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← The Gathering - Cardiff

2023-12-31-accounts

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The Gathering - Cardiff A Charitable Incorporated Organisation Registered Charity 1168154 Company Number CE007824 Established as a Church Community 20[th] November 2011. Registered as a Charity 11[th] July 2016

Annual Report 2023 For the period between 1[st] January 2023 and 31[st] December 2023

Welcome from our Pastoral Leaders

Croeso! Welcome! We are so grateful to all the folks who have been a part of the journey of the Gathering over the last ten years, and to you now, for taking the time to read this report which celebrates all that has been achieved by the Gathering in 2023.

The Gathering began in November 2011, gathering together a small group of people who longed for the church to be accepting of all, and who were looking for a safe space to worship God regardless of our sexuality or gender identity. We met for the first time at City United Reformed Church in Cardiff and have met every Sunday evening since, growing in numbers and in influence within the LGBTQI+ community in South Wales and beyond.

As an LGBTQI+ focused and inclusive church, we are known for being a key partner in LGBTQI+ projects and have assisted other churches in their desire to become inclusive spaces of LGBTQI+ people. Our growing online presence offers YouTube videos and podcasts with talks on being LGBTQI+ and Christian and our website has become a resource for LGBTQI+ Christians and church leaders.

The Gathering has four volunteer Pastoral Leaders from various Christian backgrounds and denominations. They lead the weekly acts of worship and are available to the congregation and others to provide pastoral support. During 2023 we had 2 members of staff working for us, a Church Link Worker, who was responsible for making links between the wider church and the Gathering and supporting church leaders in making their churches more inclusive, and an LGBTQI+ Community Link Worker who was appointed initially on placement by the Methodist Church in September 2022 for one year but who is now employed directly by The Gathering – Cardiff.

We thank you for being a part of our journey, and for your support in reading this annual report.

Revd Delyth Liddell Pastoral Leader and Chair of Trustees

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L-R: G Tanswell, Dr Nici Lintern-Gittens, Revd. Delyth Liddell, Revd. Ruth Rowan.

The Gathering - Cardiff. Annual Report 2023 www.thegatheringcardiff.org

Who are our trustees?

Our trustees at the beginning of the financial year (1[st] January 2023) were (in order of date of appointment) :

*RG’s identity has been omitted from this report following granting of a dispensation by the Charity Commission.

Three resignations were received during 2023, all for personal reasons, these were: Fred Till (eff. 30[th] March 2023), Samuel Johnston (eff. 20[th] July 2023) and Rosie Peters (eff. 6[th] August 2023).

Revd. Ruth Rowan became a Pastoral Leader on 3[rd] September 2023, and accepted an ex-officio position as a trustee.

Following consultation during 2022, it was agreed that due to the COVID-19 outbreak, our existing elected trustees at that time hadn’t had an opportunity to contribute as much as they would have liked to the growth of our organisation, and so it was agreed that all elected trustees would exceptionally be offered an additional 3-year term should they choose to take that up. The only remaining trustee in this year’s cohort affected by that policy decision was Alison Lintern-Gittens, who has opted to remain in post for another term, and therefore her term of office was extended until 2026.

Following an election at our Annual Church Meeting, Rebecca Westwood was elected as a trustee from 22[nd] October 2023 for a 3-year term.

As at 31[st] December 2022 our trustees are (in order of date of appointment) :

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The Gathering - Cardiff. Annual Report 2023 www.thegatheringcardiff.org

Our charitable objects

The objects of The Gathering - Cardiff are for the public benefit in South Wales, regardless of sexual orientation, gender, ability, age, faith or ethnicity, with a particular focus on the LGBT+ community by providing a secure and safe environment for them to advance the Christian faith in accordance with our statement of faith; and the promotion of equality and diversity by:

(Nothing in our constitution shall authorise an application of the property of The Gathering for the purposes which are not charitable in accordance with Section 7 of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and Section 2 of the Charities Act (Northern Ireland) 2008.)

