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2020-12-31-accounts

HONITON FAMILY CHURCH - ANNUAL REPORT For the year ending 31[st] December 2020

Name of Charity -

Honiton Family Church

Registered Charity Number - 1181655 Registered Address - High Street Honiton Devon EX14 1LW

Trustees - The following individuals served as Charity Trustees between 1[st] January 2020 and 31[st] December 2020:

Property Trustees- Baptist Union Corporation Ltd

Baptist House, PO Box 44, 129 Broadway, Didcot, Oxon, OX11 8RT

Bankers-

General Account:

General Account: Lloyds 82 High Street Honiton EX14 1JJ Restricted Account: Lloyds 82 High Street Honiton EX14 1JJ

Independent Examiner - Emily Wilkinson

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- – Organisational Structure and Decision making processes

Honiton Family Church (HFC) is an unincorporated association with Managing (Charity) Trustees appointed by a meeting of Members.

Members of the church are accepted in accordance with the constitution which allows open membership so that persons who have not been baptised in the manner described in the Baptist Union’s Declaration of Principle may at the discretion of the members’ meeting be accepted for membership based on their own public profession of faith. All members are encouraged to take part in the spiritual and practical tasks involved in the furtherance of the charitable objective.

Members meetings take place four times a year and have responsibility for the overall policy of the church. Additional meetings are held as required. In accordance with the constitution, the members appoint Trustees, who together with the Minister, Church Secretary and Treasurer (who are also appointed by the members), are collectively known as the Diaconate. The Diaconate have overall responsibility for the day to day running of the church’s work and witness, and the financial and legal aspects of the charity.

Relevant matters may be submitted to the members meeting by the Trustees for guidance, or may be raised by members in members meetings for further consideration by the Trustees. HFC is governed by a church constitution. Though the constitution permits decisions to be made at church meetings by appropriate majorities, the church seeks to work by consensus wherever possible.

2020 was both an exciting and challenging year in the life of HFC. The arrival of the global pandemic and various government restrictions in March 2020 have required us to adapt and to find new ways to serve and support our church family and wider community over the majority of this past year.

We were very pleased to welcome Pastor Tim Judson and his family into the fellowship in February of 2020. Once our new Pastor was in place, the fixed-term paid role of ‘Church Administrative Coordinator’ (fulfilled by Sarah Bird) came to its end. The role of ‘Church Administrative Coordinator’ was created in 2019 to help ensure that church life, our administrative requirements and our outreach were able continue and to develop during the pastoral vacancy. This role ended in March 2020.

Towards the end of 2020, HFC felt the financial impact of the pandemic and the decision was taken to make two paid roles within the church redundant. The role of ‘Administrative Support’ (fulfilled by Becky Kingdon) ended on the 23[rd] of November 2020. The role of ‘Pastoral Assistant’ (fulfilled by Rose Millard) ended on the 9[th] of December 2020. As well as the Pastor, as of 31st December 2020, HFC also continues to employ a part-time cleaner but volunteers now fulfil all the other roles in the church.

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– Objectives

HFC is a Baptist Church and is a member of the Baptist Union of Great Britain. HFC is governed by a church constitution which is based on “20[th] March 2008 Approved Governing Document for BUGB churches”. This document states that the principal purpose of the charity is “the advancement of the Christian faith according to the principles of the Baptist denomination. The Church may also advance education and carry out other charitable purposes in the United Kingdom and/or other parts of the world.” HFC occupies premises which are held by the Baptist Union Trust Corporation on Trusts which are entirely compatible with the above objective.

We as a church seek to be:

We aim to demonstrate the love of Jesus Christ in both word and deed and to bring people into a closer relationship with Him as the Living Lord. Moreover, we aim to be a church that welcomes people of all types and experiences into our church family confident in the transforming power of Jesus in all our lives.

In order to achieve this, HFC provides a variety of activities both to its membership and to the wider community. HFC is heavily dependent on its membership working as volunteers in all aspects of the church’s activities. Many of these activities run with little or no impact on the church’s expenditure, but nevertheless contribute substantially to the achievement of the church’s objectives.

Regular Activities -

– Sunday Services

Central to the work and witness of the Church is the provision of regular public services of Christian worship. These services take place each Sunday at 10.30am in a local school building. We aim for our services to be accessible to seekers as well as both new and mature Christians by having a simple and fluid service structure.

The service begins with an accessible talk and an action song before the children and young people go out to their groups where they engage in Christian learning, activities and games. After the services, attendees are invited to stay for light refreshments.

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Communion Services are held during our morning services on the 3[rd] Sunday in each month. There are also “seasonal” services at other times. All services are advertised within HFC and to the wider community in order to reach the widest possible audience.

