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2023-12-31-accounts

BUCKINGHAM CHAPEL BRISTOL FINANCIAL STATEMENTS Year Ended 31 December 2023

Charity Number: 1140327

BUCKINGHAM CHAPEL BRISTOL

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2023

Contents Pages
Reference and Administrative Information 1
Trustees Annual Report 2 to 5
Report of the Independent Examiner 6
Receipts and Payment Account 7
Statement of Assets and Liabilities 8
Notes to the Financial Statements 9

BUCKINGHAM CHAPEL BRISTOL

REFERENCE & ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2023

Status

The Church was created by Trust Deed on 18 December 1847, as amended 22 April 2016, as an Independent Baptist Church.

Previously an excepted charity, the Church was first registered with the Charity Commission in 2011 under the Charity number 1140327.

Trustees

During the reporting year, there were 6 Trustees:

Pastor O Gross Dr S Benham (Treasurer) Mr A Collins Mr J Lewis Mr J Norris (Secretary) Mr J Martin

Principal Address

Buckingham Chapel, Queens Road, Clifton, Bristol, BS8 1LQ

Independent Examiner

Joshua Kingston, Bsc (Hons) ACA Burton Sweet Limited The Clock Tower 5 Farleigh Court Old Weston Road Flax Bourton Bristol BS48 1UR

Bankers

Charities Aid Foundation CAF Bank Ltd Kings Hill West Malling Kent ME19 4JQ

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BUCKINGHAM CHAPEL BRISTOL

TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT

YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2023

The Trustees present their report and the financial statements of the charity for the year ended 31 December 2023.

Structure, Governance and Management

Organisation

Trustees meetings are normally held monthly and Church members meetings are normally held quarterly. Church members meeting is the decision-making body for all aspects of financial expenditure and all appointments to positions of office in the Church. All organisational leaders are subject to the approval of a Church meeting. Anyone dealing with children at Sunday School, Romanian Children’s work, Saturday Special, Tiger Tots or Lighthouse are vetted to conform to our Safeguarding Policy. The Church and its safeguarding policy are registered with the DBS (disclosure and barring service). We recruit trustees from suitably-qualified men within the membership of Buckingham Chapel, and submit these for approval by the membership.

Ministry Team

Pastor Oliver Gross.

Rev Adrian Carey-Jones works with Romanian Ministries and in Bristol leads our Romanian Gypsy children’s work and pastors a Romanian Fellowship.

Mr John Norris is the Sunday School Superintendent and Young Adult Fellowship Group leader. Mrs Christine Lewis is leader of the Ladies meeting.

Sandra Benham and Naomi Gross lead the Tiger Tots Ministry.

Simon Benham leads the children’s Lighthouse group.

Angela Jones and Alison Royle led the children’s Saturday Special group.

Church Membership

Anyone seeking membership must believe in the Church’s doctrinal statement and have been baptized by immersion professing repentance towards God and their life must bear evidence of the new birth. The membership at 31 December 2023 was 44 (up from 41 in 2022), this included 5 associate members. These include 4 missionaries who are active on the mission field; 2 in Peru, 1 in South Wales and the other in Bristol.

Risk Assessment

The major risks to which the charity is exposed, as identified by the Trustees, have been reviewed and systems have been established to manage those risks. The regular review of the risk register is undertaken by the Trustees at their monthly meetings. This work is recognised as an on-going responsibility by the office bearers as managing Trustees.

Objectives and Activities

The charitable objects of the charity as per the constitution are as follows. The principal object of the charity is the advancement of the Christian faith according to Baptist principles and in accordance with the basis of faith as stated in our Statement of Faith. The charity may also carry out other charitable purposes in the United Kingdom and/or other parts of the world.

Mission

Buckingham Chapel exists for three purposes:

  1. To worship our Almighty Redeemer God: to proclaim the praises of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvellous light – (1 Peter 2:9)

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BUCKINGHAM CHAPEL BRISTOL

TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT

YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2023

  1. To take the Good News of Salvation in and through the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to those who do not believe – both locally and world-wide, in obedience to Christ’s command: - “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature” – (Mark 16:15)

  2. To nurture believers in their faith by means of the teaching of God’s Word, church discipline, pastoral care, exercise of the ordinances of Baptism and Communion, prayer and fellowship, in obedience of Christ’s command : “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19:20).

