises in Olton, the title documents of which are held on trust by the Heart of England Baptist Association (HEBA). This is entirely compatible with OBC’s objectives. ## **Objectives and Activities** OBC’s vision remains sharply focussed on engaging in the communities of which it is a part to share the love of Jesus `Christ and encourage individuals and communities to trust Him as Lord. To that end and since 2013/14, we have presented the Church when meeting together as ‘base camp’ in which the activities that promote fellowship, pastoral care, learning and worship provide an environment from which members are equipped to ‘explore’ the advancement of Christian faith wherever they may find themselves in daily life. In all of the Church’s activities we aim to show the love of Jesus Christ in both word and deed, to encourage people into a closer relationship with Him as Lord. ## **During the Covid-19 pandemic (March 2020 - March 2021 and beyond):** We have continued to meet using a virtual platform. Every Sunday we meet to create live online church services where we have seen the majority of our members and visitors continuing to join us weekly as we work through journeying together in these unprecedented times. Other groups have continued to meet, including children’s weekly drop in sessions and the youth groups meeting to do creative challenges together online. Several home groups continued to meet as we tried to grow in our faith and continue to pray together regarding all issues affecting us individually and those affecting the wider world. Our normal practice would be: Our Sunday service remains pivotal to the base camp model and takes place on 10.30am usually at Langley Secondary School on the 1st, 3rd, 4th and 5th Sundays of any month. During this service, there is a full programme of children’s activities that are for all children from toddlers to secondary school age. OBC also runs a series of small groups which enable regular attendees of the Church to meet and pray together, share fellowship, grow in faith and disciple each other pastorally for the ‘explorer life’. These small groups meet either weekly or fortnightly and take place in Members’ homes. There are two additional groups for teenagers, one that runs weekly and one fortnightly in school term-times. The Church also runs a toddler’s group which meets at St Margaret’s Church on Kineton Green Road, every Monday morning during school term-times. This popular ‘explorer’ group offers an important community service and visibly demonstrates the love of Jesus Christ. From time to time, as required, the Church also runs Membership and Baptismal courses for those interested in developing their faith and/or becoming more formally committed to OBC. Page **5** of **18** **OLTON BAPTIST CHURCH ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021** OBC operates systems to ensure that all people working with children are appropriately vetted with regard to the Disclosure and Barring Service and in accordance with our safeguarding policy. The Trustees have read the Charity Commission guidance on public benefit and are satisfied that the activities outlined above demonstrate that OBC is involved in charitable and public benefit activities. ## **Section D Achievements and Performance** ## **Advancement** OBC does not measure the success of its programmes only in numbers, that is membership and finance, but also in less tangible areas like acts of fellowship and encouragement. Our Sunday attendance has been roughly static across the last year even though we were meeting on a virtual platform. We are currently seeking a replacement minister and the advancement of our objects continues notwithstanding this state of pastoral vacancy. We are advancing our Objects by: - our continued employment of a Children’s Ministry Coordinator and the addition of a Youth and Children’s Worker in Jun 2020, to lead the engagement within a thriving community of young people in the Church which remains as high as ever despite being mainly online. - Our connections in the community have meant that we were able to put on an outdoor Carol Service called “Carols by headlight” to enable us to build community in Olton and our surrounding area. - maintaining around a dozen small groups (online) which the church membership continues to support well. - continuing contact with other charities, including the support of asylum seekers and refugees with befriending, practical assistance and accompaniment through their legal process. - our T4U group which support our older members continued to engage together with care packages taken door to door and meeting online or outdoors where appropriate. The Church website is very well used, with the ‘Members Area’ being accessed by a large number of people. ## **Annual Round-up** **April** saw a great change to our Church life as the whole country went into an enforced lockdown following a pandemic of the virus COVID-19. This saw the VLT adapting quickly to those changes and instead of being able to celebrate and reflect on the coming Easter time together we were forced to stay in our homes and meet over the virtual platform Zoom. We have continued to meet as church on Zoom and lots of planned activities haven’t happened Page **6** of **18** **OLTON BAPTIST CHURCH ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021** in particular because we meet in a school hall our future plans are 'on hold' until the Local Authority takes decisions about reopening venues. Work is taking place on our digital presence as we move forward with improving the OBC website and Facebook