Trustees’ Annual Report
for the period ending
31[st] December 2023
Charity Name: Beacon Evangelical Church Registered Charity Number: 1163097
Principal address: 47 Sandwell Road, Handsworth, Birmingham, B21 8NH
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2023 Beacon Evangelical Church Trustees Annual Report
Trustees who manage the Charity
Dates in office if not Name Office (if any) f or the whole year
Timothy Turner Pastor and Elder Elaine Salmon Deacon and Secretary Philip Evans Deacon and Treasurer Veronica Johnson Deacon
Structure and governance
Beacon Evangelical Church is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation with voting members other than its charity trustees and is regulated by a constitution.
Trustees are elected by the members of the church and together constitute the “Leadership Team” of the church. Within the Leadership Team, there are Elders who are responsible for the spiritual and pastoral care of the members and Deacons who assist the Elders in their duties.
The trustees meet on a monthly basis to consider the spiritual and pastoral affairs of the church and on a quarterly basis to manage matters requiring financial and procedural decisions.
The church is a founder member of the Charity, Handsworth and District Christian Outreach also known as Hands Outstretched, a collaboration between local churches for the advancement of the Christian faith.
Objects
The church’s objects, for the public benefit, are to advance the Christian faith in accordance with the Statement of Faith detailed in the church’s constitution.
To this end, the Leadership Team is committed to enabling the members of the church to communicate the Christian gospel with as many people as possible. This is understood to take place verbally and also by practical demonstration of God’s love through compassionate care for members of the community, the provision of services from the base of the church building on Sandwell Road and through the members’ lifestyle within the community.
In overseeing and developing the activities of the church, the trustees have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit and, in particular, the specific guidance on charities for the advancement of religion.
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2023 Beacon Evangelical Church Trustees Annual Report
Activities
The activities of the church are open to the public.
Worship
The church holds one service of worship each Sunday. Members are encouraged to participate in running the service, building their faith, developing confidence and skills. Having developed the means to Live-stream our services during the Covid-19 restrictions we chose once again to continue to live-stream them to YouTube during 2023. This has benefitted not just those who cannot leave their homes for reasons of health and vulnerability but has strengthened our connection with other people who might not otherwise have come into contact with us.
Prayer
The church has a monthly day of prayer and two2, week-long prayer events, meeting together nightly.
Fellowship groups
The church runs several small groups on weekday evenings for study of the Bible, to develop individual Christian faith and engage in community outreach. From time to time, groups run events to bring the community together and explain the Christian faith. There are now three evening groups and a new daytime group.
Drop-in days
In 2023 we continued to run a monthly ‘drop-in day’ with activities, free refreshments and a free lunch. This prototype event helps us to welcome and get to know people from our community, especially those who are lonely, isolated or vulnerable in some way. It is a welcoming space with a listening ear. We offer to help people with filling in forms, can issue foodbank vouchers and have incorporated a ‘Dementia Café’, run by a Dementia UK ambassador. This year we were also able to invite in a benefit advisor and also sometimes work with the local Prison Link charity, welcoming some of their service users, as well as residents at a local men’s hostel.
Children and young people
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The church runs a Sunday Club for children from Year 1 to year 11, teaching Bible knowledge and explaining the Christian faith. Numbers attending have been steady over 2023 and we have seen an increase in the number of babies and nursery age children.
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Late Night Sunday (LNS) is run by teenagers and young adults for those in year 10 and above, including young adults in their early 20s. The group still exists but has not been as active.
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12+ is a for young people in year 7 to mid-teens, meeting fortnightly for games and topical study and once a month for a physical activity together in the community, such as climbing, bowling etc. This has continued to grow in 2023 and can be attended by up to 14 children.
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In April 2023 the church took a group of around 30 young people, young adults and helpers on an activity weekend in Criccieth, North Wales. They spent a lot of time enjoying the simple pleasures of being on a beach, doing craft activities, games and enjoying a popular guest speaker.
