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2022-12-31-accounts

Looking Up | Looking In | Looking Out

TRUSTEE’S REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31[ST] DECEMBER 2022

Charity: New Life Church, Gt. Cornard Charity No: 1162045 Charity Address: Community Office, CloverLink [Off Clover Court], Minsmere Way, Gt. Cornard, Sudbury. CO10 0LL Trustees: Richard Soper, Matt Warnock, Graham Jack, Faith Marsden, Nigel Bayley

New Life Church is a registered charity and can be regarded as acting on behalf of the congregation meeting together and being known as New Life Church [NLC]. The trustees now have pleasure in presenting their report for the year ended 31[st] December 2022

The report is prepared as part of the church’s policy of following best practice and is therefore in line with the ‘Statement of Recommended Practice – Accounting and Reporting by Charities’ and complies with applicable law.

CHARITABLE OBJECTS:

New Life Church, Gt. Cornard is a charity for the advancement of the Christian faith in the area of Gt. Cornard, Suffolk and in areas of the world, where we have similar beliefs / having developed relationships with churches in other countries. I.e. Reggio Emilia [Italy] and Ruse [Bulgaria]

ORGANISATION & GOVERNANCE:

The Elders [Matt Warnock & Ben Troughton] of the church meet weekly together and then on a monthly basis together with the wider leadership team to consider the strategic direction of

the church. The Elders also have responsibility for the pastoral matters in the church. The day-to-day leadership of various works and ministry areas is devolved to ministry leads who have budgetary accountability for their areas of responsibility.

The Trustees are responsible for legal and administrative matters – The Elders seek to recruit further Trustees based on either relevant expertise and/or reputation in their chosen field of business/ministry.

REVIEW OF ACTIVITIES:

As we moved into 2022, we began to find our way using the bigger space at Thomas Gainsborough main school building and finally setting up CloverLink to support our local community in Gt. Cornard.

For ease we have split our review into 4 areas: NLC | Church; NLC Community; Community Engagement and Abi’s Footprints Baby Bank

NLC | CHURCH

Reflecting back into 2021, we felt God had asked us to focus on ‘Crying Out in Prayer’ looking at: cries of the heart; cries for the church and for our town and local area. This was a special place to start the year, as we welcomed new people to the church and fostered a deeper need and heart for prayer.

We followed this up over 12wks looking at Jesus and how following him changes our lives today. Challenging us to see Jesus in full multi-colour, as: Immanuel, Teacher, Bringer of Life, Justice, Love, Healer, Saviour, the Risen One, Lord and Coming Back. We finished of the year looking at the series Sunday School Theology and how we cannot presume everyone knows the biblical stories and then for those that have been in church for longer, how God can still speak in familiar stories they’d grown up with.

Throughout the year we also welcomed speakers from the Eden’s Project, the Fisherman’s Mission, OM and SIM to share their work.

We have continued to provide a live stream of the Sunday morning service to help people continue to engage in the Sunday gathering – this remains a challenge with the extra volunteers required each week and extra knowledge to provide the resource. The Live Stream has and continues to be a blessing for those unable to attend through health issues – giving them the opportunity to be involved and see familiar faces.

Creche continued to develop their teaching resources for our youngest members of the church (from HeartShapers) providing story and creative crafts that constantly bring those stories to life.

The Youth and Junior Church carried on their own specific teaching from Energize looking at practical life issues, bible characters and themes. – We also saw 7 of our youth join the Eden’s Project as they attended the Satellites Youth Conference at Peterborough Showground.

Life Groups in Acton, Gt. Waldingfield, Sudbury and Gt. Cornard continued to support church members practically explore their faith in safe environments where questions can be asked, and discussions had. Time can be spend getting to know each other better, to pray and share at a more personal level.

Further support comes through weekly youth activities, discipleship one2ones/group work, youth mentoring network, home visitation and prayer meetings.

During the year covered by this report, the churches membership went up and down as people made NLC their home with others deciding to move on to new fellowships [Membership sitting 105 DEC22].

