## Annual
## Report
Baptist Church Centre Twyford Road Bishop’s Stortford CM23 3LJ churchoffice@stortfordbaptist.org 01279 507 575 Church Secretary churchsec@stortfordbaptist.org
**www.stortfordbaptist.org**
## and
## Accounts 2025
**This Church aims to be a community of believers living according to the Bible’s teaching where people become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.**
Bishop’s Stortford Baptist Church is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation No. 1159484
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## **Table of Contents**
Baptist Church Centre, Twyford Road, Bishop’s Stortford, CM23 3LJ churchoffice@stortfordbaptist.org · 01279 507 575 · www.stortfordbaptist.org
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## **Annual Report 2025**
We are pleased to present a report of the life and work of the Church during 2025.
## **Aim and Purposes**
The vision of Bishop’s Stortford Baptist Church is to be a community of believers living according to the Bible’s teaching so that Christ’s redemptive purposes can be accomplished in the world. The Church’s mission is to enable people to become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. The fellowship of the Church seeks to go **deeper** with God, become **closer** to each other and **wider** in our influence.
## **Objectives and Activities**
The Church is committed to carrying out its activities in line with the Baptist tradition and to encourage and enable people in the local area to attend and take part in its services and meetings. Activities include:
- Services each week for worship, prayer, Bible Study, preaching and teaching, including additional services for those in the local area whose first language is not English.
- Baptism is available to those that have genuinely made a profession of faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour.
- Meetings for young people.
- Small group meetings (Life Groups).
- Pastoral care.
- Discipleship for Christian service.
- Evangelism and mission.
- Support of Christian and social charitable action within the local area.
- Support for mission overseas.
- Involvement with the local and national Baptist associations.
The ministry areas of the Church are classified into **Worship** , **Fellowship** , **Reaching Out** , **Discipleship** and **Social Action** , supplemented by a **Resources Team** (as led by the Deacons) and with spiritual oversight and pastoral care administered by the Elders.
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## **Achievements and Performance**
## **Worship, Teaching and Prayer**
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## **International Ministry**
## **Language School**
## **Iranian Life Group**
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## **Portuguese Life Group**
## **Transportation for Refugees**
## **Pastoral Visits and Counselling**
## **Safeguarding**
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## **Youth and Children**
## **Youth Ministry**
## **Children’s Ministry**
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## **Discipleship**
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## **Fellowship**
Leader: Catherine Church
Over the past year we have had many different groups meeting at Church and below are just some of the groups:
## **BMF**
## **Cake and Make**
## **Breaking Bread Café**
## **Contact**
## **Flower Arranging Group**
## **Network**
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## **Reaching Out**
## **Social Action**
Leader: Julia Horner
## **Overview**
Our focus is to engage with our local and wider community and make a difference through our aims:
- Supporting those in need in our local community, particularly the disadvantaged in society or those struggling financially.
- Supporting community groups and voluntary organisations which meet specific needs in our local and wider area.
- Caring for the local environment.
## **Exchange**
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## **BSBC Advocate**
## **Breaking Bread Café**
## **Toddlers and Co**
## **Canal Adoption**
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## **Grove Cottage**
## **Love Stortford**
## We also had links with:
## **Street Pastors**
## **Bishops Stortford Food Bank**
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## **External Links**
The Church continues to be linked in fellowship to the national structures of the Baptist Union of Great Britian, which are expressed locally through the Eastern Baptist association. The Church also remains a member of Churches Together in Bishop’s Stortford and the Evangelical Alliance.
## **Premises**
Leader: Paul Crispn.
The Church has four properties all of which are held in trust by the Baptist Union Trust Corporation for the Church.
- The Church Centre
- The Bridge (second building on the Church Centre site)
- 8 Wilson Close (the Church Manse for the senior minister and his family)
- 14 Cavell Court (the Second Church Manse)
## **The Church Centre**
Day to day maintenance of the Church Centre is carried out by band of volunteers who meet every second Wednesday of the month. The Church also took over ownership of the Burial Ground at the former Little Hallingbury Free Church and is responsible for its upkeep.
## **The Bridge**
Baptist Church Centre, Twyford Road, Bishop’s Stortford, CM23 3LJ churchoffice@stortfordbaptist.org · 01279 507 575 · www.stortfordbaptist.org
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## **Church Membership**
## **Staff and Volunteers**
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## **Structure, Governance and Management**
A Finance and Administration Committee continues to oversee the administration of the Church to free up more time for the rest of the Leadership Team to focus on ministries, in order to enable the Church to thrive, grow and blossom in our service to our Lord and in our witness and service to the community.
## **Administrative Information**
Bishop’s Stortford Baptist Church is affiliated to the Eastern Baptist Association and to the Baptist Union. The correspondence address is The Baptist Church Centre, Twyford Road, Bishop’s Stortford, CM23 3LJ.
## **Trustee Responsibilities**
The Trustees are responsible for preparing the Trustees’ Report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).
The law applicable to charities in England and Wales requires the Trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charity and of the incoming resources and application of resources of the charity for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the Trustees are required
to:
- select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently.
- observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP 2019 (FRS 102). Make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent state whether applicable accounting standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements; and
- prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charity will continue in operation.
