2021-03-31-accounts

Open Door Christian Fellowship

RAMSEY CLOSE, NORWICH, NR4 7BQ

Pastor: Stuart Bailey 01603 465309 [e-mail]

“ Sharing the love of Christ in a broken world ”

Trustees’ Annual Report and Financial Review

1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021

Trustees Annual Report for the period 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021

Registered Charity Number

1170592

Charitable Objectives

The Object of the CIO, is for the public benefit, the advancement of the Christian faith in accordance with the Statement of Faith in such ways as the Charity Trustees may from time to time decide.

Charity’s Principal Address

The Open Door Christian Fellowship Ramsey Close Norwich NR4 7BQ

www.eaton.church

Names of the Trustees who managed the Charity during this reporting period

Mr Stuart John Bailey Trustee, Chair, Pastor

Mr Simon Nobbs Trustee Mr Gaius Marc Phillingham Trustee

Trustee Selection

Trustees are selected and appointed by the current body of Trustees.

Description of the Charity’s Trusts

Type of Governing Document: How the Charity is constituted: Trustee Selection Method:

Constitution, 2 December 2016 Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) Appointed by existing Trustees

Governance Structure

The Constitution states that:

“The spiritual government and leadership of the Church Fellowship for the purposes of which the CIO has been established shall remain with the Spiritual Leadership and to the extent to which the Charity Trustees are not synonymous with the Spiritual Leadership their powers shall be confined to the proper management and administration of the CIO in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution and in furtherance of the Objects and in so doing they shall have full and proper regard to the Spiritual Leadership provided always that they shall not act outside their powers as conferred by this Constitution and by general law.”

Spiritual leadership in the Fellowship resides with the Pastor and Elder(s). Stuart Bailey, as well as being a Trustee is also the Pastor: he has been the only member of the Spiritual Leadership Team throughout the period covered by this report.

As the Pastor of the Church, Stuart Bailey is given permission to reside in the Manse. He therefore absents himself from decisions concerning the Manse Property and will do so from any future decisions regarding a salary or other remuneration.

The Trustees met five times to discuss the management and administration of the Charity, including (but not limited to) major decisions on spending, safeguarding and the proper maintenance of properties held by the Charity. Two of the meetings were ‘in-person’ while three were via Video-Link due to Covid restrictions

Minutes of all the Trustees meetings are available.

Bankers

The Co-operative Bank PLC PO Box 250 Delf House Southway Skelmersdale WN8 6WT

Legal advice and assistance with Charity formation provided by:

Stewardship, and 1 Lamb’s Passage London EC1Y 8AB

Anthony Collins Solicitors LLP 134 Edmund Street Birmingham B3 2ES

Summary of activities and achievements in this reporting period

Overview

As for all organisations, this has been a testing year. The year began with us in a lockdown situation due to the Covid-19 pandemic and unable to meet in person. As each change was made to rules and advice from Government, we had to reassess what we were able to do and how we could work safely, effectively and within the law.

As a result, much of our regular work has been suspended throughout the year and we have had to learn quickly how to provide on-line services.

Children’s and Youth Work

Sadly, we have not been able to undertake any formal children’s or youth work this year.

For part of the year, we could have run children’s groups but the guidelines would have restricted activities to such an extent that we did not think any of our regular children would have wanted to attend (there would have been no games or singing and each child would have had to sit at a separate table).

As we operate on a housing estate, we were able to keep in touch with many of the young people and saw them regularly as we were walking around the estate. It our hope that the contact we have maintained will enable us to get the groups back together as soon as it is safe to do so.

Regular Activities

During the stricter lock-down periods, we moved our services to on-line only. These were performed in the Church Manse by Stuart (Pastor) and his wife, Mandy. The majority of our members were able to view the service this way, but those who couldn’t were provided with a CD recording as soon as possible after the service had finished. Delivering the CDs gave us an opportunity to check in with our older members and see if there was anything we could do to help. As such we were able to maintain pastoral contact with all our congregation throughout the year.

During the periods when it was possible to meet, we were able to accommodate our small congregation in our largish building while maintaining strict social-distancing. Although we experienced some frustration at not being able to sing (although this was government advice, and not law, the local Council advised us that they had the power to close down any venue not complying with Government guidance), the majority of our members readily accepted the restrictions as it meant that we were able to meet.

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Our Church Building laid out to
accommodate Socially-Distanced
Services
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Other Agencies

Although we were not able to accommodate any other groups meeting on our premises this year, we did remain a collection point for the Trussell Trust’s Foodbank. During the lock-downs, we were able to open the Building on request and allow individuals to bring contributions which were then left ‘untouched’ for at least three days before being taken to the depot.

We also fostered links with the local council through their help-out schemes, this is discussed in the next section.

Covid-19 Pandemic

The Effect

As already mentioned, we have been able to offer limited ‘in-person’ services throughout this year. Children’s work has been on hold and our Sunday Meetings, when permitted, have been barely recognisable as a Church Service.