Public Benefit

The trustees have complied with their legal duty of the Charities Act 2011 to have due regard to public benefit guidance published by the Charity Commission.

The Church is satisfied that it has met the public benefit test through:

  1. The availability of the church to any member of the public to attend worship services on each and every Sunday during 2023 as well as other services each week.

  2. The preaching of the word of God each week to the saving of souls.

  3. The distribution of evangelistic literature in the neighbourhood during the year.

  4. The provision of a number of community activities during term time including:

  5. a. Sunday School

  6. b. Young Adults Fellowship

  7. c. Tiger Tots: carers and children playgroup

  8. d. Lighthouse: for 10-16 year olds

  9. e. Ladies meetings

  10. f. Men’s breakfast meetings

  11. g. Romanian Gypsy children outreach programme. This has involved the church in providing transport to bring between 15 and 25 children to the weekly Sunday School meeting; the provision of lunch following the Sunday School meeting and some social activities during the week

  12. h. Saturday Special quarterly children’s club for primary school age

  13. The maintenance of the church building as a Grade II listed building during the year.

  14. The distribution of aid to Christians worldwide.

  15. A free Christian literature table for passers-by and within the church.

Worship at Buckingham

The preaching of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and the exposition of the Word of God is central to all the preaching both at our Sunday services and Wednesday night meeting. The New King James Bible version is used and hymns are taken mainly from Christian Hymns and our internally produced Supplement.

Young People

Our Sunday School meets on a morning sharing the first part of the service with the Church before going to their classes. The young people meet regularly for both spiritual and social activities.

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BUCKINGHAM CHAPEL BRISTOL

TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT

YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2023

Church Life

There are regular meetings of the Ladies on Tuesdays, Bible study and prayer meetings on Wednesdays and Young Adults Fellowship meetings and men’s breakfast meetings on Saturdays. A prayer meeting is also held on the first Friday of each month.

The church continues to provide a childcare service to the local community: Tiger Tots. It meets on Friday morning from 10.00 till 11.30 during term time and provides a playgroup facility for children from birth to school age. In addition to play and craft activities the children also sing choruses, nursery rhymes and hear stories from the Bible.

For older children the church provides a youth group called “Lighthouse”. Lighthouse meets every Friday at 5:45pm to 7:15pm during term-time. The activities include play and craft activities as well as Bible teaching.

We run a Saturday Special approximately once a quarter for primary school children following the pattern of a holiday bible club.

We have again had the privilege of having a number of students worshipping with us who have made Buckingham their spiritual home from home.

At Christmas we undertook a range of evangelistic activities including distribution of Christmas tracts and advertising of Christmas services.

During the year we continued to provide prayer and financial support to missionary work in Peru, Asia and the European Missionary Fellowship, Pastors Training International, Blythswood Trust and Romanian Ministries.

Reserves Policy

The Trustees have established a policy whereby the unrestricted funds ("the free reserves") held by the charity should be between 3 and 6 months of the annual payments, which equates to £40,281 to £80,563 in general funds. At this level, the Trustees feel that they would be able to continue the current activities of the organisation in the event of a significant drop in funding. It would obviously be necessary to consider how the funding would be replaced or activities changed accordingly. At 31 December 2023, free reserves amounted to £222,582, which exceeded the target level. The excess funds will be used on future building projects which will be decided on in due course.

Grateful thanks and praise

We are grateful to God for all that has been achieved. Although a small Fellowship God’s people have proved faithful both in their attendance and in their giving. We give 12.5% of our weekly offerings and gifts not otherwise designated to the support of our missionaries and the European Missionary Fellowship .

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BUCKINGHAM CHAPEL BRISTOL

TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT

YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2023

Statement of trustees’ responsibilities

The trustees are responsible for keeping sufficient accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and 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/constitution. 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.

Jun 12 2024

Approved by the Board of Trustees on …………………………….. and signed on its behalf by:

………………………………………… Mr J D Norris Secretary

………………………………………… Dr S P Benham Treasurer

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BUCKINGHAM CHAPEL BRISTOL

INDEPENDENT EXAMINER’S REPORT TO THE TRUSTEES

YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2023

Independent examiner’s report to the trustees of Buckingham Chapel Bristol

I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of Buckingham Chapel Bristol (the Charity) for the year ended 31 December 2023.

Responsibilities and basis of report

As the charity trustees of the Charity 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 Charity’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:

  1. accounting records were not kept in respect of the Charity as required by section 130 of the Act; or

  2. the accounts do not accord with those records; or

  3. the accounts do not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a ‘true and fair view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination.

