# **NORTH LANCASHIRE METHODIST CIRCUIT 21/16** Registered Charity Number 1155398 ## **TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT** **& FINANCIAL STATEMENTS** FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31[ST] AUGUST 2020 North Lancashire Methodist Circuit Circuit Officers (as at 31[st] August 2020) Circuit ## Ministers Rev Steve Charman (Superintendent) Rev Keith W. Borwick Rev Roy Burley Rev Emma Holroyd Rev Derek Oldham Rev David Philo Circuit Stewards Ruth Champley Shirley Cormack Jane Entwistle (Senior Steward) Peter Gorst David Midwinter Howard Rogerson Sandra Cooper (Finance) Circuit Administrator Shirley A Townley Cornerstone Chaplain Simon Stewart ## North Lancashire Methodist Circuit Type of Governing document Deed of Union (1932) and Methodist Church Act (1976) ## How the charity is constituted Act of Parliament ## Trustees’ selection methods - Appointed by local churches and existing trustees. - Ministers are automatically trustees. ## Induction/Training - Range of guidance produced by Methodist Connexion. - Leaflet ‘The Role of a Trustee in the Methodist Church’ available to all - trustees ## Structure - Part of the Lancashire D istrict - Accountable to the Methodist Conference ## Risks - Considered by the Circuit Leadership Team - Take professional advice as required. - Regular review process. - Adopted Safeguarding Policy and ensured it is rolled out to the churches. ## North Lancashire Methodist Circuit ## Circuit Meeting The Circuit Meeting meets four times a year and its constitution is set out in CPD (SO510) In 2019/20 it had 71 members (Trustees) registered with the Charity Commission. ## Circuit Executive This is the Circuit Leadership Team. It deals with matters delegated to it by the Circuit Meeting, offers guidance to the circuit and constantly reviews the personnel, property, and financial resources of the circuit. ## Pay policy for Ministers Stipends and allowances for Presbyters and Deacons (collectively Ministers) are set annually by Methodist Conference, and the circuit is responsible for meeting those costs for all Ministers stationed by the Conference in the Circuit. ## Risk Management The Trustees have carried out ongoing assessments of the charity’s activities setting out the major opportunities available to the charity and the risks to which it is exposed. These risks are identified by the Circuit Leadership Team and are risked assessed. The principal risks and uncertainties faced by the charity are as follows: • The cost of ongoing maintenance and refurbishment of circuit property. • The reduction in the number of Ministers available throughout the Methodist Connexion. • The risk of a church defaulting on its assessment. The Trustees have considered their responsibility under legislation including health and safety, employment law and safeguarding. Systems and procedures are implemented to manage specific risks that have been identified. Volunteers The North Lancashire Methodist Circuit is supported by a team of active volunteers. The charity is grateful to all volunteers for their skills and support they so willingly bring to the charity. ## North Lancashire Methodist Circuit The purposes of the Methodist Church are and shall be deemed to have been since the Date of Union the advancement of: a) The Christian faith in accordance with the doctrinal standards and discipline of The Methodist Church. b) Any charitable purpose for the time being of any Connexional, District, Circuit. local or another organisation of The Methodist Church. c) Any charitable purpose for the time being of any society or institution subsidiary or ancillary to The Methodist Church. d) Any purpose for the time being of any charity being a charity subsidiary or ancillary to The Methodist Church. When reviewing the aims and objectives of the charity, and in planning future activities, the Trustees have complied with the duty in section 17 of the Charities Act 2011 to have due regard to public benefit guidance published by the Commission. ## Mission Statement: We are the Methodist people of God in North Lancashire responding to God’s loving challenge as we promise to. - Energise discipleship - - Enable leadership - - Encourage risk - - Employ buildings - - Embrace technology - - Enrich communities - - Engage all - ## North Lancashire Methodist Circuit The Circuit’s Priorities for the five years to August 2024 These priorities are