OpenCharities

This text was generated using OCR and may contain errors. Check the original PDF to see the document submitted to the regulator.

2022-12-31-accounts

Annual Report for 2022 as presented at the Annual Parochial Church Meeting 24[th] April 2023

St Christopher’s Parish Office Springfield Road, Birmingham, B13 9NY Tel: 0121 325 5342 Email: stchristopherschurch@hotmail.co.uk www.stchristopherspringfield.org.uk

Welcome to the St Christopher’s Annual Report for the year ending December 2022

The Reports

INTRODUCTION
3
Links with Other Organisation .......................................................................... 4
FROM THE VICARAGE ................................................................................................... 5
WORSHIP ....................................................................................................................... 8
PASTORAL CARE ............................................................................................................ 9
Anna Chaplaincy ...............................................................................................10
CHILDREN & YOUTH ...................................................................................................11
MISSION ......................................................................................................................14
The Colour of Hope............................................................................................15
Parish Missioner ...............................................................................................16
Seedlings ............................................................................................................18
The Environment ...............................................................................................19
THE SPRINGFIELD PROJECT .........................................................................................20
CHURCH GOVERNMENT & ADMINISTRATION ............................................................21
Church Wardens ................................................................................................21
PCC Secretary ....................................................................................................23
Safeguarding ......................................................................................................24
Electoral Roll ......................................................................................................25
Treasurer ...........................................................................................................26
Financial Statements .........................................................................................28
KEY INFORMATION ON THE ST CHRISTOPHER’S, SPRINGFIELD PCC CHARITY ...........34
Membership of the PCC ....................................................................................34
Governing Documents for the PCC....................................................................35

2

INTRODUCTION

St Christopher’s Church, Springfield is located at the junction of Woodlands Road and Springfield Road in South East Birmingham about 3 miles from the city centre. It is part of the Diocese of Birmingham within the Church of England.

Aim and Purposes

The PCC has the responsibility of co-operating with the vicar in promoting within the parish the whole mission of the church, pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical. The PCC is a registered charity (Charity no. 1151491). Further information about the charity and its trustees can be found in the section of this report headed Key Information on the St Christopher’s PCC Charity.

The PCC is also responsible for the maintenance of the church building and fabric. It also owns and uses the Springfield Centre which adjoins the church building; however the maintenance of this building is the responsibility of the Springfield Project.

Objectives and Activities

The PCC is committed to enabling as many people as possible to worship at our church and to become part of our community at St Christopher’s. In order to do so it has developed the following vision statement for St Christopher’s which it uses to guide its decisions.

Our Vision Statement – We want to be…

The PCC has adopted the strapline ‘ Growing together in Christ’ to summarise this vision in a more memorable form. It has also approved a ‘Transforming Church Action Plan’ in accordance with CofE Birmingham’s wishes as a way of encouraging a focussed approach to planning over the next five years.

3

When planning their activities, the PCC has considered the Charity Commission guidance on public benefit and in particular, the specific guidance on charities for the advancement of religion. In particular the PCC seeks to enable ordinary people to live out their faith as part of the parish community through:

More information on all these activities can be found in the other sections of this report.

Links with other local churches:

St Christopher’s is part of the Emmanuel Group; a group ministry with three other Anglican churches in the area:

St Christopher’s is now in an ‘Oversight Area’ with St Edmund’s Tyseley and seeks to work together with St Edmund’s, sharing resources for mission and ministry as much as possible. St Christopher’s is also a member of the Yardley and Solihull deanery within Birmingham Diocese, which represents around 30 churches in South East Birmingham and Solihull.

Links with Other Charities:

The Springfield Project (www.springfieldproject.org.uk) is a charity that is closely connected to St Christopher’s. Although it is a separate charity (Charity no. 1134977) with its own trustees, it was founded by St Christopher’s, is located in the church buildings, and its activities are closely co-ordinated with those of the Church. Therefore, a short report on its activities is included in this report, although a Trustees Report for the Springfield Project is also available by contacting info@springfieldproject.org.uk

St Christopher’s also has close links with the Feast (www.thefeast.org.uk), a charity that brings together teenagers from different faiths and cultures to build friendships, explore faith and change lives.

St Christopher’s is delighted to host an ‘Anna Chaplain’ and to support this ministry as part of the wider network of Anna Chaplaincy facilitated by the Bible Reading Fellowship (www.annachaplaincy.org.uk). A report outlining the work of our Anna Chaplain, Debbie Gurling, is included in this report.

St Christopher’s is a supporter of Open Doors an organisation which helps persecuted Christians across the world (www.opendoorsuk.org). We do this through prayer, giving and keeping informed about the situation of Christians in areas of the world where their faith makes them vulnerable to attack and persecution.

4

From the vicarage…

2022 was a tumultuous year for us as a nation. As well as witnessing, albeit at a great distance, the return of war to Europe, we also saw the departure of arguably the most controversial Prime Minister of modern times, followed by the quickest turnover of PMs and senior ministers in British political history. Against the backdrop of all this upheaval, we also celebrated the anniversary of HM the Queen’s 70 years as monarch, an achievement never seen before. We marked this record by having an open-air celebration hosted jointly by

Church and Project. It was an amazing day and, even when it rained, there were some wonderful moments. I know I’ve mentioned it before, but I will never forget the sight of a Bhangra dancer in full Asian costume dancing his heart out inside St Christopher’s to a soundtrack from Abba. It was like standing at the joining of several cultural rivers and watching the resulting cascade with nothing short of awe and wonder!

