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2021-12-31-accounts

St Mary Magdalen Bermondsey kiiify ANNUAL REPORT 2021/2022 ACCOUNTS 2021

CONTENTS

RECTOR (including 2021/22 Overview)

CHURCHWARDENS REPORT

READER

HOSPITALITY

WORSHIP

SOCIAL MEDIA/COMMS

COMMUNICATION

ROBES

SAFEGUARDING

BIBLE STUDY GROUPS

PASTORAL / PRAYER: See 2021/22 Overview

CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE

MISSION

ST MARY’S BIKE MINISTRY

TREASURER’S REPORT AND ACCOUNTS

To:

Ebun West

Churchwarden and PCC secretary

Robin Precey Churchwarden

Nirma de Silva

Treasurer

Karina A. S. Salih

Rector’s PA

Sandra Osoba Reader (retired 2022)

Mark Fyffe

Evangelist and Outreach Worker (with London City Mission)

A SPECIAL THANK YOU!

To Ebun, Robin, Nirma, Mark and Karina (+PCC) for their support and all those who have continued to pray as well as faithfully making it possible to keep the Church open safely and running efficiently (especially on SundaysIsobel, Maria + Worship , Leaders and Preachers Team) with respect to changing COVID guidelines. If I have forgotten someone please forgive me!

WELCOME

to our Annual Parochial Church Meeting

Revd Charlie Moore

RECTOR’S

REFLECTION

It was 20 years to the day since my first Sunday here at St Mary Magdalen Bermondsey. There have been many changes in the area since then and actually very few people are here today who were here back then… That’s not necessarily a bad thing as the Church is a living, breathing, evolving community but at the same time, the rate of change has at times been bewildering. Nevertheless, God has called us to be here and on 3[rd] February 2022, I found myself in the unique position of being able to look down on London and especially on Bermondsey - the area in which I have lived and worked for the last 20 years – from the 47[th] Floor of the Shard!

Why was I there? Back in July 2021, I entered a competition run by the RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects) Journal which asked Entrants to write about what they would do (post pandemic) if they had “the opportunity... to escape (for a week) from daily home/office or work structures...” to take “Time to Reflect” and view London from a “different perspective”? It seemed like the perfect opportunity to reflect on my time as Rector of St Mary’s and, as one of the winners of a “Residency”, I asked for a “view” towards Canary Wharf in the East, looking down on the Parish, the western boundary of which is directly under the Shard, stretching from the bows of the HMS Belfast in the North, along Battle Bridge Lane, through London Bridge Station, along Weston Street and south to the Brick Layers Arms roundabout at the end of Tower Bridge Road: That was my view… and my “Reflection” was what you see in the drawing below (A1 full size), which I started in the Shard and completed in the weeks following my visit. The Title is: Windows to other Worlds and it is for me a reminder of: Where we are, who we are, and why we are here: God’s people in a Parish of many people- with hopes and fears, many lives with ambitions and aspirations, many souls: each one precious to God…

The Parish of St Mary Magdalen with St Olave St John & St Luke Bermondsey

“A Christian Presence in every Community”

Our Church of St Mary Magdalen Bermondsey aims to be:

Physically Present; Spiritually Present; building Fruitful Partnerships with groups & organisations-

especially Christian, but also with others who share our values. Such organisations over the years have included The Manna Society for the Homeless, the Salmon Youth Centre in Bermondsey, the London City Mission and Robes among others: connections which we hope to be able to expand as we continue to develop exciting plans for our building.

We believe, in line with the words found in Jeremiah 29: 7 + 11-13, that those values are primarily expressed as God is worshipped by his people in a place (Genesis 28: 10-17) and as we work out the meaning of our Faith and calling individually and together, as followers of Jesus (Matt 28: 18-20) who “first loved us” (1 John 4: 19) and who “tore down the wall(s) we used to keep each other at a distance... “ (Ephesians 2: 14-15)

At the core of this calling is Prayer...

Through Prayer:

We acknowledge that there is another reality (Ephesians 6: 10-18) We engage in another kind of Battle which must be fought “in the air” if things are to change “on the ground” (Mark 9: 29) and

We encourage each other to keep going… It is a privilege to work and pray alongside others week by week and year by year as we seek God’s kingdom here in Bermondsey.

Thank you to those who have prayed, the Churchwardens, Treasurer, Parish Church Council and to the Church Family (including those faithfully preparing the building for worship every Sunday) for all your commitment and support over the last year.

As we look forward to another year, I return to some words given to me some years ago:

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John 14: 12
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Revd Charlie Moore: 10[th] April 2022

2021/22

Apart from the regular Sunday Services, and occasional Offices such as Morning + Evening Prayer, Baptisms, Weddings and Funerals, there have been the following activities and events:

Tuesday Lunchtimes on Zoom Tuesday evenings in Church Thursday Evening in Person at Church. Pastoral/Prayer meetings: Morning Prayer on Tuesday, Wednesday mornings weekly at 6.00am

Monthly Breakfast Prayer meetings on Saturday mornings. Prayer is available at all these meetings and on Sundays. Monthly Holy Communion at Tower Bridge Care Home. Home visits + Holy Communion with Housebound members.

March, April, May and June 2021:

Prayer Course 2: Six Sessions. Wednesday 24[th] March, Wednesday, 1[st ] April, Maundy Thursday 2[nd] , Good Friday 3[rd] , Holy Saturday 4[th] and Wednesday 5[th] Listening Group: Discussions regarding Race- Opportunity for our Black sisters and Brothers to share their experiences of Racism. There were Groups on 25[th] April, 23[rd] May, 27[th] June and 18[th] July when we finished reading the Book “We need to Talk about Race by Ben Lindsey. Although these conversations have paused, it is our intention that they should continue as we seek to understand and love one another better…

Thy Kingdom Come: 10 days of Prayer from Ascension Day to Pentecost13[th] to 23[rd] May 2021. Europa League Final: Wednesday 26[th] May in Church. Guildable Manor Annual Service in Church- 23[rd] June 2021 Worshipful Company of Tanners Thanks giving Service in Church29[th] June 2021

July 2021:

Euros Football Tournament: Matches on Big Screen in church. Worship Event: followed by Football on Saturday evening 3[rd] Nature Walk at Russia Dock, Surrey Quays led by Gehan and Nirma de Silva- 22[nd] July 2021. St Mary’s Family Picnic

Open Air Collective Worship resumes at Boutcher School on Fridays

August 2021: Holiday period.

