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2021-12-31-accounts

Diocese of Winchester Deanery of Bournemouth

BOURNEMOUTH TOWN CENTRE PARISH

REPORTS FOR THE 2022 ANNUAL MEETING

THURSDAY 7[TH] APRIL 2022 AT 6:30PM ST PETER’S CHURCH

AGENDA ANNUAL PAROCHIAL CHURCH MEETING Thursday 7[th ] April 2022

6.30pm, St Peter’s Church

1. Opening Prayers and Welcome
2. Present
3. Apologies for Absence
4. Approval of Minutes of the APCM Thursday 29th April 2021 Page 3
5. Matters Arising
6. Financial Report
 Page 8
7. Consolidated Accounts 2020 Page 10
8. Appointment of Independent Examiner Page 24
9. Electoral Roll Update Page 24
10. Resolution on Rule of 6 Year Term of Office Page 24
11. Election of Officers and Representatives Page 25
12. PCC Secretary’s Report Page 26
13. Church Wardens Report Page 28
14. Team Rector’s Report Page 32
15. Any Other Business
16. Close in Prayer

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BOURNEMOUTH TOWN CENTRE PARISH

ANNUAL PAROCHIAL CHURCH MEETING MINUTES

Thursday 29[th] April 2021 6.30pm - Via Zoom

1. Opening Prayers and Welcome

2. Present

3. Apologies for Absence

4. Minutes of the APCM 2020

5. Matters Arising

6. Financial Report – Lisa Babb (PCC Secretary)

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just a total of all three individual church accounts plus the PCC accounts and so they mean very little in terms of granularity but are legal requirement.

7. Appointment of Independent Examiner (James Shutler - 17 Tax & Accounting Ltd)

8. Elections of Officers and Representatives

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ELECTED OFFICERS AND REPRESENTATIVES 2021

St. Peter’s St. Stephen’s St. Augustin’s
Jane MacDonald-
Parish Wardens Styslinger ---- ----
Chris Mayne
Deputy Wardens Ronalyn Bichard
Virginia Beck		 ---- Janet Lawrence
June Deedman
Deanery Synod
Reps		 Duncan Courts Helen Holmes
Stephen Chappell		 David Agar
PCC Members Lisa Babb
Mike Emsley
Godfrey French
Colin Beck		 Paul Coote
Julian Davies
Diana Shiner		 Ruth Beasant
Julian Davies
Mike Emsley Diana Shiner
Lisa Babb Paul Coote Ruth Beasant
DCC Members Godfrey French Adrian Scott Jackie Uren
Colin Beck Brenda Price Ros Atkin
Carol Claxton
Electoral Roll
Officers		 Colin Beck Paul Coote
(Parish)		 Barbara Sparling

9. Electoral Roll Report (to end April 2021)

2020 2021 New Died Left
St Augustin’s 43 40 2 2 3
St Peter’s 125 124 1 2 --
St Stephen’s 47 45 3 2 3
TOTAL 215 209 6 6 6

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10. PCC Secretary’s Report (Lisa Babb)

11. Church Wardens’ Report (Jane MacDonald-Styslinger)

12. Rector’s Report (Ian Terry)

13. Any Other Business

14. Close in Prayer

SIGNED: _____________

The Rev’d Ian Terry - Team Rector

DATE: 7[th] APRIL 2022

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REPORTS FOR THE 2022 ANNUAL MEETING

PCC FINANCIAL OVERVIEW 2021

CONSOLIDATED ACCOUNTS P&L

Incoming Resources

The ongoing Covid lockdowns and restrictions during the 2021 financial year continued to have a negative impact but overall there was a modest increase of 3% on the previous year with total incoming resources rising from £172,276 to £177,536.

Planned giving fell again by a further 10% compared with 2020 and therefore Gift Aid reclaims made by the church treasury team also fell accordingly. On a more positive note collections from services did increase by 264% in the year but this stream of income has still not recovered to pre-pandemic levels.

St Peter’s Church received £3,000 in grants from the local council and also a legacy of £5,250. These amounts were donated to the St Peter’s Development Project for the purpose of carrying out the necessary structural repairs that are urgently required to the fabric of the building.