Of course, none of us knew that this celebration of the Queen’s reign would shortly be followed by her death and the accession of King Charles III. Whatever your view of the monarchy, I think the overwhelming majority of the nation held the Queen in enormous respect and grieved at her passing. She seemed to have learned the simple Biblical truth that true greatness comes through service and her lifetime of cheerfully and conscientiously carrying out her duties, both great and small, was genuinely inspiring. We thank God for her and especially for her life of faith and pray that King Charles will also seek to follow in the footsteps of Christ, the Servant King.

Alongside the sense of national grief at the death of the Queen, there was also personal grief for many members of St Christopher’s and we pray for all those who have experienced bereavement over the last year. Many of those bereavements and the subsequent funerals happened away from our church, but it was my privilege to officiate at the services of Mary Smith, Sheila Hopkins and Wolfgang Stumpf. Wolfgang’s funeral was, of course, a celebration of a life shared for many years with our church and it was an honour to lead this service. So many of us will have our memories of Wolfgang and we thank God for all the time and love he and Beryl have shared with us. We miss his big-hearted optimism, his love of life and his endless desire to see people come to know the love of Jesus.

5

Keeping with our German connections, it was also a sad but important moment as we said goodbye last year to Andreas and Cathryn Melchior and wished them well as they started a new chapter on the island of Jersey. We know they will be a blessing there as they have been in Birmingham for many years.

Other important milestones in 2022 for us as a church included the safe arrival of Isaac Tustain and Francis Quarton and we praise God for these two boys, their parents and families and for all the joy which younger members of our church bring. We also rejoiced in the summer with Amelia, Esther and Holly as they were baptised and we pray that this step of commitment will continue to be one that brings them life and joy in Christ.

Later in the year, we also said thank you to Chris Elswood who has been leading Seedlings for the last four years (including the demanding time during the Covid lockdowns). Chris made the difficult but understandable decision to lay Seedlings down to concentrate on her work at Mini Springers, our nursery on site at the Springfield Centre. We thank her for her cheerful, enthusiastic and dedicated professionalism in leading this crucial part of the shared life of our Church and Project. We are so grateful to Kam Kaur and

Helen Cremins who have stepped up to co-lead Seedlings as well as to Lucy Emo who continues to lead the Thursday session. Thank you too to volunteers from St Christopher’s and the Project who have enabled the sessions to run over the last year. As an occasional visitor to Seedlings, I am always struck by the genuine affection volunteers have for one another amongst the different teams and we pray this continues to be a blessing to them and to the families who attend.

2022 was also the year when Fiona Hinds undertook her training for reader-ministry. This training is considerable and we rejoice with her that she came through it with her characteristic determination and good humour. We then shared an amazing day with her and the family as she was licensed at the cathedral in February. We can already see the fruits of her ministry and we look forward to what the Lord will continue to share with us through her.

6

Finally, 2022 was also the year when we got our faculty approval for the reordering work at St Christopher’s and the saw the launch of our funding campaign to see the work done. This diagram by Isaac Slater helpfully sets out the key components of the work:

I’m very aware we’ve been talking about this for a long time and I can assure you I want to see it done as much as anyone! I’m delighted that we have appointed Jericho as our contractor and look forward to working with them over the coming months, with a start-date pencilled in for September 4[th] . We still have a long way to go but the Lord has led us this far and I am hope-full that He will see this through. There will probably be some disruption in the autumn, particularly to activities run in partnership with the Project, but in the long-run I trust that this work will result in a building which is fit for worship and for service in the decades ahead. May the Lord lead us through this and give us the courage to follow!

Tom Thomas

7

St Christopher’s Church, Springfield

Worship Report

Give Thanks with a Grateful Heart

My thanks go out to all the worship groups and P.A operators that have continued to lead the congregation through song and worship and the operation of sound and Zoom streaming during a year which has seen us fully come back to in person services.

We said goodbye to Catherine and Andreas Melchior and Debbie and Lloyd McKenzie during the year and thank them all for their years of faithfulness in helping us worship. We pray that they will continue to be a blessing to others wherever they go.

The Christmas Carol service once again was a great success, many thanks to Sharon and David Pitches for bringing this together and for all those involved in singing.

During 2023 the worship team will be looking at ways in which we can transform our worship and pray that the Lord will bring new musicians in to help us on this journey.

My thanks to Tom for his support and organisation skills that enables worship to take place seamlessly week by week.

I thank God for his faithfulness to us and know that he will continue to guide us.

Please pray for the musicians that they would seek the Lord and continue to lead us to Christ through him who we serve.

Amen

Margaret Gordon

Worship Steering Group

8

PASTORAL CARE

Although the Pastoral & Discipleship Steering Group has not met over the last twelve months, much of what the group seeks to oversee has continued to happen:

At the end of October we were honoured to have a training day at St Christopher’s and then a service of ministry led by Flame International. Flame is used to working in areas of conflict and trauma and they had much to contribute to the discussion of healing, wholeness and a life of fullness in the Spirit. We hope to continue learning and growing in this ministry in our regular prayer ministry on Sundays, in special services and in the prayer offered by Kam, Julia and others on a Friday.

In addition to all this there is of course the informal pastoral care offered and received by members of St Christopher’s as we seek to put into practice the Scriptural command to carry one another’s burdens (Galatians 6:2). We know that we will always fall short of providing a perfect church, but we hope we can all play our part in doing what Jesus commands and in fulfilling the part of our vision statement which says we hope to be:

“A loving community where genuine acceptance and deep relationships enable everyone’s well-being and continual growth.”

Tom Thomas

9

Anna Chaplaincy AGM report 2023

The past 12 months has seen the biggest number of changes for the seniors of the Emmanuel group. We said goodbye to: Bernadene Weekes; Margaret Buckley; May St John; Mary Smith; Wolfgang Stumpf; and Daisy (Esther) Padmore. I was privileged to be present at the deaths of one of these saints, was present in the final hours of another and have been able to attend the funerals of all, occasionally alongside one of my Anna Friends. The family of one person continues to receive bereavement support from myself and an Anna Friend, and as a result, they have started to support another family member experiencing grief currently.