September 2021: Bermondsey Street Festival: 18[th]

September 2021 (many activities returned) Marriage Preparation Course 2: 30[th] September, 7[th] and 14[th] October 2021. Children + Youth Work Training: Saturday 11[th] September

Boutcher School Harvest at St Mary’s on 24[th] September 2021

Christianity Explored: Started 2[nd] November 2021 for 7 weeks Boutcher School: Weekly Friday Holy Communion at School

began after the summer break.

Annual Act of Remembrance, Termly Vision + Values meetings held at

Church. End of Term Christmas Carol Service at St Mary’s.

St Mary’s “Hallelujah” Light Party: 31[st] October 2021

Living in Love and Faith: ( Combined Deanery Synod Churches) Course. . Began in person on 14[th] November and continued in person on 28[th] November. Switched to Zoom for Sessions 3, 4 + 5 on 9[th] , 16[th] and 30[th] January 2022, due to COVID.

December 2021: Church family Christmas Celebrations.

8 Sessions between January and March.

February 2022:

“Be Still” Prayer Course/ began in Church. [+Breakfast Prayers] First of 5 Sessions-

“Be Still” Prayer Course continuing at Church [+Breakfast Prayers] Baptism and Admission to Holy Communion Service at Boutcher C of E Primary School

on 18[th] March – 6 children Baptised before 9 children admitted to Holy Communion. 1 more baptised and admitted to HC the following week during End of Term Easter Service at St Mary’s.

Ash Wednesday Holy Communion + Day of Prayer for Ukraine: 2[nd] March 2022. As part f our commitment to Global Mission along side other projects), we continue to support Alison Giblett our CMS Mission Partner, in Prayer and financially as she remains in Ukraine.

Up and Coming:

HOLY WEEK and EASTER- various services including Palm Sunday, Good Friday, Easter Day.

Thy Kingdom Come: 10 days of Prayer from Ascension Day to Pentecost- 26[th] May to 5[th] June Boutcher School: Family + Food Event at St Mary’s- Wednesday evening, 25[th] May

Parish Weekend Away: High Leigh Conference Centre- Friday 3[rd] to Sunday 5[th] June 2022.

PARISH STATISTICS
between 21.03.21 + 10.04.22
St Mary Magdalen
Boutcher School		 Other
Baptisms: 9 (Year5 children) 7 (Year5 children)
3 (Infants)
1 (Adult)
Weddings 3
Funerals None at church. 3(Crematorium)
2(Cemetery)
Confirmations of St Mary’s
members		 7(St Philip’s
Bermondsey)
Admission to HC 12(Year 5 children) 9(Year 5 children)
**Banns of Marriage ** 22

CHURCHWARDENS’ REPORT

The role of Church Warden has a long history and involves legal responsibilities for the resources and personnel in the church. It is an elected role and currently Ebun and Robin are your wardens.

We meet with Charlie regularly to discuss these important issues and the highlights of the last year have been:

1 RESOURCES

1.1: Keeping the church open as much as possible in a Covid-safe way for the spiritual welfare of the Church community and others. We would like to thank those who faithfully worked to make this happen especially Isobel and Maria. More people are now coming to St Mary. The average Sunday attendance for November 2019 was 77. In February 2022 it was 99. There are 114 people on the electoral role.

1.2: Repair of the buildings

– The church itself is over 700 years old the building itself is a mongrel of architectural styles and ages. Although structurally sound, it demands a lot of TLC. The last 2 quinquennials highlighted problems in the tower, gutters with water ingress and damp, fire door on the electrical cupboard and the heating and boiler. All are being addressed

1.3: Renovation of the church. Hopefully as you know we are keen to move onto Phase 3 of our St Mary development plan. This involves a substantial and sensitive revamp of much of the church. Our church vision is that “As Christians worshipping together in Bermondsey, we are seeking to live for the glory of God by following Jesus in the reality of God’s world”. It was developed in 2009 and then further refined through our Mission Statement (2014-15) : “ Here for Good ”. This involves at least 3 inter-related aspects:

1. Going Out /Physical Presence

2. Worship/Spiritual Presence

3. Building/Fruitful Partnerships”

We want St Mary to be a building that remains a place of worship that is open much more for community use. “ Here for Good ” means “Good” in the sense of:

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community
flexibility sustainablity
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More details will be discussed with the congregation when the architectural possibilities are known. This is not easy and is convoluted. Even after that, there is the tough issue of securing substantial funding. This will require much effort, determination and skill and we need prayer for this important aspect of our church’s development. Specifically, we feel we need to:

  1. Repair and renovate the church in line with the Quinquennial report and changes highlighted below, including reinstatement and electrification of the existing candelabras;

  2. Increase accessibility from the very busy Bermondsey Street to enable passersby to see into the church as a warm, light, interesting, inviting and special place. We also wish to improve accessibility and access within the building;

  3. Extend our cramped kitchen and catering facilities to be able to open a highquality community café and provide a better service for other church uses e.g. conferences, concerts;

  4. Relocate and up-grade toilets including a shower for users e.g. Robes project for homeless people;

  5. Open up the nave to provide a more flexible space for a more varied liturgy and use for community events e.g. concerts, meetings, wedding receptions, lunch-time talks and services. We would like to explore possible relocation of the Font;

  6. Develop some of the church spaces as work-life areas as people will work more from home in the future yet also require a sense of community to avoid social isolation;

7. Create:

We believe all of these, combined, will greatly help us to further realise our vision of being “ Here for Goo d” through an increased sense of community; and greater sustainability through increased flexibility.