Resources Used

Resources used across the parish fell by 6% to £189,999 (2020: £193,960). This was brought about by significant decreases in the running expenses of the churches which dropped from £56,612 in 2020 to £36,473 in 2021. During the year new insurance premiums were negotiated and new tariffs agreed with the utility companies which brought about significant savings of £5,000. In addition to the savings made, the churches were also closed for the first quarter of the year which helped reduce costs in heating and lighting.

Some costs did increase in 2021 compared to the previous year. The diocesan quota payable by the churches was up by £3,017 in the year due to St Peter’s paying their share in full, and the costs of church services increased from £24,755 in 2020 to £37,920. This is because although the churches were closed for over three months in the period under review this is much less than the closures imposed by the national lockdowns in 2020.

Routine maintenance of church buildings and churchyards increased by 12% year on year and St Augustin’s Church also had to pay £11,472 for a new boiler in the annex and over £2,500 for a roof repair during the period. A further £1,556 and £2,060 was spent by St Peter’s and St Stephen’s respectively on maintaining the organs and pianos.

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Net Movement in Funds

Overall funds have increased by £7,879 to £358,510 compared with 2020 (2% increase) and this made up of:

As can be seen the overall day to day activities of the churches are still running at a financial loss but this has been outweighed during 2021 by the positive returns on investments held by the churches and PCC.

Balance Sheet

During the PCC meeting held on 28 March 2022, it was agreed that those funds held by St Stephen’s Church which were previously treated as ‘Restricted’ did not meet the statutory definition. On this basis, the funds in question have now been shown on the balance sheet as Unrestricted funds. Therefore, the Restricted funds shown on the consolidated balance sheet have reduced from £189,385 in 2020 to 14,583 in 2021 and Unrestricted funds are now shown as £343,927 compared with £161,246 in the previous year.

The only assets continuing to be shown as Restricted are those held in the Ivy Paine and M Vass Trusts, on behalf of St Augustin’s Church.

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ELECTION OF INDEPENDENT EXAMINERS 2022

• Mr James Shutler - All Tax Ltd & Worth Accountants LLP

ELECTORAL ROLL UPDATE (to end March 2022)

2021 2022 New Died Left
St Augustin’s 40 40 4 4 0
St Peter’s 124 120 1 2 3
St Stephen’s 45 44 1 1 1
TOTAL 209 204 6 7 4

RESOLUTION - 6 YEAR TERM OF OFFICE RULE

That this meeting of the parishioners of the Parish of Bournemouth Town Centre resolves that the rule under the Churchwardens Measure 2001 which states that

‘the maximum continuous period of service as churchwarden of the same parish is six terms of office, after which the churchwarden must take at least a two year break before re-appointment’

will not apply in this parish until such time as this resolution is rescinded by a further meeting of the parishioners'

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ELECTION OF OFFICERS AND REPRESENTATIVES 2022

St. Peter’s St. Stephen’s St. Augustin’s
Parish Wardens Jane MacDonald-
Styslinger
Chris Mayne		 ---- ----
Deputy Wardens Ronalyn Bichard
Virginia Beck		 Paul Moores
Kani Trehorn		 Janet Lawrence
June Deedman
Deanery Synod
**Reps **		 Duncan Courts Helen Holmes
Stephen Chappell		 David Agar
PCC Members Lisa Babb
Mike Emsley
Colin Beck
GodfreyFrench		 Paul Coote
Julian Davies
Diana Shiner		 Ruth Beasant
Jackie Uren
DCC Members Mike Emsley
Colin Beck
Godfrey French		 Julian Davies
Diana Shiner
Paul Coote
Adrian Scott
Brenda Price
Carol Claxton		 Ruth Beasant
Jackie Uren
Ros Atkin
Electoral Roll
Officers		 Colin Beck Paul Coote
(Parish)		 Barbara Sparling

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PAROCHIAL PARISH COUNCIL SECRETARY’S REPORT 2021

The full BTCP PCC met on six occasions this year:

Thursday 3[rd] June - via Zoom - One item agenda - SS Organ Monday 14[th] June - via Zoom - One item agenda - SP Organ Monday 12[th] July 2021 - via Zoom Thursday 21[st] October 2021 - in person Monday 31[st] January 2022 - via Zoom Monday 28[th] March - in person

And then discussed various one item matters via email on five occasions:

19[th] June 2021 2[nd] September 2021 4[th] March 2022 22[nd] & 23[rd] March 2022 31[st] March 2022

The Annual Parochial Church Meeting for 2021 , due to Covid restrictions, was held on Thursday 29[th] April 2021, via Zoom at 6.30pm.

