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2021-03-31-accounts

S hirley B aptist C hurch a church for the whole community

Annual Report & Accounts for the year ending 31 March 2021

Statutory information

Registered address Shirley Baptist Church Church Street Shirley Southampton SO15 5LG

Trustees

Mr James Adams Mrs Brenda Greenwood (Secretary) Mr Kevin Ings Mrs Sheila Price Mrs Anne Richards (Treasurer) Mrs Barbara Rothwell (resigned 8 July 2021) Mr Florin Stoica (resigned 8 July 2021) Mr Paul Sutton (Assistant Minister) (resigned 31 July 2021) Mr Shaun Sweeney (Minister) Mr John Waldron Mr Simon Wroe (resigned 8 July 2021) Mr Clint Zvavamwe

Property Trustees

The Baptist Union Corporation Limited Baptist House 129 Broadway Didcot Oxfordshire OX11 8RT

Bankers

Bank of Scotland 33 Old Broad Street London EC2N 1HW

Independent examiner

A G D Mills FCA 40 Thornbury Avenue Shirley Southampton SO15 5DA

Charity Number

1131764

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Charitable Object

The Charity is governed by an Approved Governing Document which states that 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 parts of the world.

The Church occupies premises, including a manse, which are held by the Baptist Union Corporation Ltd, on Trusts which are entirely compatible with the above object.

Organisational Structure and Decision-Making Process

Members of the Church are accepted in accordance with the Constitution, which normally requires them to be, or to have been, publicly baptised on profession of faith in Jesus Christ, or, following other modes of baptism, to renew their public profession of faith in Jesus Christ. The Church operates an open membership so that persons seeking membership who have not been baptised in the manner described may at the discretion of the Church Members’ Meeting be accepted for full membership based on their own public profession of faith.

Ordinary Church Members’ Meetings are held at regular intervals on not less than four occasions in any calendar year and are an opportunity to consider and review routine matters associated with the life of the Church, including issues related to Church membership, the approval of the budget, with opportunities for considering proposals from the Charity Trustees or other Church Members for the development of the Church and the advancement of its purpose through its activities. In addition, one Special Church Members’ Meeting each year includes the Annual General Meeting for the Church Members to receive annual accounts and reports, the election or re-election of charity trustees and the appointment of the Secretary and Treasurer. Special Church Members’ Meetings may also be convened when necessary to consider the appointment or dismissal of a minister, matters relating to the purchase, sale, lease, mortgage or redevelopment of Church property, or matters considered by the Charity Trustees to be of sufficient importance to require the calling of a such a meeting. Due to Covid-19, the meeting together hasn’t always been possible at such intervals this year.

Charity Trustees are chosen from among the Church Members, with the maximum number of Charity Trustees being agreed from time to time by the Special Church Members’ Meeting. In this Church it is the Minister(s) if any and Secretary, Treasurer and Leadership Team who together are the Charity Trustees of the Church. They are responsible for the day to day running of the Church’s work and witness and the financial and legal aspects of the Charity.

All Members are encouraged to take an appropriate part in the spiritual and practical tasks involved in the furtherance of the Charitable Objective. This is done mainly through teams led by members of the Ministry (Leadership) Team. In addition to the Ministry Team, there are Mission, Vision (Worship), Pastoral, Youth and Administration Teams. Together with other teams and groups, there are over 100 volunteers in the life and ministry of the church. Relevant matters may be submitted to the Church Members’ Meeting by the Trustees for guidance or may be raised by Members in the Church Members’ Meeting for further consideration by the Trustees. Though the Constitution permits decisions to be made at Church Members’ meetings by appropriate majorities, the Church seeks to work by consensus.

The church employs a full-time minister, a full-time assistant minister, a part time Youth and Children’s worker, two part time administrators and a part time cleaner.

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Object and Activities

In fulfilling the Object, the Church engages in a range of activities either on its own or with others that vary from time to time, with activities being initiated, expanded or closed, as appropriate. Our activities include but are not restricted to:

The regular activities of the Church can be viewed on our website http://www.shirleybaptist.org/

Achievements and Performance

Theme:

2019 saw us transition to the “Soaring with our Saviour” vision. 2020 we have moved on again to the theme ‘Seeing our Saviour’ with a text from John 12:21 ‘We would like to see Jesus.’ 2021 saw us move again to ‘Saluting Our Saviour’, with the text from John 14:15 ‘If you love me you will obey what I command’.