based on the assumption that we have sound financial management and administration. They also take account of the earlier work done during reconfiguration on structure and communication as well as the Possible Futures document to look at what we have achieved, and which ideas are still worth pursuing. - The CLT will set up the review into the vitality of each church. - Use our ministers to equip the church to develop discipleship and to encourage the growth of faith, leadership, and commitment across the circuit. It is only by making disciples that the churches grow rather than decline. - Look at models of ministry and pastoral care required across our diverse circuit to see how we can meet the needs in our churches and the communities we serve of children and families, older people and those living in rural areas. - Developing the role and function of IT possibilities and potential - there is a lot of travelling attached to our circuit - could we work 'smarter’, and we need more effective communication across the circuit. - Continue to develop the circuit mission focuses of rural ministry and projects at The Cornerstone. The Circuit produces a quarterly preaching plan to ensure regular acts of worship take place at each of the 21 Methodist Churches in its geographical area. These are open to all people, without charge. The Circuit is directly involved with the provision of a chaplaincy service at the Cornerstone (in the centre of Lancaster) and at the University of Lancaster. **----- Start of picture text -----**
North Lancashire Methodist Circuit
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## Staffing The year began with the welcome of Rev Derek Oldham who joined the staff team of the Circuit. Derek arrived as an experienced Minister to oversee the churches in Calder Vale, Dolphinholme, Hollins Lane, Garstang and Scorton - he was warmly welcomed and quickly built good relationships with the members of each of the churches with his relaxed and approachable manner. Towards the end of the year, we received the resignation of our Circuit Administrator - Shirley Townley - who has served the Circuit for many years and her ministry has been very much appreciated, the recruitment of a new Circuit Administrator will be a primary focus in the early weeks of the next year. ## The Challenge of filling vacant roles During the year, a number of roles within the Circuit became vacant. Year-on-year we are experiencing increasing difficulty in finding people willing to take-on the responsibility of holding important roles such as Safeguarding Coordinator, Treasurer or Circuit Steward. While we managed to fill all these roles in this year, we are aware that this difficulty is unlikely to decrease, and we need to identify appropriate strategies to address this challenge. ## - Impact of Covid 19 global pandemic In March 2020, the UK entered a period of enforced lockdown as a result of the Covid-19 global pandemic. Inevitably this had a significant impact upon the Circuit: - all church buildings were closed from March 2020 till the end of the - accounting year. - there was a significant impact on the lives of those who use the premises - each week. - Ministers were unable to visit people in their homes, care homes or hospital - and instead had to revert to letters, emails, phone calls and zoom calls. - worship and some meetings, social activities and support groups were moved - to an online format - with a significant proportion of members being able to continue to engage, but some unable to do so; paper worship resources were delivered to those who were unable to access the online worship. - the adaptation to the use of Zoom video calls and events has been quite - remarkable - further reflection will be needed about how this technology will continue to be used beyond the pandemic to reduce our travel time and carbon footprint. ## North Lancashire Methodist Circuit - ….Impact of Covid 19 global pandemic (cont.) - worship held via Zoom has been much appreciated and has enabled some new creativity using video-editing. Consideration is being given as to how this technology might be ‘blended’ with in-person worship in our church buildings to enable those who are unable to attend worship physically, to still be able to engage with our worship activities. We are also exploring whether worship can be shared between two (or more) church buildings via Zoom - meaning that one