The Parochial Church Council (PCC) of the Ecclesiastical Parish of B romsgrove (Reg. Charity 1132777)
Annual R r t epo fo r the r en d 31 D ecembe r 2021 yea ing
Gove r nance
The Parish of B romsgrove was formed through a Pastoral Scheme on 3 December 2012 and comprises the District Churches of All Saints, Christ Church, St Godwald and St John with St Andrew. The Governance of the Parish is determined by the Mission and Pastoral Measure 2011, a Bishop’s Instrument dated D3 ecember 2012 and the Church Representation Rules (2020). The PCC is a registered charity.
Objective
The PCC works with the clergy, churchwardens and District Church Councils to p romote the whole mission of the Church in Bromsgrove through worship, pastoral care, evangelism, social and ecumenical activities.
M embe r ship of the PCC
Members of the PCC a re appointed in accordance with the Bishop’s Instrument (03 12 2012) an. . d the Church Representation Rules (2020).
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R ole Name D ates Appointmen Othe r r oles
se r ve d t Status
Cle r gy
Team Rector Revd David 01 01 202. . Ex-ofcio
Ford 1-
Team Vicar Revd Bev 01 01 202. . Ex-ofcio
Robertson 1-
Team Vicar Revd Ray 01 01 202. . Ex-ofcio
Khan 1-
Associated Revd Janet 01 01 202. . Licensed
Priest Hatton 1- Clergy
Curate Revd 01 07 202. . Licensed
Richard 1- Clergy
Sandland
Chu r chwa rd en
s
All Saints Susan 01 01 202. . Elected
Bryant 1- annually
31 12 202. .
1
Susan Ward 01 01 202. . Elected
1- annually
31 12 202. .
1
Christ Church David 01 01 202. . Elected
Coulson 1- annually
31 12 202. .
1
Pat Hackett 01 01 202. . Elected Deanery
1- annually Synod
31 12 202. .
1
St Godwald’s Vacancy
Vacancy
St John with St Neil C ramb 01 01 202. . Elected
Andrew 1- annually
31 12 202. .
1
Shan Moule 01 01 202. . Elected Electoral Roll
1- annually Ofcer
31 12 202. .
1
LL M s
All Saints Rosemary 01 01 202. . Authorised to Deanery
Sumner 1 attend by Synod
virtue
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Christ Church Geof 01 01 202. . of APCM Treasurer,
Westwood 1 resolution Christ Church
10 1 2013. .
St Godwald’s Janet 01 01 202. . Ditto Deanery
Hewer 1 Synod
St John’s Hilda 01 01 202. . Ditto
Roxboroug 1
h
D eane r y
Syno d R eps
All Saints Clare 2020- Fixed term
Brampton 2023 triennium
Rosemary 2020- Fixed term LLM
Sumner 2023 triennium
Christ Church Pat Hackett 2020- Fixed term Churchwarde
2023 triennium n, Christ
Church
St Godwald’s Janet 2020- Fixed term LLM
Hewer 2023 triennium
St John’s John 2020- Fixed term PCC,
Jackson 2023 triennium Associate
Treasurer, St
John
M embe r s
electe d by
A D C M s
All Saints Suzanne 2020- Elected by Parish
Thompson 2023 DCC Safeguarding
Ofcer
All Saints Vacancy
All Saints Vacancy
Christ Church Vivien 2020- Elected by PCC
Bedford 2023 DCC Secretary
Christ Church Eleanor 2021- Elected by Parish
Newbold 2022 DCC Safeguarding
Ofcer
Christ Church Gary Taylor 2019- Elected by
2021 DCC –
resigned 31
12 2021
St Godwald’s Catherine 2020- Elected by
Maund 2023 DCC
St Godwald’s Norman 2019- Elected by
Hewer 2022 DCC
St Godwald’s Vacancy
St John with St Jonathan 2021- Elected by DCC
Andrew Little 2024 DCC Treasurer
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St John with St Bob Powell 2020- Elected by Deputy
Andrew 2023 DCC Churchwarde
n, St Andrew
St John with St Malcolm 2019- Elected by
Andrew Walters 2022 DCC
Co-opte d
M embe r s
St John with St Jonathan 28 10 202. . Co-opted Treasurer, St
Andrew Little 0- annually John’s
31 12 202. .