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Our Statement of Faith

The Gathering - Cardiff. Annual Report 2023 www.thegatheringcardiff.org

Let’s get some admin out of the way…

Attendance

During 2023, The Gathering – Cardiff continued to offer weekly worship in-person and with options for online attendance and interaction.

Each of our Sunday evening services was attended by an average of 19 people, a slight increase from last year, meaning that we provided the opportunity for people to worship and explore their faith for a total of 104 hours, with 1025 in-person attendances during 2023. In addition to this, as each of our Sunday evening services is also live streamed to our Facebook page, a further 508* views of our Sunday services occurred during 2023.

In addition, we held socials, Queer Theology 101 sessions, the Pride Cymru Faith Tent or our weekly online Bible Studies.

*only Facebook views of more than 1 minute are counted for this statistic

Social Media Engagement

Through our Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube, we reached over 4,500 users per month during 2023.

Banking

During 2023, The Gathering – Cardiff opened an account with Unity Trust Bank to operate as our main bank account. Our account at Barclays Bank was subsequently closed during the same accounting year.

As of 31[st] December 2023, The Gathering – Cardiff held cash assets with:

In addition to this, a sum of money representing the balance from the closure of our Barclays Bank account was held in the form of a cheque, which has since been deposited.

Organisational Accountability

As of 31[st] December 2023, The Gathering - Cardiff hold the following professional registrations:

Charity Commission of England and Wales: 1168154 Information Commissioners Office: ZB410053 Christian Copyright Licencing International:

651680 (Copyright Licence) 187116 (Streaming Licence) EW50100

His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs:

The Gathering - Cardiff. Annual Report 2023 www.thegatheringcardiff.org

What did we do during 2023?

Queer Theology 101

In 2023, Georgia Day created and delivered the Queer Theology 101 course where topics such as the history of sodomy, the structure and content of Genesis and the gender and sexuality of Jesus were explored. 87 people signed up to the course with a regular class size of between 10-30 people at the URC each week where these engaging sessions were delivered. These were also live streamed to Facebook and for those unable to attend, the materials were sent out.

Throughout the year, a wealth of resources has also been posted on Facebook every Wednesday each with different faith based themes.

Queer Book Club and Bible Study

In March, the Queer Book Club was started with the first book, ‘Undivided’, selected as the first one up for discussion. Since then, other titles such as ‘Heartstopper’ and ‘The Journey is Home’ have been read and discussed by the group.

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In addition to this, one of our Pastoral Leaders Nici has been leading an online Bible study which has provided the opportunity to explore the Bible in more depth and discuss this with others.

Socials

Socials continued to take place throughout the year with games nights at Scaredy Cats, going to see one of the Iris Prize films, ‘The Queen of My Dreams’ and a visit to Winter Wonderland.

Podcasts

A new series of the Gathering Podcast was launched in 2023 and included conversations around the different elements of Pride along with interviews with MS Hannah Blythyn and Jayne Ozanne who amongst other things, discussed politics, faith and the fight for a ban on conversion therapy.

Pride

In 2023, the Gathering had a presence at Newport, Swansea, Merthyr and Caerphilly Pride along with the Big Queer Picnic and the Faith Tent at Pride Cymru. By asking the question “Can you be a Christian and LGBTQ+?”, we had some great conversations, questions and debates with those who came to put a pom-pom in the jar! The Faith Tent provided a reflective space away from the busyness of the other Pride activities going on and the opportunity to sit and do some craft and chat. Thanks to a great collaborative effort from those who volunteered, we were able to engage with communities from across Wales and highlight the message that you can be LGBTQ+ and a Christian.

The Gathering - Cardiff. Annual Report 2023 www.thegatheringcardiff.org

Filmed ‘Fruits of the Spirit’

During a hot July weekend, filming took place for the short film ‘Fruits of the Spirit’ which was funded by the Iris Prize Festival. Written and directed by Georgia Day, this film focuses on the protagonists, Maddy and Carys, who get outed to their church worship band and their journey to finding acceptance amongst religious intolerance.