Two groups of seniors have continued to meet socially – at St Edmunds weekly for the Cloister café, and at the Bull’s Head in Hall Green for lunch, bi-monthly. Meeting socially, has been the lifeline for many, and I have seen people making this a priority, despite weather conditions, or even recovering from hospital admission! Lockdown has shown that no one wants to be alone at home for very long and will take advantage of any opportunity to meet others.

During the past 12 months, it has been a delight to see some of our older men at St Christophers getting together on a regular basis for fellowship and support – this is something that can only be of strength and encouragement to them as they meet.

At the beginning of February at St Christophers, we used the feast of Candlemas to celebrate Ageing and Anna Chaplaincy. All ages were involved in the service – in leading it and in the discussions about ageing.

For much of the past 12 months, the future of Anna Chaplaincy Emmanuel has been uncertain. However, in September, a group of us prayed and at the beginning of March 2023, our prayers were answered and the funding was extended by 3 more years. This will enable this ministry among seniors in the area, to both continue and be built on in the coming years.

Debbie Gurling Anna Chaplain

----- Start of picture text -----
10
----- End of picture text -----

This year has been one of change and consideration: how best to meet the needs of 45-or-so under-18s registered with St Christopher’s in 2022, and how to equip the 30 wonderful volunteers involved in caring, praying, teaching, playing and growing in faith alongside them. Here are the groups which have started or continued this year:

Super Stars

(under-5s) continues to grow in numbers this year! 12 children are registered, often 6 attending the group without parents. A WhatsApp group helps us to share news and blessings and Alex Nance has been wonderful in organising meals for parents of 3 new babies. Meike Merk has met the challenge of planning teaching for the large range of ages and abilities and we have enjoyed learning songs and Bible verses together.

Chloe (4) says, “I love Super Stars because I love the drawing bits.”

Morning Stars

Starting at Easter Mums of the youngest children have been meeting on Monday mornings for mutual support, chat, coffee and cake as well as the chance for a Biblical reflection and prayer. Aimed at the parents, the children enjoy playing while their Mums benefit from some adult company…! Up to 6 attend.

Mayah says, “The group is great because it allows us mums to enjoy our own and each other’s children in a familiar environment.”

Jesus a Friend for All

(5-9s) A small group this year, with 5 registered and sometimes only one child attending. They start their Sunday session with FROG for sung worship, a game and introduction of the theme or Bible passage before separating for an age-appropriate discussion, response and prayer.

Hannah (7) says, “I enjoy listening to the Bible stories and doing crafts.”

11

(9-14s) There are 16 registered in this age group, and up to 10 attend. Many thanks to Caroline Minchin for co-ordinating FROG and JAFFA, based on Energize materials, with lots of interesting, creative, thoughtprovoking and prayerful response activities to help the children explore God’s love for us expressed in the Bible.

Samuel (9) says, “FROG is an amazing place to learn

about the Bible. The teachers and other children are really nice and the games and songs are a lot of fun.”

Sunday Hot Choc Caf é

(15+) have left the main Sunday Service early once a month to enjoy sweet treats, discuss what they had done and heard in the service and pray together. There are 11 registered over-15s, and up to 8 attend SHHC, with Fiona Lenton leading. While our older young people are not offered a weekly Sunday morning group, they are encouraged to get involved in services by volunteering in the younger groups, with PA, worship and hospitality, to build relationships with the wider church family and grow their skills.

Aisha (17) says, “I find using the sermon to focus our discussions really helpful, as we already have a basis of understanding from it and are able to further explore ideas relating to our topic.”

(mid-week, school years 6-9) This group suffered in the first half of the year with the majority of teenagers facing GCSEs, so re-launched in September with a younger focus, and the need for inclusive provision making it necessary to think through our games, sports, craft, Bible activities and worship. We have 8 young people coming to have a BLAST.

Naomi (10) says, “I enjoy the fact that you can be very open and it makes you more aware of Christians around the world… it encourages you to play, to pray and to get closer to God.”

12

(mid-week, school years 10-13) There are 4-6 young people coming to join in with BLAST’s snack and games time, followed by in-depth Bible study and discussion. Thanks to Tom for taking a lead on this group. We look forward to receiving some guest speakers from St Christopher’s and beyond, as we prepare to launch this group into adult life.

Esther (17) says, “I enjoy meeting people I don’t normally see and having interesting and relevant discussions.”

A lot has happened in 2022! As well as these groups, 20 young people took part in the 8-week Christianity Explored course, with 3 baptised in the summer. We had a Fireworks Party and Christingle Service as well as Bowling and Satellites Camp. None of this would be possible without the dedication, enthusiasm, time and talent offered so generously by the volunteers: Thanks so much, Team!

‘Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus THROUGHOUT ALL GENERATIONS, for ever and ever! Amen’ Ephesians 3:20-21

Rebecca Slater, Under-18s Ministry Facilitator

13

MISSION

It almost goes without saying that they key expression of our mission as a church fellowship is the witness of individual Christians in our daily lives. The way believers speak, act and interact with others and with the created world is fundamental to what it means to proclaim Christ. Due to this, there is a powerful and wonderful sense in which we are all experts at mission and can point people to Jesus every day (and often without saying a word!)

During 2022, we had a change in the mission partners we support as we decided to switch support from Tiffany Atkins to the Watson family. This wasn’t an easy decision and we took careful time to consider it, but ultimately the PCC felt that with substantial other support in place for Tiffany it would be good to target our support in another country and to mission partners just setting out. We have also continued to support Liz and Sameh Khalil and Rachel Smith and hope we can be faithful in keeping informed, praying and giving for the work undertaken by these partners.