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Our young people and children are encouraged to take part in ‘Family Services’ once a month and sometimes lead the whole service.
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2023 Beacon Evangelical Church Trustees Annual Report
- Several members were able to run a holiday club for children, mainly non churchgoers - Refocus for Kids. This happened twice in the year, funded by Awards For All, through the Prison Link Charity.
Food bank
The church continued to support The Handsworth Food Bank, a Trussell Trust Food Bank based locally, providing funds from time to time, food and volunteers to staff the food bank.
Sisters of Strength Women’s group (SOS)
Sisters of Strength is a women’s group which meets up to 6 times a year for an evening of worship, teaching and celebration. This group was able to meet several times in 2023.
Beacon Brothers Together
Brothers Together is a fairly informal group for men, which meets for breakfast from time to time and seeks to support men in the church and outside in putting their faith into action. It also operates as a support network for men via social media.
Beacon Listening Service
This is a free, appointment only service staffed by trained volunteers and offering up to three hour-long sessions of confidential listening with one or sometimes two listeners present. This service was able to operate in a limited capacity in 2023.
Safe Families
The church had one volunteer helping with the Safe Families charity during 2023.
Staffing and safeguarding
The church had no full-time paid staff in 2023. We continued the process of recruiting a full time Community Development and Outreach Leader, to assist the church’s vision to become more outward looking and to take the good news of Jesus to our community in both word and compassionate action to help the most vulnerable.
All of the services and activities provided are organised and staffed by volunteers. The church’s safeguarding officer ensures that those working with children and vulnerable adults are selected, trained, checked and supervised in accordance with the church’s safeguarding policy.
Achievements and performance
The total number of children and young people attending Sunday Club and other events increased a little again during 2023 but remains smaller than pre-pandemic.
The church continued to livestream Sunday Services via YouTube, allowing members, some of whom who are housebound to remain connected. It has also allowed those who work weekend shifts, are sick or away from home to connect and take part. Having service videos available after the event has also meant that new people have been able to connect with us. Family members and people who used to be connected to Beacon Church have also watched after the event.
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2023 Beacon Evangelical Church Trustees Annual Report
The number of people attending Sunday Worship in person averaged around 42 (40 in 2022). An average of 12 additional people watched live (14 in 2022) and another average of 60 watched the service after the event (61 in 2022). This additional number must be reduced slightly to account for hosts watching the service in order to interact with those online.
The total number of people joining in with our Sunday Services in some way during 2023 averaged 114, compared to 115 in 2022.
In all the church published 52 videos on YouTube and the number of people subscribing to our YouTube channel rose from around 178 to 195. Once again this involved a huge amount of
Figure 1 – 2022 Hybrid Sunday worship attendance
creativity, energy, volunteer hours and commitment from our volunteers carrying out preparation, the Sunday technical team and our worship team.
Figure 2 – 2022 Hybrid Sunday worship attendance
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2023 Beacon Evangelical Church Trustees Annual Report
The church conducted two funerals and one baby dedication service in 2023. Seventy-three people were in membership at the end of 2023 (78 at the end of 2022). Four transferred to other churches, one married and moved away, two passed away and one was a student who graduated and settled elsewhere.
The 2020 pandemic left us with a legacy of people who had ceased to be active members but did not resign formally. We still have a number of these members who will most likely be removed from membership in 2024.
However, 2023 saw a turnaround. For the first time since 2019, we saw baptisms, four people were baptised and three people were received into membership. We also saw an upturn in the number of visitors, many of whom want to be a long-term part of the Beacon family.
Outreach
The Drop-in day has continued to be popular, attracting upwards of 20 people, most of whom we have never met before and who would not have come to the church for a service. This is helping us learn about the needs and aspirations of our community as we look to develop the new Beacon Centre. Some of those who come to the Drop-in initially, do visit services now sometimes.
