# **Harehills Lane Baptist Church Trustees’ Annual Report 2020** Website: www.hlbc.org.uk Phone : 0113 262 8080 Email: harehillslanebc@outlook.com **www.hlbc.org.uk REGISTERED CHARITY NO. 1149238** ## THE TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL REVIEW 2020 ## 1. STATUTORY INFORMATION ## 1.1 REGISTERED ADDRESS Harehills Lane Baptist Church 13 Hilton Place Leeds LS8 4HE ## 1.2 TRUSTEES: Revd Graeme Dodds (Minister) Mr Andrew Hobbs Mr Duncan Moynihan (Associate Minister) Mrs Judith Moynihan Miss Liz New Mr Michael Rigby Mr Richard Shonibare (Treasurer) Dr Jeremy Toner (Secretary) Mr Martin Townshend Miss Alison Wain ## 1.3 STAFF TEAM: Revd Graeme Dodds (Minister) Mr Duncan Moynihan (Associate Minister) Miss Liz New (Community Worker) Mrs Rose Clifford (Admin Assistant P/T) ## 1.4 PROPERTY TRUSTEES: The Yorkshire Baptist Association 1 South Parade Headingley Leeds LS6 3LF ## 1.5 BANKERS: The Yorkshire Bank 329 Harehills Lane Leeds LS9 6AX ## 1.6 INDEPENDENT EXAMINER/ AUDITOR: Mr Michael P Kemp LL.B, A.C.A. 30 Carr Manor Parade Leeds LS17 5AF ## 2. PRINCIPAL CHARITABLE OBJECTIVE, ORGANISATION STRUCTURE AND DECISION MAKING PROCESS ## 2.1 PRINCIPAL CHARITABLE OBJECTIVE We are a registered charity governed by an Approved Governing Document (based on the model constitution provided by the Baptist Union) which states that our principal purpose is the advancement of the Christian faith according to the principles of the Baptist denomination to include the advancement of education, community service and such other general charitable purposes in such parts of the United Kingdom and the world as the Church shall determine. In order to fulfill our principal purpose and demonstrate public benefit, our activities include, but are not restricted to: - regular public worship, prayer, Bible study, preaching and teaching - baptism, as defined in the Union’s Declaration of Principle - the Communion of the Lord’s Supper, which is normally observed twice a month - evangelism and mission, locally, regionally, nationally and internationally - teaching, encouragement, welcome and inclusion of young people - nurture and growth of Christian disciples - education and training for Christian and community service - giving and encouraging pastoral care - supporting and encouraging charitable social action in the United Kingdom and abroad - encouraging relationships with and supporting Baptists and other Christians The Church occupies premises which are held by the Yorkshire Baptist Association on Trust that are entirely compatible with the above object. In the preparation of this report, we have taken into account the Charity Commission guidance. ## 2.2 ORGANISATION STRUCTURE AND DECISION-MAKING PROCESS Members of the Church are accepted into membership in accordance with the Constitution, which normally requires them to be or to have been publicly baptised on the profession of faith in Jesus Christ, or following other modes of baptism to renew their public profession of faith in Jesus Christ. The Church Members Meeting normally takes place six times per year (of which all meetings will be open to the whole congregation, although only Members may vote). Members have responsibility for the overall policy of the church. In accordance with the Constitution, the members appoint Trustees, who include the Minister, Associate Minister, Church Secretary and Treasurer. The Church Secretary and Treasurer are normally also elected Leaders and the Minister, Associate Minister and Leaders (collectively known as the Leadership Team and Trustees), are responsible for the overall day-to- day running of the church’s work, and the financial and legal aspects of the charity. All members are encouraged to take an appropriate part in the spiritual and practical tasks involved in the furtherance of the charitable objective. Relevant matters may be submitted to the Church meeting by the Trustees for guidance, or may be raised by members in Church meetings for