# **ChristChurch Tilehurst Trustee Annual Report & Financial Statements April 1[st] 2020 – March 31[st] 2021** Registered Charity Number: 1169691 ## CONTENTS _**REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS .........................................................................2 STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE, MANAGEMENT ........................................................................3 AIMS, OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES .......................................................................................3**_ **Aims ............................................................................................................................................. 3 Objectives .................................................................................................................................... 4** _**ACHEIVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE ...................................................................................4**_ **Sunday Worship Services ............................................................................................................. 4 Covid-19 Response and Pastoral Care .......................................................................................... 5 Online Ministry............................................................................................................................. 6 Growth Groups ............................................................................................................................. 6 Prayer Meetings ........................................................................................................................... 6 Courses & Training ....................................................................................................................... 7 Evangelism and Mission ............................................................................................................... 7 Volunteers .................................................................................................................................... 8** _**FINANCIAL REVIEW ...............................................................................................................8 DECLARATION .......................................................................................................................9**_ ## REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS **Charity Name** ChristChurch Tilehurst **Registered Charity Number** 1169691 **Principal Office** 26 Brooksby Road Tilehurst Reading RG31 6LY ## **Charity Trustees** Daniel Dwelly (Elder/Pastor) Peter Ward (Elder) Neil Runnalls (Elder) James Muldoon Alex Clayton (Elder) until January 2021 ## STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE, MANAGEMENT ChristChurch Tilehurst is constituted as a **Charitable Incorporated Organisation** and governed by a **constitution** with **trustees** elected by charity members in accordance with our Church Handbook. The Church Handbook also requires the elders of the Church must be trustees, though trustees do not have to be elders. Mr James Muldoon is the only serving trustee who is not also an elder. It is hoped this will give greater accountability for the charity and flexibility that ensures CCT continues to operate with the required number of trustees with proper expertise. The elders have met on a regular basis[1] through the year to provide oversight of the church activities and discuss pastoral care and ministry business in light of our purpose, objectives and aims. In January this year, Mr Alex Clayton stood down as an elder and Trustee. We have been most grateful for his leadership and would like to thank him for his service with the church since its inception. We are so glad he continues to serve as an active member of the church. This year began with a membership of 45 individuals. Two have moved away and one deceased bringing the total at the end of this year to 42. The members have meet quarterly to discuss church business, assess the finances and vote church matters. In addition, ChristChurch Tilehurst is a member of the **Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches** (FIEC), a network organisation supporting independent churches across the UK. The FIEC has no governing authority or responsibility for the charity but offers a supporting role, facilitating partnerships with other churches in the network, running training and conferences and providing advice. ## AIMS, OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES ## **Aims** The aims and objectives or ChristChurch Tilehurst (CCT) are set out in the charity’s governing constitution which states that the purposes of the church are; The advancement of the Christian faith in accordance with the Doctrinal Basis of Faith primarily but not exclusively within Tilehurst, Reading and the surrounding neighbourhood; and such other charitable purposes as shall, in the opinion of the members of the Church in general meeting, put into practice the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ in accordance with the Doctrinal Basis of Faith provided that the advancement of such purposes must be undertaken in a manner that is consistent with the Doctrinal Distinctives and Ethical Statements as may be adopted and amended by the Church from time to time in accordance with the provisions of the Church Handbook. 