Week by week, the Church continued to offer support to individuals and families in need with contact, food parcels, food bank vouchers, practical help through our 25:35 fund, transport to appointments, assistance with filling in forms, moving home or to helping to prevent people becoming homeless. We also helped with shopping and contributions to gas and electricity needs. Over the Christmas period the church put together and distributed food hampers to 12 families in need, partly via our contact with St James School and distributed Christmas presents to 20 families via the Birmingham City Mission Toylink scheme.
Some of our volunteers attended a coffee morning run by St James School to share what Beacon could offer including access to Dementia Awareness and advisors on matters related to housing in attendance at our Drop-in days.
The Beacon Centre Project
A project to refocus the energy of the church on reaching and serving the community. It includes the plan to rebuild the church premises in Sandwell Road in order to better facilitate the church’s vision to reach the community and provide more space for services of worship.
The vision includes expanding or providing for the first time some of the following services:
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counselling and support to address mental health needs
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facilities and support for parents with young children
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signposting and language learning to support incomers
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a place for young people to belong, learn and play
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a place for older people to socialise and obtain help
Planning Permission
In July 2023, after a painful fourteen-month wrestle with the Birmingham City Council planning department we were finally granted planning permission for The Beacon Centre.
Three phases planned
Our Architects helped us devise a structure for the building project, in three phases:
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2023 Beacon Evangelical Church Trustees Annual Report
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Phase 1 Prepare - building some retaining walls, some excavation, and preparation of utility connections, along with fulfilling some of the essential planning conditions.
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Phase 2 Build the main two-storey part of the building at the front of the site whilst retaining and using the old building during the build.
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Phase 3 Demolish the old building and build the final part of the Beacon Centre in its place, whilst using the Phase 2 building for most activities.
Phase 1 will begin in the first 6 months of 2024.
Leader – Community Development and Outreach
We continued to attempt to recruit for this full-time role, focused on developing our community service and outreach in line with our vision.
We interviewed some candidates in 2023 but did not appoint any of them. A further round of advertising began in December 2023.
Financial Review
A full statement of accounts has been prepared by Data Developments (UK) Ltd, First Floor, The Chubb Buildings, Fryer Street, Wolverhampton, WV1 1HT. Data Developments act as the church’s independent examiners.
Beacon Church’s principal source of funding is donations from members.
The church makes use of the gift aid scheme to claim tax on donations.
The Church did not have a Reserves policy in 2023.
Declaration
The trustees declare that they have approved the report above
Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees
Signature Date: 07/05/2024 Full Name Timothy John Holden Turner Position Chair
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2023 Beacon Evangelical Church Trustees Annual Report
Beacon Evangelical Church Financial statements for the year ended 2023
Beacon Evangelical Church
47 Sandwell Road Handsworth Birmingham B21 8NH
Page 1
Independent Examiner’s report
Accounts for the year ended 31[st] December 2023
Respective responsibilities of the Trustees and the examiner
The charity’s trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts and they consider that an audit is not required for the year under section 144(2) of the Charities Act 2011 (the Charities Act) and that an independent examination is needed. It is my responsibility to:
Examine the accounts under section 145 of the Charities Act
to follow the procedures laid down in the general directions given by the Charity Commission (under section 145(5)(b) of the Charities Act, and
to state whether particular matters have come to my attention.
Basis of the Independent Examiner’s statement
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 charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with these records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts and seeking explanations from the trustees concerning such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required for an audit, and consequently no opinion is given as to whether the accounts present a ‘true and fair’ view and the report is limited to those matters set out in the statement below.
