Independent examiner’s report
to the trustees of
Christ Church Romford
I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts for the above charity for the year ending 31 December 2021.
Responsibilities and basis of report
As the charity trustees of the Charitable Incorporated Organisation, you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (‘the Act’).
I report in respect of my examination of the CIO’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.
Independent examiner’s statement
I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:
-
accounting records were not kept in respect of the Trust as required by section 130 of the Act; or
-
the accounts do not accord with those records.
I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
Signed:
Name: Jon Trinder Date: 29 Oct 2022 Address: 116 Shepherds Hill Harold Wood RM3 0NJ
www.facebook.com/theindyexaminer/
| Charity Name | No (if any) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Christ Church Romford | 1180079 | ||||
| Receipts andpayments accounts | CC16a | ||||
| For the period from |
Period start date 01/01/2021 |
To | Period end date 31/12/2021 |
| Section A Receipts and payments | Section A Receipts and payments | Section A Receipts and payments | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A1 Receipts | Unrestricted funds to the nearest £ 47,062 358 - 8,659 - - - - 56,079 - - - 56,079 |
Restricted funds to the nearest £ 375 - - - - - - - 375 - - - 375 |
Endowment funds to the nearest £ - - - - - - - - - - - - - |
Total funds to the nearest £ 47,437 358 - 8,659 - - - - 56,454 - - - 56,454 |
Last year to the nearest £ |
||||
Regular Giving |
47,062 | - | |||||||
| Church Offerings | 358 | - | |||||||
| Other(Bank Interest) | - | - | |||||||
| Gift aid received | 8,659 | - | |||||||
| - | - | ||||||||
| - | - | ||||||||
| - | - | ||||||||
| - | - | ||||||||
| Sub total(Gross income for AR) | 56,079 | - | |||||||
| A2 Asset and investment sales, (see table). |
|||||||||
| - | |||||||||
| - | - | ||||||||
| Sub total | - | - | |||||||
| Total receipts A3 Payments |
|||||||||
| - | |||||||||
Salaries(IncludingNI & Pensions) |
48,849 | - | - | 48,849 | - | ||||
| Staff Clergyexpenses | 203 | - | - | 203 | - | ||||
| Additional Speakers | 40 | - | - | 40 | - | ||||
| Rent | 7,645 | - | - | 7,645 | - | ||||
| Insurance | 251 | - | - | 251 | - | ||||
| Professional Subscriptions | 341 | - | - | 341 | - | ||||
| Publicity | 250 | - | - | 250 | - | ||||
| Services and Activities | 37 | - | - | 37 | - | ||||
| Donations | 4,000 | - | - | 4,000 | - | ||||
| Bank charges | 5 | - | - | 5 | - | ||||
| **Sub total ** | 61,621 | - | - | 61,621 | - | ||||
| A4 Asset and investment purchases, (see table) |
|||||||||
| Electonicpiano | 23 | ||||||||
| - | |||||||||
| **Sub total ** | 23 | - | |||||||
| Total payments Net of receipts/(payments) A5 Transfers between funds A6 Cash funds last year end Cash funds this year end |
|||||||||
| - | |||||||||
| - 5,566 | - | ||||||||
| - | - | ||||||||
| 41,995 | - | ||||||||
| 36,429 | - |
Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period
| CCXX R1 accounts (SS) Categories B1 Cash funds |
1 Details Total cash funds Cash at TSB Cash at HSBC |
Unrestricted funds to nearest £ - 36,429 - 36,429 |
Restricted funds to nearest £ - - - - |
Endowment funds to nearest £ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| - | - | - | ||
| 36,429 | - | - | ||
| - | - | - | ||
| 36,429 | - | 31/10/2022 - |
| Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees B5 Liabilities B3 Investment assets B2 Other monetary assets B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own use |
Details (agree balances with receipts and payments account(s)) Details Details Details Signature Dan Smith (Oct 31, 2022 12:05 GMT) |
OK OK Unrestricted funds Restricted funds to nearest £ to nearest £ - - - - - - - - - - - - Fund to which asset belongs Cost (optional) - - - - - Fund to which asset belongs Cost (optional) - - - - - - - - - Fund to which liability relates Amount due (optional) - - - - - Print Name Daniel Smith David Thomas |
OK |
|---|---|---|---|
| Endowment funds to nearest £ |
|||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| Current value (optional) |
|||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| Current value (optional) |
|||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| When due (optional) |
|||
| Date of approval | |||
| Dan Smith (Oct 31, 2022 12:05 GMT) | Daniel Smith | Oct 31,2022 | |
| David Thomas | Oct 31, 2022 |
CCXX R2 accounts (SS)
31/10/2022
2
Trustees’ Annual Report 1 January 2021 – 31 December 2021
Charity Name: Christ Church Romford
Registered Charity Number: 1180079
Name of Managing Trustees:
| Trustee Name | Office | Dates acting as Trustees |
|---|---|---|
| Eric Fenn | Chairman | Jan 2021 - Dec 2021 |
| Daniel Smith | Vice Chair | Jan 2021 - Dec 2021 |
| Rev. David Thomas | Pastor | Jan 2021 - Dec 2021 |
Objectives and Activities:
The trustees of Christ Church Romford (CIO), have the responsibility of cooperating with the elders of the church to advance the Christian faith for the public benefit in Romford, the UK and worldwide in accordance with the church’s Statement of Faith.