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P r incipal Ofce
c/o St John’s Church Ofce 14 Kidderminster Road Bromsgrove Worcestershire B61 7JW
Boa rd of r T ustees
The Board of T rustees comprises:
Team Rector Team Vicars Licensed Clergy Churchwardens (nominated by each District and their respective Annual District Church Council meeting) LLMs (also known as Readers) Elected lay representatives of each District (elected by each District and their respective Annual District Church Council meeting) Parish T reasurer District T reasurers Deanery Synod Representatives
N B. . Where a T rustee has not been elected to serve on the PCC as a DCC representative, then the post holder is co-opted onto the Board.
D elegate d M anagement
The PCC and Board of T rustees meet no less than four times a year. In between meetings of the PCC and Board of T rustees, day to day management is delegate to the PCC Standing Committee comprising:
Team Rector Team Vicars PCC Secretary PCC T reasurer Two churchwardens appointed by the PCC/Board of T rustees
2021 Co r e Achievements
2021 was a further difcult year, pastorally, missionally and fnancially, but by the year end most aspects of parish life had returned to near normality following the worst of the pandemic. Public worship continued in a mixed-mode fashion with in person worship combining with online worship whether live o r recorded, on zoom, Facebook o r You Tube. rG adually, in person worship returned as the ‘norm’ with online p roviding support for those unable to attend church. Unless constrained by health o r mobility, online worship does not appear to p rovide a long-term alternative to the t radition of gathering in sacred space to p raise God together.
Pastoral care continued to be the p rimary focus of church life both in terms of supporting our congregations and in terms of supporting those who sought the church’s help and solace. Substantial eforts continued to support churchgoers at home, especially the most isolated, through telephone t rees, newsletters, magazines and other materials, either delivered online o r by hand.
The governance of the parish continued online with considerable success. The Governance and Compliance sub-committee continued its work co-ordinating the a reas of Safeguarding, GDPR, Human Resources and Health and Safety on behalf of the PCC. A parish fnance g roup was re-constituted mindful of the new a rrangements for parish share – re-branded M‘ inistry Share’ – that were due to come into force on 1 January 2022. The expansion of the parish to include the benefce of Dodford and the United Benefce of Stoke P rior, Wychbold and Upton Warren was approved at the APCM in May. This included the approval of a new Scheme and Bishop’s Instrument similar to those introduced when the Parish of B romsgrove Team was f rst established in 2012. rF ustratingly, by the year end we still awaited the start of the fnal public consultation required by the Church Commissioners.
It was a g reat delight to welcome Richard and Kath Sandland to the parish upon Richard’s o rdination as Deacon and licensing as our Parish Curate in July. Richard swiftly p roved to be a highly
capable and popular Deacon throughout the parish and especially at his p rimary base in St Godwald’s and All Saints. Our common life is enhanced considerably by Richard and Kath’s presence amongst us.
Gary Taylor resigned rf om the PCC with efect f rom the end of the calendar year as his family returned to live on the south coast. Gary steered the PCC towards a g reater understanding and appreciation of Health and Safety p rocesses and rp ocedures and has left us better equipped to ensure the physical safety of visitors and worshippers in our churches. We a re very g rateful for his support and commitment.
From 1 January 2021, Sharon Charles, the part-time book-keeper for St John’s Church, became the Parish Book-keeper with a much-extended role assisting in various degrees with the fnancial management of all our Districts. Sharon is both extremely skilled and extremely committed and it has p roved a wise decision to increase her hours substantially. By the year end the fnancial management of the parish had improved signifcantly under her guidance.
