Harrogate Baptist Church Trustees Annual Report and Accounts for 2020 - 2021 1st October 2020 - 30th Se tember 2021 ( p )
| Table of Contents | |
|---|---|
| AIMS AND PURPOSES | 2 |
| OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES | 2 |
| ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE | 3 |
| SUNDAY WORSHIP AND PRAYER | 3 |
| INVOLVEMENT IN WIDERBAPTIST LIFE | 4 |
| WORKING TOGETHER WITH CHURCHES INHARROGATE | 4 |
| THECHURCHBUILDING | 4 |
| CHILDREN AND YOUTH WORK | 5 |
| RENEW HG1 | 5 |
| PASTORALCARE | 5 |
| HOUSE-GROUPS | 6 |
| LEADERSHIP | 6 |
| MISSION ANDEVANGELISM | 6 |
| THEFUTURE | 7 |
| VOLUNTEERS | 7 |
| STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT | 7 |
| ADMINISTRATION INFORMATION | 7 |
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Aims and Purposes
The aims and purposes of Harrogate Baptist Church are encompassed in our mission statement:
“Living Faith, Bringing Hope, Sharing the Love of Jesus”
The Charity Trustees of Harrogate Baptist Church (HBC) have the responsibility together with the rest of the church in the advancement of the Christian faith and the promotion of the whole mission of the Church - evangelistic, social, pastoral and ecumenical. The Charity Trustees are also responsible for facilitating the maintenance of the Church building and finances.
Objectives and Activities
The Charity Trustees are committed to enabling as many people as possible to worship at our church and become part of the community and fellowship at HBC. Our services and worship put faith into practice through the centrality of Scripture, prayer, worship, sacrament and other activities outside of Sundays, seeking to make church and faith as accessible to as many people that live within our community as possible.
When planning our activities for the year, we as Charity Trustees have considered the Charity Commission's guidance regarding the advancement of religion. In particular, we try to enable 'ordinary' people of all ages and backgrounds to live out their faith as part of our community through:
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Worship and prayer, small groups, communion, fellowship, preaching and teaching in order to develop knowledge and trust in Jesus;
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Provision of pastoral care for people within the church and those living within the community;
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Mission within the community and throughout the world
To facilitate this work, we recognise that it is important to maintain the fabric of the Church.
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Achievements and Performance
Summary
We said at the end of our report last year, that ‘like all churches, we face an uncertain and potentially bumpy next few months’. We were clearly unrealistic in speaking about an uncertain and potentially bumpy next few months because it’s realistically been an uncertain and definitely bumpy 2021! It has been as challenging coming out of lockdown as going in, in terms of there being less guidance in place as we emerged and sought to make good decisions about what to do and when has been tricky.
But by God’s grace, we have not just survived but there’s been some real encouragements along the way and some new ventures to give us focus and energy – we hope that’s demonstrated in what follows. Once again, we’re grateful for the flexibility and positivity of the congregation in moving forward and to God. May He be given all the glory!
Sunday worship and prayer
Our Sunday worship services have again been impacted by Covid, leading to a variation of in-person and online services throughout this year – roughly we’ve ended up having 31 ‘live’ services throughout this year compared to 22 online services, the extra service included is the Christmas Eve service, which had to be switched online at fairly short notice. It was good to have our Harvest display of gifts for our first service back in our building at the beginning of October. There was however some disappointment about not being able to hold our inperson lunchtime carol service and Christmas Eve Carols by Candlelight service, as well as our Easter service being online for the second year. But in hindsight, the right decisions were made with regards to putting these services online and we’re grateful to the music group for pulling together so many Christmas carol videos over a short period of time.
We have remained with live services from 16[th] May onwards and it was good to mark this transition with a montage of photos and reflections for our last online service, which celebrated just how much we developed our online services over the last year and giving thanks to God for all those involved in the online services, especially all the hard work of Mike Getgood in producing them. We came a long way, in a relatively short period of time and we give thanks for the way they kept a sense of oneness and the ability to connect with those wider than the HBC fellowship.