further consideration by the Trustees. Though the Constitution permits decisions to be made at Church meetings by appropriate majorities, the Church seeks to work by consensus wherever possible. The church has read the Charity Commission guidance on public benefit, and is satisfied that the activities outlined in this report clearly demonstrate that the charity is providing a benefit to the public. ## 3 OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES In order to achieve our principal objective set out above, we provide a variety of activities for our own church family and for the wider community. Throughout the week, our aim is to show the love of Jesus Christ in both word and deed and to bring people into a closer relationship with Him as living Lord. Our activities include local community work, evangelism and financial support of national and international evangelism, teaching and encouragement of existing and new Christians, pastoral care and supporting charitable social action locally and abroad. Central to the work and witness of the Church is the provision of regular public services of Christian worship. These services normally take place each Sunday at 10.00 am and occasionally also at 4.00pm. There is a prayer meeting most weeks. These and other regular activities are made known through regular weekly newssheets; through flyers, posters and advertising; and through our web site – www.hlbc.org.uk. We continue to develop our web site as an important way of communicating with both the fellowship and the wider community. We seek to be a friendly and welcoming community and anyone is warmly welcome to attend any of our services or activities that we provide. ## WEEKLY ACTIVITIES NORMALLY INCLUDE: ## **Sunday Mornings 10.00 AM** 1st Sunday: Communion Service 2[nd] , 3[rd] ,4[th] and 5[th] Sunday: Morning Worship Morning worship is well attended by all ages, with 80+ attending most Sunday mornings. Agespecific groups are provided for children for part of the service. From mid-March 2020 services moved online due to Covid restrictions. After the service, everyone is normally encouraged to: - chat over refreshments - meet with new friends, enjoy fellowship with old friends, and make a note of absent friends to check that they are well - pray with our one-to-one prayer ministry as needed. - sign up to activities and events advertised in our church notices that are given out in the service. Once lockdown restrictions were in force from March 2020, a post-service coffee and chat time took place on Zoom. We have an occasional Community Afternoon/Evening Service, which is a great opportunity to introduce someone new to the fellowship. Though this was not possible for much of 2020, it is our policy to make special effort to invite the local community for those events which are significant in the Christian calendar: Christmas, Easter, Harvest, Remembrance where those who are not regular attendees may wish to benefit from our services. ## **Weektime Activities** Our regular weekly activities aim to demonstrate the love of Jesus Christ, nurture growth of faith and discipleship and provide services to the community. Covid restrictions have put a temporary stop to most of what we regard as our normal activities. However, with a bit of ingenuity and some lateral thinking, many activities were able to continue in a different format. **Prayer.