Independent examiner’s statement
In connection with my examination, no material matter has come to my attention which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect:
Accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act, or the accounts do not accord with the accounting records
I have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
Date: 18[th] April 2024
Signed:
Stephen Hendy
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Statement of Financial Activities
| Unrestricted Designated Restricted Endowment Total Prior year funds funds funds funds funds total funds |
|
|---|---|
| Incoming resources Incoming resources from generated funds Voluntary income Investment income Incoming resources from charitable activities Other incoming resources Total income Resources used Charitable activities Other resources used Total expenditure Gains / losses on investment assets Net income / (expenditure) resources before transfer Transfers Gross transfers between funds - in Gross transfers between funds - out Other recognised gains / losses Gains on revaluation, fixed assets, charity's own use Net movement in funds Total funds brought forward Total funds carried forward Represented by Unrestricted General fund Designated 25-35 Fund Distress Fund New Beacon Fund Travel Fund Restricted Building Fund New Beacon Fund |
55,807 25,070 — — 80,877 57,646 199 — — — 199 144 — — — — — — — — — — — — |
| 56,007 25,070 — — 81,077 57,790 13,066 774 — — 13,841 10,768 16,245 1,800 — — 18,045 48,566 |
|
| 29,312 2,574 — — 31,886 59,334 — — — — — — |
|
| 26,694 22,495 — — 49,190 (1,544) — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — |
|
| 26,694 22,495 — — 49,190 (1,544) |
|
| 565,689 291,235 56,065 — 912,990 914,534 |
|
| 592,383 313,731 56,065 — 962,180 912,990 592,383 — — — 592,383 565,689 — 1,039 — — 1,039 870 — 1,036 — — 1,036 1,280 — 311,656 — — 311,656 289,084 — — — — — — — — 56,065 — 56,065 56,065 — — — — — — |
Balance sheet
| Total funds Prior year funds |
|
|---|---|
| Fixed assets Heritage assets Current assets Cash at bank and in hand Net current assets less current liabilities Total assets less current liabilities Total net assets less liabilities |
440,433 440,433 |
| 440,433 440,433 521,747 472,557 |
|
| 521,747 472,557 |
|
| 521,747 472,557 |
|
| 962,180 912,990 |
|
| 962,180 912,990 |
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| Represented by Unrestricted General fund Designated 25-35 Fund Distress Fund New Beacon Fund Travel Fund Restricted Building Fund New Beacon Fund Funds of the church |
592,383 565,689 1,039 870 1,036 1,280 311,656 289,084 — — 56,065 56,065 — — |
|---|---|
| 962,180 912,990 |
Statement of assets and liabilities
| General Designated Restricted Endowment This year Last year |
|
|---|---|
| Fixed assets - Heritage assets Church Premises - Totals Current assets - Cash at bank and in hand Beacon CafCash - Beacon Gold - CAF - Scottish Widows Term deposit - Cambridge & Counties Bank - Lloyds TSB - Redwood Bank - United Trust Bank Limited - Totals Grand total |
440,433 — — — 440,433 440,433 |
| 440,433 — — — 440,433 440,433 75,169 45,124 2,859 — 123,154 84,911 4,823 102,157 1,062 — 108,043 105,891 57,857 17,896 (22,857) — 52,896 51,650 7,656 5,412 75,000 — 88,068 84,849 6,443 (620) — — 5,823 4,983 — 54,362 — — 54,362 52,721 — 89,398 — — 89,398 87,551 |
|
| 151,950 313,731 56,065 — 521,747 472,557 |
|
| 592,383 313,731 56,065 — 962,180 912,990 |
Fund movement by type
| Opening Incoming Outgoing Transfers Gains/losses Closing |
|
|---|---|