It was good to get back to live services, and we made the decision not to pursue a hybrid approach to services for a number of reasons – in hindsight, this was the right decision for us as a church. We are grateful that our building has enabled social distancing and that we’ve been able to remain open for in-person worship since reopening in May, rather than having to dip in and out of in-person and online, which is challenging.
Our sermon series have taken many different shapes this year – the Gospel of Luke, Advent joy, sharing faith primarily from the book of Acts, 7 deadly sins during Lent, Daniel, our summer sermon series was Nurturing Biblical Wellbeing and a series of ‘one-off sermons during September. We have just started a series called Encountering Jesus.
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Not surprisingly, we have still not reintroduced Breakfast Church – we envisage this will be one of the last things to return.
Attendance figures since continually being back in the building from May 2020 have been very low – averaging 37. This is for many reasons, including people still being hesitant to return to worship and no congregational singing, so at times the services have seemed a bit ‘flat’ but it has been good to return to seeing and worshipping physically. It has been good to welcome back our families plus a couple of new children and their families – we regularly have around 8 children at the service now which is a real answer to prayer! We are still praying for more families but we have some great children in our church!
As at 30th September 2021, HBC has 74 members, together with others who regularly attend the church. We have had very few ‘one-off’ visits this year. One of the saddest aspects of this year, as always, has been the loss of one of our longstanding members, Joyce Wilson. She had served in various Baptist churches including ours faithfully for many years. It has been a joy to welcome Chris and Zoe Bishop into membership during the year. We held one wedding, a marriage blessing of a couple who got married at the church in March 2020 and one funeral service during the year. Sadly, some of our congregation have also lost loved ones.
Involvement in wider Baptist life
We continue to be involved with the Yorkshire Baptist Association through the work of our minister, Rev. Ann Chesworth who is employed part time as the Association's Legal and Trust Officer, and through her ongoing involvement with other Association and Baptist Union initiatives.
We have been blessed once again with various visiting preachers during the year whose ministry we have greatly appreciated, particularly on the third Sunday of the month when it’s Messy Church.
Working together with churches in Harrogate
The church continues to be part of Churches Together in Harrogate and connects with town wide initiatives where relevant. Our minister is also part of the planning team for Harrogate School of Theology and Mission. Due to lockdown, we haven’t had any joint services with the other ‘Avenue’ churches but it was good that Brian Hunt the minister at St Pauls joined us for an interview during one of our online services, just before he retired.
The Church Building
Not much has been done to the building in this last year aside from maintenance issues but during the autumn, we will be working with a group of master architecture students as part of the Yorkshire Baptist Association’s Baptists Building Community initiative, helping us think about how we might develop our building for greater community use. Once again, we are very grateful to David Abel for all his hard work in keeping our building so well maintained – he spends more hours doing this than any of us know.
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Rental of the hall continues to be has ‘hit’ by lockdowns and we are only just beginning to get some ‘stability’ in terms of renters returning. The loss of income has in part been offset by a reduction in heating costs, particularly in the winter.
Children and youth work
We have introduced a monthly Messy Church this year which has gone well, and provided a great point of connection for our families when we’ve been able to meet. We posted an online service for those not attending Messy Church and we have decided to continue the monthly Messy Services in the hall, on the third Sunday of the month, whilst also holding a service in the main sanctuary led by a visiting speaker. The hope is that Messy Church might attract more children and families from our community into church on that Sunday.
As highlighted in our report last year, we have been seeking new direction for our children and YP’s work and have decided to explore the possibility of a one-year part time appointment to support the children and families work within the church and wider community. We are working on the role descriptions and advertisements and hope to advert shortly.
Renew HG1
One of the blessings post-lockdown has been to open a Renew Wellbeing space called Renew HG1. We decided not to continue with our Mission Action Plan post lockdown but as part of that, we had already been discussing supporting those with mental health and isolation/loneliness issues. We felt God directing us to explore this area even more during lockdown and we were put in contact with a national organisation Renew Wellbeing, who support a number of churches in running wellbeing spaces for the community. The setting up of Renew HG1 has been a specific focus for us over the summer – we held some ‘trial’ sessions for the church to get a taster of the space in July and opened our doors midSeptember. We have made an encouraging start and pray that we will be able to continue to connect with those in our community who most need this space.