Preacher may be able to lead worship on multiple sites. - we have had people engage with our worship via Zoom from beyond the geographical boundaries of the Circuit - this has meant that the limits of our mission and ministry have much more blurred lines than we have previously assumed. - the Circuit offered assistance to all churches in completing Covid-19 riskassessments and re-opening checklists (though the process of re-opening the buildings has been in fits-and-starts as the national restrictions have been eased and then tightened repeatedly as the waves of the pandemic have increased and decreased). - many churches in the Circuit experienced a significant drop in income - both through a lack of offering donations and through the lack of rental income from the lettings of their buildings. This has had a knock-on effect to the Circuit and resulted in some churches being unable to contribute their allocated assessment. The budget shortfall has been drawn down from the Circuit reserves, enabling the Circuit to remain in a reasonably stable financial position. Tensions surrounding the Methodist Conference Report ‘God in Love Unites Us’ A significant amount of time and energy has had to be devoted to the impact of the ‘God in Love Unites Us’ report which was due to be presented to the Methodist Conference of 2020. Our circuit has members which hold a very wide spectrum of theological viewpoints and as such this report has been received with quite varied responses - some have embraced it with enthusiasm, while others have rejected it entirely. Several meetings were held around the Circuit to try and enable people to understand and engage with the content of the report. While some congregations received the report with openness, the majority of three congregations (Brookhouse, Quernmore and Wray) declared publicly that if the report was agreed at Conference, then they would resign their membership of the Methodist Church. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Methodist Conference postponed discussion of the report, but most of the congregations at Quernmore and Wray resigned their membership nonetheless on 31st August 2020. The ramifications of their decision will be addressed in the forthcoming year. ## North Lancashire Methodist Circuit ‘ ’ Future Planning - addressing the Hard Truths . In considering the various challenges facing the Circuit (e.g., financial, staffing, shortage of people to hold office, resignation of members), we have concluded that our current model of Circuit will not be sustainable for the future. We are exploring the possibility of linking congregations together in ‘Clusters’ to form closer working relationships for worship and fellowship, for mission and ministry, and for management and oversight (i.e., one cluster would be one church operating on multiple sites) this would reduce the number of officers required and reduce the number of Trustee bodies necessary. This project is something which will need to be explored more fully and implemented over the next twelve months. We feel that, alongside the structural matters, as a Circuit we should be focusing upon the positive characteristics of Methodism, and we should be celebrating our commitments: - Emphasizing our DNA - what makes us ‘Methodist’. - Emphasizing the many positive things, we are involved with across North Lancashire. - Emphasizing why we are doing these things. ## North Lancashire Methodist Circuit ## Finance The Circuit Model Trust Fund had a balance at the year-end of £123,488. This fund derives from sales of churches and manses and is restricted by the Conference. This restriction is an internal regulation though the fund can be used for a variety of purposes. The Circuit Leadership team has drawn up a set of ground rules, which have been accepted by the Circuit Meeting, to ensure grants made from the Circuit Model Trust Fund are used effectively for mission and capital works. Grants amounting to £11,250 have been made during the year. ## The Reserves Policy The Reserves Policy for the North Lancashire Circuit is to hold a sum equivalent to 6 months’ average expenditure. This should be sufficient to meet any unforeseen item of major expenditure on manses and / or to be able to continue, in the short term, funding planned activities in the event of an inability to raise the full Circuit Assessment from churches. It is necessary to hold sufficient working