Harrogate Baptist Church Trustees Annual Report and Accounts for 2023 - 2024
1st October 2023 - 30th Se tember 2024 ( 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 | 5 |
| 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
2023/24 has been a good year with some challenges along the way. Highlights include another baptism and growth of our Renew HG1 space and our Connections group. Challenges include ongoing high gas and electricity costs as well as trying to find a second part time minister. We are grateful to God for all the seasons of our church life, for seasons of blessings to encourage us; and challenges to refine us. Throughout all the seasons, we seek to keep our eyes focused on Jesus, the true vine; growing our trust in His Father, the great gardener so we might continue to bear fruit individually and as a church that will last.
Sunday worship
We have seen a small increase of new adults and young people joining us and a fuller church definitely aids worship and fellowship. Our average attendance over the year was 80, an increase of just over 7% from last year’s attendance and an increase of 37% over the last two years. Our best attended service was Easter Day, with 129 people closely followed by our baptism service with 124 folk coming along.
Attendance at the Lunchtime Christmas carol service, Christingle, and Christmas Eve Carols by Candlelight were all similar to the previous year. We have still not seen the lunchtime workers come back to the lunchtime service but the service seems to be attracting other demographics so we intend to continue with the service for the time being. Our Sunday morning Carols and Readings service was the best attended and this year we trialed a new initiative ‘Light a Candle’ with Full Circle Funeral Services – an opportunity extended to families to come and light a candle at Christmas in memory of a loved one. We will undertake this again and it was good to follow up this initiative with a Bereavement Workshop by Full Circle held in our hall in January. Some of our folk also embarked on the Shine a Light initiative, in the lead up to Christmas.
As at 30[th] September 2024, HBC had 69 members, together with others who regularly attend the church. We have had the joy of welcoming 2 new members. 4 members were removed who no longer attend and sadly, 2 much loved members of our church died during the year – our oldest male member David Brunton and the shock of losing Jill Oliver who died suddenly in November. We held two weddings during the year.
We continue to be blessed by ethnic diversity, which has enriched the fellowship and it was good to partake in the Yorkshire Baptist Association Inter-Ethnic conference. Once again, we have welcomed a number of guest speakers – Kez Robertson, Roy Searle, Alex Harris, Steve Allen (pulpit exchange), Naomi Fennell, Graham Ensor, and Sally Nelson. Our sermon series this year started with 1 Samuel and continued with Advent Word became Flesh. Mark’s Gospel, then Romans Road, with our summer series Proverbs. We’ve just started a series looking in John 15 which will take us to Advent.
We came together over a BBQ following the baptism service held in September and it’s been a joy to have our first full year of Breakfast Church since before the pandemic.
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Other highlights include our pew welcome leaflets, welcome meals, a new Junior Church coordinator and new and existing people on the Junior Church rota. We’re also grateful for the appointment of a new treasurer and finance team.
Our monthly Connections group continues to grow.
Involvement in wider Baptist life
We continue to be involved with the Yorkshire Baptist Association (YBA) 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 connected with three YBA conferences and workshops during the year - our minister attended a woman’s workshop; our minister and four people from the congregation attended the Inter-ethnic conference and our minister plus two others benefitted from attending the YBA conference in Huddersfield this year. We are also engaging with Project Violet, which has identified ways to overcome obstacles for women in ministry.
We have also benefited from the YBA’s Christmas Candy Cane and Easter Wildflowers seed outreach initiatives, joining with churches of all denominations locally and nationally.
Lastly, our minister attended Equality and Diversity training and one of our deacons attended the YBA Levels 2 and 3 safeguarding training.
Working together with churches in Harrogate
Our minister still continues to be part of the planning team for Harrogate School of Theology and Mission and has also continued to attend the Harrogate Leaders Breakfasts. It was good to re-commence joint services with the other Avenue churches between Christmas and New Year and for our Good Friday service. A number of people also attended the worship service at the Cenotaph on Good Friday.
It was a joy for a number of our folk to attend the ordination and induction service of the new pastor at St Paul’s URC. We look forward to working with Joe. We also opened up our baptistry to a local church in the summer.