As well as these individuals we also support two key groups, as an expression of our mission and outreach: Seedlings and Open Doors. Although these groups are very different, nonetheless we hope our support for them in their respective work shows our understanding of mission as both local and global and that we take seriously service, compassion and evangelism as expressions of mission. As such we see this work fulfilling at least three parts of our vision statement:

May the Lord give us courage to proclaim him in word and deed.

Tom Thomas

14

The Colour Of Hope Group (Meets 1[st] Thursday of every Month)

This group initially with no name was initiated by our church leader (Tom) as a direct response to the inequality recognised and acknowledged following the Black Lives Matter Movement both globally and locally, this followed the murder of George Floyd and the subsequent outpouring of disdain for this horrific act.

Tom felt called to create a safe space for the voice of people of colour within St. Christopher’s to be heard. We Need to Talk About Race 2019 (Understanding the Black Experience In White Majority Churches) was our first exploration of this challenging subject.

The direction of travel, what was significant and consistent throughout, was to enable the voice and leadership opportunities for persons of colour who are members of St Christopher’s church, with Fiona Hinds and Ang Leonard now at the helm. Another constant was informing and strengthening of our faith. ‘Being kind’ in our response and maintaining a safe space as essential. This does not mean racism or discrimination is not challenged

We have since led on other themes and books, ‘Why We Kneel and how we Rise by Michael Holden’ and more recently Reparation, which included, After the Flood by Professor Robert Beckford, the 10-point CARICOM Plan resulting in a letter and response to the C of E Impact Investment Fund. We are now moving towards our next theme (Reclaiming Identity) which will take us to the end of the year.

Proposed targets for COH 2023

  1. To review and update terms of reference (TOR) and include Hasna as our Black Theological Adviser - to be ratified by PCC as previously (only few changes needed)

  2. All those interested in participating in group should be directed to Ang L and Fiona H we will then send TOR

  3. A workshop for the young people in St C’s on identity and confidence in faith

  4. A logo for COH

Sessions

May 4th - 'May the 4th be with you' (what gives us strength in our faith)

June 1st Coca girl an interview with a St C member on the impact of this magazine growing up as a person of colour

July 6th – no session leadership response to letter, by leadership of COH

August - Break

Sept 7th - TBC

October 5th - Black Diaspora - what does it mean and more.....

December 7th - Worship & Reflection

15

Parish Missioner

Last year was tough for me, many people I had been visiting were struggling due to the rising of living costs. Most of the women I minister or work with are single and were struggling to run the home and put food on the table for their children. Some of my time was taken up by helping them budget their household income and making sure they were on the right benefits, supporting them through food banks and applying to charities for uniforms and white goods.

During the last year I was overwhelmed with the supporting women with various difficult situations. One of my ladies, her husband has cancer and is still living with it, now this lady called the centre for help regarding benefits. However, I happened to be in the office, the centre said that they could not support her, only because she doesn’t have a child under 3 years of age. I asked reception If I could speak with her, and I arranged to meet with her. I am still in contact with her and am supporting her by praying with her and listening to her and also signposting her when needed. She appreciates my support and keeps me updated with the information as to her husband.

Most of my mornings are busy at Seedlings, where it is such a privilege to share God’s love in our community. Due to Chris stepping down and working fulltime in Nursery I am now leading 2 sessions out of the 3. Sometimes I struggle to have conversations with parents due to the lack of volunteers. However, I’m delighted to have Caroline volunteering on a Tuesday, who also makes lots of conversations with parents and volunteers. I was very sad to see Janet step down from Seedlings who has served in seedlings for approximately over 30 years.

Much care and support has been given to the children and the parents especially, the mums who are in difficult relationships. Some mums struggle on a day-to-day basis, some mums say it’s a lifeline coming to Seedlings. Some stories have touched my heart and I’m sure that their story has touched the heart of God. I get many opportunities to pray and walk alongside with them, supporting them emotionally, practically, and spiritually.

During the festive season of Easter and Christmas we have parties to celebrate, and we also get the opportunity to share our faith by telling the story of the birth of Jesus through our nativity and dressing the children up in the characters of Mary and Jesus etc.

Most of my afternoons are taken up by ministering to many people from different walks of life. Most are Asian people and some are also Muslims. My work with them is listening to them and helping them to get the support they need and pray with them.

Another lady I have been supporting has made a commitment to Christ. I meet with her once a week and disciple her, and she is growing with God. She had been trusting God in buying a home and God found them the right house and provided the money, this is a result of prayer and faith and trusting in God’s timing. This has increased her faith and has drawn her closer to God.

Sometimes I have worked with Rob from the diocese, who prays and ministers to Christians who are sick and have seen people be freed from darkness and come into the light. I have learnt a lot working alongside him.

I and Julia have offered deep ministry to people of the congregation. We both felt that when people come for prayer on Sundays, it is challenging due to the time they have so we offered this service of ministry on Friday mornings.

16

We have seen God move in many people’s lives as they have had a lot going on, but as we begin to minister to them God removes the obstacles and brings them out of spiritual darkness into his light and restores them to fullness of life. I really thank God for Julia as I have learnt different ways of praying and am grateful for Jean who stepped in doing ministry with me and sharing her expertise which gave me more confidence to continue in my role and for continuity of their ministry in the absence of Julia.

My hope and prayer is that God would prepare the hearts of the people who I’m working with and will sustain them and prepare their hearts and minds for baptism in the coming months. I was delighted to carry the cross on Good Friday and to proclaim that Christ died for our sins.