capital to enable the payment of stipends and business expenses for 6 ministers and a part time Administrator and our contribution to the District. North Lanca$hir8 Meththyist Circurt uitNts 21116 Statement of Flnanclal Actlvltles ISOFAI for the year ended 31 Augu*t 2020 D••l9nai•d G•nw•l Fwn¢ TruBI Fufftd* •EMunty IUnr•Btrfthdl IUTrrnltrfLt•dl lunrnllrfctsdl R••lrfct•d EndLV4Thnt T¢¢ll Fur￿1 Fund• 2011-2 Incomè l oon01￿n5 ar￿ 2 InGDm8 trom monqlary ￿Y￿s￿a￿lI 3 IrKome from kive$tmTht propeths 441 JJO.3 339.394 5 Copitol Recwpt$ 6 Gr¥nts ieLxwed 7 (Xhor Incrm 8 Tot•1 It)¢ty 3.692 244 348.610 3.591 244 3SD,674 Expendfjture g GrJfits and 10 and cuiis 11 Propertyr￿InI8n•TrKe 12 Connexion¥l isses1￿emt&ttvA0l￿U$t* 13 Ass9ssM¢nl& L•vy 14 Dep￿(la1 150tfice exppD5E¥ 160ther O￿l901￿s 17TOts1th•rh•b￿ •xpondltur• 18 Gaiwllossesi offl fflofi8t4ry 19 Gain511lo55es1 propeffjes 20 N•tln¢•m•l(•xp•ndttuMI 21 Tronslers oefvrfen fvn¢s 22 0￿rg￿l￿5111051eSI 23 N•trnov•ni•fit In lund 24Total tvThdsbrou8ht fomard Z5Totèlfun& ￿rr5ed10￿1rd 10.OQO 262.788 8.1 282,718 07.ieo 67,880 10,330 JIO.163 10,JJ6 1814 -10.5 -2.70 4.26$ 159,81 158.363 1.874.04 I,M$,0s1 1.834.649 1,621,346 g)2 North LancaShi￿ Methodist Circuit Circuit No Ststsment of Flnanclal Actlvltlgs ISOFAI for the year •nded 31 August 2019 Not••to Clr¢uhMod•l tho G•ngrn1 Fund TfUBt Fun Rmtrfcthd Endty*m•nt Totsl Gounts IVTrrnvtrfctsdl Iunmtrktsdl lunr96¢rfWdl Fund¥ Fun 201&19 Incomo 1 Dorwtityis¥ThJ tycie5 2 IrKome from monttsry Investh￿nIS 3 IrKome trom Inwstmentpr￿￿ÈS 4 Aues¥ments onthurlaié* 5 Capilal Rec8ipt 6 Giants ￿teNed 7 Oltr*rCh6￿a￿ Ir￿ 8 Totol In¢¢m• 1.1 445 5.343 336.981 65,W1 05,901 32.242 .242 5.297 381,398 87,070 790 Expèndlturt 9 Grants Jnd ¢￿￿tionS 10 Salane$ otwj asSQa4ted (this 11 Ptupty ma1nIE￿n¢e 12 Conr*￿Onal pssesernenis modelt￿l 13 Ass¢ssrnnt& Lf 14 De￿wall(￿l 15 Offrt¢ 18 OlheroJtgOlD95 17 Tot•1 ¢harft•bkn gxpgndftuf• 18 Gain51110ssesl on mDnEiaryinvesiments 19 Gain51110sye51 on Inve9th￿ni woper￿¢S 20 N•t Inromwi•xp•ndttur•l 21 TranBtsrs b8iw88n futth 22 Othpr ga1Tr51llDSgE31 23 Not MD￿￿OnI 34,853 271,972 4INB3 15,013 277.972 41,483 15,043 1,3$3 6.893 39&2$4 44043 41J.73S -11.066 21.931 ,027 352 4513 S.065 1,e69, 1,67101 352 159.$22 1.829.136 1,634.fj49 25ToL11 knthjcarr￿d lrnv4rd 932 North L8ncashire MFlh4di81 CiiuII ClrcuttNo Balane• Sho•t a• at 31 August 2020 G•n•rnl Fund 7nx 101 10.70) 11.Ft¥J 1134D8 11J. S.432 937 cutt•ni1￿￿1Y￿*ts 05.BB5 201&19 T5llJ 105.513 IM11.JIO I,B5(149 Fw+Js0lthDCl￿ 1.W.051 Iss. I,IJA717 thIrtWFu￿ Tot*lFuthf* 155.JE3 I.BZ1.yfj IMXW North Lancashire Melhodisl Circuit Cir¢urt No 21116 Notes to the Accounts 1 Basls of accountlng The financial slalemenls have been prepared underthe Charities Act 2011 in accordance wilh the 2014 ol Accounlino and Reporting by Charit￿$. Statement of Recommend￿ Pract￿* ISORPI applirable to challlies preparing their accounts in aLwrdènce*ith FRS102-Ihtr Charilva¥ SORP IFRS10218nd 18kifvJ nthe ofihe Bulwin 1 issued in 2016. 2 Fund3 The funds held CDn51ilut&." Gtnèral Funds held for any purpoge of the Circuilwhi¢h are Unrestricted. The Circu Model Trust Fund h88 wide PUfpose¥ definad In swnding 0￿er$ 8nd 1$ ¢81egorised as unresiri¢ted. ReslrKted runds which Ore hdd for 8 ngrrowjer purpoge. There are no Endovmienl funds Detsil$ ol egch mglen81 fund are disdosed in Ihe final note lothese arujunts. Any funds may be represented by rnore than just rash. 3 Accountlng pollcSès Basls These omnts have been prepare¢ on Ihe b851$ of histo￿81 ¢o$l except that investments are sho¥w al their maikel ¥8lue otlhe end of the year. on the 8WUgI$ ba*s 10 Show a true And fairview of the cir￿11,5 financial position Incoming Resources Income 1$ Induded In the Slalemelll of Finantyal Aciivilies ISOFAI when the Circuit become5 enlilled tothe resources. and Ihe trustees are reasonably ￿rtaiN they ￿￿11 Teceive the resources, and monetary value Gan be easured wlh suffir4enl rBliability. R•sourc•s Expond8d This is reeognised when a li8bilily Is Incurred. or a ￿nStruct￿e Obligab￿ 8ri$es. Ihal results In the payment being ynavoidable. ￿abilitieS are recognised as 500n as an 0Uffi￿ ol economic Oenefft 15 congdered more likely than n under the le9￿ orconstruct￿e obligation comrnittiry the Circurtto pay out re￿urCeS. Grants Gfan15 made by the Circuit from it5 own funds Bre recognised in full al Ihe time of agreernenl orwhen Circuit 8ccepts th81 there 18 a Wl 0rop8ra1￿nal oblig8tion