2: PERSONNEL

As wardens we have tried to support Charlie, especially during lockdown. We have been conscious of the need for him to have a work-life balance and this has not been easy with a leader so dedicated to his vocation and so hard-working. We marvel at his energy and enthusiasm after so many years’ service at St Mary.

Church Cleaning

As the congregation is growing and church attendance is becoming more regular, a cleaning team has been re-instigated. I’d like to thank Gretchen, Tola, Fredericka, Isobel and Katie for giving up their time to make sure we have a nice clean church for Sunday morning worship. If you feel you can give up some of your time to help clean your church, please see Ebun

Robin & Ebun

READER

During the year, Sandra Cooper (Osoba) a much loved members of St Mary’s, retired as Reader and moved on. We thank her for her many years of faithful service here- to the children, young people and many others, as well as in the roles of Safeguarding Officer, Churchwarden and PCC Secretary. We do hope that she and Chris will be able to join us some time in the next few months so that we can say Thank you + farewell properly…

Charlie

HOSPITALITY

Every Sunday, 2 people from a larger team of 9, serve a mixture of homemade & shop bought cakes and treats, with tea & coffee for St Mary's. We are unofficially called 'The Sunshine Cafe' , and hope that we have been able to spread a little sunshine through the hospitality we try to give. Post Covid I think it's been a real help to encourage people to socialise and stick around after the service. I like to hope that it has re-ignited some of the fellowship elements of meeting on a Sunday, which are so important. I've had feedback from some single people who have said it's been particularly helpful for them to get to know people more easily in an inviting environment with a cuppa and a cake!

Abimaro

WORSHIP

I haven’t ever written a report for something before but saw this as a great opportunity to let the church know about the amazing things that have been happening in the church. In the last two years, we've all gone through our fair share of difficulties and trials in and outside of the church, this very much includes the foundations of church, worship being one of them. In the beginning, we struggled with numbers and had to stretch people in order to fulfil that calling that God has for some of us. Though difficult having some people take a step back from worship we have still persevered. Praise God for all the committed people past and present who’ve been willing to give their time to worship and serve in the church.

Revelations in worship that have taken place are numbers and the abundance the Lord has brought to our church. We've within the year recruited four amazing and gifted people to the worship team, who are very much committed to serve and strengthen us as a group. Praise God for Tom Sims, Gabriel Lim, Olivia and Daniel Coghil for their acts of service and how much help they've been.

I also want to praise God for all the people who’ve made all of this possible; Charlie Moore our rector for leading and guiding the right people to us and the worship team past and present; Davina, Nirma De Silva, Christelle, Joseph, Amana and Isla Moore, Tim Fielder, Alex Jalloh, Tabitha Fyffe, Moses Kanneh, Maya De Silva, Nathaniel Momodu, Maddie Holden, Stephanie Moh, Tom Sims, Gabriel Lim, Olivia and Daniel Coghill. I want to thank all these people for all the time and hard work they've put into serving through worship.

I also want to praise God for the PA/AV people behind the scenes organising all the technical things we try not to mess up. This job takes patience and can sometimes run into problems but that doesn’t stop any of them or us from delivering God's word and praise.

A thank you to; Usif, Chantelle and Juliet Kamara, Ruth, Anthony Fuja, Mark Fyffe, Trevor, Tobias Moore, Faye, CJ Glover and Bonsu Osei Tutu. I want all these people to know how much their hard work is appreciated.

Ending this on a high note, we need prayer for new equipment needs and most importantly if any of you out there have such a calling or gifts to serve the lord no matter what they are, come and share it with all of us, we always need more people on our team.

“Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow.” James 1:17

Friday

SOCIAL MEDIA/COMMS

Since March 2021 our social media has continued to grow, although volunteering capacity in managing the accounts has been reduced. We now have:

You can follow us on Twitter @StMaryMagSE1

follow us on Instagram @stmarymagdalenbermondsey

or Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/StMaryMagSE1.

As we gradually began to emerge from the pandemic and with the church open for inperson services, the viewing of online sermons began to drop throughout the year – although we continued to record the sermons up until December 2021. With each video subsequently uploaded to our YouTube channel in the weeks that followed. Our YouTube stats are as follows:

Since January we have not been recording the services. This has been due to a combination of reduced demand (with a complete return to ‘normal’ in-person services and the correlating drop in viewing figures) as well as planned changes in how we intend to record them. We are trialling a new system and intend to start uploading recorded sermons again soon.

Joseph

COMMUNICATION

There has been a welcome surge in attendance at St Marys now that the lockdown restrictions are lifted. This has meant that our most recent church directory, last revised in 2019, is now seriously out of date. Contact details for people who want to appear in the directory is being gathered with a view to having the new directory ready to distribute by the summer.

We are also working hard to keep our website current and our social media active. Thanks especially to Joe Moore and Tom Simms for keeping St Mary’s ‘out there’ in terms of our Facebook, twitter and Instagram profiles.

There is a lively church family WhatsApp group and another for the communication between the musicians in their preparations for Sunday morning services. The Men’s group has their ‘Band of Brothers’ WhatsApp and Charlie oversees the worship (“RevCharlie” BROADCAST) WhatsApp group to help the congregation keep track of the many opportunities for worship and fellowship during the week.

ROBES

For several years St Marys has hosted a group of up to 15 guests who participated in the Robes project, an initiative by Southwark Diocese to house homeless people in a network of churches during the coldest months of the year. Members of the congregation and volunteers from the community committed to help greet, socialise, cook, and be alongside those who came to us each week.