During the year we began exploring the LICC Course as a leadership team, with the second phase looking who could join us a ‘champions’ in this year long course. It was answering the questions we had as leadership. In how we support people on their frontlines and create a culture at church that empowers and upskills people to reach their own personal frontlines. Eleven have accepted and signed up for course starting Jan23, alongside this we plan for the first term of 2023 to teach on how to Look Out – practical lessons exploring the many ways we see faith shared by Jesus and the early church.

To assist in the practical running of the church we advertised and employed an Office Administrator on 6hrs a week (term time only) to provide support to the Community Pastor and Eldership. Having been unsuccessful in bringing in a second worker during 2021, we advertised more widely through a variety of paid options. We began the interview process with one individual, who sadly removed themselves from the process after 3 meetings.

NLC COMMUNITY

Our Community Pastor continues to oversee our outreach into the community. Having started the year focusing on prayer, it was felt that God was asking something different from the big community events. We have sought to use CloverLink more as a lighthouse to the community and to begin to more hands and feet into the surrounding area.

We continued our involvement in the one of the local primary schools – Pot Kiln PS. Offering a combination of pastoral support to children, families and teachers. This was still more focused on Yr. 6’s following the pandemic, so access was more limited to 1 or 2 classes rather than the whole school. Weekly I supported a couple of the more complex Yr. 6 children through the year into SATS and to the end of the school year. In the summer term, we supported the school by joining them for the 3-day school residential at Mersea Island.

Through conversations with the Head and Yr. 6 teachers, we looked at a pier support group for September with 8 children (from two classes) that would come with a variety of social/educational needs that effect class time and/or friendships.

With the role of a Governor becoming more paperwork and meetings, it was agreed that Ben would step down as a Governor in March to focus more on practically supporting Yr. 6 students and the Head and the Yr. 6 staff.

Linked to the school’s work was continuing to mentor fortnightly an upper school student that is not currently based in education currently having been removed from all the local Upper Schools.

Aware of the some of the more practical and pressing needs in our community – we expanded our ‘LoveFund’ budget to practically be able to support local families, schools and local projects. This was facilitated through food, clothes and gift vouchers along with purchasing wish list items for Pot Kiln PS.

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

CloverLink our Community Office has started to find its own identity as we’ve started weekly morning prayer meetings, monthly litter picks and prayer walks into the connected community around the building. We have also sought to foster closer relationships with our neighbours and have begun a monthly CloverLink-Up Coffee Morning to help this.

CloverLink remains a stopping point for Abi’s Footprints clients coming in to help the work to receive support – further detail on this is found below.

Through our developing relationships, we have continued to develop our Monday Night Football for Dad’s and Young Lads with over 40+ contacts being involved – Football is the mechanism that helps the team get to know people, their stories and the social aspect helps build friendship and deeper support for the more complex issues that have arisen.

Part of our vision has been to enable and encourage individuals to find their frontline as they get to know people in their circles. For our Community Pastor this has seen a move from supporting the community as a Governor at Pot Kiln, to undertaking the role of Chairman in the local TRIathlon club.

One of the key dates in our church calendar has always been our Sizewell Weekend away, as it provides NLC with the chance to invite these connections together.

ABI’S FOOTPRINTS BABY BANK

Since Abi’s Footprints was set up in 2017, times have probably never been tougher for young families, nor demand for our services greater. Due to the cost-of-living crisis many more families are being pushed into poverty and are struggling to provide even the most basic practical essentials for their babies and young children. This is reflected in a steady increase

in the number of requests that our team of volunteers receive directly from families, as well as referrals from health visitors and social workers etc. In 2022 we responded to 283 requests from 111 families for practical essentials for 150 children which was over 40% more than 2021. This trend continues and includes a notable increase in the number of mothers and children from East London fleeing domestic violence and being placed in temporary accommodation in Sudbury.

Our small storage facility at S tour V alley B usiness C entre ( SVBC), S udbury, where we sort, store and prepare goods for delivery, is bursting at the seams and volunteers, many of whom are retirees, are finding it increasingly difficult to work safely within the cramped space, lifting heavy boxes and using ladders for the high racking. We are looking forward to moving June23, to a much larger industrial unit on the same site (SVBC).