** Online services built in prayer for other countries each week and Covid restrictions led to the creation of a Monday evening prayer meeting on Zoom which has been very well attended. **House groups** had perforce to be suspended due to Covid but house group members continued to support one another. **Christian Meditation Group** was able to move online. **The Creative Arts Group** was able to move to Zoom and has continued to be extremely well-attended. **Men’s Breakfast** – Saturday morning once a month, moved online. **Women’s Breakfast** – Saturday morning, once a month, moved online. **Pilgrims** , a weekly day-time group for older people, had to stop meeting but members kept up contact with each other. **Hospitality:** Jesus shared meals with people and, in a normal year, some of our services are cafe style services based around food and at all our events we have free refreshments. Unfortunately Covid restrictions curtailed our normal programme of such events in 2020. **Care for others:** One of our most important functions is visiting and taking a service in the local care home which we do up to 3 times a year. From March 2020 this was unfortunately impossible. Care for others became a matter of phone conversations, shopping for those unable to get out, and the delivery of meals, prepared by our Community Café staff, to needy, vulnerable and elderly people in our community. **Community** . Sadly, in 2020 we were unable to hold most of our community services at which we would normally collect gifts for groups such at PAFRAS. However, for Christmas 2020 we were able to support both KidzKlub and Caring for Life with donations of Christmas gifts and money. **Courtyard Café** had to cease operating as a café but was able to provide healthy cooked meals for about 50 vulnerable/elderly/house-bound people. Meals were delivered to people’s doors. **English “Drop In”** had to be suspended due to Covid rules. Liz New, the community worker, kept up as many contacts as possible within the limits of the Covid restrictions. ## 4 ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE: Our Vision Statement is “God’s People Building God’s Kingdom for God’s Glory” We had to adapt most of our activities so as to fulfil our goals (see above) as far as possible, within the challenging circumstances of the pandemic. ##  **Sunday Morning Services** - Our gathered church is made up of many cultures and backgrounds, and worship on a Sunday reflects this – with a preaching and worship team of diverse styles and ministries who serve our community. For much of 2020 services moved online and were accessed through our YouTube channel. We were indebted to our pastor, Graeme, for experimenting with and successfully achieving a very high standard of broadcast service which included, for example, a series on local parks and local street names and a number of features on different countries around the world, as well as worship and preaching from one of our regular preaching team. ##  **Opportunities for prayer** Once Covid restrictions were in place the normal opportunities for praying together were no longer available. However, many groups managed to move online onto Zoom in order to maintain our prayer ministry. These included: Christian Meditation Group Men’s Prayer Breakfast Women’s Breakfast Fellowship Monday Prayer Meeting Creative Arts Group Leadership Team Prayer ##  **Sunday School** Normally Sunday Club meet on Sunday mornings, going out from the main service into another room for about an hour. There are two groups but all children are welcome, including visitors. Once lockdown was established, children’s provision was moved online with a weekly supply of resources that parents could use with their children. Sunday school staff also carefully organised prize givings with children and parents coming at specified times to the church garden area in order to meet lockdown requirements. ##  **Pastoral Care** Pastoral care is normally provided by the pastor, associate pastor, community worker and other group leaders within the church. Pastoral care for most of 2020 has relied upon phone contact and Zoom. During good weather it was possible for people to meet up outdoors whilst still meeting the requirements of distancing and numbers. Until the beginning of lockdown the five house groups continued to meet as usual but had to be suspended once restrictions were introduced. Members of house groups continued to keep in contact by phone, socially distanced walks etc. ##  **Community Activities** As well as ongoing community