Because of the Covid restrictions the project could not run in 2020-21 but St Marys provided supplementary bags of food and pastime activities for Robes guests who were accommodated in a hotel in Peckham.

This year we were asked to prepare and deliver individual evening meals to Robes guests who were staying in student housing in Limehouse. We did 8 food runs on consecutive Friday nights in November-January. Again, we were well supported by people from the St Marys family who cooked 18 meals each week, delivered them and stayed to chat to the guests.

Volunteers from St Marys and the local community also stepped in to make up to 140 sandwiches a day that were distributed to those in need by the Manna Centre for the homeless. Their usual supplier, Pret a Manger, was unable to provide sandwiches during the lockdown because so few of their outlets were open. Nearly 8000 sandwiches were made in kitchens all over Bermondsey and brought to the Manna Centre during the course of the project which was coordinated from St Marys.

SAFEGUARDING

Now that Sandra Osoba/Cooper has moved on from St Marys I have become the designated lead for safeguarding in church together with Charlie and Amy Glover. In addition to keeping up to date with the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) status of those who have responsibilities in the church for dealing with vulnerable people, old and young, we are reviewing other areas in the life of the church where safeguarding plays a part. This includes initiatives that take place outside of church but are organised by St Marys such as youth activities and the People’s Bike Ride. We hope to dedicate a service to raising awareness about safeguarding in church later this year.

Gretchen Precey

BIBLE STUDY GROUPS

TUESDAY BIBLE STUDY

The group got a lot from studying the book of Acts and then the Bible Study group gained new members as we undertook the Christianity Explored Course. Unfortunately, numbers of the Christianity Explored Course dropped off at the end and as the Bible Study restarted we haven't had many people attend (possibly partly due to problems with the Heating system when the Group has had to meet in church). We hope to reboot the Bible Study at a new venue after Easter.

Ania and Andrew (Charlie)

THURSDAY EVENING LADIES BIBLE STUDY

The Thursday evening women’s Bible study group first started meeting in May 2021. We started with just three of us and now we are a group of seven regulars. We have looked at a few of the smaller books of the Bible like Titus, Ruth and James, and have just finished looking at a series called Poetry and Wisdom, which included the Psalms, Proverbs and Song of Songs.

Sometimes the stresses of every day life may mean that one of the sisters has a problem, and we will put aside Bible study and pray together and try and talk through solutions to the problem along Biblical principles. Being able to share a problem is really important to know that there are others who care for your welfare and well-being and are prepared to intercede with God on your behalf.

I’m trying to encourage the women to lead sessions so that we are able to learn the Word through different eyes, and so far Carole has led to look at Psalm 23

Ebun West

PASTORAL / PRAYER: See 2021/22 Overview

CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE

SUNDAY SCHOOL GROUP – Fine Young Christians – Year 3 to Year 6

Our Sunday group is school years 3 – 6 and, even though this is quite an age range, they work well together. The group is led by Tabitha Fyffe, who is also a Worship Leader, and Ebun West, a Church Warden. We usually take it in turns to lead the lesson.

We have 7/8 regulars that attend each session, and some weeks when there are more families in the service, the group can grow to 12 or more. The children get on well together and are quite supportive of each other, especially those who are more confident in speaking out. The children are very sure of their faith and feel confident enough to ask questions.

We are currently using the Gospel Project syllabus as our Sunday school material. This has good in-depth Leaders notes and varied activity sheets that are appropriate for our age group.

We are currently working our way through Genesis, starting with the creation, and we are now looking at the life of Jacob. The syllabus is very detailed, with many options regarding how to teach each lesson. The content is thorough and clearly weaves the Gospel truth through each lesson, bringing us back to the heart of the Bible each time – the role of Jesus as Creator and His saving work on the cross.

Many of the children in our group have a good understanding of the basics of the meaning of salvation and good recall of many of the popular Bible stories. They respond well to questions in class and engage well with the activities.

We plan to hand out regular communication to parents/ carers so they are aware of what is being taught in lessons so that they can support the children at home by continuing conversations and consolidate what we cover on Sundays. We did begin to hand out a summary to parents at the end of service but have lapsed & need to revisit this next term.

Tabitha Fyffe and Ebun West

YOUTH

We have been so blessed to see 3 new volunteers join the Youth leadership team, Sammy Gunnel, Amy Glover and CJ Glover which has meant that we have been able to share the responsibility for teaching our youth on a Sunday. The team are on Rota and have been working our way through the Gospel project curriculum which is “all about the gospel because the gospel is all about Jesus”

This curriculum helpfully ensures we are getting to understand the overarching story of the Bible and seeing that its all about Jesus, he is the hero of God’s story.

We managed to have some youth “socials” where we went bowling or had fun and games at the Salmon youth centre as a way to build relationship with our young adults. It is a huge joy to watch our youth growing in their knowledge and understanding of God’s word as well as seeing them following Jesus’ example of taking the lead to serve others. Alex serves on the praise team, while Tobias and Faye are now serving on the sound team on Sunday mornings and both doing a fantastic job. We have recently begun a monthly youth event where we gather the youth at St mary’s as well as other local church youth groups and have a time of fun and fellowship on the last Sunday of the month.

Jesus said that “the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few” Matt 9:37 and also that his followers should “pray to the Lord of the harvest to send more workers” Matt 9:38, so please recognize that we always need more people to help and so consider how you might be able to help by giving your time and prayer to making disciples.

Mark Fyffe

MISSION

We have been given a glorious commission by King Jesus to be completely devoted to following him as Lord and Savior and to lovingly help others to become devoted followers. God has abundantly blessed us through relationship with Him, in order that we would be a blessing to the nations all around us, starting with our neighbors in our local community.

