2023-08-31-accounts - Beckenham Methodist Church

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Beckenham Methodist Church Bromley Road BR3 5JE and Clock House Road BR3 4JP Registered Charity No. 1138006

The Methodist

Church

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Trustees Annual Report and Accounts for year ending 31[st] August 2023

Purpose

We are a body of people, drawn together by the love of God to worship, pray and try to follow the teaching of Jesus. To fulfil our purpose, we will:

Glorify God in worship Develop our understanding of the love of God and the way of Jesus Deepen our commitment to the Christian life Enable and encourage our community to develop and use all their God-given talents Offer Christian love and friendship to all Respond to the needs of God’s world, especially the people of Beckenham

The Methodist Church exists to exercise the whole ministry of Christ. The Local Church in Beckenham, with its membership and larger church community, exercises this ministry where it is and shares in the wider ministry of the Church in the world. In this one ministry worship, fellowship, pastoral care, mission and service are essential elements, enabled by training and prudent administration.

Organisation and governance

Beckenham Methodist Church (BMC) is part of the Bromley Circuit (No 35/42) of the Methodist Church, and arose from a merger of the Bromley Road and Clock House Road churches on 01 September 2004.

The number of members regularly attending services at Clock House Road never regained the numbers pre COVID and in the light of such low attendance, the Church Council authorised a suspension of services. Responsibility for the building was transferred to Bromley Circuit on 31 August 2023. In the meantime, in May 2023, the Circuit gave permission for a new Methodist society, Freeman Ghanaian Methodist Church to be established. On 31[st] August the trusteeship for the Clock House building was transferred to this church. Therefore, Beckenham Methodist Church is now only on the Bromley Rd site.

The Bromley Circuit during the year conducted merger discussions with an adjoining Circuit with a view to merging from 01 September 2024. These discussions favoured merging with the Orpington & Chislehurst Circuit thus covering virtually the whole borough of Bromley with one enlarged Circuit. All churches within the two existing circuits will vote on the proposal next financial year.

From September 2022 Rev Karen George has had pastoral charge of Beckenham Methodist Church, Rev David Morris offers 10 hours a week pastoral care and Deacon Laura MacBean continues to be involved in the management of Joy’s Kitchen. Church services are led by the Circuit staff, visiting guest speakers and local preachers.

The various tasks in carrying out our ministry are undertaken by the local Church, through its Church Council and committees, in union with the ministry of the Circuit of which it is constituent. In accordance with its governing document, the Constitution Practice and Discipline (CPD) of the Methodist Church, the Trustees are all the members of the Church Council who are over the age of 18 years, some by virtue of posts they hold and some as elected representatives of the whole congregation.

BMC employs one lay person as a Church Administrator. An office is provided at Bromley Road but some work is undertaken off site. The person helps the ministers with church administration matters and the stewards with BMC administrative tasks, one of which is to manage the premises.

Worship and Prayer

Services were held at 10.30 a.m. on a Sunday. Holy Communion is usually celebrated on the first Sunday of the month. The regular congregation is a mixture of age groups, nationalities and backgrounds and everyone who comes through the doors is afforded a friendly welcome. Service books, hymn books and pew Bibles are provided, as well as printed sheets when appropriate. Audiovisual projection is now normally used at and all appropriate copyright licences are held.

Membership stands at 93. Minimum attendance at Bromley Road is 40 with many housebound or infirm and others not attending regularly because of work or family commitments.

A celebration service was held at Clock House Road on 13[th] May 2023. This was a thanksgiving service for the ministry that has taken place on the site. However, for the last 3 months of the year Clock House Church was used on a Sunday afternoon by the Freeman Ghanaian Methodist Church for holding services. This trial was successful and led to the group forming a church council and joining Bromley Circuit.

Circuit Meeting

Several Members of the Church Council also hold posts at Circuit level and the Church Council elects three representatives from amongst its number. The Circuit Meeting is a separate charity and its members are its trustees. The Local Church pays an assessment to the Circuit each year to cover the stipends and housing of ministerial staff and contributions to the Methodist Church nationally. BMC’s assessment for this year was £41,483, which was a substantial reduction on last year as there was one less Minister to fund in the Circuit.

The Church Premises

The Trustees were responsible for the maintenance of the premises at Bromley Road (BR3 5JE) and at Clock House Road (BR3 4JP) until the site was transferred to Circuit (and then to Freeman Ghanaian Methodist Church) at the end of the financial year. The Church premises at both sites are extensively used by the local community as well as by Church members. At Clock House Road there is a longestablished pre-school playgroup. Various evening activities are occasionally held.