To that end, in conjunction with the one-year appointment for a children’s, youth and families appointment, we are also seeking a similar one-year part time appointment for a Renew HG1 co-ordinator. They would be responsible for developing the project and widening our networks of others working in the wellbeing area within Harrogate.
Pastoral Care and fellowship
Pastoral support over this last year has continued to cause us challenges, particularly those in care homes where visits have been restricted for most of the year. For the wider congregation, we’ve continued with zoom quizzes, and the HBC WhatsApp group has continued to be a great way to keep people up to date pastorally, and to provide much needed prayer support, and encouragement. We will continue to keep the group going even once we are fully out of lockdown.
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Our Cameo group for older members sadly folded during lockdown but when all restrictions have been lifted we will put a more informal group in place to support older members in our fellowship and community and give a place of connection.
Fellowshipping together has been greatly missed over this last year. We have continued to gather outside after the Sunday morning service but is more challenging when it’s cold or raining. We’ve missed refreshments after the service on a Sunday and we’re hoping that we will be able to meet in the hall for post service tea and coffee from October onwards.
House-groups
Our Tuesday morning house-group continued to be a source of support and nurturing to those who attend and have continued to be creative in how they could keep connected during the ups and downs of this year.
We were hugely blessed to have Roy Searle leading an online study discipleship group, which was really well attended, gave us much food for thought and spiritual encouragement. That was followed up with our Lent course online led by Ann our minister, which again was well attended and enabled a good spiritual rhythm during Lent. In hindsight, these were significant ‘gifts’ to us as a fellowship in a difficult season.
Leadership
We have been grateful to keep the leadership team intact through this year to bring some continuity - as ongoing decisions needed to be made quickly, it’s been helpful to have the same leadership team who know each other, work well together and have the necessary background to previous decisions made. Ann Maye will be standing down and Steve Barrett has asked to stand down early so we will be seeking new leaders in the next year.
But a big thank you to our leaders for all their hard work and wisdom in guiding the church, under God’s guidance through another challenging year.
Mission and Evangelism
Mission and Evangelism has been somewhat curtailed again this year but individuals have continued to reach out with the love and light of Christ to those personally known to them. It was good to provide Christmas gifts of dressing gowns and slippers to support the Harrogate Homeless project and once again, through the generosity of giving from those within the church, we have been able to support various causes, particularly the work of Home Mission and BMS World Mission.
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The Future
As we started this report acknowledging, this has been a difficult year for our country and world, particularly over Christmas and the winter lockdowns. It looks like autumn and winter 2021/22 will continue to be a challenge. We’ve been impacted as a fellowship but once again, what has been so apparent this year is the bonds of unity that have held us together. The Bible so often calls us as a community of God’s people to encourage one another, as we journey together and seek to share the light of Christ in our community. We are grateful for that Light in our own lives, and in the life of our church and pray that we will be faithful in showing the Light of Christ in this year to come.
Volunteers
We are always grateful for the way that people support the ministry and mission of the church, using their gifts in all sorts of different ways. But we are again grateful for the part that people have played in keeping us together in another challenging year and remaining faithful and continuing a spirit of encouragement over a long period. As a leadership team, we are so grateful once again for our church family.
Structure, governance and management
The method of appointment of deacons is set out in the Church Constitution. At the church, the membership of the Charity Trustees consists of our minister and deacons elected by members of the church at our AGM. The Charity Trustees are responsible for making recommendations to the church but ultimately, it is the decision of the church meeting which makes decisions on all matters.
The Charity Trustees met 11 times during the year. Given the wide responsibilities within the church, others deal with particular aspects of church life but all are ultimately responsible to the Charity Trustees.
Administration information
Harrogate Baptist Church is situated in Harrogate and is part of the Yorkshire Baptist Association and the Baptist Union of Great Britain. The correspondence address is Harrogate Baptist Church, Victoria Avenue, Harrogate HG1 5AL.
