Market Overton Free Church CIO 1174840
Annual Report 2023
| Market Overton Free Church CIO 1174840 Annual Report 2023 |
|
|---|---|
| Correspondence address: | |
| The trustees are: | The Croft |
| Peter Rush | 11 West End |
| Tim Perkins | Wymondham |
| Roy Palframan (Re-elected Acting Trustee Aug. 2023) | Leicestershire |
| LE14 2AX |
Market Overton Free Church is an independent church affiliated to the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches (FIEC). The church is governed by its Head, the Lord Jesus Christ, as he has made his will known in the Bible. It operates with a congregational form of church government. The number of members at the end of 2023 was 16. We have appointed Carl Meachem from a neighbouring church to assist with leadership.
Church activities Sunday morning meetings are held at Market Overton Village Hall throughout the year, with a regular congregation of around 50 people. We post recordings of the message on our YouTube channel. Sunday evening meetings are held in Edmondthorpe, including a monthly all-age special service. Thursday evening meetings are held in members’ homes. A monthly informal ladies’ gathering has continued throughout the year. Prayer meetings are held on a regular basis, some in person and some online. We have held united prayer meetings with evangelical churches from Newark, Grantham, and Melton Mowbray. We have linked in with The Rural Project, which supports church work in rural communities.
Community activities. Our monthly coffee hour meetings in Market Overton and street evangelism in Oakham have continued through the year. We hosted a Time with Friends event with lunch in May. We held various events around Christmas, including an advent community craft event. Our ministry to schools continues with a Bible Times Exhibition in February, and our pastor’s regular assembly visits to 10 local primary schools. Our pastor visited Malawi in April with the Zambesi Mission – one of our mission partners.
Finances. The Lord has continued to provide for the financial needs of the church through the faithful giving of members and friends, and through grants from local Christian Trusts. During the year, gifts have been made to UK missionary organisations working in the UK and abroad, amounting to £1,993. Additional gifts to other gospel work makes a total of £2,493. Harvest gifts were sent to the local Oakham Food Bank and a special offering was made at our Christmas Day service for support of church workers in Central Asia.
The overall income for the year was £45,590 and expenditure £48,394. The year therefore ended with an overall deficit of £2,803. With £8,382 brought forward from 2022 our balance at the end of the year is £5,582 for which we are grateful to God. However, we are having to draw on our reserve fund on an almost monthly basis (of between £500 and £1000) which presents a significant risk to the financial viability of the church beyond six months, if things remained unchanged.
40mthoooT20 r*JfftOQOVO ffiffiOQ rriomi OcL(<wfftOwu InT¥V8CJ8m ti ffb In tyj
3 Ascendale Deeping St James PETERBOROUGH PE6 8NZ 01778 342699 or 07736 335234 paul.muldoon@btinterneLcom Mr T R Palframan The Croft Rookery Lane WYMONDHAM LE14 2AX 31 January 2024 Dear Roy Market Overton Free Church CIO l am pleased to conflrm that I have examined the accounts and supporting documents for the church for the year ended 31 December 2023 and have found everything to be in order. With klnd regards Paul hld00n