1 More than 30 times. ## **Objectives** CCT is committed to its objective of furthering the Christian faith in Tilehurst, Reading and beyond. When planning activities, the trustees have considered the Commission’s guidance on public benefit and have sought to enable anyone in our reach to live out the Christian faith within the local church community, or have the opportunity to explore Christianity for themselves. Some of the particular activities we engage in to achieve our objectives include: - Sunday worship services - Prayer meetings - Small learning and support groups called ‘Growth Groups’ - Introductory courses to Christianity such as ‘Christianity Explored’ - Special classes and courses on Christian life and doctrine - Support of missionary work - Provision of pastoral care for church members and the wider community The church also pro-actively engages with the wider community at a number of events through the year, including community fayres or by celebrating key festivals and cultural events (Christmas, Easter, Harvest, Remembrance Sunday). ## ACHEIVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE ## **Sunday Worship Services** The focal point of church life is our weekly Sunday morning services hosted at Westwood Farm Junior School at 10.30am. The services aim to provide an engaging time of worship through contemporary and traditional music, prayers, Bible readings, the Lord’s Supper and sermons. These services have been open to all and provide a good opportunity for the general public to observe and participate in church life or interact with the Christian community. We have had the privilege of worshipping together as a mixed group of people from different backgrounds, nationalities and status. It has been our aim to ensure a very warm welcome to everyone attending our services, especially visitors and newcomers and whether they are believers or not. The most significant challenge and change to our usual pattern and style of worship came with the Covid-19 pandemic and national lockdowns that began in March 2020. The inperson gathering of the church is a crucial part of Christian faith and practice and the extended lockdowns and separation has been extremely challenging to counter. In response to this crisis, the trustees initially postponed our in-person services at the school and instead, immediately launched a live-streamed service online through YouTube. It was a steep learning curve for the pastor, elders and membership to adjust to this new medium but over time, our skills and production quality improved significantly which meant we were still able to deliver engaging content similar to our usual in-person services. The online medium also allowed for some creative and unique content designed to reach the wider online viewer, including animated and interactive content. Our online presence also meant that we were able to attract consistently greater numbers of viewers than we would usually through in-person services. Most of our live-streamed services attracted an approximate average audience of 35 viewers. This represented between 60 and 90 individuals, including a few from overseas. Once uploaded, our videos continued to attract viewers into the hundreds. Eventually, by the Summer, when it seemed safe to do so, we began meeting in-person again but continued with a live-streamed element for those still unable to attend. We implemented a booking system in order to control numbers which we could safely accommodate in the school hall as well has a range of other government mandated or suggested mitigations, including mask wearing and social distancing. ## **Covid-19 Response and Pastoral Care** As well as moving our services online, the elders immediately moved from bi-monthly to weekly elders’ meetings over Zoom for around the first few months to ensure we continued to care spiritually and practically for the membership and regularly assess and respond to the rapidly changing and developing pandemic. A particular challenge was maintaining good communication and contact with the membership, especially those who were most isolated and vulnerable. The elders, especially through the pastor, systematically contacted each member, keeping regular communication with the neediest. The significant draw-back of lockdowns to our ministry over a long period of time is that it robs us of the crucial need for physical, in-person contact. The Christian practices of mutual encouragement, service and relationship building was significantly hindered or impossible. The burden of the lockdowns and the concern over the pandemic presented a significant emotional, mental, physical and spiritual strain on the membership. However, many of the members reported how encouraging and helpful the online content had been and, at times, a life-line for those who have been struggling. It was also encouraging to see members supporting one another in various way, whether through regular phone calls or in assisting with shopping or collecting prescriptions. The elders also greatly appreciated and relied much on the wisdom and experience of some of our members who offered counsel and advice especially around our return to in-person services. ## **Online Ministry** The pandemic required the church to deliver a substantial part of its services through online channels, especially YouTube, Social Media and Zoom. In addition to the live-streamed and pre-recorded Sunday services, the elders were also able to produce short devotional content, offering encouragement and Bible teaching to our viewers. We also produced a short series of Bible talks through Easter Week The **Children’s ministry team** created a series of children’s videos entitled ‘Alphabet Attributes’ and a series of book readings from the ‘Stories That Tell The Truth’ books published by The Good Book Company. They also produced a brilliant **Nativity Video** with many children and church members involved. The **Music Team** were also able to produce some high-quality music videos of some of our favourite worship songs. It has been extremely encouraging to see so many of our membership use their own creative gifts and abilities in producing this contact for the benefit of the whole church and the wider watching world. In some instances, other churches and groups requested to use some of our content for their own church and community’s benefit too. Most of our video content can be seen at www.youtube.com. ## **Growth Groups** One of the most important ministries we were able to continue online were our Growth Groups. There were three smaller groups of Christians in the church meeting on Zoom on a weekly or bi-weekly basis for prayer, support and encouragement, and Bible teaching. Meeting Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, these groups proved to be vital in maintaining our relationships and continuing to support each other through the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdowns. ## **Prayer Meetings** Enabling opportunity for corporate prayer has remained a key priority for the elders and a vital part of church life. Over the year, we have continued to meet either in person or on Zoom for prayer on a Sunday evening each month. Through January to March 2021, each Friday, we hosted a 30-minute morning, afternoon and evening prayer meeting on Zoom, allowing for a more intensive season of prayer for the church, with around four to six different people at each meeting. ## **Courses & Training** We have aimed to provide key discipleship and teaching opportunities for Christians in our church, including a ‘ **Raising Faith’** course produced by **Care for the Family** . This is a series of six sessions or video content and discussion around the issue of strengthening the spiritual life of the family, especially for the benefit of children. This was hosted over Zoom on Sunday evenings to allow both parents of young children to attend. It was attended by as many as 9 families in the church. There has also been opportunity to provide **Baptismal Classes** to congregants exploring this for themselves. ## **Evangelism and Mission** Sharing the message of Jesus Christ has remained a key priority for the church during this year, though like many other aspect of our ministry during the pandemic and lockdowns, it has been severely curtailed. Our online content and messages have been a key way we have continued to proclaim our message to our community though it is hard to assess the exact impact of this on non-Christians, though we know many have seen and engaged with the content. One of our most successful outreach initiatives during this year has been the production of two editions of a **magazine** at Christmas and Easter called ‘ **Good News for Tilehurst** ’. Since we were not able to host our usual community events at Christmas and Easter when often people come to us, we felt this would be a good way for us to “go to them”. The magazine was a high quality, professional produced 20page magazine. The content included articles from the pastor and personal stories from our church members, connecting their life experiences and faith in relatable ways. There were activities for children, recipes and information on resources and organisations offering help, such as Christians Against Poverty (CAP). Each magazine was delivered by our members to around 4000 homes in our area. Feedback from the community was very positive with one new family attending the church regularly after receiving the magazine. Our members have also been encouraged by the opportunities it has given them to build connections with their neighbours. At Christmas time, we organised a **Christmas Tree Trail** in our local area. During the lockdowns, we noticed a lot more people and families making the most of being outside. The idea of a Christmas Tree Trail provided an enjoyable activity for families and allowed us to connect with the community. Wooden pallets were fashioned into Christmas tree shapes and painted. A QR-code was attached which linked you to a page on our website detailing a character or element of the Christmas nativity story. These tree-pallets were then installed at various members’ homes around the area and a map created for people to follow and log their progress. We observed dozens or families attempting the trail. We created a similar Easter Egg trail in April as well. We have also continued to support a number of overseas missionaries in prayer and financially in India, Italy, Eastern Europe and the Middle East. ## **Volunteers** The elders and trustees would like to thank all our volunteers who work incredibly hard to make CCT a welcoming and supportive Christian community. This year has been exceptionally challenging under the pandemic restrictions but we are so grateful for the commitment, prayers and encouragement of our congregation. We believe the church is like a body, with different members providing different gifts and abilities and it has been fantastic to see the church support each other over the year. We would especially like to thank Mrs Hannah Martin, our Safeguarding Lead, and Mr Louie Over, our Church Treasurer. They have both given up a lot of time to help the church in these roles and assist the trustees in their responsibilities. ## FINANCIAL REVIEW The church is supported through the generous voluntary giving of its members and congregants. The trustees have implemented a policy of maintaining a balance of unrestricted funds greater than or equal to approximately three months of operating