The Bible teaches us that our God is a missional God and that he created human beings “ in His image ” Gen 1:26 to bring him glory by ruling over and filling the earth with his glory. In Acts1:8 Jesus said to his followers “ you will be my witnesses ” and then again before his ascension in Matt 28:16-20 he commissions his followers to “ make disciples of all nations ”. So, in obedience to Jesus, we endeavor, by the power of the Holy spirit to see every disciple at St Mary Magdalen, mobilized to make disciples of all nations in Bermondsey and beyond.

Our Parish

We continued to visit local people on local estates (restrictions permitting) during the lockdown and were able to provide practical help like shopping etc. along with prayer and we also made some new contacts. We have also seen an increase in local people visiting on a Sunday morning for services which is a great answer to prayer.

I believe that now more than ever there is a greater need for us to visit people on our local estates with the good news of Jesus as people are more isolated than ever and aware of the need for real hope. My prayer is that we as a local church will not withdraw but will step up and step out into our local community, that each one of us will be mobilized to reach those around us with the gospel.

The Good Friday Café

The café reopened its doors on a Friday back in May 2021 after leafletting the local area. Our vision for the café comes from Psalm 34:8 which says “Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him” and so our hope is that people would experience the goodness of God as they meet with the church on a Friday over tea, cake and good conversation. It was such a joy to be able to be available to serve all who would walk through the doors to visit the church and café again. Martinah Moh who is a long-standing resident of Bermondsey, and a member of St Mary’s had been promoting the GFC to local residents and so brought a group of them along to visit and they decided to make the café their new meeting place. It is so encouraging to see more local residents coming to the café on a regular basis and forming a welcoming community where people can be exposed to the goodness of God in a very practical way. The volunteer team from St Mary’s has also grown in number which has meant that as a church we are sharing the load and responsibility of ministry. I would like to give thanks to God for all of the volunteers who have and are supporting this valuable ministry either through prayers, finances or practically coming on a Friday to serve in the café. The café is one way that we as a church are on mission to tell the good news about Jesus to our local community. In a big city like London with so many people from many different nations all over the world,

there is an enormous amount of loneliness. The cafe provides a great opportunity to reach so many lonely and isolated people with the love of Jesus through a warm welcome, life giving words and prayer.

On mission together…

We had the great privilege of being able to support a church in Ghana that needed a building to gather in for their church services. The Assemblies of God church meet in a small village in Akpafu – Odomi and they were not able to meet when it rains because they had no roof as you can see in the picture above.

The PCC at St Mary’s very kindly agreed to donate a sum total of £1500 to the building costs and this money paid for a roof for the church as well as part of the concrete footings. Pastor Eric who can be seen in this picture, travels far and wide in Ghana to many villages sharing the good news of salvation through Jesus and we have been able to partner with him in these very challenging times.

Men’s ministry

Our aim is to actively pursue men to help them to connect with God, His word, and other men for the purpose of winning, growing and training Disciples of Christ.

The vision statement for our Men’s ministry is ‘ We want to help Men to become followers of Jesus for good’.

We will achieve this vision through strategic men’s ministry opportunities with

1 Thessalonians 2:8 As our framework:

“We were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well.”

The global Covid pandemic which led to a lockdown was so challenging for everyone and

one of the greatest challenges was isolation and not being able to meet in person. We thank God for technology which meant that we were able to meet online and see each other, albeit on a screen. Our men’s group ‘Band of Brothers’ was a real life line for many of us and a way for us to encourage each other with God’s word, share our struggles and pray for each other. In January 2021 we started and online study called ‘Real Men’ which was a look at the life of Daniel where we get a great example of a whole life in service to God, from a young man to an old Man. It was both a joy and a challenge going through the study and was great to see men stepping up on different weeks to lead. The B.O.B whatsapp group has grown and is a great way for us as men to communicate and organize events such as Men’s bike rides which continues to be a great success as men cycle together and get to know each other on a deeper level. These bike rides are getting longer and longer with more and more men being added which is great, they also provide evangelistic opportunities to reach men who don’t know Jesus.

Some other activities have included men’s breakfasts,online discussion and prayer,and cultural nights where we learn about each others cultural background, giving God thanks for the diversity he has made.

Mark Fyffe

ST MARY’S BIKE MINISTRY

We have a healthy and growing bike ministry here at St Mary’s.

What are these bike rides? They are usually on Saturdays about once a month in all weathers. They last about 4 hours with breakfast. Some are London-based e.g. Royal Parks, Thames River runs. Some go further afield e.g. Cambridge (2x), Brighton (2x) and Paris (taking place on the 29[th] April – 1[st] May 2022).

Why bike rides? They provide much needed exercise, challenge, fellowship and a chance to talk about life and faith

Why men? We run both Peoples’ Rides for men and women and Men’s Rides which help to enable men from a wide variety of backgrounds from both within the church and outside to have honest conversations about big questions.

Generally, we have between 5-12 individuals (with a peak of 16 coming to Brighton in June 2021) come on these bike rides.

Thanks to Joe and Gabriel for all their hard work in managing these important events.