When we move in June23, families will be able to visit the new facility where they will be offered a warm welcome, simple refreshments, a listening ear, informal advice if needed, and relevant information about other sources of support. They will be able to select clothes and footwear in comfort, and view and choose anything else they need, ensuring that their child remains safe, warm, comfortable, mobile, stimulated and active, at no financial cost. Many, if not most families, will return several times as their child grows, or as new siblings arrive. We will also be able to build up our team of volunteers with increased confidence, in a safe environment.

Meanwhile we also continue to welcome families to our local ‘Hub’ at CloverLink in Great Cornard. Here we also invite our elderly Clover Court neighbours to our monthly Clover LinkUp coffee mornings and one or two are involved in our occasional clothes sorting sessions. We also keep in regular touch with those who are house-bound.

Another notable development in the last year has been our new ‘Stay & Play’ drop-in for mums and babies at the Stevenson Community Centre which we run twice a month alongside the outreach wellbeing and weighing sessions run by Suffolk Children’s Service Phoenix Centre in Great Cornard. We began this venture in September 2022 and it is thriving and proving to be very popular and much needed provision, bringing us in touch with many mums in an area where there is very little similar free provision.

Our aim continues to be to share the light and love of Jesus through our words and actions and we thank God for His continuous faithfulness and provision in all that we do.

2022 FINANCIAL REPORT

INTRODUCTION

Our income for the year was £73,339 and our expenses were £73,266 – matching our intention to be a church that looks to use the resources we are given.

INCOME

Our income was £6,178 higher than budget (£67,160) largely down to securing two grants totalling £7,000 for the work of Abi’s Footprints. These grants were awarded by the Suffolk Community Foundation. £3,500 was given from the Joy Abbot fund towards the rent on the storage facility for the baby bank, and a further £3,500 was given from the Household Support Fund to alleviate the impact of the Covid pandemic on the community. This was distributed through gift vouchers from Tesco, Sainsburys, Aldi and Clarks for families supported through our Abis Footprints Baby Bank initiative.

Two thirds of our overall income is made up from regular donations to NLC (£40,375) and gift aid recovery (£8,790). Just over £5,000 came from our Sizewell Weekend (£3,389) and Monday Night Football (£1,760).

Donations for special collections brought in £6,855 which was increased by New Life Church to £7,734 and supported individuals and local, national and international organisations including two missionary couples, Tearfund, Compassion, Operation Mobilisation, Friendship Church in Bulgaria, Edens Youth Project, Future Vision, Samaritans Purse and the Bible Society.

Financial donations for the work of Abi’s Footprints brought in an additional £4,816.

Despite the pressures on personal finances, our income remained in line budget.

EXPENDITURE

Our expenditure was £11,704 lower than budget – primarily due to our continuing search for a second worker, of which £10,500 was planned to be spent.

Salary costs continue to be our largest expenditure. During 2022 a part time administrator was employed, bringing our total employment costs to £28,541 – 39% of all expenditure. Our second largest expenditure was on Abi’s Footprints Baby Bank. £13,827 was spent, including £4,800 on rent for the storage location and £1,000 on rent for our Clover Link hub in Great Cornard. A further £3,500 was spent from the Household Support Fund on vouchers. £404 was spent on running the Stay and Play mums and toddler group, with the remaining £4,123 spent on general running costs, and purchasing of items that are supplied new – such as cot mattresses.

Spending on the Monday Night Football outreach initiative was £2,000, and £4,363 was spent on our Sizewell Weekend.

