Harrogate Baptist Church Trustees Annual Report and Accounts for 2021 - 2022
1st October 2021 - 30th Se tember 2022 ( 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 | 6 |
| VOLUNTEERS | 6 |
| 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
Reflecting back on this last year, it has definitely been a less ‘bumpy’ ride than the previous couple of years, particularly in terms of not going in and out of lockdown. Being able to meet in person for the whole year has been great and it’s definitely been a year of consolidating and building up people’s confidence to return to church. Many of the regular features of church life have returned.
It's been exciting to see some of the things we’ve prayed about for a long time, particularly more children and families and Renew HG1, which we started post lockdown really beginning to bear fruit, as can be seen in the following report. As always, we have focused on remaining faithful in following God where He leads; as Jesus reminds us in John 15:5 ‘I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing’.
Sunday worship and prayer
Our Sunday worship services have made a much smoother ‘ride’ this year and we’ve been able to welcome back not only regulars but a number of new folk too, including new families. This has been really encouraging for the congregation and enriched our Sunday morning services significantly. In hindsight, not pursuing a hybrid approach to services was absolutely the right decision for us.
Some of our Christmas services weren’t as well attended as usual, particularly the Christmas Lunchtime service, mainly because of the uncertainty of Covid still but also because office workers were still working from home. But our attendance figures by the end of this financial year have averaged out at 58, which is significantly more than last year and slightly above preCovid, so an encouragement in itself. It was great to see our church fuller for our Easter Day service and a couple of dedication services throughout the year. It is great that Breakfast Church will be restarting in October – as anticipated in last year’s report, this is indeed the last of our pre-Covid regular aspects of HBC life to return.
Our sermon series during the year have sought to feed us spiritually with series around Encountering Jesus, Reimagining Christmas, Abraham, The Real Lord’s Prayer just before Easter and the 7 Churches of Revelation after Easter. Our summer series focused on the Old Testament character of Joseph and we have just started a series on 10 questions Jesus asked. We marked Racial Justice Sunday and Refugee Week and it’s also been great to interview Edith and Resley, Kamala and Akufuna over the summer to understand more about their cultural homeland.
As at 30[th] September 2022, HBC had 70 members, together with others who regularly attend the church. One of the saddest aspects of this year has been the loss of 4 of our longstanding members – George Mulholland, Alice Mason, Sandra Maltby and Gerry Fell. We are hugely grateful for all they contributed in different ways to our church life, as they
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utilised their gifts for God’s glory and our benefit. We have held one wedding, two dedications and three funerals in our building during the year.
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. Our newly appointed Assistant Pastor will be attending the YBA Intern programme, which is held weekly in Sheffield during term times.
We have again welcomed various visiting preachers during the year whose ministry we have greatly appreciated – Roy Searle, Steve Allen, Sally Nelson, Graham Ensor, and Geoff Colmer. All have blessed us with their sharing in different ways. It was good to join with other Baptist churches to mark Baptist World Mission’s Day of Prayer, and a number of our congregation continue to support the BMS Birthday Scheme,
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. We were able to invite the two other ‘Avenue’ churches to our Good Friday evening service and also our Boxing Day online service for them to participate in too. A couple of our retired ministers support the other two churches by taking Sunday services, particularly as one of the churches is in a pastoral vacancy and the other only has part time ministry.
The Church Building
Our building continues to both serve us as a great place for all of our activities but challenge us in terms of it being ‘fit for purpose’. It’s been great that a new dishwasher has been installed during the year and we were able to open our building on Saturday 10[th] September as part of a fortnight of opening historic buildings for Heritage Days in Harrogate – it felt particularly poignant that we were opening our doors on the Saturday after the late Queen had died so we were able to offer a quiet space for people to come and pay their respects and light a candle in memory and thankfulness for a life well lived.
We do need to spend some time moving forward with a definitive plan for maintaining and developing our premises so they can serve the wider purposes of the church.
We have had some of our regular renters return post Covid but others have not. This means our hall rental income has reduced although we have been able to attract some new renters, including one permanent rental of one of the previously unused upstairs rooms. We also now have a good range of community use for our hall. One of the biggest challenges moving forward is the significant uncertainty regarding rising gas and electricity costs, which will have an impact on us directly and also our rental charges.