Robin Precey

TREASURER'S REPORT & ACCOUNTS (*w see Resources al￿ Churchwardens, Re￿ts) The 2021 accowts a surplus of £23.2k in 2021. Cornpared to the swplus of £22.6k in 2020 this is a small inuease of £6C(). There has been go)d finanaal sUp￿rt frorn member5 of the congregation and ￿ increase in income has offset an irKrea5e in expendrture. Total incorne in(reased trry £16.8k and totsl expendirure irKreased ty a similar unount of £16.2k (from 20201. In 2021 total receipts from donor5 (note 2a) were £85k cornpared to £69k in 2020. Thi5 represents large irKrease in total donaDons of £16k. The tran5rtbon to direa payments to the church account in 2020 by some members of the congregaiion continued in 2021. Hthvever. scrfne have contin rith giving at church due to this. collections at semces increased from £5k In 2020 to over £7k in 2021 (r￿ste 2a) ￿￿th higher numbers anending church p05t CcNid also contributing to thi& To faalitate cashle55 giving Qettle ￿ used at Sunday servKes fw those v￿shi￿ to pay ty car(L The rental income of £34.7k in 2021 15 at a similar le•el compared to the pre1￿u5 year of £34.5k. However. it is irnportant to Tr)te that there has been a change in the WeSentatic￿ of rental irKome in 2021 due to estate agent will￿MS Lyrth being aFpointed managine agent of the second rental property as well in jul￿ 2021. Williams LyrKh anend to woperry maintenance and pay us the rent havirE deducted maintenance arKI rnanagement fees. The net rent is the fEure provided in the accounts %thich also ind￿5 rent of 1.4k for use of thLrch premises. The Total renT received for the two pr￿rkneS was £42.7k of whKh £9.4k was Spent on fees and mairtenance (fee5 £6k. maintenance £3.4kl. Income tax recovere(l from Gift AKI donations increased to £9.8k in 2021 frtxn £9.Ik in 2020 (note 2al. This is a sienrfKant amount we were able to daim. Income tr￿7 investmet)ts were around the same as last year (note 2c). After the lull of 2020 due to the pandemK, the church fair dunng the Berrnond5ey Street FeAival £￿e an inc4The from fundTaisirE attivities of £L3k SIWty more than half of these Fxoceeds were nated to tm) charitie5 toW￿rdS 5uprthing the Afghanistan crisis.

Total expeThJiture has increased to £104.6k in 2021 from £88.4k in 2020. an ir￿reaSe of £16.2k. This is mainly due to a rise in church operats'ng costs and architect fees. Church maintenance increased by £3.2k to £13.8k in 2021 (note 3cl. This incI￿led £3.9k for c5eanin& £3.8k for bcdler repair5 afKI heots.ng maintenwKe arKI £1.4k to a regular twilder goirKg repair5 in the chwth. Frun operaDn£ costs. 0￿dated ¥￿(ship equipment fly £2.5k were vffitten off as the equipment list1￿ on page 6 was reviewed and brought up to date. ￿ updated listing is on page 6. ArCh￿ett fees amounted to £9.5k relating to w<Yk do￿ from February 2016 to January 2021. This Yrds in February 2021. The PCC commffted to increase its contribution to the L)i4xese of &MthvRrk pled￿￿ £34,750 in 2021. We are still r)et reopnts of th.￿eSan resources as the costs of providi￿ us a rector far exceed our ContriLwDc￿L Church management administration costs redutrd by Elk from 2020 to 2021. Alth￿￿ rental woperry maintenance (note 33) stwm 5.2k in 2021 it ￿ actually higher than this e to the point mentK)rd in the Inc<xne Secticffl, Ihat the estate agent aztends to property maintenance and pays us net renr. We 5UPPOrted nine organisatDons with donations amounts.ng to £6.3k in 2021 (note 3dl. The full list is ￿Ven in the 3CC¢JJnt5 (note 3dl. These i￿luded two donat￿￿5 towards the Afghanistsn crisis and donatson to a church in Ghana towards a builthng project. A deposit of 2.7k has been paid to reserve accommodaticffi and transwt for Churth Family Weekend Away planned for June 2022. Thank you Thank ycw so mLKh for ycwr kirwj d(￿ats.0r￿ and regular ￿VIng which have been a viral s￿rCe of revenue to the chw(h arKI very rn￿h appreoaied. Thank you fw s￿nIre w a5 a Gfft Aid dormy wthich has helped as the Gift Awj kheme allows us to increase the value of donatsons by 25 Many thar*s to Dori5 Carr W￿le￿ak]rE the independent examination of the accounts. Nirrna de Sifv, Treasurer

St Mary Magdalon Flnandal Sumfflary 2021 Totsl Income thweMed ty £16Ak and tirtal eX4￿e IKTeased ty a slmllw ol £16.2k lfrtsm 2020 Th58￿ a 5ur&4us d £232k In X121 of £22.6k hn e¥p¥hdllure Where does the monry come from? How much does our thurch cost? In 2021 toial was e127m5 In 3)21 e spert £w.642 £85J97thnav(￿ a￿1 colle(tk• £34.732 lenth￿ C￿rt ￿￿perIS £4.784 In¥estments £1.355 fuThdfals £1.587 fees rthved £5.248 an ￿rrtaI ryoperUo5 £14743 on manapnert athl adminlstratl( £6LW operaw costs £6.2B9 was 8tr¥en to mlssknis and £251 Tower d¢xk £9.546 Archltecvsfees E2.677 Church èwty le&￿11 Frcn 2020to 2021 Ic￿1 Inc(wne kxreaseo by £16J17 Ffcth 2020 to 2021 epMltwe InrJeased I E16.212 Ibnatlons 85.397 69.292 J&105 M732 M544 4784 4661 L587 1541 L355 Prppenit5 )Id￿Tr Cef•tyty(osts 9.763 145151 .743 19.769 IL0261 61,&M 51687 7.IS7 ￿.￿ l924 1365 Reni Investments Fèes IYJ41 L355 T{y￿r dtk Jknhilert5fres Chwth•Jty dtposit F•r *S46 2677 127.855 111038 J&817 corth￿10n io thè Dbc<ese £34.750 Churth maintenarKe £13J17 Insurance £4.445 Gas eleartclty aThl Watrf É4.313 Cowses and mEsSbDn £590 W￿h&P £3.421 (Xhof £￿1￿ 4errt

21 (8292 ?Ib) ?{0 21d 30.319 1.918 36.319 37,1 127JSS 62 1•.743 $2 14743 3<b} 11.70k Churer+ 31¢) 31d 31• 3ffl 81.567 2é77 28n 27.1• r4•14 XJ r4 • *• •t 1 J￿￿￿Y?0 as.470 2321)

J.610 P19> (121 107 STATE¥EIIT OF AS&ET•AM> LIABAIrnS At AT M OECQII•ERI 41•1 41b} J71>5 70 dy4 02.sii 141.66 1rJ.UO c•w¢h Fw S<bl 246th1 2101 11767 17.4Cé Cithr• 16 tyth•QC C on 4th +1•20￿ •)dtrJtsJ C•b•¥(u• - 2011 .