During the past year, the PCC has continued to review and improve its governance of the whole parish, increasing its levels of monitoring and scrutiny of finance and all buildings of the parish.

We continued the strive to move to a more digital, cashless system across all things financial, encouraging those who continued through 2021 to hire our various venues to pay via BACs and the parishioners who continue to contribute to our church funds using cash, to change their giving to monthly Standing Orders or via the Parish Giving Scheme or CAF payments via the St Peter’s website link. The installation of the Contactless Card Machine in St Peter’s back in 2019 proved valuable during 2021, with payments via this methos increasing weekly. As the Covid restrictions continued to bring closure of our churches, this highlighted the vulnerability in our finances, still relying heavily on cash payments during weekly service attendance.

Having set up St Peter’s on the WAVE accounting system in 2019 and spending weeks trying to reconcile the errors from the previous year, 2021 gave the St Peter’s team the ability to have total transparency of finance at the push of a button that balanced to the penny. The PCC would like to formally thank James Shutler, our Independent Examiner, for his hard work and diligence in assisting the church treasurers in keeping our parish financially in order.

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Through lockdown in 2020, swift measures were taken to protect our parish finances, and this continued in 2021, with the turning off of all possible utilities, furloughing of staff where possible (Parish Administrator) and the review of the churches Insurances, the greatest expense for each church next to the Common Mission Fund (CMF) payments we make to the Diocese. Through careful negotiation we managed to secure savings of circa £2,000 compared to our 2020 cover (£7,000 compared to our 2019 cover), and we will continue to negotiate this each year to ensure savings are made wherever possible.

Our CMF payments were paid in full by both St Peter’s and St. Stephen’s, with St Augustin’s paying 50% of their quota, enabling them to make the necessary repairs they needed to make, replacing the annex boiler and repairing the vestry roof, at a cost of £14,000. The PCC formally instructed each church to set up monthly standing order payments for 2021 ensuring we are not in breach of our obligations to the Diocese and have complete transparency of our finances, knowing that committed expenditure is paid out monthly and therefore allowing complete visibility of available funds on a monthly basis. We were grateful that musical and other events recommenced, when Government restrictions were lifted and so we had a slight recovering within those income streams, beginning with a very successful St Peter’s Jazz Week. We are hopeful that these incomes streams will continue to grow again and enable all three churches to pay full CMF in 2022.

Key repairs to all three of our church buildings were discussed throughout the year, mainly roof and boiler repairs at St Peter’s, tree works at St Peter’s and St Augustin’s, organ repairs at St Peter’s and St Stephen’s and the ongoing review of the Hall at St Stephen’s. The huge costs that all repairs incurred, along with the large fall in income due to in-person worship being halted, has brought stewardship issues into sharp focus for the PCC and this will be on the main agenda to address during 2022.

Lisa Babb - PCC Secretary

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PARISH WARDENS’ REPORT 2021

Another year that saw lockdowns but a general easing of the scale of the pandemic and effects of illness-thank goodness for our wonderful medics and for the vaccination programme.

All three of our super churches adapted and kept careful stewardship of themselves -with our folks all looking out for and after one other. Chris Mayne joined me as the other Parish Warden, and I thank him for helping shoulder the workload.

- CRIME/ANTI SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR/GROUNDS

On the downside, we have had a few acts of mindless vandalism - at St Peter’s our Sanctuary reredos was smashed by someone using the wooden crucifix that was fixed above the pulpit. This will cost thousands of pounds to repair and was shocking in its ferocity. Parry’s café has seen a couple of breaks in’s too and a small theft from Marion’s Souvenir Stall, but we remain positive for the thousands of folks who enjoy our open and welcoming church every day. These are isolated occurrences of some matter of minutes in the thousands of hours we are open. Thank goodness for insurance! Thanks to Richard Lambert who still tirelessly locks and unlocks for the majority of the week.

At St Peters the wonderful Cherry Tree walk was planted in March 2021, followed closely by the bee and butterfly walk. Well over 14,000 bulbs also were planted including 4000 crocuses reminding us of Rotary’s campaign to end polio.