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.

Joshua Kingston, Bsc (Hons) ACA Burton Sweet Limited The Clock Tower 5 Farleigh Court Old Weston Road Flax Bourton Bristol BS48 1UR

Jun 12 2024

Date: …………………………

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BUCKINGHAM CHAPEL BRISTOL

YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2023 RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS ACCOUNT

----- Start of picture text -----
Unrestricted Restricted Total Funds Total Funds
Funds Funds 2023 2022
RECEIPTS £ £ £ £
Voluntary Income to further charity's objectives
Offerings 82,748 12,209 94,957 59,350
Legacies - - - 29,709
Donations and gifts 120 5,397 5,517 23,548
Car Parking 7,047 - 7,047 5,618
Church holiday - 4,876 4,876 1,979
Credits 1,037 372 1,409 -
Income tax refunds 15,943 1,964 17,907 15,831
106,895 24,818 131,713 136,035
Investment income
Bank interest 3,820 - 3,820 678
Loan interest 852 - 852 899
Loan repayment 2,148 - 2,148 2,101
TOTAL RECEIPTS 113,715 24,818 138,533 139,713
PAYMENTS
Costs of charitable activities
Peru gifts - 13,922 13,922 21,782
Romanian ministries - 366 366 75
Missionaries 14,404 250 14,654 14,265
Other Gifts 2,294 3,721 6,015 3,215
Church pastor salary 29,505 - 29,505 27,871
Visiting Preachers 3,100 - 3,100 3,075
Bank fees 60 - 60 81
Property repairs 36,738 - 36,738 2,366
Books, Bibles and Stationery 1,338 216 1,554 1,927
Heating and lighting 10,790 - 10,790 8,719
Insurance 8,020 - 8,020 7,276
Water and sewage 305 - 305 392
Replacement equipment 2,275 - 2,275 661
New Equipment 7,609 - 7,609 2,388
Services 8,629 - 8,629 4,308
Church Refreshments 479 - 479 185
Roma Refreshments 800 23 823 1,274
Flowers 231 120 351 567
Advertising 186 - 186 632
Legal, Architects, Engineers fees
and consulting 2,988 - 2,988 2,229
Minibus Fuel 931 - 931 729
Minibus expenses 2,767 - 2,767 2,543
Manse repairs 89 - 89 -
Church Holiday 130 4,876 5,006 3,216
Children Work Activities 2,395 228 2,623 2,167
Music licence 314 - 314 293
136,377 23,722 160,099 112,236
Governance costs
Accountancy 1,026 - 1,026 888
TOTAL PAYMENTS 137,403 23,722 161,125 113,123
Transfers between funds 4,359 (4,359) - -
NET RECEIPTS/(PAYMENTS) (19,329) (3,263) (22,592) 26,590
----- End of picture text -----

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BUCKINGHAM CHAPEL BRISTOL

AT 31 DECEMBER 2023 STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES

Fixed Assets
Property, Improvements & Fittings
Current Assets
Current account
Gold Account
Deposit (prepayment) Church Holiday
Loan
Total Assets
Liabilities
Other Creditors
Accruals - Accountancy
Total Liabilities
CASH RESERVES
Unrestricted funds
Brought forward
Net receipts/(payments) for the year
Restricted funds
Brought forward
Net receipts/(payments) for the year
Total reserves		 2023
£
275,381
275,381
15,630
208,747
500
36,990
261,867
537,248
-
1,026
1,026
241,911
(19,329)
222,582
5,058
(3,263)
1,795
224,377		 2022
£
275,381
275,381
91,937
155,032
500
39,138
286,607
561,988
1,333
1,026
2,359
217,198
24,713
241,911
3,182
1,876
5,058
246,969

Jun 12 2024

Signed on behalf of the trustees on ….............

Mr J D Norris Secretary

Dr S P Benham Treasurer

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BUCKINGHAM CHAPEL BRISTOL YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2023 NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

Related party transactions

Oliver Gross, trustee received payments of £29,118 (2022: £27,628) in respect of pastoral services.

These payments are permitted under the Charity's constitution.

During the year six (2022: 7) trustees were reimbursed expenses amounting to £5,880 (2022: £4,688) in respect of travel and meeting expenses and other charitable expenses.

There are no other related party transactions apart from those already disclosed.

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