2022-03-31-accounts - Bethel Apostolic Church Of Jesus Christ Bristol CIO

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BETHEL UNITED CHURCH

OF JESUS CHRIST APOSTOLIC BRISTOL

TRUSTEES REPORT AND FINAL STATEMENT

FOR FINANCIAL YEAR ENDING

31ST MARCH 2022

CHARITY NUMBER: 1165866

PAGE INDEX

PAGE 3-4 REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS PAGE 5 STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT PAGE 6-9 TRUSTEES REPORT FINANCIAL REVIEW APPENDIX 1 AUDITOR’S FINANCIAL REPORT

BETHEL UNITED CHURCH BRISTOL

REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS OF CHARITY

CHARITY REGISTERED NUMBER: 1165866

REGISTERED TRUSTEES:

MR NEVILLE LEVY (CHAIR)

ROHAN SMITH (RESIGNED 31/03/22)

MS LORNA TUCKER (VICE-CHAIR)

SHARON MILLER (TREASURER)

TREVOR SIMPSON (VICE-TREASURER)

MICHAEL EARLE (TRUSTEE)

CHARITY ADDRESS: 254A CHURCH ROAD ST GEORGE BRISTOL BS5 8AF

LANDLINE NUMBER: 0117 9393374 MOBILE NUMBER: 07814765887

WEBSITE: CONNECT@BETHELCHURCHBRISTOL.ORG WWW.BETHELCHURCHBRISTOL.ORG

BETHEL UNITED CHURCH BRISTOL

AUDITOR: HEAD OFFICE: EASY ACCOUNTS &TAX GROUND FLOOR ASCOT COURT WHITE HORSE BUSINESS PARK TROWBRIDGE BA14 0XE BRISTOL OFFICE: TEMPLE QUAY BRISTOL. BS1 6PN BANK: LLOYDS BANK PLC 102 REGENT STREET KINGSWOOD BRISTOL BS15 8HT SOLICITORS: WARD SOLICITORS 35 HIGH STREET BRISTOL BS1 2AW TEL. NO: 0117 9292811 FAX NO: 0117 9434903

BETHEL UNITED CHURCH BRISTOL

STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

GOVERNING DOCUMENT: CONSTITUTION

CHARITY IS CONSTITUTED BY: CIO

The Charity is affiliated to Bethel United Church of Jesus Christ Apostolic UK whose headquarters is based at Bethel Convention Centre, Kelvin Way, West Bromwich and has 42 church assemblies over England and Wales. We continue under the leadership of Bethel United Church of Jesus Christ Apostolic UK and the National Ecclesiastical Council (NEC).

We continue to contribute our monthly 10% towards the Bethel Convention Centre to assist paying off the existing loan and its daily running costs.

Trustees are voted in by the membership of the church for a 3 year term. Trustees are responsible for the general control and management of the charity and receive no renumeration or other financial benefit for their time volunteered.

The Trustee Board have met at least 6 times this year face to face and on Zoom to discuss management of the building, meeting the vision and objectives of the Lead Pastor, to set departmental budgets, review the charity finances and highlight any potential concerns. Minutes are recorded of these meetings.

Bethel Bristol heads and supports seven other churches within the South West District of churches: Gloucester, Trowbridge, Swindon, Cardiff, Newport, Southampton and Agape Faith Fellowship an additional ministry in Bristol.

The charity’s main objective is to continue promoting and advancing the Christian faith in Bristol and wider community, to be a beacon of light, providing a safe haven for all to find support and counselling.

BETHEL UNITED CHURCH BRISTOL

TRUSTEES REPORT YEAR ENDING 31ST MARCH 2022

The Board of Trustees of Bristol United Church CIO have been working hard keeping business going and maintaining productivity. We have successfully completed some of the goals set for the 2021-2022 financial year. We have found it challenging recovering from the impact of Covid-19 like so many other organisations, but through God’s grace we have come this far.

Thanks be to God for bringing us through this challenging year in so many different ways. We have not returned to the previous service schedules we had prior to the pandemic and only have one service on Sunday morning, which can also be accessed on YouTube. Young people Sunday school classes are also held in house on Sunday mornings and this has been growing in numbers. We continue to utilise Zoom to accommodate our adult Sunday School teaching in the evening. Winning with the Word bible teaching is held in church on Wednesday evenings.

Appreciation and thanks to the dedicated Trustee Board members for the hard work you have put in to ensure this charity remains a going concern.

Many thanks for all donations received from the hands of members, visitors and friends, without your contributions and voluntary support during this year, we would have experienced more challenging times. Thank you.

We continue to monitor our financial status and continue to identify that we have not returned to the level of donations we had pre pandemic, so have been identifying steps that can be taken to manage the income and expenditure; this is an ongoing task.

POLICIES

To oversee our ministry operations Bethel Bristol has in place robust policies and procedures that are reviewed and added to as circumstances change. We are following the Bethel United Church National Safeguarding policy in order to protect both adults and children and maintain a safe environment.

SAFEGUARDING

Bishop Nathan Simmonds is Bethel United Church National Safeguarding Lead working with the National Safeguarding Team. The National Safeguarding policy has been updated and will be shared with all the district churches including Bristol Bethel. We have a local Safeguarding Lead who oversees local issues along with a small team who are responsible for overseeing the Safeguarding Policy, updating and training members of current best and safe practice. We use 31:8 to undertake the appropriate DBS checks on all who are engaged in ministry or have contact with young people.