page. In **May** we supported Christian Aid week by sending out individuals to do the collecting in their local area, including collecting rubbish as they walk in their local community. **June** “Park Life” was postponed for 2020. This joint venture between the local council, the Residents' Association and four local churches brought the local community together in a free community celebration in a local park. It was very successful, and the Council have decided that it will repeat it again next year. **In July** the teaching series during the summer was “Giving” and culminated in a Gift Day in July where we were really blessed to receive an overwhelming response from Members. Our Toddler group hasn’t been meeting in person but to mark the start of summer a team put together an activity care package so that we can maintain our connections in the group and is a great way of being generous to those in our community. Summer looked different for our teenagers this year as the usual summer camps had to cancel. Normally a number of our younger people would attend Spree, the Urban Saints holiday weekend, for outdoor activities and teaching about Jesus and the older teenagers would head off to older Youth camp (like Soul Survivor) which is always popular with our youth. ## **September** In **October** we joined with another local church to host a "Light Party" in their Church building (an alternative Halloween party for children and their friends.) Although this was a new experience for OBC it turned out to be a really special time serving another church while OBC children got to experience the Light Party with other Christian families. In **December** the Church had a vision of staging a community outreach activity called “Carols by headlight” which was an outdoor drive-in carol service. The event was very popular and we were able to hold two services on one day which meant it was seen by 300 “families/cars”. So despite not being able to do our normal Christmas Messy Church event and school assemblies at local primary schools this is a very effective way of engaging with the wider community and spread the Christmas message of why Jesus came to earth. It was a joyous event that came together with support from other connections we have made in the community in previous years. ## **Plans for the Future** This year we have concentrated on establishing our small team of staff. Our part time church worker has been in post for two years now and continues to help with general ministry tasks which is especially helpful during the Pastoral Page **7** of **18** **OLTON BAPTIST CHURCH ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021** Vacancy. The role continues to focus on outreach and we are continuing to look at ways of developing our digital presence such looking at improving our website. They are also exploring whether to train as a Baptist Minister, but these plans are on hold due to our current lockdown status. This coming year we may start considering the options for improving the facilities at our Church office building so that better use could be made with the space that we have and also updating our IT equipment. We are also considering employing a part time Youth & Children’s Worker to spread the increasing responsibilities arising from the Youth and Children’s work that goes on in the life of OBC. ## **Section E Financial review** OBC continues to raise the funds it requires to continue its activities from within its own membership and congregation. No wider public appeal was made, or required, for funds during the year. The most significant expenses relate to staff costs, hire of hall and giving to charities closely associated with OBC (this is outlined in the Financial Activities and Notes to Accounts report, on pages 14-17). The Church actively responded to its principal purpose (as outlined earlier in the ‘Charitable Object’ section of this report) and its moral duty as a Church to tithe a minimum of 10% of its income by making gifts to organisations and missionaries with Christian aims and objectives compatible with the church’s own charitable purpose. The Church is still giving considerably more than this (just over 20%), which it feels is a generous way to reflect both its Vision and Purpose. OBC 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 Church’s objectives and achievements as outlined earlier in this report. The financial results for the year are set out on pages 12 to 17. Our finances have remained nicely balanced through the year; and as indicated last year this now gives us the confidence to seek further ways of reinforcing our community approach to church life. (see 'Plans for the Future' above) The Trustees have made an assessment of the major risks facing the Church and are satisfied that there are policies in place to minimise these risks. ## **Reserves** The Trustees still adopt the policy of maintaining a balance in its General Funds to approximately six months’ unrestricted fund expenditure at all times. Whilst this is a variable figure it is currently equivalent to circa £60,000 and is in place to ensure that OBC can continue to function effectively in the coming financial year. For 2020/21, the Church has been able to match this target. Page **8** of **18** **OLTON BAPTIST CHURCH ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021** ## **Statement of Trustees Responsibilities** The trustees are responsible for preparing the Report of the Trustees and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice). The law applicable to charities in England and Wales, the Charities Act 