Annual Report for 2021
Registered Charity Number 1131765 Address: Kirkley Park Road Lowestoft Suffolk NR33 0LQ
Trustees: P Axon (Church Secretary) M Dorling R Dorling W Graham J Read A Smith (Church Treasurer) N Smith (Minister) A Warner N Webb Bankers: CAF Bank Limited
The trustees present their Annual Report and financial statements for 2021.
Structure, Governance and Management
The Charity is governed by an Approved Governing Document. Members of the Church are accepted in accordance with the Constitution which requires them to be or 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 members meeting normally takes place six times per year and have responsibility for the overall policy of the church, although during 2021, because of Covid restrictions the number of meetings were restricted. The meetings in the first half of the year, were held via Zoom, with the October meeting held in person. In accordance with the Constitution, the members appoint the Trustees, who together with the Minister, Church Secretary and Treasurer (who are also appointed by the Members), 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. Relevant matters may be submitted to the Church meeting by the Trustees for guidance, or may be raised by members in Church meeting 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.
Objectives and Activities
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, community service and such other general charitable purposes in such parts of the United Kingdom and the world as the Church shall determine. 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 generally. The aim is to show the love of Jesus Christ in both word and deed and to bring people into a closer relationship with Him as living Lord. Central to the work and witness of the Church is the provision of regular public services of Christian worship. These services normally take place each Sunday at 10.30
am. However, due to Covid restrictions services continued via zoom for the first part of the year with the first face to face service in April. An online service was made available, also recordings of the services were made for those not able to access the service online. Also, a ‘Meet and Greet’ zoom meeting was held each Sunday morning to keep members in touch with one another until the church re-opened. During the first part of 2021 the normal activities and programmes for both children and adults have been severely curtailed.
Youth groups continued online during 2021 until restrictions ended. Following this ease restrictions youth groups initially met in the church garden then returned to the church building for both midweek groups and Sunday morning worships. Time away from norma l was used to explore all of our youth groups, and after consideration and consultation with young people and our volunteers we made a few changes to our offerings. Additionally, during 2021 our youth football group was able to resume. In the Summer, we took a group of 18 children and young people (aged 7 – 18) away for a Summer residential. Our relationship building and pastoral care continued throughout 2021 and we were able to remain in contact with approximately 30 young people. Contact with schools remained and where Covid allowed, we were able to support the schools, pupils and staff local to us. We ran a mentoring session for year 6s at a local primary school, focussing on the move to High School and with easing anxiety about this milestone. During this session we were able to give 30 young people a gift to help with this time. Throughout 2021 the priority was to remain in contact with young people and their families, to reach out into the community both as outreach and to offer support.
During 2021 in our work with Children and Families continued, children continued to be sent out packs weekly both for Kids Church, Whitton after school club and packs to the Toddler group and a Valentines/lent pack out to all groups at the beginning of the year. Family tables were added within the Church sanctuary when we were able to open, with bookings put in place. In the May half term, a family picnic event was arranged in the garden of the church for all our families and the Toddler group started again from June in the garden area and Kids Church from Easter to the end of term. Contact was made with families with care packs still going out. In September about 60 families went back into the building for Kids Church and Toddler Group. Small events took place for the October half term and Christmas Christingle service with packs going to families unable to make it.
Girls Brigade : It was good to keep in contact with the GB families by email during the first part of 2021. The girls and parents/carers enjoyed receiving the gift bags that were delivered by the Church. After intensive Risk Assessments for use at the Church we were able to have a very welcomed catch-up with the girls for outside activities for a few weeks before the summer holidays. In September we were able to meet indoors and begin our GB syllabus. As a Company we could also celebrate our 50th Birthday.
Boys Brigade: With Covid restrictions we were not able to meet until the Spring / Summer term. We were then able to enjoy the light evenings outside doing a wide range of activities, various games, lighting a Fire Pit with limited resources, make a small raft from twigs which floated in a bowl of water. After the summer holidays we were able to return inside, so as the darker colder nights came along, we did our normal range of indoor activities, Games, Group Badge work, Discussions, etc., etc.,
The Church operates systems to ensure that all people working with children and vulnerable adults are appropriately vetted with regard to the Disclosure and Barring Service.
