2020-12-31-accounts

The Alliance Manchester (TAM) End of Year Report

Year Commencing 1st January 2020 to 31st December 2020

Aim and Purpose

The Alliance Manchester is, for the public benefit, the advancement of the Christian faith in accordance with the TAM Statement of Faith.

Objectives and Activities

We actively seek to promote and advance the Christian faith through various activities including; regular church meetings, training and outreach events.

We seek to ensure that activities are open to those who can’t afford to contribute financially and, where costs are necessarily involved, we seek to assist those of lesser means by providing subsidies.

Taking into consideration the Charity Commission’s publication on the Advancement of Religion for the Public Benefit , TAM seeks to:

• Invite as many people as possible to be an active part of our church community and reach out to new people through various events and regular meetings

• Provide regular prayer and worship services for all to attend and take part.

• Provide Christian gospel teaching for spiritual and moral education and to help develop trust in Jesus.

• Provide pastoral support, prayer, comfort and practical support to those suffering with difficult circumstances, poor health and to the bereaved.

Achievements and Performance

The Trustees consider the performance of the charity for the year to have been satisfactory. This year has been a strange year due to the Coronavirus pandemic but even in the midst of this unprecedented time, a new lease has been secured on a premises that we hope will help our community to reach many more people in Manchester and we have formed valuable partnerships as we move forward. We have been able to continue meeting regularly and reaching out to new people utilising Zoom and Facebook Live platforms.

Regular Meetings

TAM offered a range of regular services/meetings during the week and across the year that benefitted the public and local community in various ways.

Regular Sunday services (in person till March and then via Zoom till December) provided opportunities for all attendees to take part in public Christian Bible teaching, worship, communion, baptism and prayer.

Every Sunday, Christian Bible teaching is delivered to promote the Christian faith, inspire trust in Jesus and provide sound moral teaching. Attendance at the Sunday service varied across the year between approximately 15 and 40 people each week. The pastoral team generally delivers the teaching with occasional input from visiting speakers known to the community.

Various new individuals have attended through the year, some of whom would not have been to church before.

Special services were held at Christmas and valentine’s day with a particular focus on inviting new people. Whilst social events were limited, we were able to meet several times in-person when the regulations allowed.

Children’s Ministry

Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, the children’s ministry had to be paused this year from March through to December. Some special events were arranged with the Children particularly participating at Christmas time.

We hope that, once restrictions have been relaxed, that this ministry could be restarted to further expanded to include all the children and teenagers within our community and their friends.

Support for those from non-British backgrounds

As a multi-lingual and multi-cultural community and leadership, many of those attending also come from diverse backgrounds and cultures.

This provided opportunities for our community to befriend others, share information about Manchester and support in practical ways such as directing to local free English conversation classes.

Regular bible studies and prayer meetings took place throughout the year including Spanish speakers, Farsi speakers and English speakers. These groups are open to all and translation is provided as required.

Whilst Monday Farsi groups have been paused during the pandemic, we hope to restart this group when we can again meet together.

Outreach and Evangelism

This year outreach has been limited by the pandemic but through friendships within our group a few new people came to our Zoom meetings and we continue to look for ways to meet and reach out within the current restrictions.

One initiative undertaken was to run several craft workshops which members of the community and their family/friends could take part in.

English Classes

In order to assist members of our community we ran English classes online to provide free language learning and practice. The aim was to teach and provide community for people via Zoom, this also gave an opportunity to reach new people and share the good new of Jesus with them.

Monthly Prayer meetings

The monthly prayer meeting has been changed to a weekly prayer meeting and has continued throughout the year on Zoom with 5-10 people attending regularly.

Worship

Despite lockdown various members of the community have been involved in producing music using technology to link the various singers/musicians together in videos that could be shared in our community and our Sunday services. New members to the community have also been involved this year for the first time.

Pastoral support

Whilst pastoral support has been more difficult this year, the pastoral team have reached out via Zoom, keeping in touch with people. The prayer meeting and individual connections have also provided pastoral support to those who are alone and feeling isolated.

Wedding

We were honoured to take part in the wedding of two of our church members in December.

New venue

Having looked for a suitable venue in recent years we were excited when towards the end of the year a suitable venue came up for sale in the south of Manchester. It is located in a multicultural area adjacent to student halls of residence and on a major transport route into the city.

The venue has a café and event space and some ancillary residential and office accommodation. An investor stepped forward to purchase the building and agreed to lease it to the church on a 5 year lease. In a relatively short timescale the sale was completed and we are now in a position where from the 1[st] January we are able to use this building for further ministry.