outreach by church-based groups, we have continued to open up our buildings for community use, including welcoming other congregations (Chruch of God 7[th] Day; and a Filipino church) to make use of our premises. For the first three months of 2020 we continued to develop our community space where there are activities as diverse as Children’s Circus, Trapeze lessons, Aikido, Concerts, Adult education, Slimming World, Neighborhood watch, Arts Space. As from mid-March 2020 these all had to be suspended. In the long term we hope to see them return. - **Courtyard Café** (normally open to the public on Mondays during term time from 11am to 1.30pm) is our community café, run by volunteers. We aim to:- - Provide cheap, nutritious, home cooked food for the community - Share the love of Jesus with those who come through our doors - Provide a place where customers can be prayed for if they seek help As with other activities, Covid rules meant that this could no longer happen from mid-March. However, the Courtyard kitchen team were able to transform their operation into **a ‘send-out’ meals service** for needy and vulnerable people in the nearby community. We were very sad to lose, albeit temporarily, the opportunity to welcome a very diverse range of customers into our building for good food, a great atmosphere and warm connections. We look to see the return of ‘normal operations’ once Covid restrictions are lifted. ##  **Open Doors – Wednesday morning drop-in** - The informal community drop-in on Wednesday mornings – a chance for people to come into the church for a chat or for some quiet space - had to be suspended due to Covid from midMarch. ##  **Multi-cultural and multi-faith work** Our community worker, Liz New, has an important role sharing the love of Jesus Christ with the wider community. She has normally done this in a variety of ways: visiting local homes, teaching English and giving personal support, especially to Asian women in the community; manning the prayer room attached to Courtyard Café; organising, resourcing and teaching in the English Drop-In classes on a Thursday morning; providing pastoral and practical care e.g. with form-filling, phone calls, hospital visits etc. She was obliged to suspend most of these activities although she made considerable efforts to maintain garden visits and outdoor one-toone contacts, whenever possible. We host WAST – a Saturday afternoon asylum seekers’ drop-in group for women. Along with other groups, this had to stop due to lockdown for much of 2020. ##  **Safeguarding** During 2020 no specific or general safeguarding issues arose. A brief summary of our ongoing policy and procedures is outlined below. We have adopted the Baptist Union’s recommendations and procedures (Safe to Grow) and have drawn up our own safeguarding procedures. The latter consists of: Policy Mission Statement; Safeguarding booklet and policies for Sunday School volunteers under the age of 18 years and for unaccompanied children attending church. The procedures are kept in the Office and the Mission Statement is displayed in the Green Room and Church Hall. Any confidential information that involves a child or an adult is stored in the church safe. Our documentation incorporates the values of “Every Child Matters”. ## **Policy and Procedures** - The church recognises its responsibilities for the Safeguarding of all children under the age of 18 years as set out in the Children Act 1989 and 2004. - A copy of the safeguarding policy is displayed on a notice board in one of the public access hospitality rooms and also in the church hall. The policy and procedures are reviewed annually. - The policy is read annually at the AGM. Unfortunately the 2020 AGM could not take place due to Covid restrictions. - We also have a policy for unaccompanied children which will be reviewed annually at the same time as the safeguarding policy. The Church operates systems to ensure that all volunteers working with children and vulnerable