New Life Church Catford
Report and Accounts Year ended 31 August 2024
1 Lamb's Passage, London EC1Y 8AB www.stewardship.org.uk
NEW LIFE CHURCH CATFORD
LEGAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 AUGUST 2024
ADDRESS FOR CORRESPONDENCE 128 City Road London EC1V 2NX GOVERNING DOCUMENT CIO Constitution dated September 2019 as amended July 2021. CHARITY REGISTRATION NUMBER 1185368 TRUSTEES RESPONSIBLE FOR Aderemi Adedire MANAGING THE CHARITY Pauline Anderson (appointed May 2024) Bea Thombs Guy Troup BANKERS CAF Bank Ltd INDEPENDENT EXAMINER Jaimée Young Stewardship 1 Lamb's Passage LONDON EC1Y 8AB
INDEX
Page 1 Legal and Administrative Details Pages 2-5 Trustees' Report Page 6 Independent Examiner's Report Page 7 Receipts and Payments Account Page 8 Statement of Assets & Liabilities Pages 9-10 Notes to the Accounts
Page 1
NEW LIFE CHURCH CATFORD
REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 AUGUST 2024
Objects of the charity
The charity, which is a church, is governed by a constitution and is constituted as a charitable incorporated organisation. The charity's principal objects, as set out in its governing document, are:
a) For the public benefit to advance the Christian faith in accordance with the Statement of Faith through activities in South East London, and from time to time in other parts of the United Kingdom and the world as the charity trustees may think fit; and
b) such other charitable purposes as shall, in the opinion of the charity trustees, put into practice the Christian faith in accordance with the Statement of Faith, including but not limited to: the prevention and relief of need, hardship and sickness; the advancement of education; and the provision of facilities in the interests of social welfare for recreation or other leisure time occupation of individuals who have need of such facilities by reason of their youth, age infirmity or disability, financial hardship or social circumstances with the object of improving their conditions of life;
provided that the advancement of such purposes must be undertaken in a manner that is consistent with the Doctrinal Distinctives and Ethical Statements as may be adopted and amended by the Church from time to time in accordance with the provisions of the Church Handbook.
Review of the charity's main activities and achievements
To further the above objects and vision, the charity's main activities and achievements were as follows:
Sunday worship
We at New Life Church Catford (NLCC) have continued to meet regularly for Christian worship on Sundays. The format has remained the same where everyone is together initially before the children are taught lessons from the Bible separately using age-appropriate materials. The main service consists of teachings from the Bible, worship through song and praying. Once a month the Lord’s Supper is celebrated.
In October 2023 Sunday services moved from The Fellowship Inn in Bellingham, due to the venue becoming unavailable, to Athelney Primary School in the same area. Not only does the school meet the needs of NLCC having two large halls, a library for creche and a large playground for the children to play in, cost savings were made.
Since moving to the new location, regular Sunday attendees, including children have averaged around fifty people each week with that number steadily increasing.
Fellowship Group & Prayer Driven
Fellowship Group continues to meet on Wednesday evenings in church members' homes. In 2023/24 we studied Acts chapters 1 to 13 together using a resource produced by our partner church, Grace Church Brockley. On average around 8 to 10 people attend Fellowship Group each week, with a similar number of people, mainly women, meeting online during the day. Our aim is to train up more Fellowship Group leaders in the future.
On the first Wednesday of each month we have a ‘Prayer Driven’ meeting instead of Fellowship Group. At this meeting we pray for NLCC, our mission partners, the global church and give any updates to our church members.
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New Life Kids & Creche
New Life Kids (NLK) & Creche continues to be a flourishing ministry at NLCC. We have at least 10 families who are regularly attending NLCC and on average around 15 children attending NLK & Creche each Sunday.
There is a great team of volunteers who teach, lead and help the children. All the leaders are DBS checked and we’re endeavouring to train up and retain our current leaders and helpers as well as recruit more.