We hope that this project will run in parallel with our other activities and church planting strategy. Various further ministries could be undertaken from this building and we are excited to see its potential realised. We hope to partner with others in order to open the café, initially for takeaway and then ultimately as a full café once the pandemic has subsided.

The vision is to create a multi-cultural safe space where all members of the public can come for refreshment, social interaction, prayer, English classes, workshops and potential one-off events. The residence can be used to host charity volunteers and the offices can be used as a base for the church trustees and volunteers.

Summary

This year was a difficult year in a lot of ways as many members of our community struggled with isolation and loneliness due to the pandemic. We were fortunate to be able to continue to reach out through various social media and Zoom/Facebook calls.

We were blessed in our partnerships which enabled us to progress the new lease and continue to develop our church planting strategy and we are excited to see what opportunities we have with the new building.

Future Goals

This year the charity will continue to advance the Christian faith by:

• Meeting regularly via Zoom and hopefully face-to-face within the requirements of the government restrictions

• Restarting the Farsi group when we can

• Restarting the children’s ministry when we can

• Looking at expanding the home groups further into local areas to reach out to new people outside of the current community and to meet in homes 3 times per month when restrictions allow

• To start utilising the building as both a Café and using the office space and residential facility for volunteers

• Further developing charity policies and streamlining processes

• To recruit additional volunteers and ministry leaders

Financial Review

Total receipts on unrestricted funds were £21,528. No restricted donations were received during this year. All income was through voluntary gifted donations provided by attendees and those linked to the church community. “Stewardship” online giving has helped increase giving through gift aid and assisted in reducing time spent on administration so that time could be dedicated to provision of charity services.

We anticipate restricted donations being received for the new venue in this coming year so will setup a dedicated fund for donations giving specifically for the purpose of the venue. We have also initiated fundraising to target raising £150k over the next two years to cover the setup costs for the venue and café.

During the year, £14,112 was spent on Christian ministry. The net result for the year was an excess of receipts over payments of £7,416 on unrestricted funds. Adding bank and deposit balances brought forward at the beginning of the year of £16,746, the balances carried forward at 31st December 2020 on unrestricted funds totaled £24,162.

Reserves Policy

It is TAM policy to seek to maintain a minimum balance on unrestricted funds, which equates to approximately six months unrestricted payments plus monthly rent/rates/bills or £18,000, to cover emergency situations that may arise from time to time and to allow the church to terminate the lease if required.

Investments

TAM does not invest its capital; it is retained in a charity bank account for regular access: Co-Operative Bank,

Cross Street,

Manchester M2 4JG

The CAF bank account has been closed this year and all cash has been deposited.

Structure, Governance and Management

Trustees

TAM is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) whose only voting members are its charity trustees. It is governed by a constitution document and was registered with the Charity Commission on 1st March 2017.

Trustees are appointed or re-appointed by the members of the CIO. The details of appointment are set out in the TAM constitution. The charity trustees manage the affairs of TAM and are responsible for deciding how the funds of TAM are spent.

The trustees met 4 times from January 1st to 31[st] December 2020 with an average level of attendance of 100%. It is noted that next year the trustees will meet a minimum of 4 times.

Recruitment, induction and training of new trustees

In appointing trustees we seek to bring a range of skills and expertise to the management of the Charity.

New trustees are introduced to the charity and provided with relevant documentation in order to be able to understand and fulfil their role. They are kept updated through regular trustee meetings and communications throughout the year.

Communications

In order to keep the community informed of events taking place, Whatsapp social media groups have been set up and attendees/visitors of the charity/church invited. This allows for better communication and also allows the sharing of prayer requests.

The charity has a website at www.alliancemcr.com and also uses facebook and Zoom.

One of the community members now volunteers as the communications lead and is tasked with developing this area over the coming year.

Volunteers

TAM has a number of different ministries that are overseen by the trustees. Outside of the group of trustees, a number of committed volunteers dedicate a large amount of time to helping to run the church and the various activities. We want to use this opportunity to thank them for their service on behalf of the charity beneficiaries.

Staff

TAM did not employ any persons during this year, all operations and administration of the charity were undertaken by volunteers and the trustees on a voluntary basis. Two regular payments were set up to cover expenses for a Farsi speaking pastor who committed to ministering to our Iranian group and to CMA-GB to contribute to the wage for the wife of a trustee who is being paid to commit time to ministry.