The nature and heritage trails will be installed in February/March 2022. Locals and visitors have expressed delight at the open safe feel of these grounds. A huge shout out to Bournemouth Rotary who have supplied many volunteers every week (Maurice, Roy, Ted and Nigel in particular) and to the St Peters folk - in particular Colin and Virginia Beck, Mike and Carolyn Emsley, Divina Johnson and Steve Jones. We have local residents coming every week on our Tuesday workday to help as they have felt inspired to be part of this transformative work. To all of you who have even come for a few times - bless you, as you have each made a positive contribution. Sue Dawson at Dorset Wildlife Trust has been a dynamo, providing us with students from a local school and STEPS students from the local College, helping clear around graves and plant and weed. They even built compost heap containers.

We have partnered with Faithworks Wessex and the local community payback team to provide much clearance at the back of St Stephens. However, until St Stephens DCC has arranged the needles to be cleared, they cannot come back and finish clearing the horribly overgrown area that leads down to Braidley Road which screens the illegal activity taking place at the back of the church. A priority in 2022.

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Following a successful grant application made by Duncan Courts, St Peter’s priority in 2022 is replace security lighting and roll out a new CCTV at St Peters.

The grounds at St Augustin are a treat - many hours of hard work goes into these and our huge thanks goes to Ruth Besant who is the volunteer gardener there.

FINANCES

I am delighted to report that the BTCP Common Mission Fund has been paid in full by St Peters and St Stephens this year. St Augustin faced into a new vestry roof and boiler for the Annex so wisely held back paying CMF for some months to ensure good stewardship of funds. Again, we thank the Diocese for their understanding as we feel we must no longer go into any reserves to pay this as we need to safeguard these funds for all three churches for the future. We thank the treasury team at St Peters including Lisa and Ronalyn, Ruth at St Augustin’s and Brenda at St Stephens, for their dedication and carful stewardship of precious funds. Janet and June at St Augustin and Ronalyn and Virginia at St Peter’s continue to be amazing wardens and a delight to work with. You are very lucky to have them. We have heard whispers that we may have deputy wardens from St Stephen for the first time in many years in 2022, which is delightful and encouraging news, and will help share the huge workload that the Parish Wardens shoulder.

As you all know, congregational giving is the only way to sustain our churches and The Parish Giving Scheme is truly the only way that we can manage our budgets and finances, so thank you to so many who have joined or set up direct debits in the last year. Giving this way makes all our treasurers lives so much easier and is clean and simply and avoids volunteers having to count and bank cash, and physically have to submit a form to claim gift aid on every single envelope handed in. You can change the amount you give at any time under this scheme by making a quick phone call. It is also anonymous, so please all parishioners, consider going onto this scheme if you haven’t already made the switch. Leaflets are available from the Parish Office and any warden or the Parish Administrator can help you fill it in.

FABRIC AND FACULTY

We thank Adrian Scott, Janet Lawrence, and Ruth Beasant for their continued efforts for St Stephen’s and St Augustin’s for appraising us of all matters needing urgent repair and attention - as per our Schemes of Delegation and Standing Orders these must be reported by Deputy Wardens to the Parish Wardens.

The approval process for all matters is complicated and arduous and requires a lot of work and attention to detail before ANY work affecting fabric can be started.

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We face into the tower and spire work starting at St Peters in 2022, which will cost in the region of £154,000.00. The fundraising efforts of Alice Miller is warmly thanked. We also face new boilers, as the fifty-year-old system we have is simply no longer viable.

St Augustin will face into finally replacing their annex roof.

St Stephen’s will face into a large organ repair.

I would personally like to thank the Diocese for all their support in my six-year term of office. I cannot tell you the hours of emails and telephone conversations I have had with Sue DeCandole (Diocesan Legal registrar) and Sarah Hart (from Batt Broadbent) about matters ranging from Trust Deed interpretations for the St Stephens Hall Trust to probate disputes. Every month brings up a new conundrum at each church!

The amount of faculty /List B applications I think I have submitted this year alone is up to eleven. This requires a huge amount of online legal document preparation, meeting on site with contractors at the relevant church to agree specifications, liaising with the DAC Secretary and in many cases the DAC designated “Special Advisors” when one is dealing with say the St Stephen’s Church Organ or the Heritage and Nature Trails at St Peter’s Church.