Attendance and demographics

Typical attendance on Sunday was much less due to lockdown and the church being closed. Over the year the average attendance therefore was around 80, although an average of 200 would join us online. The membership on 31 March 2021 was 125, seven less than a year ago. 5 members passed away, and two resigned. There has, however, been 1 new member and 2 baptisms. Children up to 11 years of age with whom we have regular contact through organized activities was severely disrupted during this time, therefore numbers were very low – about 30. However, much was done online, such as a Bake Off, Virtual Light Party, outside Easter Egg Hunt and Advent Windows. There were about 40 children in our Fire! (Sunday School) register. An online only ‘Families at 4’ Group began during lockdown which saw about 30 people there. Young people in the challenging 11-18 age group numbered around 21.

The trend towards a more international congregation has continued again this year with steady attendance from Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) groups – mainly from Africa and Eastern Europe (Romania) and the Church is multi-ethnic in its demographics.

Paul and Laura Sutton

Paul Sutton continued his ministry with us through this past year, as we had sufficient finance. Due to the Coronavirus Paul was unable to explore his future ministry. Laura Sutton continued the work she has done with children and young people.

Worship

The worship, leading and preaching ministry has been shared amongst the Pastor and our worship team, but due to the Government lockdowns has been mainly online. However, worship over the year has seen excellent preaching along with special services.

Home, overseas and cross-cultural mission

Cross cultural connections were maintained with BMS link missionaries working in Albania. We continue to have one missionary from the church working with Operation Mobilisation in Moldova.

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We operate a charity called ChildsPlay Romania, which provides practical support to Roma children in Romania. Visits were unable to happen this year to Ukraine, including to our partner church in Buzikva. The growing work in Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL), began through a church member and her team had to be mainly online, along with other ministries. Mission is supported through gifts of 5% of our general income to home mission and 5% to Baptist Missionary Society.

Discipleship

In line with our commitment to whole life discipleship, our small groups are now known as life groups, as they aim to support and challenge participants as intentional disciples in the whole of life. This was reflected in a change to the church’s strap line to “Everyday church for everywhere people” in early 2018. Some 150 people are involved in life groups. Links were maintained with LICC and with the Navigators, and resources from both organisations have proved useful.

One of the groups, Soul Group, was led By Paul and Laura Sutton and caters for young adults aged 16-25. There has been some change to this group due to ages and young people moving on to universities and colleges, and once again this had to be online.

Fellowship

Fellowship has been sadly hit by the current state of the country with the Coronavirus, and visits to homes were not encouraged. However, people were contacted in numerous other ways, such as phone calls and letters. Our commitment to visit the housebound, lonely and bereaved or those in hospital is still very much a focus and the flower ministry is great appreciated. This is “bread and butter” ministry and occupies a great deal of time and effort from all those involved.

The significant ministry to older people has been badly disrupted by the virus, as older folk being more vulnerable were hesitant to meet. Most meetings were on hold, but new ideas were formed. A Christmas carol CD, recorded from church, was put together and delivered to all the older people, along with cards and letters – to keep them in touch.

M & M’s is a group that has been running for several years now on a monthly basis for women aged roughly 30 - 60 and is very popular. It has both a fellowship and missional focus - it seeks to communicate the gospel in a sociable environment - and a number of non-Christian ladies attend.

Children and Family’s Ministry

Our work among children up to the age of 11 years continued under the leadership of Laura Sutton. Friday Night takeaway relaunched as “The Well on Wednesday” under the leadership of Paul Sutton has continue to grow. Up to 20 11-15 year-olds attend.

Messy Church continued with a core group of children and parents taking part in activities every other month on a Saturday morning, including a story time in the main church building. Each session takes a biblical theme and aims to help participants understand what it means to be a follower of Christ. This group has now closed for the time being.

Parent and Toddler Group continued to attract large numbers. We have taken small steps to identify ourselves as a Christian toddler group by developing a simple mission statement which is on view and by advertising other church activities which may be of interest. We also introduced an occasional ‘pause for thought’. Again, due to lockdown, much of the year this has been closed, but a FB group began enabling messages to be sent to see if everyone was OK or needed anything.