Administrative Information

Charity number: 1171833 Registered address: 78 Thornton Road, Manchester, M14 7WT.

TAM is located in central Manchester, UK and from January 1[st] 2021 will be leasing space at 508 Moss Lane East, Manchester, M14 4PA.

TAM church is associated to the Christian & Missionary Alliance Great Britain (CMA-GB) denomination which is further affiliated to the worldwide organisation known as The Alliance World Fellowship which was born out of the work of The Christian & Missionary Alliance in some 50 countries.

Names of Charity Trustees (who manage the charity):

Juan Carlos Parodi	(Trustee)
Sandro Oliveira	(Trustee)
Barnabas Kwant	(Trustee)
Richard Deighton	(Trustee)

Some trustees have taken on specific responsibilities in the administration of the charity, as follows:

Juan Carlos Parodi Chairman, Pastoral Team lead Sandro Oliveira Pastoral Team & Finance support Richard Deighton Operations / Communications Barnabas Kwant Treasurer / Finance lead

In addition to these roles, Heather Covell continues on as the Safeguarding lead.

Risk management

The trustees are aware of their duty to identify and review the risks to which the charity is exposed and to ensure appropriate controls are in place to provide reasonable assurance against fraud and error.

Policies in place

Equal opportunities statement - TAM is a Christian organisation committed to social justice and opposed to discrimination in society.

Grant making policy - put in place to ensure that gifts are given in accordance with the charity aims, objectives and priorities. Particular safeguards have been put in place in proportion to the expenditure.

Safeguarding policy & procedures - put in place to protect vulnerable persons and children. A safeguarding action plan, procedure and log book are all stored centrally/electronically with restricted access. DBS checks have been undertaken throughout the year for ministry leaders and volunteers.

GDPR - TAM has put additional systems in place to meet their obligations under GDPR.

Volunteer Policy - This clearly defines the volunteer role within the charity.

Representation in Court policy - This policy states that the charity/church will not represent its members or members of the public in court.

Policies implemented in this period

No new policies were implemented in this period though risks associated with COVID have been assessed and acted upon where relevant.

THEALLIANCE MANCHESTER Report Approval Th18 report wa8 approved by the tru8tee8 and 8yned on their behalf by Bamaba8 Kwant (rrustee): Signed: Date:

Appendix 1 - Receipt and Payments Accounts Statement of Assets and Liabilities

The Alliance Manchester 1171833 Receipts and payments accounts CC16a For the period 01/01/2020 31/12/2020 To from

Section A Receipts and payments

A1 Receipts	Unrestricted funds to the nearest £ 21,528 - - - - - - - 21,528 - - - 21,528 2,545 1,711 3,205 509 2,491 645 3,006 14,112 - - - 14,112 7,416 - 16,746 24,162	Restricted funds to the nearest £ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -	Endowment funds to the nearest £ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -	Total funds to the nearest £ 21,528 - - - - - - - 21,528 - - - 21,528 2,545 1,711 3,205 509 2,491 645 3,006 - - 14,112 - - - 14,112 7,416	Total funds to the nearest £ 21,528 - - - - - - - 21,528 - - - 21,528 2,545 1,711 3,205 509 2,491 645 3,006 - - 14,112 - - - 14,112 7,416	Last year to the nearest £
VoluntaryDonations	21,528					-
	-					-
	-					-
	-					-
	-					-
	-					-
	-					-
	-					-
Sub total(Gross income for AR)	21,528					-
A2 Asset and investment sales, (see table).
	-
	-					-
Sub total	-					-
Total receipts A3 Payments
						-
Rent	2,545					-
Events	1,711					-
Ministries	3,205					-
Church Ongoing	509					-
Gifts	2,491					-
Training	645					-
New Venue	3,006					-
						-
						-
**Sub total **	14,112					-
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
						-
	7,416	-	-	7,416		-
	-	-	-	-		-
	16,746	-	-	16,746		-
	24,162	-	-	24,162		-

CCXX R1 accounts (SS)

16/01/2021

1

Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period Cat•gorl Detsl fvnd• fvnd• fund• B1 Ca•h fw Total cash lund¥ 24,162 •W•)) fvnd• Details Det811s 83 Inv••lm•nt aM•ts Details B4 A$￿tr r•talrnd fty tt charW• own u 710 Detal BS L￿￿1ft￿• Si9￿j ar In￿8 on bohaff crf al tho tr￿11￿￿5 CCXX R2 ac4%￿￿5 (SS) 1e401r2021