In NLK we continue to mainly use Mustard Seeds and occasionally Faith in Kids teaching material.
In 2023/24 we taught the children from the Prophets, ‘The King of Christmas’ from Matthew’s gospel, the Sermon on the Mount, parables from Luke’s gospel, ‘The King on the Cross’ from Mark’s gospel at Easter, the seven signs in John’s gospel and ‘Mission Unstoppable’ (Acts chapters 1 - 14).
Over the summer we like to give our leaders and helpers a break and depart from our normal routine. Accordingly, we joined NLK and Creche kids together. In Summer 2024 we used the Minno Bible Stories videos.
Guy Troup continues to oversee the ministry as an elder of the church with the help of two coordinators for New Life Kids and one for New Life Creche. Mustard Seeds material is tailored and used for both groups.
Men's ministry
In spite of a slow start, the Men’s Ministry has seen a steady and fruitful growth over 2023/2024, meeting regularly outside of Sunday church services after a plan and meeting schedule were put in place. The meetings consist of a combination of a group prayer meeting once a month after the Sunday service; Weekly Wednesday morning Prayer via zoom and quarterly socials/meetings. We have consistently seen an average of 12/13 men attending the after service prayer meeting, and for the men’s prayer group on Wednesdays (6am) 4-5 men join regularly.
Women's ministry
Women’s ministry continues to flourish. We have continued to seek and serve women who are consistently attending NLCC and making space to build relationships with new visitors.
In May we had a social event, a walk through Beckenham Place park. This was a lovely turn out followed by lunch in Beckenham mansion. This was a great time to spend together with some of the women and their little children in a social setting.
Since we’ve been evangelising through door knocking and outside meets in the local area, there has been an increase in the number of women attending Sunday Services. This has been a great encouragement and hopefully we’ll see great outcomes in future.
Evangelism/Outreach
In March 2024, we entered into a church partnership with London City Mission (LCM). The aim of the partnership is to help us to reach our neighbourhood with the Gospel. Through forward planning and having a structure in place, which includes once a month evangelising in Catford Broadway and weekly door knocking on Thursdays on the Bellingham Estate, there has been a significant rise in the number of newcomers and visitors to NLCC.
On average 5-7 people go out monthly to evangelise while on Thursdays the average is 3-6 people.
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Fundraising
Since NLCC has been employing a full-time Elder, the church has been operating at loss. However we were fortunate to have funds to support us while we continued to meet on Sunday. Those funds have now been depleted and we are now using our reserves. We wanted to put a strategy in place to fundraise during the year but due to unforeseen circumstances this was delayed until the start of September 2024. So far we’ve had a favourable response to the soft launch of our campaign from partner churches, external funding and individuals both within NLCC and elsewhere.
New trustee
The Trustees agreed in May 2024 to appoint Pauline Anderson to the NLCC board to expand the field of expertise offered both from a faith perspective and a secular one. Pauline brings with her a wealth of experience as a partner/council member of one of our sister churches; a civil servant at HMRC and a Justice of the Peace/Magistrate for 25 years volunteering in the community. She officially joined the board at the start of the 2024/2025 academic year.
FIEC
In Autumn 2023 we decided to affiliate with the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches (FIEC). It is hoped that being part of a nationwide network of churches will give us a source of encouragement and support. Furthermore, it adds credibility and accountability to us as a church.
In planning the activities the Trustees have applied the guidance on public benefit issued by the Charity Commission.
Financial review
During the year income decreased by £10,700, to £33,500, and expenditure decreased by £5,900, to £47,800. As a result the cash held by the charity decreased by £16,200, to £18,300, of which £18,200 is unrestricted and can be used for any charitable purpose.
Reserves policy
The trustees have determined that the charity should aim to hold unrestricted cash of no less than £21,000 (which equates to about 5 months of unrestricted expenditure) so that the charity could continue to operate should income and / or expenditure vary adversely. At the year end, the charity held unrestricted cash of £18,200 and the charity is aiming to comply with the policy by the end of April 2025.