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Children and youth work
After much prayer and active seeking, we are pleased to have just appointed an Assistant Pastor, Dan for the next year, who will be supporting our minister but will also have specific focus on children, young people and discipleship. Our children and families are beginning to grow and we want to nurture them well, in their faith so having someone who can lead and direct them and the team feels the right way forward. This is an exciting area of our church life at the moment and we look forward to seeing all that God will do.
Whilst looking forward with anticipation, we do want to look back with thankfulness on two aspects of our children and youth work, which have recently finished – firstly, sadly our Guides Company could not continue due to a lack of leaders. Guides have been at HBC for almost 100 years and so we want to give thanks to God for many years of faithful witness, for lives changed and the hard work and dedication of those who have led the Guides over many years. Secondly, our Breakfast Tots closed due to a lack of tots. Again, we want to give thanks for those who have supporting this work for the last couple of years and for the impact it had on those who came along.
We have paused our monthly Messy Church given that Breakfast Church is back.
Renew HG1
The other area of great blessing this year has been the flourishing of our Renew HG1 wellbeing space and being able to support our wider community, as we emerge out of lockdown and beyond. We were delighted to appoint Zoe Bishop in February 2022 as our part time coordinator for Renew and she has done a great job at enabling the sessions to grow, attracting new people, and making good connections in the wider community. Attendance at the Renew HG1 Open Day in May was particularly encouraging, with a steady stream of visitors throughout the day. It’s a great encouragement that we’ve seen some of our Renew folk attending our Sunday morning service and other events throughout the year. We are hoping to build on this in the coming year and again, we look forward to what God will do with our Renew HG1 space going forward.
Pastoral Care and fellowship
It has been good that face-to-face pastoral support has been able to resume slowly this year, particularly for those who are in care homes. The HBC WhatsApp group has become a permanent part of our shared life together and a great way to provide prayer support and encouragement. The return of refreshments in the hall after the service is also widely appreciated.
Following the demise of the Cameo group for older members, it’s been great to start our monthly Connections. Happening on a Wednesday afternoon, we join together for fellowship over drinks and cake. It literally provides a place of connection and is building in community; our hope and prayer is that we can extend the group to attract those from the wider community in the longer term.
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Other highlights include celebrating the Platinum Jubilee with a special service and a community BBQ and it was good to gather at the end of September for our first Church Nite In.
House-groups & Discipleship
We have now established Tuesday morning and evening housegroups, which continue to be a great source of support and nurturing to those who attend. We were also able to run an online Lent course and a number of prayer triplets formed during Lent. Our hope is that we can develop more housegroups over this coming year and find creative and attractional ways for people to explore faith.
Leadership
Again, we are extremely grateful to our leadership team, who have enabled us to navigate this last year well and come out of Covid with exciting new opportunities. We are aware that this is not every church’s story coming out of lockdown so we are grateful to God’s Spirit for His guidance. We also have new deacons up for nomination, which will provide better representation of the whole church on the leadership team.
Mission and Evangelism
Through the year, we have sought to explore and build faith up through running a Christianity Explored course, as well as a Young Person’s Exploring faith course. Both were fruitful and engaging to those who came along.
Our Christmas appeal for 2021 supported Covid vaccinations via Mercy Ships and for our Lent appeal, we gave a gift to support the people of Ukraine.
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.
The Future
It has been a year of unexpected blessings especially in the increase in the number of children, families and young people, which has been a real answer to years of praying; and an increase in cultural diversity within the fellowship. But like the rest of the country and other churches, there are of course big challenges and concerns moving forward, especially as we continue to come out of lockdown and around the cost-of-living crisis and the impact on people, particularly those who are already struggling financially. But we recognise that God’s people at HBC have faced different but equally as challenging uncertainty in the past, as they looked into the future. So, we do what countless people of faith have done – ‘we fix our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith’. We praise Him for all that is past and trust Him for all that’s 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. People tirelessly give of their time,
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energy and finances to support the work of God’s Kingdom here at HBC. As a leadership team, we are so grateful for our church family, for all that folk do to serve the church and wider community and for the continued sense of unity within the fellowship.
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.
Charity Trustees who served during the year are:
October 2021 to September 2022
Minister: Rev. Ann Chesworth Church Secretary: Mrs Kathy Lewis Treasurer: Mrs Lindsay Lansdall
Deacon: Mr Steve Barrett (until January 2022) Deacon: Mr Nigel Lister Deacon: Mrs Ann Maye (until January 2022) Deacon: Mrs Liz Getgood Deacon: Mrs Sherry Humberstone (from January 2022) Deacon: Mrs Liz Turner (from January 2022)
Approved by the Charity Trustees on 7[th] June 2023 and signed on their behalf by the Rev. Ann Chesworth.
