Minutes of Word of Life Church Annual General Meeting
Date: 1[st] September 2022
Time: 7:00pm
Venue: Word of Life WRU Church
In Attendance: Rev Michael Hedley(Elder); Pastor Lindsey Hedley (Elder); Mrs Olaranke Gbadebo (Deacon) Mr Denis Batey (Deacon) Mrs Jenifer Batey (Deacon) and Pastor Andy Wade (Pastor)
The meeting was called in accordance with the Charity Constitution and two weeks notice was served in order to facilitate meeting. The attendees were invited on the 14[th] of August to attend. The Agenda was shared and agreed at the commencement of the meeting.
Due to recent changes in the structure of the Wesleyan Reform Union (the denomination to which this Church belongs), and Rev Michael and Lindsey Hedley taking up a national role of the National Spiritual Coordinator, an appointment has been made to replace them as Pastors of the Church with Pastor Andy Wade who is in attendance at this meeting. Michael and Lindsey will still continue as Elders or overseers of the Word of Life Church and remain as Charity Trustees.
The meeting was opened in prayer by Rev Michael Hedley.
Item 1: The charity objectives were discussed as an important matter. We have to ask ourselves “are we continuing to meet the objectives of the Charity?” The resounding answer to this was “Yes” as the Church is growing both spiritually and numerically and has increased in membership dramatically since 2015.
Item 2: Account Update: The accounts were presented by Rev Michael Hedley and all agreed that they are the best they have been since we set up. Our Treasurer unfortunately is on Palliative Care at home due to a brain tumour and will no longer be able to continue in the role. We therefore appointed Rev Michael Hedley as the Treasurer of the Charity as he is no longer employed by the Union for the Church in this role. We will as from next year use an accountant to complete our accounts.
Item 3: Programmes/Funding Update: We have now concluded all of the programmes which attracted funding from external bodies and all of the programmes have been successful in meeting their objectives of funding a Journey to Recovery programme from the Covid pandemic. We are currently looking at funding for other programmes for such things as replacing the Church roof and installing Solar Panel Heating to help over the energy crisis. We are also looking at supporting the “Warm Spaces” programme and extending our coffee morning to a full day on a Friday and include board games and warm refreshments so that people who cannot afford to heat their homes have a place to go to get warm. We were unsuccessful in our tender for the governments “Faith New Deal” funding programme. We may return to this in the second round of funding.
Item 4: Bible Study and Prayer Groups
Both of these items are of the single most importance to the Church and we will continue to meet in prayer each week on a Tuesday and study the Bible on a Thursday Evening. We will also open a further set of study programmes in basic discipleship when Andy starts in his post on the 19[th] of September.
Item 5: Preaching and Teaching Plan
We decided to plan ahead only up till the end of October with this in order that the new Pastor can have some time to develop his teaching schedule and that document will be circulated at a later date.
We will meet in October to discuss the coming Christmas Programmes and events.
We will decide upon a date in October to hold an autumn praise event, as our summer and autumn praise events have had to be cancelled for the last two years due to the pandemic.
Item 6: Outreach and Evangelism
Tony Maynard is our main outlet for evangelism at the moment, as he attends the street market every Tuesday and has conversations with people to talk about the Gospel.
The Energy Crisis means that we will be able to offer a warm space to anyone who cannot heat their home a least once and week and this may increase due to sustainability. This means that we can increase how we share the love of Christ to our community by showing love in action. Teaching in Christian Witness should be a foundational element within the Church and therefore we must place a focus upon it. The Bible commands us to know who we are in Christ, but also to be able to share that faith with people who have no faith.
The Women of Action programme has always been a problem keeping any kind of momentum. Hazel Watson has taken this over and we look forward to seeing what kind of ideas she may come up with to drive this forward.
Item 7: Questions were raised about the energy crisis. The Church secured a deal with British Gas and Eon in 2021 and are on a fixed rate tariff for another 2 years, but we should still be looking at ways in which we can conserve energy. A suggestion box will be made available for this
As there was no other business the meeting was duly closed in prayer by Rev Michael Hedley
Date of next meeting will be Tuesday 4th October 2022,
| Balanceshe€fasat31Desnb | er20 | 21 |
|---|---|---|
| ASSETS | ||
| FixdASs | ||
| Musicdln$runnnts | f | 263.95 |
| Furniture&Fittings | € | 2,453.00 |
| Computeequiprnent&technologY | € | |
| GurrqrtAsds Bank Longermlort Totdds |
f f _L |
28,793.60 1,000.00 37',J17.45 |
| LIABILITIES | ||
| Un4propridedFunds | 137,117.45 |
| Incqne&Ex | pen*Accqrnt for theyearended3 | 1Dec | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inconre | t | .87 | |
| Cott4eRentd CdtOffaings |
et | 2,7M.67 | |
| GrartsRecdved | e | 9,975.00 | |
| BarkOffaings | € | ||
| f | 733.60 | ||
| Expens | Gifts HordHoudngAllowance Sdaies& W4es GenerdCommitteeAcmrPddion CaSenrice&RePdrs |
f f g € f |
1,029.35 2,200.00 12,400.00 39.08 7&.63 |
| FudGenerd | e | 969.17 | |
| CtherStbscriPtions | f | 1,773.90 | |
| Spotify Cott4eGa CotteeWder CIherProffedond ChurchEledricitY Church Gas ChrurchWater Rdes ChurctrBuildingMd |
E I [ I E f L f |
119.88 714.79 305.59 4,417.14 201.16 6il.97 172.98 5,939.74 |
|
| WebdteDe/dopnrcnt | c | 20.00 | |
| Makding Mderids Phones&lnternd WebdteMakding Building&Contentsl Misionmntributions CIherTrdning $dionay Printing&lnk Cdering Cleaning&Jaritorid Gifts&Dondions WRUAssessrnent |
f E E e f f t c E f e f |
16,13 2,U2-30 150.00 ffi8.07 390.00 129.00 166.35 23.25 1,745.47 97.11 297.38 834.56 |
David Robinson 19 Woodlea Ashington Northumberland
Reverend Michael Hedley Word of Life Church 69 – 71 North Seaton Road Ashington Northumberland NE63 0AG
Examiner’s Report Review Basis of Report
My examination includes an audit of the accounting records kept by the association ‘Word of Life Church’ and a comparison of the accounts with those records.
General Comments
Following analysis and review of the reports provided, the key point raised is with relation to the signing off of invoices, this has now been rectified, ensuring that a policy is now in place for invoices over the amount of £100.00 to be signed off, in addition there is now a list of authorised individuals who are able to sign off such invoices. In the audit there were no errors or anomalies identified.
In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention:
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Which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in any material respect the requirements to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records have not been met;
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To which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
Kind regards
David Robinson