I would like to thank from the bottom of my heart Richard Streatfield and Sarah Feltham who are always on hand to discuss issues and be a critical friend. Their workload must be staggering and yet they are always responsive, kind, helpful and knowledgeable.

The course on Faculty and List A and List B matters was a very good one that Virginia and I attended last year, and I would recommend it to anyone thinking of becoming a Churchwarden.

MUSIC

We thank all our musicians - Jackie Uren, Sean Tucker, Duncan Courts, Caren Courts and Neil Sissons - for their perseverance in ever changing guidance and for their wonderful support when we were able to open.

We are especially happy that the St Peters Choral Foundation gained CIO status in 2021 and look to the future of the choir under the stewardship of Duncan Courts.

GENERAL

We would also like to thank those who count the money at all three churches, Stephen Chappell and Paul Coote at St Stephens, Janet Lawrence and Ros Atkin at St Augustin’s.

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Also, a big thankyou to Marion Trimby who continues to run the Visitors Centre in St Peters remotely from her home and to Chris Mayne and his team who run Parry’s café.

Chris’s efforts in getting a cross church social presence has been great, with some amazing cheese and wine tastings run by the Jackie and Roger (with help from Janet and Ruth) at St Augustin, attended by members from all three churches. It was lovely that David and Ros helped with hospitality at so many of the concerts at St Peters last year. Proof that we are indeed all better together.

We hope that the sale that the Trustee’s determined the best option for St Stephens’s Hall, concludes successfully in 2022

MISSION

Our collaborations with the HealthBus at St Stephens Hall and Town Centre Pastors at St Peters are even more important than ever.

A Sunday School at St Peter is a priority for our church in 2022

As ever, Bournemouth Town Centre Parish is under pressure financially and is ever needing volunteers to help renew and refresh existing ones both at the local church level and as part of our tireless commitment to mission in our town centre. It is true to say that our greatest, most powerful, most transformational resource remains its congregation. I thank all church openers and closers, sides persons, coffee folk, sacristy assistants, servers, chalice assistants, welcomers, cleaners, and all volunteers in whatever role for their unstinting hard work.

I would like to thank the PCC who at a recent meeting expressed its confidence is asking me to stand for a further term 2022-2023. It has been a pleasure to work with all you folk and to have your support, especially over what has been a very challenging last year.

So very grateful to you all, as every year.

Mrs Jane MacDonald-Styslinger Parish Warden

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TEAM RECTOR’S REPORT FOR 2021 TO BTCP ANNUAL PAROCHIAL CHURCH MEETING

Yet again, although we never expected it this time last year, ongoing Covid precautions and restrictions have meant that this report covers a period when everyone has been subject to a mixture of restrictions and lockdowns.

Although stewardship of an inevitability depleted financial income has continued, as has the stewardship of church buildings and churchyards, to the extent that this has been compatible with clear government instructions to ‘stay at home’, the core business of our PCC trust, public worship, evangelism, pastoral care and working in partnerships with others for the common good of our town, and the alleviation of the suffering of the poor, have been inevitably compromised to a very large extent. Online services, reflections and meetings outdoors and distanced have proved, yet again, to be imaginative ways of keeping us in touch with each other and with God. This is vital.

Whilst our confidence in God, as shown in Jesus, remains unchanged, there is much grief, bereavement and shock still to be processed. In due course, this will need many forms of liturgical as well pastoral and theological expression.

God always goes ahead of us, we learn from the Resurrection stories in the Gospels, and our task over these coming months and years will be to be alert and listening to discern what God is doing, and where God is leading us, and to join in as best we can. It will take time, and, as with any process of bereavement and new beginnings, there are no short cuts, and we must be gentle with each other as we wait on God.

This report, then, quite properly and inevitably, echoes and repeats the gratitude of previous years, whilst registering that much needs to be not just regained but reformed, indeed, resurrected.

As we move forward in that spirit, I continue to seek, therefore, your prayers and patience, for and with each other as we move into the future that God has prepared for us.

Let me remind us of our vision:

Vision for Bournemouth Town Centre Parish 2022 and onwards:

(i) Our vision for Bournemouth town centre parish is simple and profound. It links with Winchester Diocesan priorities.

A: We want everyone to have fullness of life with God, through personal, passionate spirituality and diverse community relationship, with Jesus.