The Church Building
Rental of our hall continues to be good, which is great not only for the income it brings into the church but also because it’s good for our building to be used to support wider community work. As well as the regular groups, we’ve had a new gamers group meet on a Thursday evening and a local opera singer uses the premises.
We’ve updated our quinquennial inspection report and had both a structural survey and one done on the drains. We also had a free energy assessment done in March and we’re beginning to look at upgrading our old gas boilers. We’re still benefitting from the newly installed TV screen for projecting words and multi-media on a Sunday and we’ve replaced some of the windows and upgraded the downstairs toilet (to include heating!) at the manse.
But one of the biggest challenges continues to be extortionate gas and electricity costs. This led us again this year to worshipping in the hall for January, February and most of March. This
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has led to people sitting with and speaking to people outside normal circles of friends, although it’s becoming a bit of a tight squeeze as our numbers increase and our children and young people have a smaller space too.
It's still on the agenda to engage a Building Maintenance Manager at some point.
Children and youth work
One of the ongoing joys for us as a fellowship is to see growth in our children and young people - they now account for a significant ‘slice’ of our Sunday morning worship. We’ve got one toddler in creche and two separate older groups, both with a good number of regular children and young people. We’re grateful for a new Junior Church co-ordinator and both new and existing people who serve on the Junior Church rota.
We are hoping to put a Youth Cell group in place in the autumn; our previous one folded with most of the group going to university.
Part of our exploring part time minister focused on advertising for a children, youth and family’s worker during the year. Unfortunately, we were unsuccessful and the shape of part time ministry going forward and seeking God’s will in this area of our church life continues to be a point of prayer.
Renew HG1
Adult Renew Monday morning has gone from strength to strength – two particular blessings are increased and consistent regulars with a steady flow of newbies (we’ve hit out numbers ceiling of around 20 people for some sessions). We’ve had a good cross over of people from Renew starting to engage with Sunday morning services even though not main focus of Renew. We were 3 years old in September. Our minister has made good connections and took the funeral service of the late husband of one of our Renew attendees; she now regularly comes to church. There’s a strong Renew team in place, who work well together.
We’ve now explored opening a new session on Thursday afternoon and we’ve been promised some funding later in the year to kick start this new venture.
This year has also seen the launch of Renew HG1 YP, a new initiative which has been hard going! The good news is we received £7500 funding to set the venture up and through the project, we’ve been able to engage both primary and secondary schools in the area. We’ve also got a great team in place. But it’s been trial and error along the way. We started off seeking to operate the sessions on a renewal basis, but this has proved too difficult and we’re now trialing just allowing YP to turn up. Numbers remain disappointingly low - we aren’t looking for lots of young people but we do need a core to make it work well. This continues to be a focus of our ongoing prayers.
Our Renew spaces have become an important part of our church life and a great means of reaching out to the wider community to bring hope and share the love of Jesus.
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Pastoral Care and fellowship
Our monthly Connection group, which meets on a Wednesday afternoon for tea and cake continues to flourish and this has been one of the blessings of this year. It’s particularly encouraging that it is beginning to attract people from outside of our Sunday fellowship and our hope is that this will continue.
Part of welcoming new people to the fellowship is to hold a welcome meal and we’re grateful for a new couple to the church who have opened up their home to host such meals. A further welcome meal was held at the manse earlier in the year. The Community Nite which we held in September was poorly attended but enjoyed by those who came. The HBC WhatsApp group, started in lockdown, continues to be a great way to share prayer requests and news generally and we’re new people have been added to the group this year. Some of our church attended Spring Harvest this year
Our minister continues to undertake regular visiting, particularly for those in care homes and those unable to attend church on a Sunday.
House-groups & Prayer
Housegroups continue to be an important part of our fellowship. It would be good to have more of the fellowship attending but those who do attend benefit greatly. We were blessed during the year that Ken Benjamin from the London Institute of Contemporary Christianity attended one of our groups as a follow up on the ‘Fruitfulness on the Frontline’ course that the housegroup had just finished.
We have been more intentional about the prayer life of the church this year, and it’s been good to discover new and creative ways of praying together through quarterly prayer events. These have included an Advent prayer space, Open Doors prayer evening and a prayer walk in the summer. We are hoping to build on these in the coming year. We have also been blessed by two Praise & Prayer evenings organised and led by 2 of our YP.