adults are appropriately vetted with regard to the DBS. Anyone wishing to work with children in church, i.e. Sunday morning, has to have an enhanced Disclosure and Barring check and these are repeated every five years. ##  **Mission work** We normally aim to use 15% of our church income to support the following missionary causes: a church worker seconded to us by Interserve (A Multicultural Mission); Operation Mobilisation – an International missions charity; the Baptist Union of Great Britain Home Mission Fund. We also support the work of Tear Fund by having a fund raising day each year. The drastic reduction in income from mid-March 2020 meant that some of our support had to be temporarily suspended. ##  **Maintenance and development of buildings** Some maintenance work was continued during the period of closure in 2020. ## 5. FINANCE The Church continues to raise the funds that it needs to carry on its activities from within its own membership and congregation. Community fund raising has not been an option in 2020.. The financial results for the year, together with a summary of the accounting policies adopted, are set out in the report and the receipts and payments account. ## FINANCE REPORT 2020 The Receipts and Payments Account shows that overall receipts were down. This can be attributed to the impact of COVID 19 at the beginning of the year. The breakdown is as follows:- - Sunday Cash Collections fell by £8,300, - Rental Income fell by £11,500 - No Gift Aid claim was made during the year. Gift Aid Claims were submitted in 2021 in respect of the previous year amounting to £8,428. - Cafe Income fell by £3,672. However, claims under the Furlough Scheme accounted for £5,426 which offset the impact of the above. Tithe payments amounted to £14,000. The year end deficit was £15,703 which is reflected in the reduced cash balances held which declined from £60,000 to £44,000. Inde endent F.xAminer's Re rt to the Trn$tees ol H*TrhilLs Lant Ba itgl Ch￿re￿ - 23108121 I repurt OLI Ilie ol. Ihi Tru￿ loi di¢ heal en(6¢d i I tk¥etnb¢r. &O:O- ￿1}1￿11 are sei out 011 pages 12nd2. Resp¢¢tive re5POll5ibililies of Trnstees xttd Ei*miner "l-he chariti 8 IrusiLi% are re%ponsiblv lor ih¢ pr¢paraiion of ihe account.s. The charil> s inisiees consider thai ai) aiidit tor the }'iar Lnded 31 December. O?0 is wt required iiiider SLYfiOli 144("} of the Chariiies Act 2011 {1li¢ *OI l Act) and thal an indep¢nd¢i)i eNaminalion is needed. li is m) resFKyiisibiliry io.. examine the accounls und¢r Sttlion 145 of the ?01 l Act: rollo￿ Ilie proLLdure5 laid dowii in ihe tieneral Direciions given b!. the C harili¢s Con)mi%sion under seLiion 145{iKbi ol'th¢ ?01 I Alt= wid siaie Hh¢iher ihere are ani. parti¢ulats that have come to m) atienlion. B45is of independent ex4min¢r'$ report M) ¢iuiniiiaii(>n ivas iarri¢d uut in &¥ord￿l¢C ¥*iih the ￿e1￿[al Dir¢cii4)ns gifv¢n by th¢ Cliyrili¢s Comi)iis4ion. Ai) examination incliides A review of the aLcounling records kept b). the Charii!. and a ¥omparison of Il aLLounts pr¢senied w'iih those reLords. li also ii)cludes Lonsideralion of anv unusual ileills or disclosurL'S iii the aLLount4. And seekin¥ explanations from vou - as Iruslees- LonLerlling an). SULh matters. 'I'hc prL)Lcdiir¢'s Iindcrtaken do noi Pro￿ld￿ all ihL L%idence Ihai M'ould IK. fLyiiifL'd iii on aiidii aiid Luns¢qu¢iitli iii) opinion IS biiVLn to Hheiher Ihe dLLibullis Show a"IruL and lair i iLI%" and Ilie reporl 1% limited tii thosL matt¢rs s¢1 oul in ihe %lalenieiii Independent examiner'4 %l•lemenl Iii ii)niieLtii)11 ￿ itll m¥ Lxainiiidtivn. li() maller h&$ cnme lo aneniinn.. which gives me reasoiiahle caiise ihai in an% malerial respeci Ilie requirements.. to k¢¢p a¢coiinlin&i records in accordance m.iih 8¢iiioii 130 01. Ihi tyol l A¢1: wid b. io prepare accoiinls knhich accord uiih I1￿ accouniing rL'cords alid Lompl) wilh th¢ aLcouniing r¢qiiir¢ni¢nls ofthe ?01 l Aci hav¢ iiot been met- or ? to which. in mv opinion. attcniion SI￿VId ￿ drawn