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2022-12-31-accounts

Report & Accounts

for the year ended 31st December 2022

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THRIVE YOUTH MINISTRIES

for the year 1st January - 31st December 2022

Reference and Administration Details
Registered charity number
1145794
Charity’s registered address
119 Cubbington Road
Leamington Spa
Warwickshire
CV32 7AP
Charity’s office address Thrive Youth Ministries Office
Whitnash Methodist Church
Murcott Road East
Leamington Spa CV31 2JJ
Trustees Andrew Fulcher Chair
Simon Archer Treasurer
Susannah Solt Secretary
Samuel Davis Safeguarding Lead
Lindsey Selley
Ian Derbyshire
Chief Executive Andrew Castle
Staff members Fiona Stutton
James Yates
Ryan McNair
Dara Sousa (left 31/07/2022)
Rosemary Pauling (started 01/09/2022)
Independent Examiner Andrew Rice
54 St Andrew’s Road
Leamington Spa
Warwickshire
CV32 7EX
Bankers CAF Bank Ltd
25 Kings Hill Avenue
Kings Hill
West Malling
Kent
ME19 4JQ

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STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

Governing document Deed of Trust adopted on 14th November 2011 How the charity is constituted Trust

Governance/Structure

The Board of Trustees meets up to six times per year for business meetings. The day to day running of the charity is handled by the Chief Executive.

The Board have four sub-committees (teams), which assist the CEO with the oversight and development of the charity. These teams are:

The Board of Trustees have given their approval to policies, procedures and guidelines, which are applied within Thrive Youth Ministries’ (more commonly referred to in this report as Thrive) daily activities.

The charity has the following policies in place:

Regular meetings of the Board of Trustees allow all Trustees to keep up to date with the development of the charity and in between meetings, any matters arising are shared by email or phone conversation, or at a fortnightly prayer meeting.

Meetings are scheduled for every other calendar month, with an expectation of a minimum of three meetings per year with an additional annual vision and prayer day, where possible. In

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2022, the trustees met six times formally, plus a vision & prayer day with the staff on Saturday 25th June. Each of the teams met at least once.

Our core values are:

An Enhanced Disclosure from the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) is obtained prior to commencement of employment or trusteeship, with a renewal after every three years. We also ensure that all volunteers working with Thrive have a current DBS check in place.

All trustees give their time voluntarily and receive no remuneration or other benefits.

Thrive Youth Ministries is a local mission partner of Scripture Union.

Recruitment of Trustees

New Trustees are identified through connections made with individuals in the course of Thrive’s activities. Exploratory conversations occur and if the time/skills of the individual and the needs of the Board align, the person considering a trustee role is invited to meet other trustees at a meeting, where they have the opportunity to ask further questions and introduce themselves. If a synergy is identified, the person is invited to become a Trustee based upon the voting of existing Trustees.

OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES

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Objects of the charity: To advance the Christian faith among young people in England, as set out in our Deed of Trust.

Summary of Main Activities Undertaken for the Public Benefit in Relation to These Objects

In planning the activities of Thrive, the Trustees have given consideration to the guidance on public benefit issued by the Charity Commission in September 2013. Thrive aims to fulfil its vision as shown above and in so doing, serve the local and wider communities who connect with Thrive.

Thrive’s vision is to see every church within its area of operation with a thriving youth ministry of some kind. Our area is defined as Warwickshire and Coventry. With our office in Leamington Spa, it means we can reach anywhere within an approximate drive of 30 minutes, therefore keeping our work local.

We recognised that for Thrive’s vision to be realised, Thrive also needs to help churches with their children’s ministry as if this is weak, it is much harder for there to be the possibility of a strong youth ministry. As a result, we work with churches to develop all ministries reaching under 18s.

Our primary means for fulfilling our objectives are by:

1. Mentoring

We provide regular one-to-one mentoring for youth and children’s leaders, both volunteers and employed staff. This helps leaders to feel valued, understood and supported in their ministry. It enables them to grow and develop as leaders as well as in their ministries. We believe mentoring is an essential element for a leader if they are to be resilient and have longevity in their position.

2. Consultancy

We offer to walk alongside churches as they look to develop their youth and children’s work. We offer resources to help them review their attitudes to young people as well as offering advice on how to improve their delivery of youth work.

3. Training

We hold both open training events and closed events, specifically at the request of a particular church. Training enables people to come together and to discuss new ideas and encourages greater creativity and dependence on God.