The church is registered as a charity, 1140798.
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Charity Trustees who served during the year are:
October 2020 to September 2021 Minister: Rev. Ann Chesworth Church Secretary: Mrs Kathy Lewis Treasurer: Mrs Lindsay Lansdall Deacon: Mr Steve Barrett Deacon: Mr Nigel Lister Deacon: Mrs Ann Maye Deacon: Mrs Liz Getgood
Approved by the Charity Trustees on 18[th] July 2022 and signed on their behalf by the Rev. Ann Chesworth.
Rev. Ann Chesworth
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Harro8ate Baptist Church Flnanclal statements for the year endlng 30 September 2021 Basis of preparation As the annual church income Is less than £250.000 the financial statements have been prepared on a profit and loss basis and in accordance with $133 Charities Att 2011. Included this year in the report 15 a Pension Disclosure. The majority of the church transattions are recorded in the general bank account, though there is also in use other accounts. in which 'Restricted Funds, and 'Designated funds, are normally held and recorded. Restrirted funds refer to those funds which cannot be used for general purposes and relate to transactions which are for a specific purpose; 'Designated funds, refer to those transactions which may be pledged for a specific church activity though the church Is at liberty to apply them for its general purposes if it so determlnes. Summary report A detailed analysis is provided, as attached. In summary. the overall income for the year was £71,513.091£85,865.96 for 20201 and total expenditure for the year was £60,170.34 1£79.837.13 for 20201. Whilst room hire is significantly reduced due to the pandemic, gas costs were significantly less for the year and there were no significant repair costs. Generally giving remained stable during the pandemic- loose offering is down but manv people have transferred to paying by Standing Orders and we also claimed against the Government Job Retention scheme. We were able to maintain mission giving. th For the year ending 30 September 2021, overall income exceeded expenditure by £11,342.751£6,028.83 for 20201. Gift aided tax relief monies from HMRC totalled £11,698.91. The church is the beneficlal owner Isubjett to the relevant trusts) of the following assets, the legal title to which is held by the church's Custodian trustee The Yorkshire Baptist Association: Church premises at Victoria Avenue, Harrogate valued in the accounts at £9000 based on a cost value Church manse valued in the accounts at £5150 based on a cost value. Penslon debt The estimated employer debt for Harrogate Baptist Church in respett of the Baptist Pension th Defined Benefit scheme is estimated as £59,200 as at 20 September 2021. Approval by the Church Trustees We approve the accounts held on behalf of Harrogate Baptist Church . Treasurer ISI i l2• Date Lindsay Lansdall Trustee ?2 Date Nigel Lister
Statement of Assets and Liabilities Harrogate Baptist Church As at 30 September 2021 ¥O$EP2tr21 30SEP2020 k•rd oth•rush CCLA-General Fund 522.97 522.97 CCLA-Lt84¢iesFund CCiA-MuwaFund 881.87 881.87 3.286.90 3,286.90 41,e74.61 Harrowe Baptbfchurth BulldlniFund YY1r8kH•rWtsrA TotsiBM4hdoth•rcMhbd•nc•i 44,185.29 81,171.13 0.049.16 74,199.66 13Q.7WI In¥¢stm¢nts 19.00 19.00 A•¢•t•h•idf¢r<hurth'••wny thurch Buildinglhistoriccostl Manselhistoric¢astl T•talJMth•idforthurth's¢JwTru 9.0. 5,150.fAI 14.150.Lh) 5,150. TotsiAt• 144J17.11 40J5.01 P•rk Cfed1ty5'.wnDuntsfalin8duewthSn oneye4r Tot•lPark IIW.761 IIWS.761 Funds Gener1 Funds 96,355.43 85,22652 I,n9ao 881.87 MuSicFund-Oesiwèted LewiesFund-De5isnotrd SuildinsFund- 1Cted Tots1Fr1 1.729.30 881.87 47,rfvJ732 47.CQ732
Profit and Loss
Harrogate Baptist Church For the year ended 30 September 2021
| Profit and Loss Harrogate Baptist Church For the year ended 30 September 2021 |
|
|---|---|
| 2021 | |
| Turnover | |