costs for the charity, wherever possible. This is designed to support the ongoing operation of the charity in the event of fluctuations in donation income, upon which the charity relies. Three months is considered sufficient time for the trustees to identify an enduring decline in giving and take action to control costs or generate income as required. As at 31 March 2021 the charity’s general unrestricted funds stood at £58,436. ## DECLARATION This annual report has been prepared by the trustees and approved by them. Signed on behalf of the Trustees: |**SIGNED:**||| |---|---|---| |**FULL NAME:**|Daniel Dwelly|Peter Ward| |**POSITION:**|Pastor/Elder/Trustee|Elder/Trustee| |**DATE:**|28/01/2022|28/01/2022| **ChristChurch, Tilehurst** **1169691** ## **Receipts and payments accounts** ## **CC16a** |**For the period**
**from**|01/04/2020|**To**|31/03/2021| |---|---|---|---| ## **Section A Receipts and payments** |**A1 Receipts**|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**|**Restricted funds**
**to the nearest £**|**Restricted funds**
**to the nearest £**|**Endowment**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**|**Endowment**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**|**Total funds**
**to the nearest £**|**Total funds**
**to the nearest £**|**Last year**
**to the nearest £**| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| |
Donations Received|**48,840**||**140**||**-**||**48,980**||**50,716**| |GiftAid Receipts|**11,222**||**-**||**-**||**11,222**||**6,885**| ||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**| ||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**| ||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**| ||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**| ||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**| ||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**| |**_Sub total_**_(Gross income for AR)_|**60,062**||**140**||**-**||**60,202**||**57,601**| ||||||||||| |**A2 Asset and investment sales,**
**(see table).**|||||||||| ||**-**||||||||| ||**-**||||||||**-**| |**_Sub total_**|**-**||||||||**-**| |**_Total receipts_**
**A3 Payments**|||||||||| ||||||||||**57,601**| ||||||||||| |
Venue Costs|**2,806**||**-**||**-**||**2,806**||**4,095**| |Staff Costs|**33,700**||**-**||**-**||**33,700**||**33,550**| |Admin Fees to Carey|||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**| |Guest Speaker|**50**||**-**||**-**||**50**||**1,057**| |Refreshments|**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**659**| |Home Groups|**101**||**-**||**-**||**101**||**-**| |Compliance|**854**||**-**||**-**||**854**||**1,065**| |SundaySchool|**71**||**-**||**-**||**71**||**362**| |Youth Group|**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**27**| |Creche|**33**||**-**||**-**||**33**||**40**| |Music|**1,156**||**-**||**-**||**1,156**||**499**| |Events|**2,811**||**-**||**-**||**2,811**||**1,260**| |Communion|**53**||**-**||**-**||**53**||**13**| |Mission|**5,050**||**-**||**-**||**5,050**||**3,573**| |Other|**947**||**190**||**-**||**1,137**||**369**| |**_Sub total_ **|**47,632**||**190**||**-**||**47,822**||**46,569**| ||||||||||| |**A4 Asset and investment**
**purchases, (see table)**|||||||||| ||**-**||||||||| ||**-**||||||||| |**_Sub total_ **|**-**||||||||**-**| |**_Total payments_**
**_Net of receipts/(payments)_**
**A5 Transfers between funds**
**A6 Cash funds last year end**
**_Cash funds this year end_**|||||||||| ||||||||||**46,569**| ||||||||||| ||**12,430**||||||||**11,032**| ||**-**||||||||**-**| ||**46,006**||||||||**35,048**| ||**58,436**||||||||**46,080**| CCXX R1 accounts (SS) 28/01/2022 1 ## **Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period** |CCXX R2 accounts (SS)
**Categories**
Signed by one or two trustees on
behalf of all the trustees
**B1 Cash funds**
**B2 Other monetary assets**
**B4 Assets retained for the**
**charity’s own use**
**B5 Liabilities**
**B3 Investment assets**|2
Signature
**Details**
**Details**
Cash Funds
**Details**
**Details**
**_Total cash funds_**
(agree balances with receipts and payments account(s))
**Details**|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**Restricted funds**
**to nearest £**
**to nearest £**
**58,436**
**24**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**58,436**
**24**
OK
OK
**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**Restricted funds**
**to nearest £**
**to nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
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**-**
**Fund to which asset**
**belongs**
**Cost (optional)**
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**Fund to which asset**
**belongs**
**Cost (optional)**
**-**
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**Fund to which**
**liability relates**
**Amount due**
**(optional)**
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Print Name
Daniel Dwelly
Peter Ward|**Endowment**
**funds**
**to nearest £**| |---|---|---|---| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||OK| ||||**Endowment**
**funds**
**to nearest £**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**Current value**
**(optional)**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**Current value**
**(optional)**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**When due**
**(optional)**| ||||| ||||| ||||| ||||| ||||| ||||| ||||Date of approval| |||Daniel Dwelly|28/01/2022| ||2|Peter Ward|28/01/2022| ## # ## ## |l
Section A|ndependent Examiner's Report||| |---|---|---|---| |Reportto thetrusteesl
mernbersof|Christchurch, Tilehurst||| |Onaccountsforthe year|31 March2021|Charityno|.l169691| |ended||(ifany)|| |Setout onpages|t-2||| ## ##