2023-03-31-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 2023

CHARITY NUMBER: 1165866

PAGE INDEX

PAGE 3-4	REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS
PAGE 5	STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT
PAGE 6-10	TRUSTEES REPORT FINANCIAL REVIEW
APPENDIX 1	AUDITOR’S FINANCIAL REPORT

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REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS OF CHARITY

CHARITY REGISTERED NUMBER: 1165866

REGISTERED TRUSTEES:

MR NEVILLE LEVY (CHAIR)

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 510 BRISTOL BUSINESS PARK COLDHARBOUR LANE BR16 1EJ BANK: LLOYDS BANK PLC 102 REGENT STREET KINGSWOOD BRISTOL BS15 8HT SOLICITORS: WARD SOLICITORS 37 BOULEVARD 52 BROAD STREET WESTON-SUPER-MARE BRISTOL BRISTOL BS1 2EP BS23 1PE TEL. NO: 01934413535 0117 9292811 FAX NO: 01934635899 0117 9434903

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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).

A monthly 10% contribution is given towards the Bethel Convention Centre to assist paying off the existing loan and its ongoing 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, (now known as District 7): Gloucester, Trowbridge, Swindon, Cardiff, Newport, Southampton and Agape Faith Fellowship an additional ministry in Bristol diocese.

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.

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TRUSTEES REPORT YEAR ENDING 31ST MARCH 2023

The Board of Trustees of Bristol United Church CIO have been working hard keeping business going and maintaining productivity with the limited resources to hand.

I thank God for bringing us through this challenging year in so many different ways. We continue to hold face to face fellowship in the church on Sunday mornings with periodic Sunday evening services on special events. You Tube continues to be a useful platform that is used by members who are unable to attend church in person and also allows access to members of the public to search and find this ministry. We have started to see an increase in the footfall of people attending church which has been encouraging. Young people Sunday school classes are also held in house on Sunday mornings and this continues to grow in numbers attending. We continue to utilise Zoom to accommodate our adult Sunday School teaching on Sunday evenings. Winning with the Word Bible Teaching is held in church on Wednesday evenings, but during the winter months is moved to Zoom platform.

I give a special thanks to the dedicated Trustee Board members for the hard work you’ve put in to ensure this charity remains a going concern. Thank you for sticking with the objectives and holding on to see your term through to the end.

Many thanks for all donations received from the 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 continue to use 31:8 to undertake the appropriate DBS checks on all who are engaged in ministry or have contact with young people or vulnerable adults.

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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.

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 District 7, continuing with the vision to grow the church here in Bristol and surrounding districts. We continue to visit Nursing Homes and private residents to hold prayer ministry and home Communion with members who are unable to attend church in person. 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.

The children and youth Sunday school is flourishing and we’ve seen an increase in number on the register.

We continue to support the annual Sunday school trip to a seaside resort.

We continued to experience challenges with filling our musician vacancies, but thanks be to God we have a member who has volunteered to play the keyboard and we will buy in other musicians whenever required.

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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 and Lyde Green. The Sunday schools are growing and teachers are doing an excellent job engaging with the children.

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

Agape Faith Fellowship continues to serve within the Lyde Green community every Sunday afternoon. It continues to reach out to the community and offer support in: prayer, children’s church, attending community events and supplying food hampers to vulnerable families. Our annual Christmas Carol Service was hosted at Lyde Green Community Centre and this was well supported by the community.

ESTATE

All adjoining rental properties remain fully occupied and full rental being received. These properties continues to operate in the black.

The loose stones at the top front of the church that posed a health and safety risk has been addressed and issue now resolved.

The planned upgrade of the kitchen and bathrooms in the four rental properties on Salisbury Street was commenced.

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.

The ongoing issue with the Land Registry is still in progress, but we can see the end of this process. We continue to work with our solicitor to resolve the issue getting the church and adjoining properties registered with the Land Registry under the CIO name.

The property willed to the church by our late Pastor Swaby remains under review on how we will renovate and repair and then manage this property.

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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.

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

We continue to review all expenditure and have attempted to be proactive in reducing expenditure, but this has been challenging with lack of co-operation.

We retain the employment of our cleaner on a zero-hour contract at national minimum wage rate.

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

An AGM is to be scheduled in the new financial year 2023 when we hope to vote in a new Trustees Board.

FUTURE PLANS

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 financially support Agape Faith Fellowship operating in the Lyde Green Community and St Pauls Sunday school as well as District 7 churches.
We will continue to provide remote access to our services and Sunday school via Zoom and YouTube.
Review and attribute appropriate budgets for our departmental ministries.
We continue to review how we will sustainably rebuild and finance our Music Ministry.
Continue our support to members of the assembly who are threatened with eviction.
The existing Trustee Board who had come to the end of their tenure had to continue in their role until a new Board was voted in. The recruitment process was commenced and the we await the outcome of this process.
We are reviewing the Senior Pastor package and waiting to see if there is going to be a restructuring at the senior level.

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As we have not submitted any claims for Gift Aid for past 3 years, we will be working with our accountant to claim any sums owing.
The Retreat Ministry has transferred to its own account and managed by Swindon. We will continue our support towards this ministry.
When we get visitors or people turning up at our door asking for help, we are able to provide food hampers or any other support within reason. Christmas food hampers are distributed to vulnerable families in Lyde Green community.
For members going through financial hardship we continue to be a source of help and support.
Church Officers and Ministers are scheduled for periodic training either in-house or facilitated off site. We continue to support this activity.
We continue to contribute towards the District 7 account for our annual District convocation.

This report has been approved by order of the members of the Board of Trustees on 29/01/2024 and signed on their behalf by:

Minister Neville Levy Former Chair Bristol Trustee Board

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