| BMS Birthday Scheme donations rcvd | 445.00 |
| Collection Offerings loose | 1,676.60 |
| Collection(envelopes) | 3,050.00 |
| Gifts received | 1,000.00 |
| HMRC JRS Grant | 1,543.99 |
| HMRC tax refunds | 11,698.91 |
| Interest Income | 60.68 |
| Other appeals | 30.00 |
| Other donations rcvd | 1,405.15 |
| Other grants | 1,000.00 |
| Premises Lettings | 659.60 |
| Standing orders | 930.00 |
| Standing Orders - Gift Aidable | 35,933.85 |
| YBA A Chesworth Secondment Charge | 12,079.31 |
| Total Turnover | 71,513.09 |
| Gross Profit | 71,513.09 |
| Administrative Costs | |
| BMS birthday scheme donations | 445.00 |
| BMS donations | 2,791.66 |
| Charitable activities - Delegate Fees | 300.00 |
| Cleaner's wages | 2,174.98 |
| Electricity | 516.20 |
| Employer's pension deficit costs | 3,476.01 |
| Fabric day to day work | 3,453.66 |
| Fabric major renewals | 574.20 |
| Fellowship fund | 500.00 |
| Gas | 1,270.62 |
| HMF donations | 8,000.00 |
| Insurance | 3,445.35 |
| Insurance (manse) | 342.16 |
| Interest on late payment | 1.33 |
| Manse council tax | 1,819.91 |
| Membership | 86.95 |
| Minister NIC | 1,846.61 |
| Minister PAYE | 1,833.00 |
| Minister pension | 3,791.27 |
| Minister stipend | 19,020.02 |
| Music and Audio (General) | 1,169.78 |
| Other main aided cause donations | 330.00 |
Profit and Loss April 2022
Harrogate Baptist Church
Profit and Loss
| 2021 | |
|---|---|
| Other ministry expenses | 995.24 |
| Pulpit supply | 80.00 |
| Seasonal Service Expenses | 45.99 |
| Software subscription | 469.88 |
| Subscription - church membership | 333.18 |
| Waste & recycling | 56.40 |
| Water rates (manse) | 184.21 |
| Water Rates(Church) | 254.95 |
| Website | 561.78 |
| Total Administrative Costs | 60,170.34 |
| Operating Profit | 11,342.75 |
| Profit on Ordinary Activities Before Taxation | 11,342.75 |
| Profit after Taxation | 11,342.75 |
Profit and Loss April 2022
Harrogate Baptist Church
Report of the Independent Examlner(s) to the Trustees of Harrogate Bapdst Chur¢h On the accounts for the year ended 30 September 2021 Respettlve responslbilltles of Trustees and Examlner The Church's Trustees are responslble for the preparation of the accounts. The church's trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year under sertlon 144 of the Charities Act 2011 (the Charities Artl and that an independent examination is needed. It Is my responsibility to: examine the accounts under section 145 of the Charities Act, • to follow the procedures laid down in the general Directions given by the Charity Commission lunder section 14515llbl of the Charities Att, and to stste whether particular matters have come to my attention. Basls of Independent examinerfs statement My examination was carried out in accordance with general Dirertion5 given by the Charlty Commission. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the church and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosure5 in the accounts, and seeklng explanations from the trustees concernlng any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be requlred in an audit, and consequently no opinion is given as to whether the accounts present a 'true and fair, 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 material matters have come to my attentlon which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in any material respett the requirements.. to keep accountin8 fecords in accordance with settion 130 of the Charities Act 2011. and to prepare accounts whlch accord with the accounting records and comply with the accounting requirement5 of the 2011 Art have not been met. I have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which, in my opinion. attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understsnding ot the accounts to be reached. Sl8ned by or on behalf of the Examiner Date IclI Iii Name: James Maye ACMA Dip BA Address: 22 Woodlands Green, Harro8ate HG2 8QD