From the 22[nd] of March onwards our Sunday services were held online. This decision was taken in light of COVID-19 and the resulting government guidelines. Meeting online enabled us to reach a far wider audience and we have welcomed many new faces to our Sunday services. Our membership and church family has continued to grow over this past year despite the social restrictions. As of the 31[st] of December 2020, HFC has 47 church members.

We feel blessed to have been able to continue to support and encourage people through our Sunday services. We hope to begin meeting in person once it is safe to do so in 2021 but will continue to look at how we can make our Sunday services more accessible online for those who cannot meet in person, who are further afield or who prefer attending online.

Children’s Work –

Little Stars Parent and Toddler Group – Little Stars runs every week during term time and is attended by, on average, twenty 0-5 year olds and their carers. We are encouraged to regularly see new parents attending. We have themes, parties and trips and at the end of the summer term we hold a “graduation ceremony” during our Sunday Service for those starting school.

Little Stars is a great access point in to church and it is a great way for us to build relationships with our wider community. We have been able to invite the families in attendance to other events including services, family and community events as well as the ‘Kidsmatter’ parenting course which continues to be a great success.

From March 2020 onwards, the Little Stars Parent and Toddler Group began meeting online. This was again due to the pandemic. We set up an online support group for parents, carers and volunteers to stay in touch. Each Monday, we held an online story-time for our Little Stars community to watch live. Meeting online meant that we were able to continue to reach out to local families and offer input and encouragement during a time when toddler groups were not able to meet safely. We look forward to opening our doors and meeting in person in 2021 when it is safe to do so.

Families Events - Our families events provide outreach for the whole family unit. Due to the pandemic and resulting government restrictions, our usual activities were limited. However, we were pleased to be able to hold a family Nativity service online in December.

Sunday Mornings - Our Sunday morning youth and children’s groups are formed into – First Steps for 0-5’s (5 regulars), Strides for KS1 (11 regulars), Leaps for KS2 (11 regulars) and Youth (with up to 7 attendees). We use age specific teaching materials and our volunteers are formed into teams and are overseen by age group co-ordinators. We follow

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Scripture Union’s resources Tiddlywinks, Splash and X-Stream notes, giving the children an overview of the Bible as well as every day application. From the 22[nd] of March onwards, our age group co-ordinators worked to make weekly online videos available for our children and families to access. The team also produced seasonal activity packs for our children and families containing crafts and bible-based learning.

Youth Work - A couple of online events were held during the pandemic to enable the young people to connect. These were primarily in a social capacity. We were also able to hold a ‘bonfire and smores night’ in person when restrictions allowed it. All activities were carried out with appropriate safeguarding procedures in place. The struggle of COVID-19 has prompted reflection in terms of how we might best serve youth and families in the longterm, and discussions have been going on to draw from the Kitchen Table Project for both children and youth, to help facilitate discipleship within the family unit.

Bricks4Kids is an after-school club held each Wednesday during term-time for primary school-aged children with autism and similar difficulties. We provide structured activities based around Lego, a story and sensory toys. This group is open to families in Honiton and surrounding areas. This group was put on hold when the pandemic began in March of 2020. We have a small online support group so that parents and carers can stay in contact and support each other. We look forward to restarting this group once we are able to meet in person in 2021.

Pastoral Care –

The pastoral team faced an interesting challenge in 2020 as social restrictions were put into place in March and face-to-face meetings were no-longer possible. While we were limited with regards to social interaction, the need for pastoral support within our church community and wider community was still very much present. Many of our usual activities were able to continue online or over the telephone including, mentoring, life groups, prayer meetings, Kidsmatter and Babiesmatter. We were also able to host an online Marriage Course using resources from Care for the Family which was a great success.

Due to the ‘Pastoral Assistant’ role regrettably being made redundant in December 2020, we have begun to draw life group leaders in a bit more intentionally to take greater responsibility for those they are overseeing. Going forward, those who are on the fringes of the church will be unofficially adopted by life groups so as to ensure that no one is isolated in the support they are offering or receiving.

The Team - The Pastoral Care team (a team of staff and volunteers) meets regularly to discuss pastoral issues and specific individuals in a confidential and supportive environment and, prayerfully, forge the best way forward. Once a term we invite the life group leaders to gather their input and make sure they know what we are up to in terms of support and visits. In this way, we hope to provide support for all those who are part of HFC in whatever capacity. This support takes a number of forms and, given our limited resources, is largely based around walking alongside somebody in difficult times, listening

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and praying with them as well as signposting more practical help in the form of CAB, CAP or Social Services.

We have a number of families and individuals struggling with mental health issues; depression, anxiety and the effects of living with children with additional needs. Through life groups, mentoring (with tailored plans) and preaching series on a Sunday as well as on-going pastoral care and prayer, we help deal with these issues.

Life Groups - HFC runs a number of life groups. These groups encourage social fellowship and growth of faith and discipleship. Although our life groups are attended mainly by church members, they are open to anyone who would like to make contact with a group and learn more about the Christian faith.