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4. Investing in area-wide youth ministry

Thrive only wants to do what the local church on its own is unable to deliver. So we run leadership courses for Christian young people, enabling individual churches to each send one or two young people to participate. We also oversee area-wide youth and children’s events.

5. Website

Our website is an effective means of communicating with a lot of people in one go. Our leadership blog is popular, as is our increasing bank of useful web links. The website is used by a large number of people regularly. We also have a popular weekly podcast and YouTube video called, ‘The Heart of a Youth Leader’.

6. Thrive’s Manifesto for 21st Century Youthwork

We have developed a step by step process to help churches create a youth ministry fit for the new century, and with a hands-on approach from Thrive. We have two Youth Mission Enablers who provide churches with the expertise and knowledge to lead them through the process.

ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE

Last year was a significant year for growth and reclaiming the ground that was lost due to the pandemic. Not only did we see new youth and children’s initiatives start up, we also saw some of our pre-pandemic regular gatherings start to take place once again.

Over the course of 2022, the Thrive team worked alongside a total of 63 churches from across Warwickshire and Coventry, inspiring over 430 adults to fully engage with youth ministry, with a possible reach of over 1800 young people and 2000 children across the churches. Thrive’s staff team worked directly with 30 young people and over 400 children, both through their hands-on support of church projects and through Thrive gatherings.

Eight of these churches engaged with our ‘Manifesto for 21[st] Century Youthwork’ framework, which helps a church think through how it needs to adapt and change to better meet the needs of this generation. This process is focused on building and developing ministry that will be sustainable for the future and is seen as a 3-5 year process, at least.

When we recruited our Youth Mission Enablers towards the end of 2021, we purposefully wanted to try and help churches start new initiatives to connect and reach out to young people in their communities. 2022 was definitely a busy year in this respect! 18 new projects were started with direct guidance, support and hands-on help from Thrive, helping churches across the area to make new contact with over 320 children and young people that they might not have had contact with otherwise.

Some of these projects didn’t take root, such is the nature of trying new ideas, but these projects have enabled the churches to make connection with those they wouldn’t have

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otherwise. Some of these churches haven’t done any youth work for over twenty years, so these are exciting first steps. We are seeing Christians getting bolder in their conversations, growing in confidence and praying for those they encounter.

The Thrive Puppet Team was firmly established with a growing number of young people getting involved and helping to deliver a total of nine performances, including a special performance in Ross-on-Wye as the team went on tour!

It was wonderful to see our training programmes for Christian young people begin again after a three year hiatus. James Yates hosted the Worship course, a four session programme to help Christian teenagers learn how to use their skills in worship, learning to be lead worshippers who others follow, rather than being worship leaders who are more inclined to become performers. The course was run with James Henney, Worship and Discipleship Enabler for Coventry Diocese. There were 10 young people engaged, coming from 6 different churches.

Our Youth Growing Leaders programme started in the autumn, to be concluded in April of 2023, with 10 young people coming from 6 local churches across Leamington, Warwick and Southam. Andy Castle hosted this course with help from local youth minister, Kate Wallis, from St Paul’s Church, Leamington Spa. Each session proved helpful, with young people continually giving outstanding feedback on the session content and their engagement.

Thrive Juniors returned in May, our worship event for primary school aged children and their church’s children’s leaders. In total, 95 people gathered together at Kenilworth Methodist Church to worship and have fun together as they explored the story of Zaccheus and how Jesus transformed his life.

Using a creative prayer activity, the children were able to engage in a physical demonstration of how God takes away the wrongs and makes them right, by writing messages on dissolving paper and then placed them in pools of water.

“The children loved being part of a bigger scene – sharing fun, worship and learning with others. The theme ‘transformation’ was well developed – children used the word on the following Sunday morning in our own session together.” Kathy, a children’s leade r

In September, our Base worship event and BBQ was held at Saltisford Church in Warwick with young people and their youth leaders gathering together from over 12 different churches. As one young person said , “It was great to see so many young people coming together to worship the Lord!”

We continued to support youth and children’s leaders, both those employed and volunteers, with the team mentoring around 20 leaders one-to-one. We held a special lunchtime gathering called, Breathing Space, which was a mix of mini-retreat and a chance to network together. 19 leaders attended the event. After a long time of not being able to meet in person, we were finally able to gather together to pray, to worship, share experiences and catch up over food.

“I found the worship part extra helpful to assess my relationship with God and see areas that need improvement. The conversations with the other youth leaders were really good and helpful as well.” Ruda, youth worker, Coventry and Nuneaton Methodist Circuit

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Transform was able to take place in November, our (usually) annual one day conference for youth and children’s leaders. We had a smaller gathering than in previous, pre-pandemic, years with 30 leaders, representing 14 churches, but meeting with a real hunger to learn and to rebuild their ministries.