Proehlal Chwth Coundl of 8t Mary Tpthh St Olw•. St Jfthn & Sl Luk# Finanaal stat￿Ents foy the yw 315t OKwnbeT 2021 ACCOUNTING POLICIES (al Iwe t8n wep￿1 in acc4yd•nce ilh I￿ f)knties k12011 Lwir#J Recets a￿1 PayThents basts. l Tr statemèrt of as5et5 has ￿ wtpartAI urthr th& h¢sione81 cxlst ctswth)bon &¥c•pt Inves1m￿l assets. ￿1th are al rnarkel vue. (c l General funds the funds of tt PCC Ihal are lo any restn'cty"(K￿ rtyardir4 Il'r use are avai14e f<Y applution to the ￿nfjr￿ purFKxes PCC. dg'gn•knl a p•tul pirprAe try t￿ PCC are al￿ uryearicled. (dl Tts ar￿untS i￿lUde rn￿@1ary trarBxfth& asts a￿1 liatslrties for vthich the PCC is rewisble in . (kn induth the ￿￿JnIS of clxwdb gOLW thai th8lr main affil￿11(￿ lo a￿ther t￿Y or tho86 that ¥6 infomal 9thnngs ol M￿lI (el Cc41eth'cffis are recO￿Sed received by on Ixhl PCC. fft pl￿80 glvlng lrtomè tax récthèth on Grft Ald donatlons • ty (91 Rerfal irn¥me tr￿n ts leth'ng of thurth t8 rwrM8ed renl is [￿•￿e•J. (h) txvidends ￿ xrounl•a for re￿¥￿￿. Intwe5t ar8 lrtwg is rethv6d. 01 C(wraled and b￿611C￿ w)pwty of any knntj is exdu<led friyn the acc(￿nts Charibes Act 2011. M0veab￿ church fumishws are Iithl In thè churth's Inv8nW ¥thich can b• inspxt•J at any reasonatrA• tim&. There is insLrfficient cost Infofmaljon available to vahJe asts wuired before 1 JanLk7ry 21x13 arrfl only assets wulrthJ after that date * surnmlsed ￿ the Statsment of Assets arJ ￿bIl￿.￿l. Q) Freehcld proFthes ￿Tre uuired to 1 January 2003 are recwsed r￿1 vauod kn the St8temeni of As88ts aThJ tsabilitses. Tltte lo the prc0en￿s Is Mld C￿ behalf cl th& PCC by I￿ South Churth Fund and s￿fvIark th.oce￿ Board of Flnance as custodian tntst8&. Al¢mtary •ssets O() Short4erm are on dwil the CBF Cywrth cd Fund8 ry * there tt lunds are rea("ly acces￿1￿. O) OeFQSt8 W in funds ty s￿th Chych FuThJ we (8waled as ¥weStm￿ts ralher m kn¥eslmerts (ml Investments aré val￿d at mtst Val￿ at 31° Decmbw. (nl Inveslments i￿0 trLtst h8ld by s￿1th FurKI cd th? PCC. (ol tt is PCC poky to ty io main￿￿ a bal￿ ￿ ￿￿9ric￿ ftwKb to woxim•l8ly th months. unresthcted paymerts. At the yoarend qs morn than ts)v8rth1 by w¥*si￿cl￿d t¢mi dwts and cash at tAnk a￿1 In haThl.

P￿￿1•1 C￿ttl1 al Sl M•ry Sl Ol•rt SiJ•th & 1¢ L lty enL￿ 3111 Dec•nbts 2021 2 RECEIPTS Gr￿1& received 670 1.W2 670 1.744 479 436 pl￿e¢ SlwBrrJ5h4) 11.￿3 37.403 9.437 7.716 5.781 30.577 37.403 gA37 7.716 Sundry 18OX) 81388 I8.￿} 8&397 18.762 5•,292 Feès 1.587 34.732 2.511 34.S44 34.732 Interest received 14 46 4.6lS 2.tI3 1.•16 4714 cr•Jth fan J PAYMENTS J (•) Co•t ofG•nwng Aind• Expenthfurè ts) renrA $248 $248 9.763 Clèwy &Ypeni o￿Te￿h rrter & dene4 ￿Mir•S￿e 3.035 1.313 10,410 S.011 11,678 714 18.743 J (¢1 Adl¥hl••D•¢OyR•l•trftq 10 lh• Ivtytr d lh• Glwrjj 13￿1 11743 1•.760 11817 10.fAO 34.750 34,75D In8wance uDh￿e1 4.447 4313 3.421 4.313 3.421 1.237 270

P¥(wt1411 Clxrth C•AII ol S111•ry Il• •llh Sl Sl Jthi a Si L StataMts ftr 31si 2021 3{dlGr 52S6 1.033 3.924 . Salnw Youth Certre . Lorrf￿ Qty . Manna Sc¢ety . In Buildi￿ F￿￿1 524 - Sn Tfahn 3 (ej Twr CIL) 9.546 J OJ 1927 750 2677