Leadership
There have been no changes to the leadership team except that our treasurer has finally been able to step down after a long time of wanting to put the job down. We marked her stepping down with a small gift to say thank you for a number of years of faithful service. It’s been a real answer to prayer that Steve Turner has stepped up to be the treasurer and we’re also grateful for others who have also stepped up to create the new finance team now in place. It’s working well now even though there have been some difficulties changing the banking side of things.
Once again, a big thank you to all of our leaders for all their hard work and wisdom in guiding the church, under the guidance of God’s Holy Spirit.
Mission and Evangelism
We have been able to undertake various mission support during the year including our Harvest appeal supported local Foodbank; Advent appeal half of which went to Harrogate Homeless Christmas Meal project and other half to Christian Aid Gaza appeal; with our Lent appeal supporting Kreativity ministering in Ukraine. Once again, we have tithed to both Home Mission and BMS World Mission.
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Closer to home we have undertaken Light a Candle service and some of our folk engaged in the Shine a Light initiative at Christmas, going out on the streets to share Jesus with people passing by.
The Future
We have continued with the following 7 targets we set in 2023 with appropriate updates:
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a priority of prayer . This has been done through Prayer Events through the year.
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the appointment of a part-time children and young people’s worker . To date, we have struggled to find someone to undertake the role and we have explored other options including a Minister in Training to no avail. We are now focused on searching for a part time minister but this remains a significant prayer focus as we move forward.
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paid building maintenance/development co-ordinator . This has not been progressed to date.
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definitive discipleship focus. This needs to be carried forward.
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explore the possibility of a regular meet up (outside of a Sunday morning) for those attending HBC from different cultural backgrounds. The YBA Inter-Ethnic conference has been a good start of the conversation.
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significant Financial review including the appointment of a new treasurer and increase of the financial team. Completed
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Renew HG1 YP space. Good work in progress - see above.
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. It has been a joy to journey together, serving and encouraging each other and seeing God at work. 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 10 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:
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Minister: Rev. Ann Chesworth Church Secretary: Mrs Liz Getgood Treasurer: Mr Steve Turner Deacon: Mr Chris Bishop Deacon: Mrs Akufuna Hicks Deacon: Mrs Ann Kayes Deacon: Mrs Sherry Humberstone Deacon: Mrs Liz Turner
Approved by the Charity Trustees on 5[th] February 2025 and signed on their behalf by the Rev. Ann Chesworth.
Rev. Ann Chesworth
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Harrogate Baptlst Church Flnanclal statements for the year ending 30 September 2024 Basls of preparation As the annual church income is less than £250,000 the financial statements have been prepared on a cash basis and in accordance with s133 Charities Act 2011. The majority of the church transactions are recorded in the general bank account, thou8h there is also in use other accounts, in which 'Restrirted Funds. and 'Designated funds, are normally held and recorded. Restritted funds refer to those funds which cannot be used for general purposes and relate to transartions 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 Ilberty to apply them for its general purposes if it so determines. Summary report A detailed analysis is provided, as attached. In summary, excluding Restricted Funds. the overall income for the year was £87,3581£72,726 for 20231 and total expenditure for the vear was £84,5811£87,235 for 20231. Standing orders well exceeded our forecast predominantly due to new people to the fellowship and nearly all have signed up for Gift Aid. Room hire also exceeded our forecast. Gas costs once again have rocketed this year and we undertook some upgrading work on the manse, which we were able to meet from income rather than from our savings. We also had three surveyslinspections carried out. We were able to maintain mission givlng. For the year endlng 301h September 2024. excluding Restricted Funds, overall income exceeded expenditure by £2,7771£14,508 Sn deficit for 20231. Gift aided tax relief monies from HMRC totalled £5.438 but we have only claimed 6 months this year Ifrom I, April 2023 to 30tth September 2023} instead of 12 months, in order to lay the foundation to bring our claim period in line with tax regulations {which should reflect our financial yearl. We also Submitted a Small Donations Scheme Gift Aid claim for the loose collection monies for the tax year 22123. Next year, we will submit a further claim for main Gift Aid which will be for a full 12 months, together with a Small Donations claim. 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 Yorkshire Baptist Association: Church premises at Victoria Avenue, Harro8ate valued in the accounts at £9000 based on a cost value Church manse valued in the accounts at £5150 based on a cost value. Approval by the Church Trustees We approve the accounts held on behalf of Harro8ate Baptist Church Treasurer ..-. ..U.... Date Steve Turner . Trustee Date Chris Bishop