The Trustees are responsible for keeping accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and enable them to ensure that financial statements comply with the Charities Act 2011. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
In so far as the Trustees are aware:
- There is no relevant audit information of which the Charity’s auditor is unaware.
- The Trustees have taken all steps that they ought to have taken to make themselves aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the auditor is aware of that information.
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## **Trustees**
|**Auditors**|Lawrence & Company Accountants Ltd|
|---|---|
||26 Bell Street|
||Sawbridgeworth|
||Hertfordshire|
||CM21 9AN|
This report was approved by the Trustees
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## **Financial Review**
## **Overview Statement**
.
## **Workplace Pensions**
The Church is a participating employer the Baptist Pension Scheme (“the Scheme”), which is a separate legal entity administered by the Pension Trustee (Baptist Pension Trust Limited). The Scheme, previously known as the Baptist Ministers Pension Fund, started in 1925. At the beginning of the financial year, the scheme comprised of a defined benefits scheme which was closed to future accrual on 31 December 2011 and a defined contribution plan which was opened in January 2012.The assets of the Scheme are held separately from those of the Employer and the other participating employers.
For the current financial year, the pension provision for members of the Scheme is being made through the Defined Contribution (DC) Plan. In general, members pay 8% of their Pensionable Income and employers pay 6% of members’ Pensionable Income into individual pension accounts, which are operated and managed on behalf of the Pension Trustee by Broadstone Corporate Benefits Ltd. In addition, the employer pays a further
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4% of Pensionable Income to cover Death in Service Benefits, administration costs, and an associated insurance policy which provides income protection for Scheme members if they are unable to work due to long-term incapacity. This income protection policy has been insured by the Baptist Union of Great Britain with Aviva Limited. Furthermore, members of the Basic Section pay reduced contributions of 5% of Pensionable Income, and their employers also pay a total of 5%.
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## **Accounts**
Baptist Church Centre, Twyford Road, Bishop’s Stortford, CM23 3LJ churchoffice@stortfordbaptist.org · 01279 507 575 · www.stortfordbaptist.org
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## **SoFP**
**Cash Flow**
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## **Notes To the Financial Statements 31 December 2025**
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## **Audit Report**
We have audited the financial statements of Bishop’s Stortford Baptist Church (the 'charity') for the year ended 31 December 2025 which comprise the Statement of Financial Activities, Balance Sheet, Statement of Cash flows, and Notes to the Financial Statements, including a summary of significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102 'The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland' (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).
In our opinion the financial statements:
- give a true and fair view of the state of the charity's affairs as at 31 December 2025 and of its incoming resources and application of resources, for the year then ended;
- have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice; and
- have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Charities act 2011.
We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditors' responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the charity in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC's Ethical Standard, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.
In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the trustees' use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate. Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the charity's ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue. Our responsibilities
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and the responsibilities of the trustees with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.
The trustees are responsible for the other information. The other information comprises the information in the Report of the Trustees, but does not include the financial statements and our Report of the Auditors thereon. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon.
In connection with our audit of the financial statements, our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether this gives rise to a material misstatement in the financial statements themselves. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact. We have nothing to report in this regard.
In our opinion, based on the work undertaken in the course of the audit:
- the information given in the Report of the Trustees for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements; and
- the Report of the Trustees has been prepared in accordance with applicable legal requirements.
## **Matters on which we are required to report by exception**
In the light of the knowledge and understanding of the charity and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the Report of the Trustees.
We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters where the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:
- adequate accounting records have not been kept, or returns adequate for our audit have not been received from branches not visited by us; or
- the financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or
- certain disclosures of trustees' remuneration specified by law are not made; or
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- we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit; or
- the trustees were not entitled to prepare the financial statements in accordance with the small companies
- regime and take advantage of the small companies' exemption from the requirement to prepare a Strategic Report or in preparing the Report of the Trustees.
As explained more fully in the Statement of Trustees' Responsibilities, the trustees are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the trustees determine necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.
In preparing the financial statements, the trustees are responsible for assessing the charity's ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the trustees either intend to liquidate the charity or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.
We have been appointed as auditor under section 144 of the Charities Act 2011 and report in accordance with regulations made under section 154 of that Act. Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue a Report of the Auditors that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.
Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We design procedures in line with our responsibilities, outlined above, to detect material misstatements in respect of irregularities, including fraud.
Because of the inherent limitations of an audit, there is a risk that we will not detect all irregularities, including those leading to a material misstatement in the financial statements or non-compliance with regulation. This risk increases the more that compliance with a law or regulation is removed from the events and transactions reflected
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in the financial statements, as we will be less likely to become aware of instances of noncompliance. The risk is also greater regarding irregularities occurring due to fraud rather than error, as fraud involves intentional concealment, forgery, collusion, omission or misrepresentation.
A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located on the Financial Reporting Council's website at www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our Report of the Auditors.
This report is made solely to the charity's trustees, as a body, in accordance with Part 4 of the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charity's trustees those matters we are required to state to them in a Report of the Auditors and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charity and the charity's trustees as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.
Colin Peacock FCCA MAAT (Senior Statutory Auditor)
Eligible to act as an auditor in terms of Section 1212 of the Companies Act 2006 For and on behalf of Lawrence & Company Accountants Ltd
26 Bell Street
Sawbridgeworth Hertfordshire CM21 9AN
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