Our groups meet on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. They are informal social events with part of the meeting dedicated to Christian learning and prayer. The groups provide a great opportunity to encourage one another and to pray for those who are struggling with life both within and outside of HFC.

Mentoring - Spiritual mentoring is a way of accompanying one another through a spiritual journey; two people become "soul friends", studying the Bible together, praying, sharing life and faith, and being spiritually accountable. We currently have 23 such relationships, some of which are formal, with a written agreement to be mentors to one another, that the church agrees to support. Other relationships are more fluid and informal. The Youth of the church have also been taking part in this system of spiritual guidance. Whilst the pandemic has made it difficult for some partnerships to continue in the same way as before, those that have flourished have found great blessing and encouragement in being companions, and we hope to build on our mentoring in the future.

Prayer Meetings – We are committed to being a church family that regularly gathers together to pray for our church and for our wider community. Our monthly prayer gatherings have been well attended over the past year and have continued to be so in the lockdown, over video-conferencing. In addition, there is an ongoing prayer office, three days a week and weeks of prayer have been held to mark important events in the calendar. These prayer gatherings have been a valuable way in which we have been able to support our community while not being able to meet physically.

Kidsmatter and Babiesmatter - The Kidsmatter Parenting Group covers a range of topics from how we give and share love within a family to routines and rewards. The Babiesmatter Parenting Group aims to support and equip new parents. Both courses provide an opportunity to share experiences and to find solutions and new ideas for issues together. These courses have been a positive way to reach out into the community to non-Christians and Christians alike.

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Safeguarding - The safeguarding team meet regularly to discuss matters of concern and to update procedures. In order to provide a safe and trusted environment, we ensure that all our volunteers working with children and adults at risk are subject to a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check. We ensure that all volunteers understand and adhere to our Safeguarding policy.

Other Regular Activities –

Throughout 2020 we have had to adjust and find new ways to engage with and support our local community. Many of our usual social events and family events were not able to continue as planned. However, we have been excited to develop new relationships within our local community and learn through the pandemic what areas of need there are in Honiton and the surrounding area.

Work parties – From June 2020 onwards, a small group of church volunteers met once a week (in line with government restrictions) to repair and redecorate our church building. This work was carried out in order to prepare the building for reopening. We look forward to reopening and being able to use our building to serve our church, our town and our community in 2021.

Christmas Market - In December 2020, we hosted an outdoor Christmas market coordinated by a local community organisation named ‘Honiton Forward’. This three-day market aimed to support local small businesses and give them some much needed income during the pandemic. This market was widely advertised throughout our local community and was a great success.

Charitable Giving –

HFC has a link with Compassion UK. Compassion UK is a Christian charity that seeks to release children from poverty through child sponsorship. Compassion UK provides vulnerable children with food, clothing, education, access to medical care and the care of their local church. In January 2020, HFC hosted a ‘Compassion Sunday’ service during which the church congregation heard about Compassion UK’s work and specifically the contribution HFC has been able to make to children around the world through Compassion UK. This service also gave those attending the opportunity to sponsor a child.

In past years we have given to Home Mission and BMS. Due to the changing climate in 2020, we did not donate financially to Home Mission or BMS but look forward to being able to give again in the future.

HFC commits itself to supporting missionary work, both local and further afield, through financial giving and in prayer.

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2020 HFC Annual Financial Summary

Despite the challenges of lockdown and changes in way the church operated in 2020, we were able to continue operating, mainly due to the generosity of our members and occasional other kind donations. The bulk of our income was from donations (£36,000) and associated gift aid (£5,600). Lettings was the other main source of income, from both the church building in the first quarter (£3,400) and the manse (£9,000) throughout the year.

Due to the lockdown in March and restrictions throughout the rest of the year, only the first quarter saw the ‘normal’ operating procedures from 2019 continuing. The church was closed from March and has still not re-opened (at time of writing), so while running costs were reduced and on-line services meant we weren’t renting a hall and various classrooms from a local school for a Sunday morning, there was no lettings income from the church after March (expected income would be around £10,000).

The main expenses in 2020 were stipend/salaries (£39,600). We were pleased to welcome our new pastor in late February and he has been working part-time (on an 85% stipend) since then. After much prayer and thoughtful discussion with church members the decision was made to make two part-time staff redundant in the Autumn. Having to fund our new pastor, changing church needs, reduction in income due to lockdown and the expectation of costs for building repairs in the near future necessitated this difficult decision to be made.

Other expenses were largely due to running costs for the church building and pastor’s house (£4,500 in all) as well as helping our new pastor move to Honiton and settle in (£2,200). There was little capital expenditure on the church building in 2020 with the main expense being to ‘make safe’ and improve the electrics (£1,400).