The church has 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.
Achievements and Performance
The Church does not measure the success of its programmes only in numbers, including financial numbers, but also in less tangible areas like fellowship and encouragement. The Trustees recognise that these are difficult to measure, but believe that 2021 was a positive year in the life of the church, we were glad to return to some sort of normality after the summer. We will be able to pursue our mission purposes in 2022 with renewed enthusiasm. Early in 2021 the membership agreed to a major refurbishment of the Sanctuary including removal of the organ. Early works were undertaken voluntarily by church members to remove the organ and prepare for the builders. A new prayer space was made where the organ was previously installed. During this time improvements to the pa and steaming capabilities also took place. The Sanctuary was re-opened in September. During the year once we were able to use the sanctuary, we were delighted to baptise 12 people. Sadly, three church members died during the year. At 31[st] December 2021 the membership stood at 130. Four people joined the membership during the year.
During 2021 the Discipleship Program continued at first on Zoom and later in person within the bounds of the Covid regulations. The Alpha course that was run on Zoom was problematic mainly due to the lack of suitable equipment amongst those attending, the majority only having mobile phones. The Alpha courses were attended by mainly non church members and resulted in some of the group coming into a relationship with Jesus and being baptised. The Freedom in Christ was attended mainly by Church members and a second course is planned in the Autumn of 2022. In 2021 Chaplaincy resumed with a new look post lockdown. We started delivering breakfast to independent shops alternate weeks, regrouped in Shake and Cake Cafe, and began wellbeing walks and pop-up chaplaincies in Kirkley. We continue to meet lots of people and build relationships
Whitton Life was still very active within the community during 2021. We have seen a growth in numbers, including new families, old ones returning and our regulars that we see each week, some have come through from Church and they all love to be part of this community that we serve in. We are continuing to work with the local charities in the area and they have played a significant part in supporting us. We are looking into new ways of how we can support the community during what looks to be a difficult time coming up with the increase cost of living crisis.
We still have the challenges that come with working along-side a community that is in need but it is good and we are know that we are making a difference. We feel that we could offer a lot more support within the community and are looking into new ways to bring the community together. We are constantly revaluating different ways in which we can serve.
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. The Church continued to take advantage of the Government Furlough Scheme and Furloughed the Whitton Life staff, Chaplaincy and youth workers. Other staff remained fully employed during the year. 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 membership was particularly grateful to receive legacies of £49,338 which helped with the financial cost of the refurbishment. 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 is a participating employer within the Defined Benefit section of the Baptist Pension scheme and has been making ongoing deficit payments to cover the costs of past service of
its employees within the scheme under a recovery plan. The church understands that if it had left the scheme at the year-end, it would have to have made a one-off payment estimated to be £46,900 to meet its statutory obligations to the scheme. The church has no plan to leave the scheme and expects to continue to make payments to the scheme in line with the recovery plan.