Rev. Ann Chesworth
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Ham)gate Baptlst Church Flnanclal statements for the year endlng 30 September 2022 Basis of preparation As the annual church income is less than £250,0 the financial statements have been prepared on a profit and loss basis and in accordance with s133 Charitles Act 2011. Included this year in the report is a Pension Disclosure. The malorlty of the church transattions are recorded In the general bank account, though there Is also in use other accounts. In whlch 'Restritted Funds, and 'Desi8nated funds, are normally held and recorded. Restrlcted funds refer to those funds which cannot be used for general purposes and relate to transaction5 which are for a speclfic purpose- 'Designated funds, refer to those transactlons whlch may be pledged for a specific church actlvity thou8h the church is at liberty to apply them for its general purposes if it so determines. Summary report A detalled analysls Is provided, as attached, In summary, the overall income for the year was £70,557.181£71,513.09 for 20211 and total expenditure for the year was £68.731.07 {£60,170.34 for 2021). Whilst room hire has picked up as we've come out of the pandemic, It has not returned to pre-pandemic levels and gas and elertricity costs have further increased. Glven we have been meeting in the buildin8 this year, utility costs have therefore Increased, reducing our overall profit. But Costs were covered and there were no significant repair costs. We were able to maintaln mission givin8. For the year ending 301h September 2022, overall Income exceeded expendlture bv £1,826.11 {£11,342.75 for 2021). Glft aided tax rellef monies from HMRC totalled £9,373.42. The church is the beneficial owner (subject to the relevant trusts) of the following assets, the legal title to which Is held by the church's custodian trustee The Yorkshlre Baptlst Association.. • Church premlses at Vittoria 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 respert of the Baptist Pension Defined Benefit scheme is estimated as £18,7CK) as atjune 2022. Approval by the Church Trustees We approve the accounts held on behalf of Harrogate Baptist Church . Treasurer Lindsay Lansdall . Date Trustee Nlgel Lister IG I F Ils................ Date
Statement of Assets and Liabilities
Harrogate Baptist Church As at 30 September 2022
| Harrogate Baptist Church As at 30 September 2022 |
Harrogate Baptist Church As at 30 September 2022 |
|---|---|
| 30 Sep 2022 30 Sep 2021 |
|
Assets |
|
| Bank and other cash balances | |
| CCLA - General Fund 522.97 522.97 |
|
| CCLA - Legacies Fund 881.87 881.87 |
|
| CCLA - Music Fund 3,286.90 3,286.90 |
|
| Harrogate Baptist Church Building Fund 45,575.43 44,185.29 |
|
| Yorkshire Bank Harrogate CA 81,607.10 81,171.13 |
|
| Total Bank and other cash balances 131,874.27 130,048.16 Investment Assets |
|
| Investments 19.00 19.00 Assets held for church's own use |
|
| Church Building (historic cost) 9,000.00 9,000.00 |
|
| Manse (historic cost) 5,150.00 5,150.00 |
Profit and Loss
Harrogate Baptist Church For the year ended 30 September 2022
| Profit and Loss Harrogate Baptist Church For the year ended 30 September 2022 |
||
|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2021 | |
| Turnover | ||
| Advent appeal | 374.05 | - |
| BMS Birthday Scheme donations rcvd | 287.00 | 445.00 |
| Building fund donations | 150.00 | - |
| Building fund grants | 200.00 | - |
| Collection Offerings loose | 2,518.10 | 1,676.60 |
| Collection(envelopes) | 1,580.50 | 3,050.00 |
| Gifts received | 200.00 | 1,000.00 |
| HMRC JRS Grant | - | 1,543.99 |
| HMRC tax refunds | 9,373.42 | 11,698.91 |
| Interest Income | 115.14 | 60.68 |
| Messy church donations | 32.00 | - |
| Other appeals | 496.00 | 30.00 |
| Other donations rcvd | 3,069.20 | 1,405.15 |
| Other grants | 205.00 | 1,000.00 |
| Premises Lettings | 4,816.00 | 659.60 |
| Standing orders | 760.00 | 930.00 |
| Standing Orders - Gift Aidable | 33,104.00 | 35,933.85 |
| Ukraine appeal | 970.00 | - |
| YBA A Chesworth Secondment Charge | 12,306.77 | 12,079.31 |