Cthwdb CA￿7¢11 ol Sl klwy Ilaiplthfft ￿ Sl Olw 81 8t L fty trt ye•r eTr￿J 3181 2021 4 ANALY818 OF IIONEfARY ASSETS BY FUND TOTAL Fund• Furyl• FuThl• 2021 25,434 25.434 25 434 C89th ffi hand ql LMty Tnrt 119 .969 51 088 19.751 10.751 70.720 70.839 ANALYSIS OF INVESTMENTS BY FUND TOTAL Fund• FU￿1• FurKI• 2021 S (41 CeF ￿Eft￿•n￿ Fvnd• C 637C4001S. Clwty C AIC 637C64002S. Amoxong Chgnty 1116S8 112fA8 11.413 17.W 141. 11.413 17.S87 29.(K)O 112.6%8 5 Ib) thnJl•wl• h•klbySouth Lonth CJNurh Fufid Trttsr 22 140 140 C*r9y c613 37. 132 39.951 181. 737 224 $88 f84. 737

Pwo(X•l Chw¢h 0181 M•ry ¥Alh * Olvrt a¢Johfv 4 ai L 6 FREEHOLD PRC•ERTIE8 The SrAth London Fund 8nd Clbxegon Fai￿ Ikyd ￿ bew of ih• PCC . 11KI St Rc•d. 7 EIWIPMENT Cod£ Jin.5 th 4JOdW K¥qe£ kne 2(A)4 2012 sl lS sl XJ16 0¢￿ 2015 rxunbtsT 2)ts 2)17 3)18 Woithip * J)18 r4 9uetrs ItrNpI 2020 149.99 f6.01 th¢s & stw L4miMt 707.3 79.01 3.43 1S•g.99 949.99 919.99 Tv&fwD 387 97 Orth ￿"1 6198 2.tyy f•0 510.91 319 Fobru¥y 2010 IP. Dt#W 45 49.99 y XJ11 kne 2011 13 787 8 CREDITORS

THE ECCLESIASTICAL CHARITY OF ST IAARY MAGD￿EN wrrH ST OLAVE ST JOHN A14D ST LUKE Th• É¢cbJl•Jlk•l Ch•rtty w85 crested In 1W ty a iry Chgrty Commissioners for Errw and Ylale8. The &YovkJgd Ih&t naThIsrL￿.." Mary's PCC d ihe Ecxl8gbcal Charity Ihu8 h88 th8 re4Kmtslty Con¥n￿l￿n hemè. thk Ih81 7he ofrts EttSSsf￿￿ Chw K to lurthor the oth•r ol tne GINMrh orf£nOwxl In the Si Alwy Fund& PCC 08(#grffi In XJ11 to irNe4m8rrt ar£orf la￿ tAth CBF rlTha 2)21 Ywe no ￿j￿9 thls IL¥WJ. Yur 31112r21 M2120 Intere￿ & dividends recèivèd Rev¥¥b￿ 91WuJ I¢￿1￿) Less expeTrJlur• NET ￿CollE 14,163 F￿￿￿￿1 Po•ll Captaj Fu IncJTh FurKI 112. 11.Ttr2 12 98.41 NET 58ETS The x£oJnts of the Ecde818qlkd Chwlty we Inaxixy6d Inlo the amual ￿¢th￿rtS d the PCC. the Coptsl in End(AtyTnert FuTrJB In Fwmts.

Independent Examiner's Report to the members of St Myary Magdalen with St Olave, St John and St Luke, Bermondsey for the Year Ended 3111 December, 2021 Parochial Church Council. TMS ts Yry tsport lott￿ Pdrothkl Chwth CoLKI IPCQ cl E￿I￿S1al p￿Sh ofSI M¥ Magdalen wmh St Ola. 51 lthTh St Luke Churth 8erm(Mw15ey, on theanntsal rewi for the ￿r ended 31" Oe￿fflber 2021 sa oul (ffipwlto7 Atipe(th The PCC mèmbtrs ¥ reSp￿$￿tIe for the ￿eP￿￿k)rt Oft￿ annual The PCC 1up￿￿1b11I￿ ol merrt)U5 COr￿th0t ￿ ￿NIrt is nor requed forth15 year under sertlan 144121 tnotee5 and exaffAner theCharttsesAct Zoll I.theCh￿l[￿ Acri and tharan Independenr eX￿￿that￿1n 15 e¢d It resprffthltylo.. eY3m1￿ tht ￿￿Unts ￿￿er serihjn 145 ofthe 2011 Chafifie5 the wocedwes ld In the General Obrectjons tr¥en lry t Charty CDmmlsslon luThlLY Se(￿n 145lSllbll ofthe charn￿s Act. and state whdtsr P¥Mul¥ mattus c¢>Tre to nyy ol InthKNleffl •oty examknattt>n was (arrbEd out kn xcOrdw￿fIrh General Dlrectlons 8ken bythe ••mlrs st•tertbty)t Ctsfrty Comm6YW An re¥• of ac(Mir re￿ts kept ty Ihe charr¢y èr#J a of theacc(wnis prestt)twJ wlth Ihose rewftts. a150 Kludes of ary ￿USu￿ Itern ordlschjswes In the a￿o￿nts. and see eX￿al￿n$ from the I￿￿tee5 corKwnlw marter5. The pf(xethJfes lthaken thj provlde all the e¥lefice ihat bè required In an aurt and (tytseqLntfy Is 8tron as rothether Pfesent a'l￿ W f ew ￿pOrt Is Moyied lottrthe matterssa out In tse1￿. IndEp•thrt ￿t￿ne(l￿ no fflaterlal martW5 compto nry aotent eMnhbeesststtslbert me cause to that. In fflaierlal respect. the rÉyulr&iiei To w¥we thè Xc0￿)ts wllh Iht rectyds I come across Tho matters kn ￿retti￿ wlth the to t4ch atte1t￿rt sh¢xthJ be(knvn In order toenatye a kyoper Ur#J￿￿￿6Of its 10 bè DO￿5 CARA 6•1￿1 20 IpMlllk•tWsl or aMA Exaffanerfs•das io)VAUWI ESTATE. LOMfxiN SE163QY Independent Examiner's Report to the members of St Mar), Magdalen with St Olave, St John and St Luke, Bermondsev for the Year Ended 31* December, 2021 P¥4rochial Church Council.