We continue to meet in Thomas Gainsborough School and paid £2.914 rent. and our gifts to external preachers was £1.500. The above accounts for just over £53.000 of expendilure (73Y.). The remaining £20.000 was spent or) our general running costs including overheads such as insurance. Iicenses. OBS checks. etc and day-to-day costs such as refreshments. resources. equipment. elc. OPENING AND CLOSING BALANCE We opened 2022 with E49.458 across all accounts and our closing balance was £49.530. Of this closing balance. El.151 is held in restricled funds. £34.243 is held in unrestricted fL¢nds. and £8.136 Is held In our Iiabililies account. We will review our liabilities account annually and ensure that we hold sufficient funds lo meet any employment or rental contractual requirements should we need lo terminate any agreements. The figure will be roviewed and agreed on the understanding that it is unlikely that we would need to withdraw from all agreemenls al the same time. BUDGET FOR 2023 Our successful grant applications coupled wilh our inability lo secure the employment of a second worker meant that our overall income and expenditure was £11.740 more favourable than anticipated. While our general income and expenditure have closely matched in the last few years. exceptional gifts of E30.000 In previous years has inflated our balance. It was intended that these gifts would be used for salary for a second worker. meaning we wouldn't have lo reduce our activities in other areas to support this role. However. we have not been able to successfully recruit someone into this role. meaning our balance has remained higher than we WOLJld like for the last couple of years_ It is our intention that we will budget for expenditure to be higher Ihan income to responsibly reduce our balance. DECI A,RATlaN.' Following the Trustees meeling on 26th April 2023 the above Trustees Report was agreed as being a true and fair representation OF the work carried out by New Life Church. Signed.. Dated.. 2£ .0 ty. 23 Signed_ Dated: 2£ Signed= Dated..

Charity Name
New Life Church		 Charity Name
New Life Church		 Charity Name
New Life Church		 Charity Name
New Life Church		 Charity Name
New Life Church		 No (if any)
1162045		 No (if any)
1162045		 No (if any)
1162045		 CC16a
For the period
from		 Period start date
01/01/2022		 To Period end date
31/12/2022
Section A Receipts and payments
A1 Receipts Unrestricted
funds
to the nearest £		 Restricted
funds
to the nearest £		 Endowment
funds
to the nearest £		 Total funds
to the nearest £		 Last year
to the nearest £
Donations Received 40,415 13,726 - 54,141 67,002
Grants - 7,000 - 7,000 9,042
Other income 313 3,094 - 3,407 3,470
Gift Aid Recovery 8,790 - - 8,790 9,423
- - - - -
- - - - -
- - - - -
- - - - -
Sub total(Gross income for AR) 49,518 23,820 - 73,338 88,937
A2 Asset and investment sales,
(see table).
-
- -
Sub total - -
Total receipts
A3 Payments
88,937
Bank and currency charges 308 337
Donations given 3,134 11,038
Local projects and outreach work - -
Other expenses 1,951 1,558
Professional Fees 4,913 4,106
Rent and building expenses 3,019 11,628
Resources 2,151 10,401
Stationary, printing and office supplies 417 225
Telephone, internet and postage 1,046 1,056
Travel expenses 63 185
Wages, pension and personal development 27,768 26,890
**Sub total ** 44,771 67,424
A4 Asset and investment
purchases, (see table)
-
-
**Sub total ** - -
Total payments
Net of receipts/(payments)
A5 Transfers between funds
A6 Cash funds last year end
Cash funds this year end
67,424
4,748 72 21,513
- 2,810 - -
40,441 49,457 8,669
42,379 49,529 30,182

Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period Restricw fund$ Endowm8nt fund5 Categorfjès Detstls funds Bl Cash funds 34253 1115 4)4 931 8,115 Tolal cash funds 41379 7.151 Unrestric Endowment funds to next￿£ Detsils CuvrErtwalue Detai15 B3 Investsnent assets cutth￿ v•lu8 Details B4 Assets retained for the ¢harity¥ own use Vlhèn duè (optiorm Detsi18 BS Liabiliti•s SHJned by one or IV￿1￿¥tees beha￿01 all the Irustees Swjnatu Print N Date of roval FAIT4 IS.C.?1 2. to

Independent examiner's report to the trustees of New Life Church, Great Cornard on accounts for the year ended 31 December 2022

I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the charity (“the Trust”) for the year ended 31 December 2022.

Responsibilities and basis of report

As the charity’s trustees of the Trust, you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (‘the Act’).

I report in respect of my examination of the Trust’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.

Independent examiner's statement

I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination which give me cause to believe that, in any material respect:

I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

N K Smith FCA

19 Highbury Way, Great Cornard, Sudbury, Suffolk, CO10 0HE

8 July 2023