| Total Turnover | 70,557.18 | 71,513.09 |
| Gross Profit | 70,557.18 | 71,513.09 |
| Administrative Costs | ||
| Assistant Minister Costs | 435.00 | - |
| BMS birthday scheme donations | 287.00 | 445.00 |
| BMS donations | 3,000.00 | 2,791.66 |
| BMS other donations | 1,000.00 | - |
| Breakfast church & hospitality | 274.48 | - |
| Charitable activities - Delegate Fees | - | 300.00 |
| Cleaner's PAYE | 26.20 | - |
| Cleaner's wages | 2,867.56 | 2,388.82 |
| Cleaning materials | 31.56 | - |
| Electricity | 610.14 | 516.20 |
| Employer's pension deficit costs | 3,354.86 | 3,476.01 |
| Fabric day to day work | 4,068.93 | 3,453.66 |
| Fabric major renewals | 2,169.99 | 574.20 |
| Fellowship fund | - | 500.00 |
| Gas | 7,937.88 | 1,270.62 |
| HMF donations | 2,500.00 | 8,000.00 |
| Home Mission Fund | 500.00 | - |
Profit and Loss April 2022
Harrogate Baptist Church
Profit and Loss
| 2022 | 2021 | |
|---|---|---|
| Insurance | 3,921.67 | 3,445.35 |
| Insurance (manse) | 359.84 | 342.16 |
| Interest on late payment | - | 1.33 |
| Manse council tax | 1,878.61 | 1,819.91 |
| Membership | - | 86.95 |
| Minister NIC | 1,914.62 | 1,846.61 |
| Minister PAYE | 1,509.94 | 1,833.00 |
| Minister pension | 5,601.12 | 3,791.27 |
| Minister stipend | 19,398.62 | 19,020.02 |
| Music and Audio (General) | 842.98 | 1,169.78 |
| Other donations | 500.00 | - |
| Other main aided cause donations | - | 330.00 |
| Other ministry expenses | 1,795.20 | 995.24 |
| Printing and stationery | 119.60 | - |
| Pulpit supply | - | 80.00 |
| Seasonal Service Expenses | 60.00 | 45.99 |
| Software subscription | 35.00 | 469.88 |
| Subscription - church membership | 357.35 | 333.18 |
| Waste & recycling | 251.65 | 56.40 |
| Water rates (manse) | 178.54 | 184.21 |
| Water Rates(Church) | 291.65 | 254.95 |
| Website | 651.08 | 561.78 |
| Total Administrative Costs | 68,731.07 | 60,384.18 |
| Operating Profit | 1,826.11 | 11,128.91 |
| Profit on Ordinary Activities Before Taxation | 1,826.11 | 11,128.91 |
| Profit after Taxation | 1,826.11 | 11,128.91 |
Profit and Loss April 2022
Harrogate Baptist Church
Report of the Independent Examlnerls) to the Trustees of Harrogate Baptlst Church On the ac¢ourrts for the year ended 30th September 2022 Respectfve re$ponslbllltles of Trustees and Examlner The Church's Trustees are re5ponslble for the preparatlon of the accounts. The church's trustees consider that an audSt Is not required for this year under section 144 of the Charltles Att 2011 (the Charlties Act) and that an Independent examlnation is needed. It Is my responslblllty to: examlne the accounts under sectlon 145 of the Charities Art, to follow the procedures laid down in the general Directions 8lven by the Charlty Commission (under section 145151{b) of the Charltles Act, and to state whether particular matters have come to my attentlon. Basls of Independent examlnerfs statement My examlnatlon was carried out in accordance wlth general Dlrertlons glven by the Charlty CommissSon. An examlnatlon Includes a review of the accountlng records kept by the church and a comparison of the accounts presented wlth those records. It also Includes consSderatlon of any unusual items or dlsclosures in the accounts, and seeklng explanations 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 whether the accounts present a 'true and falrf vlew and the report Is limited to those matters set out in the statement below. Independent examlner's statement In connectlon with my examination, no mater131 matters have come to my attention which 8lves 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 2011; and to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and comply with the accounting requirements of the 2011 Act have not been met. I have come across no other matter5 in connection with the examination to which, in my opinlon, attention should be drawn In order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. Signed by or on behalf of the Examiner Date Name: James Maye ACMA Dlp BA Address.. 22 Woodlands Green, Harrogate HG2 8QD