BETHEL UNITED CHURCH BRISTOL

RISK REGISTER

Our Risk Manager has carried out the annual Health and Safety Risk assessments on the site and reviewed any incidences that have been reported or discovered. Advice and appropriate course of action have been acted on.

FIRE RISK ASSESSMENT

The annual Fire Risk assessment and service was completed as scheduled. A small group of members undertook Fire Training during the year.

ACTIVITIES AND ACHIEVEMENTS

The ministry team of Bethel Church Bristol, which include the Assistant Pastor, Elder, Ministers, Deacons, Missionaries, Ushers, Director of Ministry Operations, Administration Team under the leadership of our Bishop continue to work in partnership to oversee and develop the ministry in the South West District, continuing with the vision to grow the church here in Bristol and surrounding districts. Due to a lack of human resources we have not been able to relaunch our external ministries with the local HMP’s, but we have started to visit Nursing Homes and private residents to hold prayer ministry and home Communion with members who are unable to attend church. We continue to conduct hospital visits when required.

The Congregational Care Ministry continues to provide an important link between the church and those members unable to attend church and ensure members are contacted or visited on a regular basis.

For sometime Bethel Church has been having some difficulty replacing the band that resigned and after experiencing services without any music company we have been blessed to find willing musicians to fill this vacancy, but unfortunately this has come with a cost that has added to regular expenditure for the ministry.

On 12th December 2022, a request was tabled by the new District Bishop requesting that the South West District Funds be separated from the Bristol account and a District account be set up for direct management by the District Team. This was unanimously agreed by the Board and we are going through the process of actioning this.

BETHEL UNITED CHURCH BRISTOL

During this year we were able embark on a new project by giving support to the young children by having a music teacher facilitating Saturday music sessions to introduce and familiarise them to a variety of musical instruments and teach them how to play them. There was great interest shown and the children found these sessions enjoyable and rewarding.

ONGOING COMMUNITY SERVICE

We continue to serve our community by conducting weddings, funerals, baptisms, baby blessings, Sunday school online and off-site at Malcolm X Community Centre in St Pauls. The Sunday schools are growing and teachers are doing an excellent job engaging with the children.

Our youth clubs has yet to be relaunched and this is under review.

We also support other churches and community groups with transportation using our minibus.

Agape Faith Fellowship continues to serve in the Lyde Green community every Sunday afternoon. It continues to reach out to the community and offer support in: prayer, children’s church and community events.

ESTATE

The roof issues of the adjoining properties on Salisbury Street have been completed, but unfortunately there is a leak identified in one of the properties which is being investigated by the contractor and addressed.

There is some loose stones at the top front of the church that posses a health and safety risk. We are awaiting quotes for the repair of this damage.

All properties remain occupied and full rental being received.

We had planned to upgrade the kitchen and bathrooms in the four rental properties on Salisbury Street. We are waiting for a more detailed quote to be able to commence this work.

Property Wise continue to manage all the properties and will also be managing the property bequeathed to the church by the late Pastor Swaby when they are instructed to do so.

The Manse in Downend for Bishop and Lady Edmund is still being rented. Property Wise continues to manage this contract.

As a result of the poor service we have received from British Gas we have moved our electric utility to Utility Warehouse. Due to some unknown reason we were unable to transfer our gas supply to them also, but have set up a new contract with British Gas Lite.

BETHEL UNITED CHURCH BRISTOL

FINANCIAL REVIEW

We continue to receive voluntary donations from the membership in tithes and offerings as well as any income for the hire/use of the church.

The Board continues to monitor the budget and due to the many challenging issues we are still putting together a plan to reduce expenditure where we can.

As reported last year Bethel Church was gifted through Pastor Delroy Swaby’s Will his entire estate, receiving to the sum of £70,863.52. In addition to this a further 55,892.00 was received February 2022. The membership voted that a portion of these funds will be ring-fenced to be used to fund specific future projects under this ministry.

The charity is reliant on the continued donations of the congregants, friends and community via voluntary tithes and offerings.

The review of all expenditure is an ongoing process and we will be looking at the existing stipends.

We retain the employment of our cleaner on a zero-hour contract at a rate of £10 per hour.

Refer to auditor’s report for further details of our financial statement.

An AGM is to be scheduled early in the new financial year 2023.

FUTURE PLANS

• In light of the continued impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on the charity we continue to monitor any potential financial risks, balancing income against expenditure to ensure we remain a viable going concern, we are aiming to return to the agreed reserve level.

We continue to support our newest ministry Agape Faith Fellowship operating in the Lyde Green Community and support the South West District of churches as well as St Pauls Sunday School.
We will continue to provide remote access to our services and Sunday school via Zoom and YouTube.
The purchase of a headstone for the late Pastor Swaby burial plot is in process and we await delivery.
Review and attribute appropriate budgets for our departmental ministries.
As a result of our entire Music Ministry Team resigning we need review how we will sustainably rebuild and finance our Music Ministry.
As a matter of some urgency we need to recruit a new Trustee Board as the whole Board has come to the end of their tenure.

BETHEL UNITED CHURCH BRISTOL

We are still working with our solicitor to resolve the ongoing issue getting the church and adjoining properties registered with the Land Registry under the CIO name.

This report has been approved by order of the members of the Board of Trustees on 20/02/2023 and signed on their behalf by:

Minister Neville Levy Chair Bristol Trustee Board