Social action

The Church has an extensive social action programme. Now an independent charity, Communicare coordinates volunteers from local churches who provide practical and emotional support to needy people across the City. This includes visiting housebound older people, helping

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mothers with babies and young children, and providing transport for hospital and other appointments. Its umbrella organisation is Southampton Voluntary Services. Referrals come from Health and Social Work professionals or concerned friends and relatives. Communicare has a small satellite Office on the church premises to cater for the growth in the work. Obviously, with the virus much has not been allowed to happen in the usual way.

We are part of the National Association of Child Contact Centres and run a Centre once a fortnight on a Saturday. This provides very important support to families going through divorce and enables children to meet their non-resident parent in a safe environment. It is appreciated by Southampton City Council and two councilors have attended our AGM’s.

We were able to offer a hall for the Basics Bank to have, a much-needed food bank programme. It moved to SBC from another church as we were more centrally placed. Whilst we had to close during some of lockdown, it was allowed to open as a necessary project, and has helped many, many needy families from our area.

Support Services (Administration team)

Support services ensure that SBC is safe, legal, accessible, sustainable and financially sound and has facilities which support our mission. In practice this covers all aspects of fabric, finance, safeguarding (see below), Health and Safety and any other compliance issues. The big drop in photocopier costs as a result of changing supplier has been maintained, but there has been a significant rise in utility costs and we are preparing ourselves for further rises in the future.

Connections

As well as being a member of the Baptist Union of Great Britain and the Evangelical Alliance, the Church joins with Churches Together in Shirley and local Baptist churches in various activities, most notably open-air acts of worship when we are allowed to do this.

Safeguarding

The Church operates systems to ensure that all people working with children are appropriately vetted via the Disclosure and Barring Service. We have safeguarding policies and procedures in place for working with children and vulnerable adults, and designated persons and a safeguarding trustee appointed by the Church Members.

Public benefit:

The Trustees have read the Charity Commission guidance on public benefit and is satisfied that the activities outlined above clearly demonstrate that the Charity is providing a benefit to the public.

Financial Review

The Church continues to raise the funds which it needs to carry on its activities primarily from within its own membership and congregation. Income showed a decrease on the previous year of some £22,179. Income exceeded expenditure by £5,186 despite the reduction in income.

The balance sheet showed an increase in net assets from £95,360 to £100,546 at 31/03/21.

The Accumulated Fund (General Fund) decreased from £81,026 to £74,773 (£6,253) but the underlying financial position of the church remains healthy. We closed the year above the top of our reserves range.

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The Church expressed its part in the life of the wider church by making grants of some £15,683 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.

Our Reserves Policy is that we should maintain 3 - 6 months expenditure of £10,000 per month, or approximately £30,000 - £60,000 in our Accumulated Fund. Any fall below the mid-point of £45,000 would activate a serious review of our income and expenditure. The Trustees have reviewed the Reserves Policy and are satisfied that they have more than sufficient reserves at the Balance Sheet date, together with ongoing income anticipated, to enable the Church to function effectively in the coming year.

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.

Future Plans

Our plans for the 21/22 financial year include:

  1. A continued focus on creating an intentional, whole life discipleship culture by implementing the outcomes of the Imagine workshop of 2017 and other initiatives. Simon is the Life Group Co-Ordinator and sorts the material and trains Life Group Leaders to reach the best potential for their groups in whole life discipleship.

  2. Due to the continuing Corona virus shutting Church buildings again this year, some were on hold during this period of waiting.