Structure, Governance and Management
The appointment of trustees at Christ Church Romford is set out in the Constitution to be the minister of the church along with others who were appointed trustees at the incorporation of the charity. The trustees met formally on four occasions during the year 2021 and met informally on several further occasions. We held an Annual Church Meeting for regular church attendees on 25 April 2021.
The trustees of the church who are registered with the charity commission did not change during the year and therefore the trustees registered with the Charity Commission as of 31 December 2021 were:
Mr. Eric Fenn (Chairman) Mr. Daniel Smith (Vice Chair) Rev. David Thomas
The trustees actively look to appoint suitable additional trustees to share responsibilities as beneficial.
Administrative Information
Christ Church Romford is situated in the Mawneys area of Romford in Havering. It is a part of the International Presbyterian Church (IPC) denomination. The correspondence address is 67 Linley Crescent, RM7 8RB.
The church owns no property of its own and leases a hall for our Sunday morning meetings in the Mawneys area of Romford. We continue to have a good relationship with the owners of the hall, and have increased the usage of the hall hire back to our pre-covid hours of use.
Summary of Activities:
The trustees are committed to enabling as many people as possible to worship at our church and to foster community and relationships based on the Christian faith within Christ Church Romford.
When planning and evaluating our activities and ministries for the year, the pastor of the church and the trustees have considered the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit and guidance for charities for the advancement of religion. In particular we seek to enable people to discover, understand and grow in faith in Jesus Christ through:
| Worship and Prayer | providing public weekly Christian worship services to declare the gospel and teach and support those who are seekingto live as disciples of the Lord Jesus. |
|---|---|
| Pastoral Care and oversight | offering spiritual and practical support in line with the Christian faith, to those members of the church who haveparticular needs |
| Mission and Outreach | seeking to share the good news of Jesus Christ with those who want to discover more about Biblical Christianity |
Specific Risks:
From the beginning of the year until 25 July when restrictions were lifted, we continued to ensure we complied with all government COVID requirements for social gatherings as we meet for Sunday worship. With all regular members of the congregation having returned to meeting for worship in person, we stopped live-streaming the service on 21 March 2021. As restrictions eased, we sought to return to our standard practices for church life together, beginning our Adult and Children’s Sunday School classes from 6 June. We ended our online seat booking system for our Sunday gatherings at the end of July 2021.
Having met online for our weekly midweek prayer meeting for the first half of the year, we began gathering in person from 28 July.
Christ Church Romford – Charity Number 1180079
The trustees continued to update our risk assessment for meeting together, making use of the information from the Government website and supplemental information produced by other denominations.
Financially, our expenditure was reduced somewhat during the first half of the year from paying a reduced rent when we were gathering solely for an act of Public Worship.
It is clear that the effects of the lockdown and restrictions had a significant effect on the emotional and spiritual well-being of a number of our church members, despite a concerted effort by the pastor and many members of the church family to keep in touch with one another, through phone calls, emails, social media.
Achievements:
Worship and Prayer
Over the course of the year Christ Church Romford has sought to offer an act of worship, gathering in person on Sunday morning at St John’s Hall on Mawney Road. We have sought to include singing, prayers and celebrating the Lord’s Supper, when this has been possible as restrictions were lifted. We have provided readings, teaching and preaching from the Bible throughout the year. We love to welcome those of all ages to our worship service, including children.