Kam Kaur

17

Seedlings stay and play continues to be a popular group with around 70 -80 children attending each week with their parents/carers over the 3 sessions. As the only really universal (open to all with under 5s) service offered at The Springfield Project, we are often the first point of contact for many families. This is a unique opportunity to welcome parents and children from a variety of backgrounds, to offer support and to signpost them on to other services offered by the Springfield Project. As Seedlings is funded by and a part of both the church and The Springfield Project it also provides an important link between the two.

Over the last year, Seedlings has seen some changes. In October Chris Elswood moved from coordinating Seedlings to work fulltime for Mini-Springers. She is greatly missed by all the volunteers, parents and children! I have taken over the coordinating role along with Kam Kaur, who runs 2 of the sessions each week. We also now have some admin support from the Springfield Project, helping us collate attendance data. Rachel Alcock has returned to lead the Seedlings session along with Lucy Emo on a Thursday and Caroline Minchin is supporting Kam on a Tuesday. This means we have a great leadership team with many years of experience! We have several committed volunteers from the church and community as well as a couple of placement students. Without these volunteers and students, Seedlings would not be able to run. Some weeks we are still very short of volunteers, so if anyone reading this is able to join us, they would be very welcome!

As well as the usual Seedlings sessions, over the last year, we have offered Christmas and Easter parties, where Tom has joined us to share stories from the Bible. Children also enjoyed making seasonal crafts and having party food! We have some sessions with artist Zoe from B’Opera coming up soon.

As part of my inclusion lead role within the Springfield Project, I have some time allocated to provide support for children with additional needs and their parents who attend Seedlings. This is part of a city-wide intervention, ‘Developing Local Provision’. We have seen an increase in children with a variety of additional needs attending Seedlings, so this has given us the opportunity to give direct support to these children at an earlier stage in their development.

Seedlings also provides ‘priority cards’ to families who need to attend more than one session a week. Seedlings can be a lifeline to some parents and carers, who may be struggling with their mental health, difficult family situations or isolation. We have had an increase in requests for priority cards over the last year, which highlights the important role that Seedlings plays within the community.

We are thankful for the prayer, encouragement, and financial support we have received from St Christopher’s this year and hope that Seedlings can continue to be a well-run, supportive, welcoming and inclusive stay and play over the year to come ☺

Helen Cremins

Seedlings coordinator

18

The environment – Caring for God’s creation

Caring for God’s creation is one of the five marks of mission set out by the Anglian Church and recognised by many other denominations.

We continue to work on the actions for improvement identified in our eco-church action plan as we move from ‘Silver’ to ‘Gold’ status. Simon Slater, the designated eco-church coordinator by the PCC, has provided updates to the church council and worked with other members of the congregation.

Environmental Lent Course

One of the improvement areas in our eco church plan, was to help church members develop and apply their understanding of creation care to their everyday discipleship of following Jesus. During Lent we used the ‘caring for creation’ material developed by the Church of England for interested members of the congregation. In the 6 sessions we covered: Light and energy, water, land and plants, stars and seasons, creatures of sea and sky, humans and other animals.

Up to 8 members of Church participated, either individually or in a group. Each week they reported back to each other on any worship, prayer or lifestyle changes they had tried. Each Sunday a member of the group reported back to the whole congregation of some of their reflections and progress.

Energy Audit

The Church Council agreed to participate in an energy audit scheme run by ecobirmingham and footsteps. This requires the church to commit to implementing up to £500 of any energy saving improvements identified for the Vicarage, Church and Springfield centre.

Plans for 2023

For 2023 progress will be supported a small working group chaired by Simon and supported by Tom Thomas and Hannah Greenwood (Environmental Representative on Board of our Springfield Project).

The Lent group wants to revisit their progress in 2023. It is currently finding a member to take this forward.

The energy audit is planned for spring 2023, as is a switch to a green electricity provider when our current contract comes to an end.

All of these changes should help us improve our progress towards Gold status when we reapply to ecochurch at the end of 2023.

Simon Slater, eco-church coordinator April 2023

19

…much to celebrate, and big questions to answer….

The Springfield Project does several different things, but at its heart is the work of the Children’s Centre which is funded by Birmingham City Council’s contract with The Birmingham Forward Steps Partnership. In this partnership and contract we are the smallest partner. This contract is what pays most of our bills and it is this work that mostly shapes the project.

This contract was due to end last year and so these have been uncertain times. Thankfully the council has extended the contract and we now have until summer 2024 knowing things are carrying on in their current form. That is the good news! The bad news is that the funding for this work hasn’t increased despite inflation and the need to pay people more. As a result, in addition to emerging from the tough times of Covid, this has been a hard year seeing lots of need and yet being squeezed as a project as we use up our reserves to keep going.

Looking at the big picture though there is lots of good news. The project is not just about money, it is mostly about people…and we have some fantastic people who make the project special. We continue to run two excellent nurseries and of course Seedlings, and important services like Place of Welcome have kept going (thank you Fiona) despite funding for most of our adult services drying up. Our Food Pantry has also grown and seems very important in these times of soaring food costs. We have also seen growth in our vision to work for children locally with new funding to make Sparkhill more child friendly, and Sarah Robins continues to make sure special Arts projects add to what we offer.

Recently the Trustees had an away day and we are left proud of what we have, but very conscious that we can’t take it for granted! There are big challenges and uncertainties ahead, and so we who care for and “own” the project, seeing it as a mission partner of St Christophers, need to be clear about what we believe God’s purposes are for this work. We believe this definitely deserves some fresh attention!

Tim Boyes

Chair – April 2023

20

CHURCH GOVERNMENT & ADMINISTRATION

WARDENS REPORT APRIL 2023

This last year was very busy for our church. Although the wardens job is currently in vacancy I managed to fill in a bit until God provides us with a replacement.