in order fo enable a proper understandin&J or the accounts to be rea¢h¢d. Hvwe*er. Ihe Tru51ees should remind all involtr¢d ihal il s iniWTrrtanl and need io maintaiii expendilure sheets for 411 cApenditure. ror Llaril). •)d for tlic benefit of Charities Commission oificials. Ihcrc was a rc¥alualion of thl cl)urch assets bi tl)e ihurlh insurers nd relleciLd iii iliL'SC KCI)unts. whiili arc valiild at £5.4 j )m. l also asked Paul Smiili io make sonie oiher niinor adju51tncnt>+ lo ihe aLLounts. i%hich haie all been made aiid reflected in ihe Iinal V¥tsiOll f(Trr submission. Michael P. Kemp. LL.B. A.C.A Mcmbcr of the IL.'AE'W 30 Carr Manor Parade. Leeds LSI 7 SAF Flle name.. 21.(￿23 HLBCIE 2020. 1 E 5wMw¥. aL¥iitÈdJ TabnamE. 2020A￿lled FINAL IINOEPENDENTLY EXAMINED) RECEIPTS AND PAYMENYS ACCOUNT 21)20 fvr45 1019 2020 Monthiy51aThJiryC¥L*r5 Gift cèthc0lW￿n Tot•1 recWslwwiep**¥h Annubl & One OFtGOt5 Othetvoluntary Nece*is Tot•1 fj￿1T 43283 42.2841 43.283 63,577 44,507 8.440 7.2 7J,31l 15.431. 292.. 5.lr 1.350 8,440 55.342 4.898 IntEiest Rem Iromfvi 4.867 1.6 4$2 4.H67 1.650 452 Cale rE¢wpts VaA OtheruaN5. donaiior6wd dewsrt5 2.625 5.426 19,031 TOTAL RECEIPTS 71,741 ?,625 IOIA54 74,173 YM 51al* r0515 min SI￿8, 4.358. a564 45,573 2.617 Church VèinT*nart• Cleanlni ConirKtoi Oe4nin8 M•reii•ts. Chwth 2.356 1.459 694 1.384 4.842 Flit mainter￿rf• Inse CoufKIi Tai and Ir&￿￿¢*& Waiv Mw5p Henrr44tk)n 673 2.174,, 359 E￿ish¢ Eyanyiism Hosprt+lit¥/GL*St Serykes lè E¥pÈn Prayer Acifvii¥ Sunday Uub WorshipTeam fy5 218 625 1.307 42 3S 91 303 297 65 812 Gifts Pa Ufflpand Otnot PtOJtt1S Loan repaympnfs Totsi R¥nnkn¢Cos 88.694 73.451 Special Colec[Kyo PJk41Ae5tr*teOI TlthE YBA HMF Tlttre- Inierw￿r￿ 5eNces TIt￿- Ottr*r 2.625 11.4(X) 16.625 TOtIl 97.494 9￿￿16 5yr*lDeft*ForiheYt¥ .IS.703 Prepèred by Pèul Smith ar RkhaTd Sh￿r￿b￿re, CI￿r(hTrth Ir￿ependent1ye￿afflIned and •JIL￿ted by Mike Kemp IA.C.A, LLBI. ifvjepehdent churc* JttOuntsexam102r Patrl ot2 T*fiamo' 2020A￿dItÉd FINAL IINOEPENOENTLY EXAMINEDI RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS ACCOUNT 2020 2020 )TarMd yoir•n 33.699 26476 69 .244 M.541 Current ASSfn*ET*JMEDFOIOIAftnYSOIW USE Ch￿r[h b￿lId￿n￿ IPlar*hi1I5 ￿l￿on 5.013.S12 92.116 47.884 22S,t 3W.t SM5￿ 5A53.5IZ Man￿. I Sycamore Ave loan 22. 12.r 18.1 TOT￿ A55ETSl***e.Cl s,410,05• A¢covThiart¢¥ Adrn 1.246 618 le￿phOne PhDtocoPv￿￿k￿ry C￿nIn1 nkCh•ryllnte SubSCiIPiIL 5071 545 66 1,617 4,1 prepar*dtyPa￿sThth Hlchaid 5horibèr*, C1￿hlre￿5￿rel steotymlke Kemp 1￿CA. LLBI. ## 6.RESERVES POLICY The Trustees have established a Reserves Policy (equivalent to 6 months direct running costs), and are satisfied that they have sufficient reserves at the Balance Sheet date, together with ongoing income anticipated, to enable the church to function effectively in the coming year. ## 7. RISK ASSESSMENT The Trustees have made an assessment of the major risks facing the church, and are satisfied that there are policies in place to minimise these risks. However a detailed risk assessment is available on request. ## 8. HEALTH AND SAFETY POLICY The Trustees have established a Health and Safety policy. This policy will continue to be reviewed annually and will developed in line with the Annual review. ## 9. STAFF ANNUAL REVIEW The Trustees have established an annual review criteria for all paid staff, which will be overseen by line managers that have been appointed for each member of staff to refer to. Each member of staff will be given a questionnaire to fill in before attending a staff review meeting with their line manager. ## 10. VISION AND FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS Throughout the year, prayer and discussions continued by the Trustees on how Harehills Lane Baptist Church should effectively reach out to, and engage with, people in our neighbourhood, and what it means for Harehills Lane Baptist Church and our buildings to be a vibrant hub in the community and a space where community partnerships continue to flourish.