Some feedback Thrive received from attendees was that everyone would recommend the conference, with three quarters giving it a rating of 5/5. Some of the comments were: “I loved the interaction and encouragement for new ideas to be implemented or to try things in a different way.”

“I enjoyed chatting with speakers and peers and feel encouraged to try new ideas.”

“It was extremely helpful and has given me much to take back to my church.”

In 2022, Thrive had a particular focus on the Warwick area, helping the Anglican churches particularly as they looked to introduce a ‘MessageBus’ to the area, in partnership with The Message Trust. The MessageBus is a converted double-decker bus that acts as a mobile youth centre. Thrive’s primary focus is helping the churches to make the most of the opportunities that the bus offers. We have come alongside each of the churches, in differing ways, dependent on the particular needs and opportunities unique to each church.

Over the summer, we launched a pilot project to help churches make the most of the transfer process of the top year of primary school (year 6) moving to their chosen secondary schools and starting year 7. We worked with four churches who already had established relationship with their local primary schools and Thrive helped them to deliver positive assemblies and ‘transition’ (transfer) classes to help prepare the students for their move. We helped the church to set up reunion events for the early autumn so that they could reconnect with their primary school classmates once they disperse to their different secondary schools. This worked well and, as a result, there are now several new regular youth groups meeting, each in churches which previously had no youthwork.

James Yates, one of our Youth Mission Enablers, provided some support for Coventry Youth For Christ with their work with four churches in the city, while they recruited a new replacement youth worker to their team.

Andy continues to record his regular weekly podcast, ‘The Heart of a Youth Leader’, short tenminute episodes to inspire listeners to keep their eyes fixed on Jesus, and to encourage youth and children’s leaders to be investing in their own spiritual walk, and not just that of those they lead. Each episode is usually downloaded 25-30 times at least, with additional viewing on Thrive’s YouTube channel. Whilst numbers are not huge, this is a fantastic opportunity to invest in 30 leaders each week.

“Thank you so much for taking the time to make your podcast. God is using it to speak to me and encourage and challenge me. I really appreciate the effort you put in to it. It's like you are speaking directly to me, exactly how I am thinking and feeling, and not just leaving me there but helping me to take a step forward.” Ruth Powell, youth worker at Foleshill Baptist Church

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Staff-wise, we were sad to see Dara Sousa leave us in the summer but were delighted that she felt called by the Lord to return to her home country of Portugal and to take Thrive’s Manifesto to churches there. Wonderfully, we had a simple recruitment process for her successor and Rose Pauling became our Operations Assistant in September.

As we look back on the year, it is with satisfaction at the progress that has been made in so many different areas; the joy of new initiatives combined with the new sense of appreciation for the different gatherings being finally able to be staged. We are so grateful for the wide support that we have received and the privilege of being able to speak into the lives of so many different people, and to hopefully be a blessing to local churches, all seeking to proclaim the Good News of Jesus and further His Kingdom.

FINANCIAL REVIEW

The detailed finances of Thrive Youth Ministries are reflected in the financial statements which follow on later pages with the associated notes. This review serves as a summary.

Total receipts for the year were £204,390, an increase of 50% from last year (£135,936). This is substantially due to the generous support received from The King Henry VIII Endowed Trust to expand the work among Anglican churches in Warwick. This also includes the impact of restarting various courses and events. Receipts from donations and grants were £190,154, an increase of 40% from last year (£135,873). These gifts, which represent the generosity of both individual, local churches and the King Henry fund, have where possible, been further supported by Gift Aid. Donations were supplemented this year with grant funding from the Hinchley Trust who continue to support the Youth Mission Enabler programme. For all the gifts both large and small the trustees extend their gratitude both to the givers and to our God the provider.

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In the pursuit of the vision set out above Thrive Youth Ministries has expended £189,659 this year, a substantial increase of £77,093 from 2021. At £174,184 (£108,307), the cost of salaries, pensions, national insurance and expenses were the majority of this expenditure with the increase from 2021 being full year staff costs for the Youth Mission Enabler programme. Due to the ongoing cost of living crisis a portion of salary increases were accelerated from January 2023 to July 2022. The trustees continue to believe that they should seek to be as generous as possible in the remuneration of staff to reflect the generosity of God’s grace to Thrive Youth Ministries. This generosity is balanced by a recognition of the financial pressures on our donors and so salary increases approved for 2023 are slightly below the peak inflation rates seen in the last 12 months.