Earlier in the year we had our 5 yearly MOT by the architect which we are required to do. He pointed out a few roofing issues and the electrics needed checking. You will see our hopper is still blocked which is supposed to drain water. Until now we have not been able to get this roofing work done. The electrics required a major inspection and many matters attended to. It cost in excess of 5k to do this vital work which helps reduce risk of fire. There is a BIG issue of the Project roof where it meets the church which needs major remedial work and that issue is still being looked at. It causes a leak ironically just above the main electrics board!!

We identified a number of old wooden items such as the Hymn boards and old wooden pews being moved as part of upgrade. This still needs a faculty application.

Much of this last year has been designing the new reorder project involving a new Kitchen, storage cupboards, moving the pulpit and stage platform and much more. Liaising with Architects and Electrical engineers to design. Work hopefully starting later in 2023. We do of course need to raise around a third of the cost still and our new offering box has been installed to assist motivation!!

Our toilet drains caused rather a lot of excitement this year, overflowing before a very important funeral. Thankfully thanks to Curt our amazing caretaker this was sorted. We have now had them rebuilt to assist drainage. However, the paper towels were making this worse, so we have replaced them with Electric Heaters. Another bit of excitement was the discovery the church had a major flood with well over a 100 litres leaking over the church from faulty work in toilet. Thanks to Ernst and Tom and Fiona and others we got through that but if you wonder why cupboards are on bricks that’s why. Tom is a master of mopping which adds to his many talents!

As part of Reorder, we had an Asbestos report and thankfully they found no issues save for some in felt under beams under front platform. Also as part of reorder we are hoping to have 3 new electric heaters to improve heating as we will lose one gas heater [ drugasar ] when church kitchen built.

The church Fire and Burglar alarms gave problems this last year, they are 15 and 22 years old respectively. The burglar alarm is now working but fire alarm still causes problems which needs attention.

As you can see the costs of running St Christophers are substantial but one encouraging thing is the government gives us 25% extra if gifts are gift aided. So £10 becomes £12.50.

It’s been a HUGE step of faith to do the reordering project and God is able to help us make it happen.

Particular thanks this year to Mike Smith, Sheila for assisting as sides persons and Lawrence and John Dyer with advice. John still gives advice on Fabric matters and we remember his hard work and support over many years.

Phil Grimes April 23

21

OFFEiitNCJS .Y1:￿.￿￿ .*.. 22

Church Council (PCC) Report

The Parochial Church Council (PCC) has an important role to play in the leadership of St Christopher’s. It has the ultimate responsibility for managing the church finances and deciding the strategic direction of the church. It also supports and oversees the activities of the church and encourages those leading the activities. PCC members are also the trustees of the charity that manages the church assets and income.

The PCC has met seven times as a council since the last APCM. These have mostly been face to face, which has enabled us to get to know one another better and even have some laughs at times ☺ We have members with a variety of ages, experiences and backgrounds which enables us to bring a range of perspectives to discussions and decision making.

The following subjects occupied a significant part of the council’s time during the year:

We have also regularly discussed:

The PCC also has a list of rolling actions, which help frame discussions and keep track of important actions. Once PCC minutes have been agreed, church members can request a copy from Tom.

Thank you to all PCC members for attending and contributing to meetings over the last year. We are grateful to those who will continue to serve on PCC over the coming year and look forward to welcoming some new members!

Helen Cremins PCC Secretary

23

Safeguarding

Safeguarding has become much more centralised (and rigorous) across Church of England Birmingham with a set of requirements for those holding most posts (paid and voluntary) in a parish church. We are delighted that the safeguarding team at diocesan level is very strong and you can speak with them on the phone at most times: 0121 4260407 or 07342993844. These rigorous guidelines now mean that most people in a volunteer role at St Christopher’s will need to complete a DBS application, and complete two courses (which can be done in person or online) – Basic Safeguarding Awareness and Safeguarding Foundations. In addition, PCC members and Churchwardens are required to complete a third unit called Raising Awareness Of Domestic Abuse. Once completed, these courses are renewable after three years.

I am delighted that Rebecca Slater has enabled most volunteers at St Christopher’s to complete the first two courses, via training sessions in September 2021 and January 2022. She and Lucy are also in charge of the process of DBS applications. We can also draw on the expertise of Claudia Gordon, our Parish Safeguarding Coordinator and her deputy Ang Leonard. So altogether we have an impressive team seeking to do all we can to keep children and vulnerable adults safe in our church.

Further details of policies and procedures can be found on our website (stchristopherspringfield.org.uk) or on the CofE Birmingham’s website (cofebirmingham.com). However, as I’m sure you are aware, safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility so if you ever see or hear anything that gives you cause for concern, please remember these simple steps:

  1. Receive what the person is saying

  2. Reassure the person that it’s good they are telling you

  3. Record (write down) what you have seen or heard as soon as possible without adding or leaving anything out, sign and date it

  4. Report it to either Claudia or Tom (and give them your record)

  5. Breathe easy – your job is done!

Claudia’s experience is invaluable in discerning what should then be passed on to the diocese or the police and what is simply behaviour we should be aware of and monitor. We want to be calmly vigilant and tread a healthy line between naivety on one hand and paranoia on the other with the goal of keeping everyone safe.

24

Electoral Roll

Within the Church of England the Electoral Roll is a list of all the members of the church. All baptised Christians over 16 who regularly worship at St Christopher’s are entitled to go on the Electoral Roll. These church members are then those entitled to attend and vote at the APCM (Annual Parochial Church Meeting).