During the year our two parish a dministrators – Heather Evans and Sue Norton retired rf om their posts necessitating their replacement but also p roviding the opportunity to review how these posts a re structured and operate. We a re immensely grateful for all they contributed to our common life. We were delighted to welcome Lauren Jones and rI ene Caswell-Berwick into these re-imagined roles during the autumn. Both Lauren and Irene have settled swiftly and ra e already essential and highly valued members of our team. The PCC’s two community p rojects - The Listening Service (working with vulnerable a dolescents in school) and ReachOut Bromsgrove (provision of detached youth services in the town) - gradually returned to their rp e-COVID pattern of working. Vital to their success is the close working relationship the PCC has developed with The Hub Youth P roject in the town. By the year end we were beginning to appreciate that the skillsets necessary to continue the efective management of these p rojects lie beyond the competencies and capacities of our clergy and it is
likely that these two p rojects will increasingly be managed by The Hub by way of Service Level Agreements.
The Parochial Church Council met on fve occasions during the year. In a ddition to routine business, the following items a re of particular note.
In January, the PCC agreed how to reduce the size of the Council given its impending expansion to include three more church communities. This discussion resulted in p roposals afrmed by the APCM for introduction in 2022.
At its March meeting, the PCC continued to explore the implications of expanding the parish to nine churches. There was an expressed desire to use our worship resources as efciently as possible and to plan worship, communion services especially, on a parish-wide basis.
By July, the new a rrangements for Parish Share had become known, in particular the decision of the Diocese to apportion Share to Benefces, not Churches. As a result, the July PCC meeting decided to hold a special meeting devoted to Share in September.
At this meeting it was decided not to apportion the Benefce Share to individual churches but to encourage giving towards Share in accordance with afordability as determined by each District. This policy was widely welcomed as helping to remove the perceived burden of raising Share of the shoulders of individual Districts. At the same time, Districts agreed to move to a budgetary basis for their fnancial decisions. The fnal meeting of the year in November was largely focused on policy developments with regard to Safeguarding, Health and Safety, and ReachOut B romsgrove.
The number of occasional ofces during 2021 refected the continuing pandemic. Baptisms (54) and Weddings/Blessings (16) remained lower than a ‘normal’ year might expect. Funerals (154) is about 30% higher than we might usually expect. This fgure includes funeral and thanksgiving services in church, services at the c rematorium and ashes interments.
Financially, the parish had a considerably better year in 2021 than in 2020.
The overall funds of the parish at £578,562 increased signifcantly on the 2020 total of £460,249 and now well exceed the 2019 fgure of £477,093.
Closer inspection however, reveals that just over £100,000 was received by way of legacy and non-recurring g rants. Once this is deducted, the level of income generated by personal giving and commercial operations (chiefy hall hire) is now comparable with 2019: £144,902 in 2021 compared with £141 897 in 2019. . This is a remarkable recovery following the pandemic and everyone should be rightly p roud of the achievement.
Careful fnancial management by all Districts has also helped considerably, with outgoing expenditure dropping further in 2021 compared with 2020 (£187k compared with £198k).
Each year the Diocese of Worcester requests the parish to contribute to the cost of ministry (stipends, related costs and the cost of the diocesan ‘centre’) through voluntary payments known as parish share. Total share requested in 2021 was £160,085 of which £69,161 was paid compared with £74,867 in 2020. During 2021, the Diocese of Worcester published plans to replace Parish Share with Ministry Share at the beginning of 2022, and towards the year end informed the parish that our new Share for 2022 would be £197k. The Parish will need to t ry to increase its payment of Share whilst recognising that the total requested remains unafordable.
Our church buildings remain in reasonable repair overall with the exception of St John’s that requires substantial investment, especially for the spire. Our DCCs continue to p rotect their church buildings and related plant as faithful stewards for both the church and community. The need for astute and wise management of our fnancial resources continues. The escalating cost of fuel in particular is a deep concern threatening the viability of our church buildings operating at current levels. rA p ogramme of fnancial simplifcation and rationalisation will feature in future years,
including, for example, a reduction of the current total of 41 bank accounts that a re held by churches in the parish (not including three of the churches due to join us in 2022).
There a re challenges ahead, but despite these the Balance Sheet of the Charity remains strong and the high quality of T rustees and Staf should ensure a successful 2022.
Revd David Ford Team Rector 28[th] March 2022