Governance
Responsibility for setting policy and for making operating decisions rest with the trustees who meet regularly to monitor the activities of the charity. Responsibility for the day to day operation of the charity has been delegated to the elders supported by the Ministry Team and Administrator. New trustees are recruited and appointed by a majority vote of the Ministry Team.
Page 4
Responsibilities of trustees
Charity law requires us as Trustees to prepare financial statements for each accounting year which record the receipts and payments of the charity for the year.
We are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and enable us to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Charities Act 2011.
We also have a responsibility to safeguard the assets of the charity and to take reasonable steps to prevent fraud or any other irregularities.
Approval
This report was approved by the trustees and signed on their behalf by:
____ Guy Troup
Date:_____
Page 5
INDEPENDENT EXAMINER'S REPORT
TO THE TRUSTEES OF
NEW LIFE CHURCH CATFORD
I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of New Life Church Catford ('the charity') for the year ended 31 August 2024 on pages 7 to 10 following.
Responsibilities and basis of report
As the trustees of the charity you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (‘the 2011 Act’).
I report in respect of my examination of the charity’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 2011 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 accordance with section 130 of the 2011 Act; or
-
the accounts do not accord with the accounting records.
I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
Jaimée Young
Stewardship 1 Lamb's Passage LONDON EC1Y 8AB
Date:
Page 6
NEW LIFE CHURCH CATFORD
RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS ACCOUNT
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 AUGUST 2024
| Unrestricted | Funds | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| General | Designated | Restricted | Total | Total | |||||||||
| Funds | Funds | Funds | 2024 | 2023 | |||||||||
| Notes | £ | £ | £ | £ | £ | ||||||||
| Income receipts | |||||||||||||
| Donations | 28,908 | - | - | 28,908 | 31,315 | ||||||||
| Gift aid receipts | 2,524 | - | - | 2,524 | 12,568 | ||||||||
| Weekend away | - | - | 2,000 | 2,000 | - | ||||||||
| Charitable activities | 50 | - | - | 50 | 338 | ||||||||
| Interest | 63 | - | - | 63 | 57 | ||||||||
| Total receipts | 31,544 | - | 2,000 | 33,544 | 44,278 | ||||||||
| Payments | |||||||||||||
| Payments in relation to activities undertaken directly |
charitable | 2 | 48,921 | - | 495 | 49,416 | 55,647 | ||||||
| Grants paid in relation to activities undertaken by others |
charitable | 3 | 375 | - | - | 375 | - | ||||||
| Total payments | 49,296 | - | 495 | 49,791 | 55,647 | ||||||||
| Net of receipts transfers |
/ | (payments) | before | (17,752) | - | 1,505 | (16,247) | (11,370) | |||||
| Transfers between funds | 6 | 18,130 | - | (18,130) | - | - | |||||||
| Net movement in funds | 378 | - | (16,625) | (16,247) | (11,370) | ||||||||
| Cash funds as at | last | year | end | 17,853 | - | 16,725 | 34,578 | 45,948 | |||||
| Cash funds at this | year end | A | 18,231 | - | 100 | 18,331 | 34,578 |
The notes on page 9-10 form part of these accounts.
Page 7
NEW LIFE CHURCH CATFORD
STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES
AS AT THE YEAR ENDED 31 AUGUST 2024
| A Cash funds Current account B Other monetary assets Gift aid due to charity C Liabilities Falling due within one year: Pension due Fee for Independent Examination D Assets retained for charity's own use Equipment |
General Designated funds funds £ £ 18,231 - 18,231 - 4,823 - 4,823 - 147 - 912 - 1,059 - Unrestricted Funds |
Restricted funds £ 100 100 - - - - - Fund to which asset belongs General |
Total 2024 £ 18,331 18,331 4,823 4,823 147 912 1,059 Value 2024 £ 2,000 2,000 |
Total 2023 £ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 34,578 | ||||
| 34,578 | ||||
| 2,117 | ||||
| 2,117 | ||||
| 147 900 |
||||
| 1,047 | ||||
| Value 2023 £ |
||||
| 2,000 | ||||
| 2,000 |
The trustees have used insurance values for contents and equipment as the trustees are unable to reliably estimate current values; insurance values may differ materially from current values.