This year has also seen the restarting of a number of courses and events and the income and costs associated with these are recorded in the accounts. The trustees are delighted and believe that the work of Thrive Youth Ministries will now be able to continue and expand in these areas in 2023.

The net result for the year 2022 was a surplus of receipts over payments of £14,731 which is an encouragement to the trustees that God’s provision for the Youth Mission Enabler programme is continuing. When the 2022 surplus is added to bank and deposit balances brought forward from 2021 the balance carried forward at the end of December 2022 totalled £68,008. If outstanding receipts and liabilities are included the balance is adjusted to £67,522.

As Thrive Youth Ministries ends 2022 with this healthy balance the trustees must continue to look to God as the sole provider for Thrive and for His leading of the ministry into 2023 and beyond. The basic budget set for 2023, excluding course costs and fees, requires receipts of c.£194,750 to deliver nil deficit in the year, so the trustees and staff again step out in faith that He will continue to support the work. The trustees continue to be aware of the need to further extend a regular giving donor base and to make applications for grant funding when appropriate, the development of the fundraising strategy for Thrive Youth Ministries remains focused on these.

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Reserves Policy

It is the policy of Thrive Youth Ministries to maintain a balance of funds which equates to at least three months payments, in 2023 this is c. £46,000 and the balance held at the end 2022 exceeds this target. It is also the policy of Thrive Youth Ministries that if the cash balance at the end of any month reduces below £20,000 the Treasurer informs all trustees.

Risk Statement

The Trustees and Chief Executive have reviewed the risks to which a small charity operating with few employees and a larger volunteer base is exposed. Appropriate general and public liability insurance has been obtained. Operational risks associated with the ministry activities and the holding of events have been reviewed and appropriate guidelines and policies agreed to ensure that any risk is minimised.

Approval

This report was approved by the Trustees on 19[th] May 2023 and signed on their behalf by:

Andrew Fulcher - Chair of Trustees

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Thrive Youth Ministries

Financial Statements for year ending 31 December 2022

Unrestricted Funds Restricted Total Total
Undesig. Desig. Funds 2022 2021
RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS ACCOUNT
Receipts
Donations, Legacies & Grants
Local Churches 4. 96,992 - - 96,992 28,741
Grants 5. 1,620 - 8,000 9,620 13,705
Individuals (gift aided) 58,664 - 2,000 60,664 66,269
Individuals (non-gift aided) 7,451 - - 7,451 10,166
Income Tax Recovered 14,914 - 513 15,427 16,992
Local Fundraising 6. - - - -
Total Donations, Legacies & Grants 4. 179,641 - 10,513 190,154 135,873
Course Fees 11. 13,955 - - 13,955 -
Interest Received 225 - - 225 4
Other 56 - - 56 59
Total Receipts 193,877 - 10,513 204,390 135,936
Payments
Ministry Payments
Ministry - Salaries and NI 59,979 - 93,334 153,313 95,583
Ministry - Pension Contributions 4,714 - 7,749 12,463 7,983
Ministry - Expenses 3,928 - 4,480 8,408 4,741
Total Ministry Payments 7. 68,621 - 105,563 174,184 108,307
Administration Payments
Office Overheads 405 - - 405 540
Post & Stationery 574 - 5 579 1,121
Publicity & Website (VM) 387 - 66 453 1,032
Insurance 358 - - 358 356
Scripture Union 8. 1,500 - 1,500 3,000 -
Other Fees 9. 775 - - 775 552
Total Administration Payments 3,999 - 1,571 5,570 3,601
Equipment Purchase 39 - - 39 658
Courses - Venues, Travel, etc. 11. 9,796 - 70 9,866 -
Total Payments 82,455 - 107,204 189,659 112,566
Net of Receipts/(Payments) 111,422 - (96,691) 14,731 23,370
Transfers between funds (96,000) - 96,000 - -
15,422 - (691) 14,731 23,370
Cash at bank & in hand on 31 Dec 2021 50,844 2,433 53,277 29,907
Cash at bank & in hand on 31 Dec 2022 10. 66,266 - 1,742 68,008 53,277
STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES
Cash Funds
Current account (CAF & Pay Pal) 6,143 - 1,742 7,885 8,275
Deposit account (CAF Gold) 60,123 - - 60,123 45,002
66,266 - 1,742 68,008 53,277
Other Monetary Funds
Thrive Youth Weekend receipts (due Jan 2023) - - 2,085 2,085 -
Income tax recoverable (due Jan 2023) 3,407 - - 3,407 3,668
3,407 - 2,085 5,492 3,668
Investment Assets 2. - - - - -
Assets retained for use 3. - - - - -
Liabilities
Scripture Union contribution (due Jan 2022) - - - - 1,500
Thrive Youth Weekend costs (due Jan 2023) - - 2,236 2,236 -
PAYE and National Insurance (due Jan 2023) 3,742 - - 3,742 3,539
3,742 - 2,236 5,978 5,039

The accounts and statement of assets and liabilities set out above, with the notes on the following page, relating to the year ending 31 December 2022 are as approved by the Trustees.