Worship

In a bid to move away from using worship songs in our services that are written / performed / produced by unaffirming artists, Sammy Woodward and Georgia Day began overhauling the playlists to include many new additions. New lyric videos have been created and more suggested artists are being added as our ongoing commitment to providing inclusive worship.

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In December 2023, some members went carolling on Queen Street which was in addition to the Carol Service held at the Church where mince pies and mulled wine were served.

New Roles

In 2023 Samuel Johnston stepped down as Pastoral Leader; the support, time and leadership that Sam has provided over the years has been greatly valued by the Gathering.

In September we welcomed Revd. Ruth Rowan to the Pastoral Leadership team. We are excited to work with Ruth and welcome her talents and gifts to The Gathering leadership!

Looking forward to 2024

We’ve got a lot to look forward to in 2024! Firstly, the premiere of our short film, ‘Fruits of the Spirit’, has been scheduled for Jan 13[th] at Chapter Arts Centre. Expect glitz, glam, a brilliant film, and even a magician! We are also hoping to do other local screenings: the URC, Gower Heritage Centre, and elsewhere. We’re super excited by the potential of this film to do great things.

Speaking of the film, we’re currently submitting it to film festivals across the world, where it’ll hopefully be seen by lots of people. Who knows, we may even win some awards! We’re also developing a resource pack to use in churches as part of a training session, in order to help local churches become more inclusive and affirming.

Also in 2024 will be our upcoming music project! We’re currently on the hunt for some funding, but the general idea is this: as part of our efforts to update our worship music to be from affirming artists, we thought that we could write some worship music! This project will be led by Frances Bolley and Sammy Woodward, with support from Georgia Day. We want to make 4 songs of varying genres and topics, with as much community involvement as possible throughout the process.

We will also be going to various Prides as usual – Pride Cymru on June 22[nd] and 23[rd] and Swansea Pride on May 18[th] have both been confirmed already.

The Gathering - Cardiff. Annual Report 2023 www.thegatheringcardiff.org

We will also be reviving the podcast soon! We’ve planned a few series: one revolving around ‘Fruits of the Spirit’, one interview series, and one ecumenical question and answer series (e.g. Ask An Anglican).

Ways you can contribute to our work

We are always glad of any support that people can offer us, whether that be through prayer, fellowship, joining in with us on a Sunday evening, or giving financially to help to fund our work. Here are a few methods that you can contribute to our work financially.

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You can make one-off or regular donations by Credit/Debit Card or Direct Debit using our MyChurchSuite platform.

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We have a PayPal account which can receive payments by sending the payment to

mail@thegatheringcardiff.org

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Or we are partnered with PayPal Giving Fund who also claim Gift Aid through their donations. https://www.paypal.com/gb/ fundraiser/charity/3233746

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We are registered on the Facebook Donate platform, and so anyone can begin a fundraiser there to raise money for The Gathering – Cardiff.

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We are registered with the Charities Aid Foundation where you can donate online or using a CAF Voucher.