The premises at Bromley Road are more extensive and are used by some 35-40 community groups on a regular basis as well as for annual meetings of local residents groups and management committees. Activities for young children and the elderly are all available as well as the Church’s own sponsored Brownies, Guides, Beavers, Cubs, Scouts, Badminton Club and Social gatherings. According to Methodist Practice (CPD) no alcohol is allowed to be brought onto or consumed on the premises. A weekly AA meeting has been held on the premises for many years.

At Bromley Road we have been running a Community Café called TCs since July 2000 when a similar project run by Churches Together in Beckenham (CTiB) was forced to close. This has been very successfully staffed by volunteers from among the church membership as well as non members. At Bromley Road an extensive building project caused the café to relocate to one of the upstairs meeting rooms in November 2018. It then closed for covid but reopened in 2022, renamed Joy’s kitchen, initially on 3 days a week basis later extending to 4 days a week as more volunteers were obtained. The aim is to reach full 5 days a week opening if sufficient volunteers come forward. In previous years a surplus was made and allocated to various mission projects at home and abroad. This policy recommenced during the year at a prudent level leaving some funds in reserve until it is clearer if a paid café manager is to be recruited. Joy’s Kitchen accounts are included in the BMC accounts and the café management committee reports to the Church Council.

The Property and Finance Committee reports to the Church Council and is responsible for day-to-day management of cleaning and maintenance of both churches. Cleaning is carried out by professionals. Maintenance of the premises is an ongoing expense and is carried out by paid contractors and members helping.

Pastoral Care

The members of the Methodist Church are each allocated to a Pastoral Visitor who works closely with the minister to ensure all pastoral needs are met. The Pastoral Visitors and Church Stewards are members of the Pastoral Committee which reports to the Church Council. Those who are unable to attend services are visited and where requested the minister is are able to celebrate Holy Communion with them in their own home.

Mission

The Methodist Church supports Mission in Britain as well as Mission in the Wider World. These funds are well supported by the members of BMC as well as other charities. The work of TCs has been mentioned. Others regularly supported are Christian Aid with participation in the street collections and Action for Children, the Methodist Children’s charity, one of whose founders was also a member of Beckenham Methodist Church at its original foundation in 1887. Various other charities are supported annually, both locally and worldwide, e.g. Workaid and a food bank.

Ecumenical relationships

BMC is an active member of CTiB and participates in all its activities. On Ascension Day each year until recently a service has been shared with St. Paul’s C of E Church in Brackley Road, alternating the venue and preachers. Close relationships are held with our nearest neighbours at St. George’s Parish Church.

Financial review, including reserves policy, designation of material funds and likely timing of expenditure

The financial position improved during the year as letting income rose strongly. This will pave the way for the remaining loans incurred for the redevelopment project to be paid off early and in full next year at the close of the financial year £10,857 was outstanding.

Church income was up over 10% compared with the previous year and now includes the café. The long term trend of switching from cash giving to electronic giving continued. Our bankers, HSBC closed the Beckenham branch. We now pay cash and cheques in via the post office or at other branches. An account for Joy’s Kitchen is held at NatWest.

A tax refund payment was received during the year unlike the previous year where it was noted as a timing issue. No grants were received. The café made a contribution to church costs reflecting the utilities cost of running the café.

Expenses during the year included normal maintenance costs together with two one off items. The first of these was to finish the organ refurbishment started last year. It is now fully working and should give excellent service for decades to come. A concert was held to mark its return to working order. The second project was replacement of the church boiler. Our boiler was 15 years old and it became apparent during the year that big costly maintenance was going to be needed to keep it running properly. It was decided to replace it with two smaller gas boilers. This would be more efficient and allow improved control over heating different parts of the church. It would also simplify servicing as the old big boiler could only be serviced by certain contractors but two domestic boilers can be serviced by a wide range of companies.

However, on the horizon is a flat roof replacement project over the hall at the rear of the church. The roof is leaking and initial investigations indicate repair is not a sensible option. BMC joined the Eco church project during the year and one idea is to install solar panels on the flat roof which could only be done

after the roof is replaced due to their considerable weight. A combined solar panel and replacement roof project is being put together.

During the year our reserves increased by around 25% or just over £33,000 to £166,000. This increase puts us back to where we were pre-covid but not to where we were before we started on the redevelopment project.

Funds held as custodian trustee on behalf of others:

Such funds are not material. They may include, during the financial year:

collections made for nominated charitable organisations, detailed in the Notes to the Receipts & Payments Account, but not yet distributed to them. Examples are Action for Children, Mind and on behalf of the Traidcraft Café. Movements of such funds, which are held temporarily on the main bank current account, are separately recorded in the Vestry Journal, receipts and payments ledgers, and documented in other papers on file; and balances of the Benevolence Fund, to be applied at the minister’s discretion.