Simon Archer, Treasurer

Andrew Fulcher, Chair

Date

Date

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INDEPENDENT EXAMINER’S REPORT ON THE ACCOUNTS

Report to the Trustees of Thrive Youth Ministries, charity number 1145794.

On accounts for the year ended 31st December 2022, set out on page 12.

Respective Responsibilities of Trustees and Examiner

The charity’s trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. The charity’s trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year under section 144 of the Charities Act 2011 (the Charities Act) and that an independent examination is needed.

It is my responsibility to:

Basis of independent examiner’s 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 charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and seeking explanations from 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 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 matter has come to my attention:

Date:_______

Andrew Rice

54 St Andrew’s Road

Leamington Spa Warwickshire, CV32 7EX

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Financial Statements for year ending 31st December 2022

Notes

  1. These accounts have been prepared on a 'receipts and payments' basis in accordance with Section 133 of the Charities Act 2011.

  2. Thrive Youth Ministries has no investment assets other than a short term CAF Gold account.

  3. Thrive Youth Ministries has no fixed assets retained for use other than low value IT equipment.

  4. Donations from local churches have grown very significantly from £28,741 in 2021 to £96,992 in 2022. A large contribution from The King Henry VIII Endowed Trust to enable work with all the Anglican churches in Warwick accounts for over 65% of this increase with support also coming from other churches also benefiting from this work. Giving by individuals has decreased from £76,435 in 2021 to £68,115 in 2022, with Gift Aid recovery moving generally in line with this. The total General Fund giving has grown from £122,029 in 2021 to £179,641, an increase of 47%.

  5. Grants have been received from the organisations below in 2022. That received from the Hinchley Trust was provided to support the launch of the Youth Mission Enablers Programme. That from Together for Change was to provide Thrive YM support for an ongoing “Messy Church” in the locality.

  6. Hinchley Trust £ 8,000 one off gift Together for Change £ 1,620 made up from two gifts

  7. No direct fundraising events were held in 2022.

  8. Ministry payments increased generally in line with inflation in January 2022. In addition an interim increase was also approved by Trustees and applied in July 2022 due to the cost of living crisis.

  9. A voluntary contribution to Scripture Union was budgeted in 2022, the payment also included a similar contribution budgeted in 2021 making a total payment of £3,000.

  10. Fees include banking and insurance costs along with other subscriptions.

  11. Analysis of movements in fund balances is given below.

Undesignated
General Fund
Events Fund
Restricted
Children's Worker Fund
Youth Mission Enabler Fund
Puppet Team Fund		 Balance
B/fwd.
Receipts
Payments
Transfer
Balance
C/fwd.
48,141
179,846
72,085
(96,000)
59,902
2,703
14,031
10,370
-
6,364
50,844
193,877
82,455
(96,000)
66,266
1,432
-
39,117
38,000
315

537
10,513
67,843
58,000
1,207
464
-
244
-
220
2,433
10,513
107,204
96,000
1,742

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The Events Fund represents accumulated fee receipts for attendance on residential retreats, courses and youth events which are used, in the first instance, to cover the costs of these events. Events have re-commenced in 2022 following lifting of COVID restrictions.

The Children's Worker Fund, Youth Mission Enabler Fund and Puppet Team Fund respectively capture the costs of our Children’s Worker, our two Mission Enablers and of puppet team equipment. As restricted grant funding for these initiatives is expended a positive balance is maintained by supplementing from the General Fund.

  1. After a COVID related hiatus of 2 years Thrive Youth Ministries ran a youth weekend in January 2023 with receipts and payments for the youth weekend spanning between 2022 and 2023. A summary of these receipts and payments is given below. The deposit paid in mid-2020 for the 2021 event was credited against the 2023 event. Also shown are details of a similar event run in February 2020, these do not form part of these accounts and are for comparison only.
Receipts Payments
Thrive Youth Weekend 12,880 10,754
2020
Thrive Youth Weekend 13,930 13,095
2023

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