E Guarantees and secured debts
The charity has not given any guarantees and has not provided its assets as security for any liabilities.
The accounts were approved by the trustees and signed on their behalf
by date _____Guy Troup _____ The notes on page 9-10 form part of these accounts.
Page 8
NEW LIFE CHURCH CATFORD
NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 AUGUST 2024
1 Accounting policies
The accounts have been prepared on a receipts and payments basis and comprise a statement that shows the charity's receipts and payments, a statement that summarises the charity's assets and liabilities and related notes. The accountancy profession have determined that only accounts prepared in accordance with applicable accounting standards present a 'true and fair' view and, as these receipts and payments accounts have not (and cannot) be prepared in accordance with accounting standards, these accounts do not present (and are not intended to present) a 'true and fair' view of the charity's financial activities and state of affairs.
General funds are unrestricted funds which are available for use at the discretion of the trustees in furtherance of the general objectives of the charity. Designated funds comprise unrestricted funds that have been set aside by the trustees for particular purposes. Restricted funds are donations which are to be used in accordance with specific restrictions imposed by donors; they include donations received from appeals for specific activities or projects.
| 2 Payments in relation to charitable activities undertaken directly Employment costs Note 4 Rent Repairs, maintenance and equipment Outreach and other ministries Insurance Weekend away Governance and legal fees Administration and support costs Other costs 3 Grants paid in relation to charitable activities undertaken by others Organisations Individuals |
Unrestrict | Designated funds £ - - - - - - - - - - - - - ed Funds |
Restricted Funds £ - - - - - 495 - - - 495 - - - |
Total 2024 £ 32,827 9,600 1,707 2,270 215 495 1,404 897 - 49,416 375 - 375 |
Total 2023 £ |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| General funds £ 32,827 9,600 1,707 2,270 215 - 1,404 897 - 48,921 375 - 375 |
||||||
| 32,583 16,650 1,230 2,281 207 - 1,429 1,210 58 |
||||||
| 55,647 | ||||||
| - - |
||||||
| - |
4 Transactions with related parties
Aderemi Adedire, a trustee, served as a church leader and was paid £31,500 [2023: £31,500] for serving in that capacity, not for serving as a trustee; these payments are permitted by the charity's governing document.
No other payments were made to trustees or persons related to them, except for reimbursement of expenses paid out on behalf of the charity.
5 Acting as agent
During the year, the charity received money on behalf of Ashburnham Christian Trust for the church weekend away which related to places paid for by attendees. This income was received as agent; the receipts totalling £3,713, and the subsequent payments, are excluded from the Receipts and Payments account.
Page 9
NEW LIFE CHURCH CATFORD
NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 AUGUST 2024
| 6 Movement of funds General funds Restricted funds Building project Away day Hardship fund Total funds |
Opening balance £ 17,853 17,853 16,625 - 100 16,725 34,578 |
Receipts £ 31,544 31,544 - 2,000 - 2,000 33,544 |
Payments £ (49,296) (49,296) - (495) - (495) (49,791) |
Transfers £ 18,130 18,130 (16,625) (1,505) - (18,130) - |
Closing balance £ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18,231 | |||||
| 18,231 | |||||
| - - 100 |
|||||
| 100 | |||||
| 18,331 |
The funds from the Building project were transferred to the general fund with permission from the donors.
A donation was given for the church Away Day to enable all to attend who otherwise wouldn't have been able to. The remaining funds were transferred to the general fund with permission from the donor.
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