Community Assistance

At the start of each new lock-down period, we delivered leaflets to houses on the Estate offering help with shopping, prescription collection, lifts to appointments or simply to have a friendly chat over the phone.

Each of these offers were taken up by at least one person on the Estate and well over 100 provisions of assistance were made over the year. We became well known in local supermarkets and pharmacies, with security staff occasionally allowing us to ‘jump the queue’ as they knew that we were shopping for the community.

Delivering help in the local community has enabled us to make strong links with some residents of the local Housing Estate. As restrictions are eased, we will look to build on these links and engage more with the community.

In addition to people responding to the leaflets, we were also contacted by the local council to assist with their city-wide response. We were able to deliver information on their behalf and point vulnerable people to the help they offered. They contacted us on a few occasions to collect and deliver prescriptions for people outside our normal area.

It was important that members of the Church who offered assistance were able to do so in a Covid-Safe way, protecting themselves and the people we were helping. To this end, we were grateful to Med-PTS Ambulance Services (for whom Stuart works on a part-time basis) for supplying much-needed personal protective equipment. They also donated the ‘Fogging Sanitizer’ which we used to sanitize the car before and after offering lifts. The sanitizer also proved useful as we prepared the Building for meetings. We are pleased to be able to say that we have avoided any positive Covid cases in any of the congregation.

As Stuart works for an Ambulance Company which provides support to the NHS, the Trustees agreed that it was right for the Church to release Stuart to spend more time in this field if it was needed. To this end, Stuart did some shifts in support of the NHSs Covid operations; on one occasion he spent a shift moving positive Covid patients from a Hospital Ward to a specialist clinic that was being set up. We are pleased to be able to support the national effort in any way we can.

Vaccinations

As the national Vaccination program began, there was a huge amount of confusing information circulating on Social-Media. Some of the information was particularly aimed at Christians and questioned whether Christians should take the Vaccine.

Many of our congregation saw such information and contacted Pastor Stuart to see what was right. In response, Stuart produced an article in which he looked at each of the objections in turn. Most of the objections were refuted in the article, although the issue of using Human Cell lines taken from an aborted foetus was recognised as a valid concern for Christians.

The article concluded that this one objection was a matter of personal conscience before God and sought to give people enough information to make an informed decision. To our knowledge only one member of the congregation has refused the vaccine. We have no plans to make vaccinations a pre-requisite for attending services.

Pastor and Trustee Remuneration

The Trustees have received no remuneration for their work as Trustees throughout this reporting period.

It is the desire of the other two Trustees that Stuart Bailey should receive a wage for serving as full-time Pastor. However, the financial reality of the Charity mean that this has not proven possible.

The Trustees have been able to make it possible for Stuart and his family to reside in the Manse free of charge and to pay the Council Tax and Buildings Insurance for the property. Repairs and improvements to the Manse are discussed on a case-by-case basis by the Trustees.

Stuart remains responsible for all other utility bills at the Manse.

Fulfilment of Charity Objectives

The Constitution states that:

“The Object of the CIO, is for the public benefit, the advancement of the Christian faith in accordance with the Statement of Faith in such ways as the Charity Trustees may from time to time decide.”

The Trustees are satisfied that, despite the very difficult circumstances placed upon us this year, we have fulfilled our Charitable Objectives; we have served the public benefit and have continued to advance the Christian Faith. Furthermore, the situation has made us explore different means of achieving the objectives which will stand us in very good stead for the future.

The Trustees are further satisfied that the two properties owned by the Charity are being used for the benefit of the Charity and its objectives.

Financial Review

Overview

The outgoings for this Reporting Period came to just over £6,900 including all bills and maintenance of a large Building, Council Tax on the Manse and £1,110 to replace damaged fencing at The Building and The Manse.

Income was boosted this year by over £2,000 of Gift Aid. This covered several years’worth of Gift-Aid returns and is likely to be lower in future years.

The Trustees continually seek to gain best value for money in all our outgoings as well as considering various possibilities to increase income.

Reserves Policy

The Financial Reserve Policy has been currently set by the Trustees at £2,500 which allows for 3 months’ outgoings.

Statement of Account for the Period 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021

Income and Expenditure

Notes:

1. Expenditure includes an overspend on the Electric Bill which we expect to be returned in the forthcoming Financial Year.

Balance Sheet as at 31 March 2020

Fixed Assets

The Open Door Christian Fellowship owns two properties:

• The property known as “The Building” on Ramsey Close, Norwich, NR4 7BQ. Estimated value (for insurance), £1,067,067

• The Property known as “The Manse”, 90 Buckingham Road, Norwich, NR4 7DG. Estimated Value £237,000 (based on recent local sales)

The Open Door Christian Fellowship also owns the contents of “The Building” including all furniture and kitchen fittings, a digital piano (valued at £600), a large screen tv (£500) and a digital projector (£400).

Affirmation The Trus Gaius Philiryhom Twsteo 22 Juty 2021 22 July 2021 Stuart Bailey Chair of Truslees 22 July 2021 (Pastor)