It is policy to disburse such collections in the same financial year in which they were received into the church accounts, except for the Benevolence Fund which may accumulate across year-ends.

Thanks

The Trustees would like to thank all those who work in a volunteer capacity to enable the smooth running of the Church in all its facets. As can be seen, BMC is an organisation devoted to providing public benefit with the assistance of its members. The Trustees, in exercising their powers and duties, complied with their obligation to have due regard to the guidance on public benefit published by the Charity Commission.

This Report was approved at BMC’s Church Council meeting on 05thMarch 2024, on which date theTrusteeswere thefollowing:	The Trustees during the year ending 31 August 2023 were the following:
Rev. KarenGeorge	Rev. KarenGeorge
Deacon LauraMacBean	Deacon LauraMacBean
Irene Antwi	Irene Antwi
DavidBishop	Cynthia Campbell
Hilary Cheverton	Hilary Cheverton
AndrewCloke	AndrewCloke
Tina Eshun	Tina Eshun
Theo Farmer	Theo Farmer
MichelineFaulkner	ChristineHandel
ChristineHandel	David Jackson
David Jackson	Mary Jackson
Mary Jackson	David Keall
David Keall	Rev. David Morris
Rev. DavidMorris	Graham McLeod
Graham McLeod	JennyNichols
JennyNichols	Lum Ntumazah
Lum Ntumazah	Sheila Priestman
StephenOlufunwa	Judith Reep
SheilaPriestman	Sandra Storch
Judith Reep	PauletteTomlinson
Sandra Storch	Gordon Wilson
Paulette Tomlinson	Valerie Wilson
Gordon Wilson	Simon Young
ValerieWilson
Simon Young

CHURCH RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS ACCOUNTS THE METHODIST CHURCH STANDARD FORM OF ACCOUNTS Beckenham Church FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 August 2023 Bromle Clrcuit Circuit no 35142 Registered Charity - Charity Registration number If not a registered charity Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs Gift Aid number (The HMRC number is equivalent to a registered charity number in terms of evidence of charitable status and may be used to give to donors or grant funders wishing to see evidence of the organisation's charitable status. Methodist charities in England and Wales that are not registered charities are excepted from registration under Statutory Instrument 2014 No.242) 1138006 NIA Minister: Rev. Karen Geor Church Stewards: Jenny Nichols, Christine Handel, Sheila Priestman, Comfort Lawson, Paulette Tomlinson, Graham McLeod, Irene Antwi, Cynthia Campbell, Lum Ntumazah Treasurer: Simon Young lofs PUBLIC Church R and P 2015.xlg

ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 AUGUST 2023 Beckenham Church Unrestricted Restricted Totals this Funds Funds year Totals last year SECTION A a1 RECEIPTS Note a2 Offerin s and Tax recovered Bank and CFB interest and Investment income 75.483 75,483 56,819 a3 3,682 3,682 371 a4 Lettings Other receipts TOTAL RECEIPTS 68,246 68,246 64,706 a5 3,645 151,056 1,362 1,362 5,007 152,418 1,884 123,780 a6 (a7) SECTION B b1 PAYMENTS b2 Circuit Assessment or Share 41,483 41,483 64,530 b3 Donations 1,000 1,000 Re airs and Maintenance Utilities (Insurances, water charges, heating & lighting) 42,116 42,116 55,554 b5 24,266 24,266 20,991 b6 b7 Other payments TOTAL PAYMENTS 29,088 137,953 1,180 1,180 30,268 139,133 13,010 154,085 b8 (b9) SECTION C NET RECEIPTSIPAYMENTS FOR THE YEAR a6-b8) 13,103 182 13,285 30,305) Total funds brought forward from last year c2 149,715 149,715 c6 179,066 Sub total c1+c2 162,818 182 163,000 148,761 Transfers and ad"ustments 165) c7) 954 c5 TOTAL FUNDS AT END OF YEAR (c3+c4) 162,818 182 162.835 (c8) 149,715 (c6) SECTION D FOR INFORMATION ONLY: MONEY RECEIVED AND PASSED ON TO EXTERNAL ORGANISATIONS (these amounts are not to be Included In total recelptslpayments flgures above) d1 Balance brou ht forward from last ear 1,100 146 d2 Offerin sIGifts - received for external or anisations 3.164 4,519 d3 Offerings/Gifts - passed to external organisations 3,329 3,565 d4 BALANCE STILL TO BE PAID (d1+d243) 935 1,100 2ofS PUBLIC Church R and P 2015.xjs