| 25-35 - 25-35 Fund Designated Sub-total for 25-35 BF - Building Fund Restricted Sub-total for BF Distr - Distress Fund Designated Sub-total for Distr General - General fund Unrestricted Sub-total for General NBF - New Beacon Fund Designated Restricted Sub-total for NBF Tra - Travel Fund Designated Sub-total for Tra Grand total |
870 569 400 — — 1,039 |
| 870 569 400 — — 1,039 56,065 — — — — 56,065 |
|
| 56,065 — — — — 56,065 1,280 129 373 — — 1,036 |
|
| 1,280 129 373 — — 1,036 565,689 56,007 29,312 — — 592,383 |
|
| 565,689 56,007 29,312 — — 592,383 289,084 24,371 1,800 — — 311,656 — — — — — — |
|
| 289,084 24,371 1,800 — — 311,656 — — — — — — |
|
| — — — — — — |
|
| 912,990 81,077 31,886 — — 962,180 |
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Analysis of income and expenditure
| Total Unrestricted Designated Restricted Endowment This year Last year INCOME AND ENDOWMENTS Incoming resources from generated funds - Voluntary income Offerings 37,372 — — — 37,372 39,096 Income tax refund 12,280 1,929 — — 14,209 — Other Income 6,153 — — — 6,153 2,837 Distress fund — 129 — — 129 183 25-35 — 569 — — 569 642 New Beacon Fund Income — 22,442 — — 22,442 14,885 Total 55,807 25,070 — — 80,877 57,646 Incoming resources from generated funds - Investment income Bank Interest 199 — — — 199 144 Total 199 — — — 199 144 Incoming resources from charitable activities Rental Income — — — — — — Total — — — — — — Other incoming resources Building Fund — — — — — — Minibus fund — — — — — — Total — — — — — — |
Total Unrestricted Designated Restricted Endowment This year Last year INCOME AND ENDOWMENTS Incoming resources from generated funds - Voluntary income Offerings 37,372 — — — 37,372 39,096 Income tax refund 12,280 1,929 — — 14,209 — Other Income 6,153 — — — 6,153 2,837 Distress fund — 129 — — 129 183 25-35 — 569 — — 569 642 New Beacon Fund Income — 22,442 — — 22,442 14,885 Total 55,807 25,070 — — 80,877 57,646 Incoming resources from generated funds - Investment income Bank Interest 199 — — — 199 144 Total 199 — — — 199 144 Incoming resources from charitable activities Rental Income — — — — — — Total — — — — — — Other incoming resources Building Fund — — — — — — Minibus fund — — — — — — Total — — — — — — |
|---|---|
| — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — |
|
| — — — — — — |
|
| INCOME TOTAL | 56,007 25,070 — — 81,077 57,790 |
EXPENDITURE
| EXPENDITURE | |
|---|---|
| Charitable activities Church Gifts Distress Fund expenses 25-35 expenses Organisational Support & Events Total Other resources used Salaries:Net Salary Salaries:Employers National Insurance Salaries:Pensions Salaries:Income tax Salaries:Employee National Insurance Payroll:Volunteer Expenses Salaries:Telephone Expenses Preaching fees Training |
7,940 — — — 7,940 8,039 — 373 — — 373 450 — 400 — — 400 422 5,126 — — — 5,126 1,856 |
| 13,066 774 — — 13,841 10,768 — — — — — 14,774 — — — — — — — — — — — 1,000 — — — — — 1,414 — — — — — 1,110 759 — — — 759 655 — — — — — — 200 — — — 200 100 40 — — — 40 — |
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| Subscriptions Governance Costs Establishment costs Establishment costs:Light & Heat Establishment costs:Insurances Establishment costs:Repairs and renewals Establishment costs:depreciation Establishment costs:Cleaning & consumabs New Beacon Project cost Support Costs Depreciation Total |
250 — — — 250 243 345 — — — 345 696 1,962 — — — 1,962 213 4,626 — — — 4,626 4,322 — — — — — 1,547 1,912 — — — 1,912 2,178 — — — — — — 3,290 — — — 3,290 443 — 1,800 — — 1,800 9,128 2,856 — — — 2,856 10,738 — — — — — — |
|---|---|
| 16,245 1,800 — — 18,045 48,566 |
|
| EXPENDITURE TOTAL | 29,312 2,574 — — 31,886 59,334 |
| GRAND TOTAL | 26,694 22,495 — — 49,190 (1,544) |
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