2011, Charity (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 and the provisions of the trust deed requires the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charity and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the charity for that period. In preparing those financial statements, the trustees are required to: - Select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently; - observe the methods and principles in the Charity SORP; - make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent; - prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is ina ppropriate to presume that the charity will continue in business. The trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and to enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Charities Act 2011, the Charity (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 and the provisions of the trust deed. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities. ## **Section F Other optional information** Page **9** of **18** **OLTON BAPTIST CHURCH ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021** ## **Section G Declaration** **Approved by the board of Trustees on 22[nd] September 2021 and signed on their behalf by:** **----- Start of picture text -----**
Signature(s)
Full name(s) Jim Hopton Karen Russell
Position (eg Secretary, Chair of Trustees Church Secretary
Chair, etc)
Date 24/10/2021
**----- End of picture text -----**
## **Respective responsibilities of trustees and examiner** The charity's trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. The charity’s trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year under section 144 of the Charities Act 2011 (the Charities Act) and that an independent examination is needed. It is our responsibility to: examine the accounts under section 145 of the Charities Act, Page **10** of **18** **OLTON BAPTIST CHURCH ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021** to follow the procedures laid down in the general Directions given by the Charity Commission (under section 145(5)(b) of the Charities Act, and to state whether particular matters have come to our attention. ## **Basis of independent examiner’s statement** Our examination was carried out in accordance with general Directions given by the Charity Commission. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts and seeking explanations from the trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit, and consequently no opinion is given as to whether the accounts present a ‘true and fair’ view and the report is limited to those matters set out in the statement below. Page **11** of **18** OLTON BAPTIST CHURCH ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021 OLTON BAIFrEr CHURCH SrATEr4E￿ OF FNAPKIAL ACTMfES ACCOUNfs FOR THE YEAR EhK)ED 31 fv￿CH 2roi YeBrlD YEWID Offer1r￿ arrj gfts Irroryptsx rduKI ￿ gftaKI BarkIrt￿t Otrw itrc*Ye 1&4 O W5 27.75) B￿￿r Felrywslip Gmrxj. Grart5 Stsff Costs MssK 533 73 Wor5lip Ytxth 15*) YewlD YaTID FIM>: Ickftt) O X43 PA o ￿961 I￿S￿￿￿TED Fithf6 Page 12 of 18 OLTON BAPTIST CHURCH ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021 OLTON BArn CHURCH ACCOUTrtrs FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 VARCH 2021 BALANCE SHEEr Ip4 ASSErs 1&2 FiXti￿S & Frttii h Flo& J39312 JQ3703 1797 1(6316 J im (Clw rfTn6tres) Page 13 of 18 OLTON BAPTIST CHURCH ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021 OLTON BArn CHURCH NOTES TO Accoumrs AccouTrifs FOR THE YEAR ENDED31 MARCH J)21 l #£c¢xr*irnJ ￿toU￿% ts) a cash tASi4. fisic¢ta Ccstcttts￿. aTh1 11 accoxlirg Sts￿rdS ar¢ fc￿￿ Prxtse." ch¥1￿ 2015 FRSSE.T Ir(¢NYE 6 ￿l￿￿1$e4 IntresPatEn¥*c*fnYcd (SoFAI￿a rErtheJ b%15. ha5 erliuwyvt arxlcan LE rrea5lu￿l r￿￿3￿. Charity. Ch￿h a(kniri5kndfte ￿m￿a5'T1P8r￿r1f. Chuth, nrriwttsts èrnlttsts r4k¥r. Sw¥tstCtsts, GnAr¥J I0(Al*r(￿￿t¥S8tiDtts ￿ 9)￿r￿0 wh￿￿ i5 attr￿￿((X￿ly￿j yearLYxL s ￿t￿ls￿lID Ih]tilts, arxl 5 IkrB75ed ty F￿erth￿ BLihSr¥ are￿l￿d atCC6t C￿7￿*D￿kEtI￿￿ ￿ ccf6•*ed ￿te￿b￿at*￿I cc6t The ¥e Page 14 of 18 OLTON BAPTIST CHURCH ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021 OLTON BAPTsf CHURCH N(yfES TO ACCOUhrrs Accoupifs FOR THE YEAR ENfED 31 V￿CH 3J21 At1￿? It31 f•arhXQI XiW3J20 31 f4trwch3)21 11otIMk¥alu 31 F+tych3)21 JIM￿h3)￿] SaLwE5 & ErTduV￿ts Sech?I S￿￿lty££6ts Pen$V￿CoSts Ore a5 rpc•eYw(*m5 143JJ IJJ191I4DinsW trAal £*.6731. Ore Iwl. IMxsitVJ FrnVK￿ tyttEckutlK T￿￿e￿T￿Tth5 fvtrÈlLY1Clx￿h WthLY. arml tK*as thslEe. Page 15 of 18 OLTON BAPTIST CHURCH ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021 Page 16 of 18 OLTON BAPTIST CHURCH ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021 OLTON BAFYrEr CHURCH N(yfES TO AcCou￿rS Accou￿rS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 ￿RCH 2021 Yearkn Year 311knh X121 31 l+knh¥A) 4 OFFE￿5 cov￿artsCF￿￿￿ & gftaxj Cash 4610 Stsff E4￿seS Offre rtscuc Irsurarxe Pawdl ctrkirr 7J]2 6 BiL[￿S R￿[. lire of trAAk1￿ fDfYKM5fw n*thJ Lepl fees c￿alY[¥j Ll 7 FELLOW5F Canteen ehrErses Ctr¥JKh IxlKlay H(￿* MtssX￿- HEBA BaFtstPQsskywyS(x Otrv bEs￿nSl¥￿£rt ¥733 7517 7516 G￿lr￿J. c(¥*ywy 19. Page 17 of 18 OLTON BAPTIST CHURCH ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021 OLTON BAwrEr CHURCH NOTES TO AccouMrs AccouKfs FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 VARCH 2021 Ye4T*> Yè¥lD 9 MSSK)N Crc6srKJ PO￿ts oLIT￿h. SurKky OL*arxl S￿ SeThJirwJ 73)7 s￿RT Trarsfer tt) ReftKFe SLfWrtFuxl Pastfdl SL Re5(xwte5ffrair¥rwJ steak￿5, fpe5 PA & pr(¥￿tK￿ 5￿ten YourH Y(xthGff L722 Chkl ￿1rThn sILKlentswxxtB￿sarY suKkycl￿> TranrKJ 0(￿tiC￿6 & FurKJ raisiNJ Recehtd Tr3r6fÉYftom Ger*Yal l L74J) Page 18 of 18