Report of the Independent Examinerls) to the Trustees of Harrogate Baptlst Church On the accounts for the year ended 30 September 2024 Respectlve responsibllities of Trustees and Examiner The Church's Trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. The Church's Trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year under section 144 of the Charities Att 2011 {the Charities Act} 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 (under sertion 14515}Ibl of the Charities Act, and to state whether particular matters have come to my attention. Basis of independent examinerfs statement 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 church 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 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 account5 present a 'true and faif view and the report is limited to those matters set out in the statement below. Independent examlner's statement In connection with my examination, no material matters have come to my attention which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in any material respect: accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act 2011; and the accounts do not accord with the accounting records. 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 understanding of the accounts to be reached. Signed by or on behalf of the Examiner Date 51£125 Name: James Maye ACMA Dip BA Address: 22 Woodlands Green, Harrogate HG2 8QD
Income and Expenditure v previous full year
Harrogate Baptist Church
For the year ended 30 September 2024 Cash Basis
| Income and Expenditure v previous full year Harrogate Baptist Church For the year ended 30 September 2024 Cash Basis |
Income and Expenditure v previous full year Harrogate Baptist Church For the year ended 30 September 2024 Cash Basis |
Income and Expenditure v previous full year Harrogate Baptist Church For the year ended 30 September 2024 Cash Basis |
Income and Expenditure v previous full year Harrogate Baptist Church For the year ended 30 September 2024 Cash Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 2023 |
|||
| General Fund | |||
| Income | |||
| 1. Standing Orders 49,467.00 36,056.22 |
|||
| 2. Loose Cash and Cheques 4,878.09 5,166.12 |
|||
| 3. Tax Refunds (Gift Aid and VAT) 5,438.04 8,277.25 |
|||
| 4. Use Of Rooms 7,569.00 7,458.17 |
|||
| 5. Other Donations 4,168.64 3,070.00 |
|||
| 6. YBA 11,929.77 11,100.96 |
|||
| 7 Grants 400.00 - |
|||
| 8. Interest 3,507.03 1,597.49 |
|||
| Total Income 87,357.57 72,726.21 Expenditure |
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| 9. Ministry | |||
| Employer's pension deficit costs 12.00 12.00 |
|||
| Employer NIC 2,575.14 - |
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| Manse council tax 2,023.22 1,951.37 |
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| Manse insurance 543.28 395.08 |
|||
| Manse water rates 190.45 192.51 |
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| Minister NIC 1,108.40 2,235.59 |
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| Minister PAYE - 2,369.20 |
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| Minister pension 6,588.18 6,067.44 |
|||
| Minister stipend 24,378.07 21,140.01 |
|||
| Total 9. Ministry 37,418.74 34,363.20 |
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| 9a. Assistant Minister Costs - 10,195.94 10. Church Allocations/Mission |
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| BMS donations - by church monthly 3,000.00 3,000.00 |
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| HMF donations - by church monthly 3,000.00 3,000.00 |
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| Church top up to appeals 28.90 - |
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| Other donations - 50.00 |
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| Local mission donations - 108.53 |
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| Total 10. Church Allocations/Mission 6,028.90 6,158.53 Premises maintenance |
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| 11a. Gas 13,008.38 12,635.91 |
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| 11b. Electricity 1,554.01 2,359.99 11c. Other Maintenance |
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| Cleaner's PAYE - 106.80 |
|||
| Cleaner's wages 3,359.52 3,035.92 |
|||
| Cleaning materials 148.09 155.66 |
|||
| Fabric day-to-day/regular/repeat work/tests 1,856.91 1,575.16 |