LRBC Church Accounts for the Year 1st January - 31st December 2021
| 2021 Assets at the start of year Staffing Fund 7676 Maintenance Fund 8753 Mission Funds 37509 Legacy/Capital Fund 115793 Youth Minister Fund 38230 Total 207961 Income Suffolk County Council Grant 0 HMRC Refunds Legacies 49338 Furlough Payments 7748 Weekly Offerings 27883 Gift Aided Offerings 78227 Income tax recovered on gift aids 21663 Other income (Lettings etc.) 191 Directed Income 24145 Interest Received 346 Total 209541 Expenditure Property 25269 Admin 8274 Staffing 102250 Baptist Insurance Grant 0 Capital Fund 55500 External Mission 12928 Mission Training 9908 Internal Mission 13104 Total 227233 Total Cash Assets at start of year 207961 Plus Income 209541 Less Expenditure 227233 Cash Assets carried forward 190269 Non Monetary Assets Insurance Values 2021 church buildings Pipe organ Church contents Manse Minibus Whitton Life Centre Whitton Life Contents Total Other Debts Baptist Pension Trust Limited Total |
2020 9549 6592 32672 119004 50682 |
|---|---|
| 218499 | |
| 10000 6906 0 0 29411 80272 21078 3041 30900 1310 |
|
| 182,918 £ |
|
| 27978 7690 102104 1543 8211 15380 5446 25103 |
|
| 193,455 £ |
|
| 218499 182918 193455 |
|
| 207,962 £ |
|
| 3,933,182 0 146,541 213,675 9,000 343,187 83,926 4,729,511 £ 46,900 £ |
| 2021 Expenditure Property Property upkeep 9466 Church utilities 4509 Insurance 3735 Manse Maintenance 2656 Whitton Life utilities 3664 Minibus 1239 Total 25269 Administration General Admin 7166 Computer Costs 279 Bank Charges 98 Affiliations 731 Total 8274 Staffing Salaries 83974 Staff support 3276 Advertising and interviews 0 Youth Minister Fund 12000 Internal Mission Fund 3000 Total 102250 Capital Asbestos and Heating 2000 Sound System/PA 6500 Sanctuary Refurbishment 45000 Skylight Repairs 0 Basement Refurbishment 2000 Total 55500 External Mission Smile International 0 Leprosy Mission 0 TWAM 350 BMS Appeal 118 BMS Birthday Scheme 410 BMS 6200 Home Mission 5500 Open Doors 350 Total 12928 Mission/ Training Light Project 0 Ministry Training E Day 4258 Ministry Training J Dorling 5650 Total 9908 Internal Mission 13104 Total Expenditure 227,233 £ |
2020 11393 4080 3607 3922 3560 1416 |
|---|---|
| 27978 | |
| 6789 70 60 771 |
|
| 7690 | |
| 87966 2030 0 12451 1200 |
|
| 103647 | |
| 0 0 3211 5000 0.00 |
|
| 8211 | |
| 150 60 0 270 410 6600 7000 890 |
|
| 15380 | |
| 1599 847 3000 |
|
| 5446 | |
| 25103 | |
| 168,352 £ |
Independent Exarnlners report Report of the Independent Examinerlsl to the Trustr•es of On the accounts for the year ended Respectlve responsibllities olTrustees and Examlner The Church's Trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. The church's trustees consider that an audit 15 not required for this year under sertion 144 of the Charities Act 2011 (the Charities Artl and that an independent examination is needed. is my responsibility to: examine the accounts under sertion 145 of the Charitie5 Art, • to follow the procedures laid down in the general Directions given by the Charity Commission (under section 14515llbl of the Charities Act. and to stste whether particular matters have come to my attention. Basls of Independent examlner's statement My examination was carried out in accordance with general Dirertions given by the Charity Commission. An examination includes a review of the atcounting records kept by the church and eomparison of the accounts presented with those records. It a150 includes consideration of èny unusual item5 or disclosures in the accounts, and seeking explanatlons 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 whetheT the accounts present 'true and fairf view and the report is limited to those matters set out in the statement below. Independent eumlner's ststement I confirm that l am qualified to undertake the examination because l am a memberof linsertncmed of opplicttble listed body], which is one of the listed bodies. In connection with my examinatlon, no material matters have come to my attention which glves me cause to believe that in, any material respect: accounting records were not kept in ac¢ordance with section 130 of the Charitles Act or the accounts do not accord with the accounting records • the accounts do not comply with the applicable requirements coneeming the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than anv requirement that the accounts give a 'true and fair view which is not è matter considered as part of an independent examination. I have come across no other mattèrs in connettion with the examination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understsnding of the accounts to be reached. Signed by or on behalf of the Examiner Date Name Relevant Professional Qualification(s) or body lif any) Address 14