----- Start of picture text -----
130 lectoral Roll Trend Over the ast ears
120
110
100
90
80
70
60
0
40
30
20
10
0
2014 201 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
----- End of picture text -----

The roll in 2021 had 117 members on it. Over the year one member who has passed away sadly had to be removed from the roll. 8 people left the church and 2 new members were added to the rolls. This means that the number on the roll has decreased by 7 members to 110.

----- Start of picture text -----
istance from the Church
70
60
0
40
30
20
10
0
0 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 6 6 7
Straight Line Distance Travel Distance
----- End of picture text -----

The change in membership has increased slightly the proportion of members who live in the parish from 37% to 39%. However, the parish covers a relatively small area of just 24 streets, with a population of only 7,000, so it is possible to live 500 metres from the Church, but not live in the parish. Church members generally live close to the church with over

50% living within 1 mile and 75% living within 2 miles of the church building.

Mike Lenton Church Electoral Roll Officer

25

Treasurer’s Report

The financial statements as presented for the Year Ending 2022 (1[st] Jan to 31[st] Dec 2022) shows a cash balance (equity) calculated at £121,994.95. When compared to the previous financial year figure of (£129,248.84), it gives a reduction of £7,253.89 in equity, approximately 6%. This reduction is also a reflection of the annual profit and loss statement for the Church. The total income (receipts) was £147,463.46, and the total expense (payments) was £154,717.35, equating to a loss of £7,253.89.

As we have rolled out of the global pandemic phase, and heading towards regaining normality in our everyday lives, with restrictions easing and being lifted, this has come with a cost and has impacted us all in many ways and in many areas. Increases in inflation, cost of living, and interest rates have been under the spotlight for some time now, making ends to meet financially has become a harder task than before, but nevertheless at St Christophers we have not compromised with our Mission Statement in serving our congregation and the local community in fullness. We have remained afloat financially without putting too much burden on our financial reserves. This was achieved due to generous donations by members of the congregation who have donated towards costs associated with our plans for reordering and kitchen improvements within our church that we plan to undertake soon, as we are currently reviewing tenders recently received. Our plans for re-ordering were always in place and under review and discussions before the pandemic started. Further grants are being applied for with some already being approved for this building work. As a brief overview, some of the financial gains and losses that were noted, are briefly indicated below:

Receipts

Areas that saw a decrease are:

Areas that saw an increase are:

Payments

Areas that saw a decrease are:

Areas that saw an increase are:

26

I take this opportunity to thank Lucy Emo the Church Financial Administrator for her administrative and record keeping duties, along with Brian Wilkins and Tom Thomas for their support and help.

Steven Taggar (PCC Treasurer)

27

St Christopher’s Church Woodlands Road Moseley Birmingham

Annual Report and

Financial Statements

Of the

Parochial Church Council

for the year ended 31 December 2022

Incumbent

Rev Tom Thomas The Vicarage Woodlands Road Moseley Birmingham

Independent Examiner:

Mr Brian Wilkins, ACIB 3 Springdale Gardens Selly Oak Birmingham B29 6DG

28

Independent Examiner’s Report to the PCC of St Christopher’s Church, Moseley, Birmingham.

This report is on the accounts of the PCC for the year ended 31 December 2022 which are set out in the subsequent pages.

Respective responsibilities of trustees and examiner

The charity’s trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year under section 144(2) of the Charities Act 2011 (the 2011 Act) and that an independent examination is needed.

It is my responsibility to

Basis of independent examiner’s report

My examination was carried out in accordance with the General directions given by the Charity Commission.

An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the PCC and a comparison of the accounts with those records. It also includes considering any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts and seeking explanations from you as trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit, and consequently I do not express an audit opinion on the view given by the accounts.

Independent examiner’s statement

In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention:

Brian Wilkins

Date:

29

st Chri8tothrfg Parochial Church Council Finan￿al Statement8 forthe year ended 31* Decernber 2022 Recei andP nts A¢c¢)unt Recei Unrestricted Fund 2022 Restricted Fund 2022 Total 2022 Total 2021 Note onab'ons 83,063.25 53,941.76 I37.￿5.01 13),712.58 hwrtablè Athibes 9.175 9.175 9.399 Investrneni Income 1.283.45 1.283.45 1.136.fll otsl Receipts 93.521.70 53.941.76 147.463.46 131248.18 hurch Acti￿tss and Supp)rt Costs 89,766.47 89,766.47 83.522.64 esourcing MissK)n 13.839.57 51,111.31 64,950.88 67,678.49 otsl PaY￿￿nt# 103.606.04 51,111.31 154,717.35 151,201.13 ce99 of Receiptg Over Payn￿t3 (10,084.34) 1830.45 (7253.89) (19,95195) r•n#fer Between Fund8 1830.45 (1830.45) et Chan9e in Period (7253.89) (7253.89) (19,95195) 30

Notes to the Accounts

1. BASIS OF PREPARATION OF THE ACCOUNTS

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with both the Charities Act 2011, on the Receipts and Payment basis, and the Church of England Accounting Regulations 2006 on the receipts and payment basis.

2. ANALYSIS OF THE MOVEMENT IN THE FUNDS DURING THE YEAR Unrestricted Funds

Unrestricted funds are those resources of the PCC which are available for general use to promote the church’s usual purposes.

Restricted Funds

The movements in restricted funds during the year represent receipts and expenditure for purposes of the youth coordinator, the mission apprentice, the curate’s housing and special purpose collections which may only be spent on those activities with any unspent balance carried forward as a balance on the specific underspent fund and not absorbed into the general/unrestricted fund.

However, any overspend on the activities above may be funded from the general fund.

The PCC commits 10% of all resources generated during each period to mission work.

The balance carried forward represents funds designated for hardship relief. Any related interest earned may be used for unrestricted purposes.