Income and Expenditure v previous full year Harrogate Baptist Church
3 Jun 2025 Page 1 of 3
Income and Expenditure v previous full year
| 2024 2023 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Fabric major/irregular works 8,664.78 - |
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| Insurance - church 4,407.69 4,723.91 12. Local Church Costs and Admin |
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| Breakfast church 381.40 348.62 |
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| Finance fees and charges 125.50 - |
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| Junior church 135.45 - |
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| Miscellanous - 19.00 |
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| Music and Audio (General) 417.28 1,129.71 |
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| Printing and stationery 203.78 70.48 |
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| Renew (adult) expenses 2,484.58 2,616.85 |
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| Seasonal Service Expenses - 114.47 |
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| Software subscriptions (ongoing) 423.00 45.00 |
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| Subscription - church membership 389.97 355.93 |
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| Sunday service expenses 1,942.14 181.00 |
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| Tech & Software - new items - 5,140.64 |
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| Waste & recycling 365.74 381.45 |
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| Water rates - church 675.30 620.22 |
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| Website 589.74 741.29 |
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| Youth group - 159.00 |
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| Total 12. Local Church Costs and Admin 8,133.88 11,923.66 |
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| Total Expenditure 84,580.90 87,234.68 |
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| Net Surplus/(Deficit) 2,776.67 (14,508.47) Restricted Funds |
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| BMS Birthday Scheme | ||
| BMS Birthday Scheme donations rcvd 415.00 500.00 |
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| BMS Birthday Scheme monies paid away (415.00) (500.00) |
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| Total BMS Birthday Scheme - - Renew Adult |
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| Renew Adult pm session income - restricted (676.48) - |
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| Total Renew Adult (676.48) - Renew Youth Project |
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| Renew Youth Project income - restricted - 7,498.00 |
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| Renew Youth Project expenditure - restricted (3,597.68) (1,947.20) |
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| Total Renew Youth Project (3,597.68) 5,550.80 Advent Appeal |
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| Advent appeal donations received 358.38 - |
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| Advent Appeal monies paid away (358.38) - |
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| Total Advent Appeal - - Lent Appeal |
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| Lent Appeal donations received 452.67 - |
Income and Expenditure v previous full year Harrogate Baptist Church
3 Jun 2025 Page 2 of 3
Income and Expenditure v previous full year
| 2024 | 2023 | |
|---|---|---|
| Lent Appeal monies paid away | (452.67) | - |
| Total Lent Appeal | - | - |
Income and Expenditure v previous full year Harrogate Baptist Church
3 Jun 2025 Page 3 of 3
Balance Sheet
Harrogate Baptist Church As at 30 September 2024 Cash Basis
| Balance Sheet Harrogate Baptist Church As at 30 September 2024 Cash Basis |
Balance Sheet Harrogate Baptist Church As at 30 September 2024 Cash Basis |
|---|---|
| 30 SEPT 2024 30 SEPT 2023 |
|
| Fixed Assets | |
| Tangible Assets | |
| Manse (historic cost) 5,150 5,150 |
|
| Church Building (historic cost) 9,000 9,000 |
|
| Total Tangible Assets 14,150 14,150 |
|
| Total Fixed Assets 14,150 14,150 Current Assets |
|
| Cash at bank and in hand | |
| Harrogate Baptist Church Building Fund 5,697 5,621 |
|
| Virgin Money Harrogate Current Account 10,735 30,947 |
|
| BUC Deposit Account Building Fund 41,358 41,368 |
|
| Skipton Building Society Deposit Account 65,000 45,000 |
|
| Total Cash at bank and in hand 122,791 122,936 |
|
| Total Current Assets 122,791 122,936 |
|
| Net Current Assets (Liabilities) 122,791 122,936 |
|
| Total Assets less Current Liabilities 136,941 137,086 |
|
| Net Assets 136,941 137,086 Capital and Reserves |
|
| Unrestricted Funds | |
| General Funds 87,214 84,437 |
|
| Total Unrestricted Funds 87,214 84,437 Restricted Funds |
|
| Building Fund - Restricted 47,097 47,097 |
|
| Renew Adult Afternoon Session - Restricted 676 - |
|
| Renew Youth Project - Restricted 1,953 5,551 |
|
| Total Restricted Funds 49,727 52,648 |
|
| Total Capital and Reserves 136,941 137,086 |
3 Jun 2025 Page 1 of 1
HBC Balance Sheet Harrogate Baptist Church