Statement of Trustees’ Responsibilities

Charity Law requires the trustees to prepare financial statements that give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charity at the end of the financial year. In doing so, the trustees are required to:

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Signature and declaration

I declare, in my capacity as charity trustee, that:

the trustees have approved the report above: and have authorised me to sign it on their behalf

Brenda Greenwood, Secretary 69 Stratton Road Shirley Southampton SO15 5RA

Dated: 11[th] December 2021

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SHIRLEY BAPTIST CHURCH

STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

Notes
Incoming resources
Donations and legacies
2
Investment income
3
Income from charitable activities
4
Total income
Expenditure
Expenditure on charitable activities
5
Total resources expended
Net Income/(expenditure)
Gross transfers between funds
Net movement in Funds
Total Funds brought forward
Total Funds carried forward		 Unrestricted
Designated
Restricted
Total
Total
2021
2020
£
£
£
£
£
128,443
50
27,784
156,277
162,410
2,702
-
-
2,702
17,111
3,977
-
-
3,977
5,252
135,122
50
27,784
162,956
184,773
141,375
365
16,030
157,770
196,604
141,375
365
16,030
157,770
196,604
(6,253)
(315)
11,754
5,186
(11,831)
-
-
-
-
-
(6,253)
(315)
11,754
5,186
(11,831)
81,026
17,474
(3,140)
95,360
107,191
74,773
17,159
8,614
100,546
95,360

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SHIRLEY BAPTIST CHURCH

BALANCE SHEET 31 MARCH 2021

Notes
Current Assets
Debtors
10
Bank and Cash
11
Current Liabilities
Creditors : amounts falling due within
12
one year
Net Current Assets
Total assets less liabilities
Creditors : amounts falling due after more than
13
one year
Net Assets
Charity Funds
Restricted
14
Designated
15
Unrestricted		 £
£
13,059
123,457
136,516
16,570
119,946
119,946
19,400
100,546
8,614
17,159
74,773
100,546
2021		 £
£
25,171
124,010
149,181
26,721
122,460
122,460
27,100
95,360
(3,140)
17,474
81,026
95,360
2020

The notes on pages 11 to 16 form an integral part of these accounts

These accounts were approved by the Trustees on 11 December 2021 and signed on their behalf by

Anne Richards Treasurer

Brenda Greenwood Secretary

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SHIRLEY BAPTIST CHURCH

NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

1 ACCOUNTING POLICIES

The accounts are prepared in accordance with the Charities Statement of Recommended Practice (Charities SORP (FRS102), FRS102 and the Charities Act 2011.

Shirley Baptist Church is a registered charity no.1131764 and meets the definition of a public benefit entity under FRS102. Assets and liabilities are initially recognised at historical cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant accounting policy notes.

b Income recognition

All incoming resources are included in the Statement of Financial Activities when the charity is legally entitled to the income after any performance conditions have been met, the amount can be measured reliably and it is probable that the income will be received.

Donations are accounted for gross when received.

d Legacies

Legacies are accounted for on the earlier of notification of an impending distribution and the legacy being received, provided that the legacy can be properly quantified.

Investment income is included in the accounts in the year in which it is receivable.

All expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis. Expenditure is recognised where there is a legal or constructive obligation to make payments to third parties, it is probable that settlement will be required and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably.

g Fund raising and publicity costs

The Church does not make formal appeals for funds, and expenditure on these items is therefore not material.

The Church makes grants to other organisations whose charitable objects complement its work. They are accounted for in the year in which they are paid or when the recipient has been notified of the grant and payment is unconditional..

Support costs are those that assist the work of the church but do not directly represent charitable activities and include office costs and governance cost. Where support costs cannot be directly attributed to particular headings, they have been allocated to the cost of raising funds and expenditure on charitable activities on a basis consistent with the use of resources. This represents direct expenditure on the governance of the church. Most of the management is carried out without charge by volunteers. This intangible cost is not included in the Statement of Financial Activities since there is no measurable cost to the volunteers for their service.

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Independent Examiner’s Report to the Trustees of Shirley Baptist Church

I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of Shirley Baptist Church (the Trust) for the year ended 31 March 2021.

This report is made solely to the Charity’s Trustees, as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 8 of the Charities Act 2011. My examination has been undertaken so that I might state to the Charity’s Trustees those matters I am required to state to them in an independent examiner’s report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, I do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the Charity and the Charity’s Trustees as a body, for my examination, for this report, or for the opinions I have formed.

Responsibilities and basis of report

As the charity trustees of the Trust you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (“the Act”).

I report in respect of my examination of the Trust’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.

Independent Examiner’s statement

I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:

I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

AGD Mills FCA

40 Thornbury Avenue Shirley Southampton SO15 5DA

11 December 2021

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