The Gathering - Cardiff. Annual Report 2023 www.thegatheringcardiff.org

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Charity Name No (if any)
The Gathering Cardiff 1168154
Receipts andpayments accounts CC16a
01.01.23
Period start date
For the period
from		 31.12.23
Period end date
To
Section A Receipts and payments Section A Receipts and payments Section A Receipts and payments
A1 Receipts Unrestricted
funds
to the nearest £
6,176
65
-
94
4,069
37
313		 Restricted
funds
to the nearest £		 Endowment
funds
to the nearest £		 Total funds
to the nearest £		 Last year
to the nearest £
Direct Giving 6,176 - - 6,176 2,744
Donation 65 - - 65 1,804
Clothing (Paypal) - - - - 261
Facebook 94 - - 94 -
Gift Aid 4,069 - - 4,069 15
Amazon Smile Donations 37 - - 37 55
Donations(Paypal) 313 - - 313 97
Paypal starting balance for 2022 - - - - 245
Sub total(Gross income for
AR)
10,754		 - - 10,754 5,221
-
-
-
10,754
-
89
5,134
35
-
442
414
-
-
890
220
-
700
103
700
37
146
63
159
38
9,169
-		 -
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-		 -
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-		 -
-
-
A2 Asset and investment sales,
(see table).
None -
-
 -
~~Sub total~~ - -
Total receipts
A3 Payments
10,754 5,221
-
89
5,134
35
-
442
414
-
-
890
220
-
700
103
700
37
146
63
159
38
9,169
-
-
-
9,169
1,586
-
12,600
Website Fees - 38
PAYE Software Fees 89 101
Salary 5,134 856
General GatheringExpenses 35 35
StreamingLicences - -
LGBT+ Worker Equipment and Expenses 442 416
Churchsuite 414 198
Clothing - 802
Pin Badges - 317
Pride 890 677
Paypal Spending 220 21
Paypal fees - 5
Donations 700 -
HMRC Fine 103 -
Fruits of the Spirit Project 700 -
Service Charges 37 -
DBS Checks 146 -
SMS Credits 63 -
Insurance 159 -
Case for Microphone 38 -
**Sub total ** 9,169 3,467
A4 Asset and investment
purchases, (see table)

Wifi Router and Data SIM Card		 - - - - 125
- - - - -
**Sub total ** - - - - 125
Total payments
Net of receipts/(payments)
A5 Transfers between funds
A6 Cash funds last year end
Cash funds this year end
3,592
1,586 1,586 1,630
- - -
12,073 12,600 10,970
13,659 14,186 12,600

CCXX R1 accounts (SS)

29/04/2024

1

Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period
Categories
Signed by one or two trustees on
behalf of all the trustees
B4 Assets retained for the
charity’s own use
B5 Liabilities
B1 Cash funds
B2 Other monetary assets
B3 Investment assets		 Laptop
None
Sound System
Cables
Mevo Live Camera (and accessories)
Wifi Router
Details
Projector Stand
Signature
Bank Balance(Barclays/Unity)
Paypal Balance
Details
Total cash funds
(agree balances with receipts and payments
account(s))
None
Details
Details
None
Details
Leaflet Holders
Computer Monitor
Pod Cast Microphone
TV Stand
Laptop
Projector
TV		 Unrestricted
funds
Restricted
funds
to nearest £
to nearest £
12,990
527
669
-
-
-
13,659
527
OK
OK
Unrestricted
f
d
Restricted
f
d
to nearest £
to nearest £
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Fund to which
asset belongs
Cost (optional)
-
-
-
Fund to which
asset belongs
Cost (optional)
Unrestricted
£38.00
Unrestricted
£20.00
Unrestricted
£190.00
Unrestricted
£125.00
Unrestricted
£400.00
Unrestricted
£230.00
Unrestricted
£269.00
Unrestricted
£95.00
Unrestricted
£126.00
Restricted
£572.00
Restricted
£85.97
Unrestricted
£125.00
Unrestricted
£0.00
Fund to which
~~liability relates~~
Amount due
~~(optional)~~
-
-
-
Print Name
Nici Lintern-Gittens
Gareth Tanswell		 Endowment
funds
to nearest £
-
-
-
-
OK
Endowment
f
d
to nearest £
-
-
-
-
Current value
(optional)
-
-
-
Current value
(optional)
£0.00
£0.00
£92.00
£65.49
£0.00
£103.99
£115.70
£28.47
£51.80
£415.37
£53.58
£99.99
£0.00
When due
~~(optional)~~
Date of
approval
Nici Lintern-Gittens 11-Apr-24
Gareth Tanswell 11-Apr-24

CCXX R2 accounts (SS)

29/04/2024

2