We have sought to support children, young people and adults with activities to consider Biblical teaching, doctrine and to provide pastoral support.
We have welcomed a number of new families and individuals to our Sunday morning activities from Romford and the wider local area. During the year we have seen a number of individuals move away from the area or move to worship elsewhere. We have also seen a newly married couple and two individuals regularly join. We have welcomed two new babies into the church family. At the close of the year there were 32 adults and 13 children who were in regular attendance.
During the year we introduced a formal church membership role. Following a series of classes on the requirements for membership in September, we received our first members on 17 October 2021. At the end of the year, the church membership stood at 11 communing members (members admitted to the Lord’s Table) along with their children. Numerous other regular members of the congregation were seeking membership.
Our weekly midweek Prayer Meeting provides an opportunity for the church family to pray together, and we additionally held a week of prayer at the beginning of the year.
Mission and Evangelism
Christ Church Romford – Charity Number 1180079
Seeking to share our Christian faith with those in our local area has proved particularly difficult during the circumstances of the pandemic. However, we were able to distribute 1000 invitations to the residents in the streets neighbouring the church hall for our Carol service and Christmas activities.
We have produced a number of advertisements in our local newspaper, with our pastor producing an article for the Christmas edition of the paper, sharing the Christian good news and inviting people to join us worship the living God together.
The church gave a share of approximately 10% of our internal giving towards Church Planting and Assistant Minister training within the IPC and we also made a number of financial gifts to Christian work in other countries through various mission agencies.
Pastoral Care
As a relatively small church, we seek to foster a strong church family ethos and our pastor seeks to maintain ongoing contact with each family and individual connected to the church, through hospitality and more focused meetings to offer pastoral support where required.
General pastoral support for all the church has been received through the weekly preaching and teaching ministry and pastoral visiting has progressed throughout the year, with membership interviews for those seeking to enter membership.
Those families who have welcomed new babies, have been supported through the organisation of the supply of cooked meals through the first couple of weeks after the arrival.
All of those at Christ Church who have volunteered to work with children and vulnerable adults have been DBS checked and all of our ministries have run in accordance with our Safeguarding policy.
For those who are unable to attend our worship services we make previous sermons available to access online.
Leadership
At the June IPC Presbytery meeting, a motion was passed for Simon Arscott and Chris Roberts from All Nations Church, IPC, Ilford to become elders on loan at Christ Church Romford, for an initial period of 12 months. While the pastor understands the importance of raising up elders from within the church, the addition of two elders has been both a great support for ongoing ministry and is intended to facilitate the process of training new elders from within the church.
The eldership meet monthly to discuss relevant matters and additionally meet to pray together for the church family.
Christ Church Romford – Charity Number 1180079
Church Relations
We have been grateful for our partnerships and collaboration with other churches throughout the year, especially in determining how best to operate during lockdown restrictions.
On several occasions throughout the year we have run joint events with the All Nations Church, Ilford, who belong to the same denomination.
We have remained active members of the International Presbyterian Church with the pastor and others from the church attending online presbytery meetings on four occasions during the year, and with the pastor additionally attending the annual IPC Catalyst Conference in June.
Our pastor is a part of a locally organised ministers fraternal and regularly meets with other local church ministers. In addition, the pastor has preached at a number of other churches throughout the year and we have welcomed other ministers to preach for us on occasion.
Finances and Reserve Policy
The generous financial support from a number of external sources that we had received annually during our initial years, ceased by agreement in 2021. Income levels were slightly reduced by changes in some personal circumstances.
We made a voluntary contribution of approximately 10% of our internal giving to the International Presbyterian Church to support Church Planting and Ministry Training.
Our intention is to maintain an amount of at least three months average expenditure in the church funds.
Volunteers
In what has again been a challenging year with the pandemic and easing of restrictions, we would like to thank all of the church members and attendees who act in various ways as volunteers for their hard work to make our church the lively and vibrant community it is. Without their support, Christ Church Romford would not be the welcoming church it endeavours to be.
Declarations
The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.
Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees
Christ Church Romford – Charity Number 1180079
Signed:
Eric Fenn (Oct 31, 2022 12:05 GMT)
Eric Fenn (Chairman of Trustees)
Oct 31, 2022
Christ Church Romford – Charity Number 1180079