## **Trustees’ report April 2023** 

At the AGM we look backwards over the past year and forwards to what God has in store for us in the coming year. 

We give thanks to God for blessing us over the past months through Jim’s ministry and his clear Bible teaching both on Sunday mornings and at the Bible studies.  We are grateful to Paul for leading and preaching on occasions as well, and to all our visiting preachers. The monthly prayer mornings have become an established and valued part of our church life as we support each other and seek to discern God’s way for us as a church.  The desire to hold a healing service grew out of the prayer mornings and there have now been two such services, the first for the church family and the second more widely publicised. We hope that this ministry will grow and touch the lives of people in the community as well as in the church family. In addition to the prayer mornings we have now held two church ‘Away days’, one at Pleshey and the second at St Margaret’s, Wicken Bonhunt. Both days were led by Peter Nodding who helped us to explore topics very relevant to our life together as the body of Christ. 

We continue to engage with the local community through the coffee morning, the men’s breakfast and Coffee & Company for those who have been bereaved. Other activities which had been in abeyance because of Covid have re-started: the regular services in Humfrey Lodge care home are much appreciated by the residents and staff, and classes from the Primary School are coming to the church again for various activities. A one-off event that was much enjoyed by a group of church and non-church friends was the Christmas wreath-making workshop. Joint services with the URC have continued and we share in Thaxted Churches Together events such as the Good Friday Walk of Witness, the Big Brekkie for Christian Aid and Messy Church. We are in the process of rejuvenating our website as this is often the first channel that people today use to find out about a church.  Our Fabric Group is also exploring ways to make our church building more welcoming to outsiders. 

We have looked outwards in other ways too. Apart from our regular giving to Baptist mission in the UK and abroad and to Rachel Spencer, we were able to take a large quantity of supplies to the Foodbank at harvest while the fresh produce was used for community lunches at Pam’s Place, and the men’s breakfast made donations to Prostate Cancer UK and Magic Breakfast. We have supported organisations such as The Leprosy Mission and Mission Aviation Fellowship and also given to special appeals e.g. for victims of the Turkey/Syria earthquake. 

As trustees we want to express our thanks to you all for the part you play in the life of the church. We are grateful to those who take part in the Sunday services by reading, leading intercessions or preaching, all who are part of the healing service team, our musicians who enhance our worship, those who welcome us in to the church, who operate the laptop, who look after the website and Facebook, make the coffee, arrange the flowers, run the BMS Birthday scheme, clean the church, help with the men’s breakfasts, Coffee & Company and the coffee mornings, do admin, and all who support our ministries in other practical ways  and by faithful prayer. Special thanks to Michael for his time as a deacon, and also to him and Anne for **all** that they do for the church behind the scenes as well as upfront. Also to Fran for the tireless effort that she gives to the church administration. 

At the beginning of this year Jim preached on our vision for TBC – to be passionate for God, for each other and for the world. May this threefold vision guide and inspire us as we seek to be a loving and welcoming Christian witness in our community. 

Michael Berresford, Jim Ford & Frances Griffiths 



|rORENGLAND|AhiD1AIAI.IS T|haxted Baptist C|hurch|||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||||||ents accounts||||||
||||||||||31112t2A22|||
|||Unrestricted<br>funds|Restricted<br>funds||Endowment<br>funds||||Totalfunds||Last year|
|||tothenearest<br>t"|to the nearestt||to|the nearest€|||to the nearest€|to|the nearestf|
|A1Rece||||||||||||
|Regular ofterings||16,355|||||||16.3s5||17,264|
|Donations & other income||1,365|||||||1,365||3,820|
|lncome tax recovered on oifts||4.940|||||||4.940|||
|Church hire||120|||||||120|||
|Manse rent||11.232|||||||11,232||9,953|
|Raised for other causes|||1,010||||||1,010||296|
|Sub fofal(Gross|AR)|34,412|1,010||||||3s,o22||31,333|
|A2Asset andinvestmentsales,||||||||||||
|(seetable).||||||||||||
|rotatreceiprslT--E7l|||l-i6ii1|l-1||||||<br>ss,ozzll----ffi||||
|A3||||||||||||
|\4inistry||3,011|||||||3,011||2,671|
|Mission||4,737|1,010||||||5.747||2,016|
|Church runnino costs||6,967|||||||6,967||4,114|
|Manse||2,256|||||||2,256||I,813|
|Administration||2,368|||||||2,368||1.214|
|3utreach/evanqelism|||||||||||800|
|lhurchrepairs & improvements||13,719|||||||13,719||8,840|
||Subtotal|33,058|1,010||||||34,068||21,468|
|rotatpayme',trE=:@|||l-fi[61|l-1||||f|<br>34p681l-----;Etl|||
|Netofreceipts/(payments)I-l<br>A5Transfersbetweenfunds<br>A6CashfundslastyearendI<br>zg,ozsl<br>cashfundsthisyear""rrel|||I-1<br> i<br>l-1|f-l<br>-lI<br>l-1|||-<br>|f-l<br>l-t65-l<br>I<br>_l<br>L<br>l<br>Il<br>7e,07sll<br>os,zrol<br>I<br>Bo^0r,ll-i6EA||||





|||Unrestricted|Unrestricted|Restricted|Endowment|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||funds||funds|funds|
|||to nearest|€|tonearestI|toneareste|
|81Cashfunds|urrent account|||||
||Totalcashfsnds|||||
||(agree balances with receipts and payments|||||
||account(s))|||||
|||Unrestricted||Restricted|Endowment|
|||funds<br>to nearest|f|funds<br>tonearest€|funds<br>to nearestf|
|82Other monetaryasEets||||||
|||||Cost {optional)||
|83lnvestment assets||||||
|||Fund tovr/hich||Cost {optional)|Current value|
|84 Assets retainedforthe|Church building|||||
|charity'sownuse|Fixtures, fittings & equipment|||||
||Mense|||||
|85 Liabilities||||||
|Signedbyoneor twoirusteeson<br>behalfof allthe trustees|||Print|Name||
|||Frances Griffiths||||