lo fflake the payrnenl. VAT Since the Circuit 1$ notVAT regi$lered. all input VAT is ch8rged wilh the expen5e$ to ¥%*i¢h il rekn. Tangiblg fixed a¥s?ts for use by the Clrcuit Tangib5e fixed assets are raytalised il they can be used for more than one year. and cost al least É50D. The freehold prop8ty is shown In the xcounts al 2015 deemed values. No dePr￿all0￿ is provided on the building be¢8use the Iruslees unwder th? ￿rrent rèsidual fair value of thè mans• buildinos lon the aSsum￿lon thai il had reached the end ol 11$ useful e￿noMiC lrfe by the year-endl 10 be not ltrss than rf$ ¢urreni value. Any d8pre¢ialion vmuld not be material. The property h8$ been rev￿¥e￿ for Impaimienl.. Inv?¥tment Propertigs Invesimtnt proptrrfie$- propèrty is WTrenlly deemed to not be held forthe IL￿9 tetm purposes of the tharity. Invg¥tmgnts In¥8$im&nts ar8 Valu￿ in the balance Sheet at nTrarketva1ue al the year end Inve&lmenl inwrne is induded in the a￿UnIS when recei¥atAe and any 98in$ or10sses on reyalualion at the year end are shown in Ihe SOFA. Debtors and Prepayments Debtors inclLhde church assts$m8nts. Prepayfflenls are Septemb2rstipends paid in Augu51. Creditors Crediiofs indude both sundry expenses and spwficalty Ihe 1st quarter 8$8esgmenl recewad In Au9USI. North Lancashira Mèthodist Cir¢uil Circurt No 21116 4 Paymènt to Tru$ts•¥ There V￿re no p3ymen15 made lo bwslee$ for addthonal service8 proVId￿ to the Clrcuft byagreemeni vllh th8 Cirtuil fvlèeting. this excludes 51ip2nd5 Trustee expen5e5 2019120 2018119 Number of Tru51ees Totsl amount £0 £0 Expense payments primarily relate to reimbursernent for travel and computing Costs S Fees for •xamlnatlon or audlt of th• aeeounts 2019120 2018119 Independent examinerfs or auditors, fees for ￿pOrting on the accounts other fees leg". advice, accountancy services) paid to the independenl examiner or auditor 1056 NIL NIL 6 Pald employees Staff Costs pald durlng the year w¢r¢'. Gross wages, salaries and benefi15 in kind Ernployer's National Insurance c0515 Pensii)n costs Total staff ¢o$ts 2019120 2018119 169585 167 WJ3 40 255 219,391 223,817 Average number of full.tlmg gqulvalgnt employoe$ In the y•ar Wor•: 7 Capltal Commltments and Contlngent LlabllStl•s At the 31stAugusl 2019 there are no ¢apital commitments No Conts-n9ent liabilrties were Identified al 31st August 2019. For Infomiatlon only Monèy r•e•ived and passed on to External O anisations 2019120 2018119 Balance brought I0￿4rd from l••t y￿r 30 30 OfferingslGffts- recewed for Extemal Organisations 4.487 5.898 OfferingslGrft$- passed to External Organisations 4,467 5.896 Balance carrl¢d loN¥rd 30 30 North Lancashire Methodisl Circuit Circurt No 21116 9 Tan9ible Flxed A¥8ets Cost or valuatlon Flxturos. flttlng5 and equlpmont Paym•nts on •¢eount and aw4et• under ¢0118tru¢tion Other buildin91 Land M•n808 Total 8alance brou hl fotward 1.512.21e Additions Revaluation5 Di5 05als Transfer5. Balance carried forwar 1,512.218 Accumulatsd deproclatlon Balance brou ht forward Depreciation charge for ear 00 Revaluations Dis Transfers. Balance carried forward Net book value Brou ht forward 1.512.216 Carried forward 1,512.218 10 Investment assets Th• ¢lr¢ul¢ ha$ no Inv88tm8nt propertles The ¢lreult ha• no ¢ommon Inve$tmenl lunL1 holdlng• 11 Loans The Circurt currently has no loans North Lancashire Methodist Circuit Circuit No 21116 12 Analysis of restricted and dèsignated funds 2018-19 Rostrlcted Fund Nam• Op¢nln9 Balance In¢omlng Rosources Ro8ourc08 Expondod TranBfern Closlfig Balance Purpos¥ olth• fund Benevolent Fund Support for ecifi¢ need Development Fund Available for funding outreach and Oevelopment work Circuit resource ntre Fund designated for the rnaintenance of the centre. Totsls 'Compar81ive analysis of restricted 8nd designated funds 2017-18 R95trlct8d Fund Nam? OpBnlng Balance In¢omlng R¥sour¢¢s Re8ource8 Expended Tr4n$f¢ CIo8lng Purp058 of tho fund Benevolent Fund Support for ecific need Develgpm?nt Fund Available for funding outreach and development Circuit resource Fund Fund designated for the maintenance of the centre Totals North Lancashire Melhodisl Circurt Circuit No 21116 Declarations and Scrutiny I confiTm that these accruals-based accounts for the year to 31 August 2020 have been Pfepared from the reeords of the Circuit and that they include all funds under the control of the Circuit Meeting. Signature of treaSu￿r . Date.Il.o.&zi..... Name and address of treasurer Sp