We continue to transfer £100 per month from the General Account into a Reserve to buildup a 'rainy day' fund, as is good practice. There is now around two months' worth of regular expenditure in this account (£7,000).

In 2020, significantly more transactions were completed electronically and most donors and creditors are now comfortable with on-line banking, making treasuring more efficient with less physical counting of money. There is still the requirement for authorisation of payments by two trustees (both for physical and on-line banking) before any funds can be paid out. Three deacons are able to authorise any payments.

Even though the 2020 HFC accounts show a £3,300 deficit overall, there is still a healthy balance available for continued running of the church in 2021.

The accounts (on pages 9 and 10) have been agreed with the external examiner.

Jon Millard, HFC Treasurer 8[th] April 2021

Achievements and Performance –

HFC does not measure the success of its programmes only in numbers (including financial numbers), but also in areas like fellowship, encouragement and the development of people’s lives to cope with the difficulties of living in today’s world. The Trustees recognise that these are difficult to measure, but believe that 2020 has been a positive year in the life of the church, as it continues to re-invent itself and pursue its mission to:

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‘Love God, Love People, Love Honiton’.

The Trustees have read the Charity Commission guidance on public benefit, and are satisfied that the activities outlined above demonstrate that the charity is providing a benefit to the public.

This Annual Report was approved by the trustees on: …17/05/2021

Signed on behalf of the trustees by: 1- ……………………………… (Signature) ………R Kingdon……….…. (Name) ………Church Secretary…. (Position)

CHARIIY COMMISSION FO I￿lAND AND WAiS 1181655 Recelpts and ayments accounts To CC16a tho p•iknd Irorn 3111112 Sectlon A Recèlpts and paym•nts Unrfrstiicled lunds R•slhclod lunds tund5 Total lunds A1 Rèc•￿t$ fyl Althl CDuiians 5,516 C￿Off IF 1.913 Or¢ws r)noions n7 15 IT9 19 Cl￿b JO ¢k>ndi¢rn J Tcts lj Sub tolal(Grcw tnG¢¥ne lor AR) A2 Assel and In¥eslnnl •qlo1. table). Sub iofal yo￿4 rncdpts AJP• nts •I•T' tr• 19 19 ViJrtOry •AF•rrt•• ryé 91 Jn sn Churth wip T•wrini 2$19 701 81 Y¢thOr 47T 4TT 10 In15try Sub iotal 14 A4 AS￿ invesliTlIt purchases,1soe tablel 979 219 Net of recelpl¥payments) AS Translers be￿etn funds Cash funds st yÈar end Cash fund5 this yearend CCXK Rl ISSI 617 23, 13,624 0&04Q021

Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period Uniesliicted lunds Restiiclod lunds E ndowment lunds rar•t£ B1 Cash funds x? 1.tS3 7YJ Total cash funds 1¢314 nds nds nds trj n•arn*t£ 82 Othor mon•lary a$••l• 1000¢- 83 Inveslm•nt as8ats B4 Assets rèlalned for i chaflty'• own Chwth Mans• UN•strKlod Chaws latl8s and UNestndgd Youth Cknilthw B5 Lloblllil•• Unr•stiKlgd Oate ol rov beha¥ cl althe toJ¥leB¥ CCXX R2 xcrAMts ISSI Ct8104r2021

CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examiner's report on the accounts Section A Independent Examinerfs Report Roport to th• tru•to0•1 m•mb•rs of Honiton Family Churc) On accounls for the ￿ar •nd•d 31 D￿￿t￿r 2020 Charlty no (If any) 1181615 Set out on pag•• 1- 10 I report lo the trustees on my examinatson of the accounts of the above charity (Ihe Trust-) for th8 year endad 31 Dec•mber 2020 R•spon•ibiliti•• and As the charity trustees of the Trust. you are respcM)sible for Ihe preparation bas1• of r•port of the accounts ￿ accrydance with th8 raquirem8nts of the Charit￿S Act 2011 {"the Act"). I report In respect of my examination ol thè Trust's arttyjnts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my &xamination, I have follovffjd the awicable Direct￿)nS given by the Charity Commission undef section 145ISMbl of the Act. I have completed my exafflinalion. I confirm thal no malerial m8tters have come to my attention ') in connection with the examination Nthich gives me cause to believe that in. any material respect." accounting records were not kept in ￿0)rdance with sectbn 130 of the Act or accounts do not acc(d with the accountlng records Independent examlner's statement I have no concems and have come across no other matters in connectlon with the examination to attention should be drawn in order to enabl8 a proper understsnding ol the accounts lo be reached. ' Please delete the words in the brackets rf they do not appty. Slgn•d: Dato: 0510512021 Name: Emily Wilkinson R•l•vant prof•••lonal quallflcallonlsl or body Ill any)- Addre$•: Awil Cotlag8, Dunkeswell, Honiton. Devon EX14 4RE IER