31

3. INCOME FROM INVESTMENTS

This income comprises interest on deposits and other bank compensation, including interest on the restricted fund balances.

4. ASSETS

32

  1. FURTHER API4LYSIS OF PAYMENTS 2022 2021 Totrl 2CQ21£1 Fu)d I FUTr1 (0 Fu)d 1£ 21 (£1 . CHURCHACmVmES & SUPPCAIT C(tsTS 1.256. 4,740 12SSS9 4,740 293 454.78 7,9￿97 275 4.78 7,￿5.97 275 ReF•￿8 Pthoty S¥k•Rvn￿Nlc0l 41.97 1.057.$7 41.97 1,05757 25255 415321 1 A47.77 T.95 279J)5 45326 1%25 3DJ 719.57 84. 555 S8 41.im 5e449 517.13 64.91 241.81 531 34. 4>] 84D9 41 JJ4 4.49 517.13 64.94 241.81 5J7.&8 34J8 430 0￿rS¢IV￿¢ Q¢tsnc¢Jcir 4,45121 Sttl L￿(kn. Qfts 1.447.77 Wcthrfj Vrxag8 Co$ty Pasi¢nlarf ethdkny Eyrtses 43Z 17A)2 l317.lJ2 HMllr& U￿& W•r& Ug•olSwlw tc 8.718.46 4.￿0 13 1&46 8,718.46 456391 5b25 1A.91 4,￿3.91 5,625 10 I￿￿1 Pryl Tot•1 UOiWitsf& il•• 51 X)A4 W•dthy aTh1 Fwm 931 027.17 27.17 101 1,875 TOTILCIKWI & ￿pORT 76&Q 22A4 b. RE8CIJRCI￿ IAPISTrY 4.984.YJ 5.115 3,52723 4,96150 5,115 352123 3P(¢) 55.75 3,01295 3,OJO 5,595.75 3,012 +kne htsso) EX￿￿J￿[• Totslckntsbkn Giiir Outr•Kh kOty MIS￿re[ &1 Mwri P8r6th Ch¥w(y & Ilwi￿8 11,797.67 5nA1 11,797.67 572.41 1 H9105 17,708.% 12244.47 595. 2.0767J 19,9&1.78 12244.47 595. 2,076 23 19.963.78 76MO 5TJO 17.70&% G￿￿al Exters85 & ￿￿111$ Tot•lOutr•xhA¢tyiity 76. 7& Yojlhllbjk ￿1 212, 21204 1,107A4 Y(th Woth RtrAUrtd8 I,￿1￿4 815.79 81S79 17,219. BC6.12 19 13&12 17,219. 8CQ.12 349. 18srdfj9 1.71801 LthlwF8(*aty TotilYixrthll(ffk Cc4ts 1.718.01 21112A9 212.14 TOTIL RÉSOiR¢IIG IAIXSTRY TOT￿ PAI￿NTs 151717J5 151 ￿1.13

K INFORMATION ON TH ST CHRISTOPH R’S SPRINGFI PCC CHARIT

The St Christopher’s Springfield PCC is a body corporate (PCC Powers Measure 19 6, Church Representation Rules 2011) and a registered charity. The Charity Registration number is: 1151491. The registered name of the charity is: The Parochial Church Council of The Ecclesiastical Parish of St Christopher’s Springfield although it is commonly called St Christopher’s Springfield PCC.

Membership of the PCC

The Members of the PCC are the Trustees of the St Christopher’s Springfield PCC. PCC Members are generally elected at the Annual Parochial Church Council Meeting (APCM) usually for a period of three years.

PCC Membership

During 2022 the following people served as members of the PCC:

Clergy:

Tom Thomas (Vicar)

Churchwarden(s):

None

Deanery Synod Representatives: Mike Smith (elected 2020 resigned at APCM 25[th] April 2022) Elected members: David Hartley (elected 2020) Sue Green (elected 2020) Helen Cremins (elected 2021) Margaret Gordon (elected 2021) Alex Nance (elected 2021) Alison Roper-Hall (elected 2021) Esther Slater (elected 2021) Aisha Thomas (elected 2021 resigned 24[th] January 2023) Catriona Heatherington (re-elected 2022) Steven Taggar (re-elected 2022) Phil Grimes (co-opted 6[th] June 2022 for 1 year)

PCC Officers:

Chair Tom Thomas Vice–Chair Alison Roper-Hall Secretary Helen Cremins Treasurer Steven Taggar Electoral Roll Officer Mike Lenton Stewardship Secretary Margaret Gordon

34

Although the Vicar is the Chair of the PCC as defined by the Church Representation Rules, it is the practice at St Christopher’s for meetings to be chaired by a lay member of the PCC i.e. the Vice-Chair.

Governing Documents for the PCC:

As part of the Church of England the PCC follows the agreement between The Church of England and the Charity Commission that for all PCCs the “Governing Documents” for the charity will be:

  1. The Parochial Church Councils (Powers) Measure 1956 as amended

  2. The Church Representation Rules (contained in Schedule to the Synodical Government Measure 1969 as amended).

The PCC Powers Measure defines the powers of a PCC It states that the principal function, or purpose, of the PCC as “promoting in the parish the whole mission of the Church”. The full text of the PCC Powers Measure in its currently amended form can be found on the legislation.gov.uk database at: www.legislation.gov.uk/ukcm/Eliz2/4-5/3/contents The Church Representation Rules define how members are elected to the PCC, the rules for the Electoral Roll and how PCC Officers are appointed. The full text of the Church Representation Rules in its currently amended form can be found on the legislation.gov.uk database at: www.legislation.gov.uk/ukcm/1969/2/schedule/3

35

St. Christopher's Church Growing together in Christ 36