Beckenham Church SUMMARY OF CHURCH ACCOUNTS AND INTERN ORGANISATIONS REPORTING TO THE CHURCH COUNCI SECTION E Please follow the Guldance Notes to com lete thls Summary of the Church accounts for the year ended 31 August 2023 and Internal Organisations reporting to the Church Counciuchurch Meeting. Nole that the funds of an Intemal Organisation %Uld norrnally be Restricted funds unless It could be clearty Sho that they coukl bé used for any Methodist purpose. This section must be completed to arrive at Ihe gross income and expendlture totals of the Church. If gross Income exceeds Ihe Accruals threshold, then the Acuuals method of accounting AND A DIFFERENT FORM must be used to report the accounts (see Methodist bsIte). Please refer to the guld8nce notes regarding transfers betwn the Distrlct and connected Distrlct Organisations. INTERNAL ORGANISATIONS Net Recelptsl Pa 8nts Closln balances onts Ad ustmants opIn balances Jo .8 Kltch•n 9.871 4,664 5,207 8.443 13,650 Sub total of Intemal Organisal5ons fijnds 13,650 9.871 4,664 5,207 8,443 (•11) (•12) Church accounts (totsls brought forward from pag• 2 - tot41$ column) TOTAL CASH FUNDS HELD BY CHURCH 13,285 (165) (c7) 149,715 (c6> 162.835 (c8) 152.418 {a7) 139,133 (b9) 158,158 Ix) 176,485 ¢10 162,289 143,797 18,492 (165) Conbnue cfft a separat8 sheet rf necessary and bring the totals foNard TOTAL RECEIPTS TOTAL PAYMENTS SECTION F STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES OPENING BALANCES CLOSING BALANCES CHURCH- CASH FUNDS HELD at 31 Au ust 2023 Cash In hand 41,809 Bank Current Account 73,648 Bank Deposit Acccwnt Central Finance Board 75,548 120.492 Trustees lor Methcmjlst Church Pu oses 519 534 OtheA funds SUB TOTAL- Chur¢h accounts Totsl ljnds held by Intemal Organlsallons (tha doslng balance totsl abov8) (812) 149,715 (c6) 162,835 (c8) 8,443 (611) 13,650 (e12) TOTAL CASH FUNDS HELD BY CHURCH 158,158 (x) 176,485 (y) 8ECTI(%Y G At 1 Seplernber 2022 At 31 August 2023 OTHER ASSETS and UA81LITIES Investrnents ncludo Endwn8nts al TMCP Land & 8uildin $88 notes re InsuranrA valu 10.133,539 11,157,155 Other Asset8 596,356 656,s95 Loan - show amount outst8ndln at ar end Othar Llabllitl8S f4 Indude only Funds held at the Central Flnanc• Board 15 Indude onty Funds held at Trust88s for Methodlsl Church Purposes g1 Include any other Inv8strnenls (not tha cash elemenl ol TMCP tsusls accnts th1•18 Induded In Uno f5 3of5 PUBLIC 2015r¢b R•nd P.th

DECLARATIONS Treasurer I confirm that I have prepared the accounts from the records of the Church and that they include all funds under the control of the Church Council Signature of Treasurer Date 5/3/z4 Name Simon J Young Address 80 Village Way, Beckenham , Kent BR3 3NR Presentation to the "Church Council for approval. I confirm that the Accounts have been presented to the Church Council on s /3/2* and were approved. Signature of the Chair of the meeting Name of the Chair of the meeting Rev Karen George Date 24 Independent Examiner's Report to the Trustees of the Beckenham Methodist Church st This Report is on the Church Accounts for the year ended 31 August 2023 Respective responsibilities of Trustees and Examiner The charitrfs 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 my responsibility to: Examine the accounts under Sectlon 145 of the Charitles Act to follow the procedures laid down in the general Dlrections glven by the Charity Commission (under Section 145(5)(b) of the Charltles Act), and to state whether particular matters have come to my attentlon. 4ofS ,PUBLIC 2015 church R and P.xts

Basls of Independent Examlner's Report My 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 conceming 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 fairf view and the report is limited to those matters set out in the statement below. Independent Examiner's Statement In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention (other than that disclosed below.): (1) which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in any material respect the requirements: to keep accounting records in accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act; to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and comply with the accounting requirements of the Charities Act have not been met; or (2) to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. ' Please delete the words in the brackets if they do not apply appropriate (3) I have obtained independent verrfication of all investments with the Trustees for Methodist Church Purposes ("TMCP") or held in other Trusts, Bank balances and Funds at the Central Finance Board of the Methodist Church ("CFB"), which are individually in excess of £10,000 (ten thousand pounds) at the balance sheet date. ' Please circle as appropriate Name John Whittam Signature Relevant Professional qualification or body ICAEW (7735066) Address 9 Badgers Way, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire CV37 OUJ Date 5of5 .PUBLIC 2015 church R and P.xls