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B: We want to join in transformational partnerships with others for the common good of our town, particularly working together to help the poorest and most vulnerable amongst us.

In a nutshell: it’s about (A) friendship with Jesus and (B) active solidarity with the poor.

In practical terms, our hopes are for developing increasing ecumenical and common good focused community partnerships in all three churches in Bournemouth Town Centre Parish.

(ii) Further, our vision is to be a beacon parish within the Diocese, to expand the outreach work, develop our mission and, with the established chaplaincies, provide contact with the young and the business communities that form part of the wider town centre ministry. We wish to maintain the strong link between the three churches which offer different but complementary styles of worship and to build on the links between other established churches in Bournemouth.

(iii) We have sought clarity, with Deanery leadership, PCC and DCCs, in establishing a bold strategic direction, predicated on strategic partnerships for the common good, with St Peter’s offering a range of activities (eg ethics forums, homelessness & common good consultations, pastoral care for those involved with the 88 nightclubs in our parish, etc), for the whole BTCP and resourcing, as appropriate, the wider church and partners;

(iv) We have continued to prioritise St Peter’s Church Development Project, and we explored in 2021 several separate funding streams to renew heating in ecologically sustainable ways, and to bring our community café into the 21st century world of professional catering – as well as reconfiguring an Expression of Interest to HLF; repairs to the stone surrounds of the southwards-facing clerestory window remain an urgent priority. Work to the Churchyard, led by Jane Styslinger and Mark Richmond, has been a great triumph of this past year, and all involved are to be thanked and congratulated. The resulting partnership with Dorset Wildlife Trust will prove to be a great strength.

(v) I enjoyed talking in 2019 with Canon Mark Collinson, who was centrally involved as a participant in the Common Good Building Day that I organised for 24th April, 2019, sponsored by Bournemouth University, and a major part of the empirical research into homelessness, and the church in partnerships, that I conducted through Winchester University, culminating in February 2021 in the award of the degree of DTh

(vi) The trustees of St Stephen’s Hall have put the hall out to tender for public sale and after a painstaking process of due diligence, the all is being sold to BCP Local Authority to be used as a 24/7 hub for homeless people.

(vii) We have further developed, alongside our strong BTCP missional emphasis on the Common Good, an authentic pattern of evangelism and discipleship within BTCP.

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Throughout the Summer Term I led Bible Study and prayers groups outside under a gazebo in our garden and these were attended by a range of people from all three churches. Fr Paul Collins kindly led a Lent Study Group on zoom on ‘The Sign of Jonas’ - totally fascinating! These group meetings, albeit online, proved to be powerful tools for evangelisation and nurture.

(viii) Financial practice is now as it should be, online and transparent, throughout the team.

(ix) St Augustin’s continue to see their futures as a worshipping community which partners with others. It has established sustainable partnerships, of the Gospel, addressing social need, and of care for the Grade2 listed building, with New Creation Life Ministries and Bournemouth Korean Church. Other partnerships are both possible and desirable.

(x) Developing greater collaboration with Bournemouth University at all levels has very considerably moved forward. We have also developed good collaboration with the Arts University of Bournemouth, and with Winchester University, and with Bournemouth Collegiate School, where I chair the governing body. I am enjoying supporting the youth work as a trustee of the YMCA.

(xii) Our BTCP LLM Emeritus, Roger Marley, has retired from regular active ministry after a very splendid 35 years of service. We must celebrate with him, with warm gratitude, once it is possible to have larger celebratory parties!

(xiii) Lucinda, as an active LLM for BTCP, is busy with preaching and re-establishing pastoral care groups of trained volunteers, which she is co-ordinating, assisted by Sylvia Kraushaar and Sue Francis. We would warmly welcome more volunteers. She is a tremendous asset to the Parish.

(xiv) Our Wardens and church representatives, particularly Jane and Chris, Virginia, Ronalyn, Janet and June, are a dedicated and gifted team, who with Lisa, our Parish Administrator, contribute great strengths to BTCP. Huge gratitude to them all.

(xv) I would be unable to keep worship going in our three churches without the gentle and generous contributions of a whole range of really excellent retired priests, to whom I am immensely grateful: Bryan Apps, Paul Collins, David Lund, John Staples, Stephen Holmes, Steve Parselle, John Turpin, David Wheeler, Sue Wallace, Ruth Wells and Chris Steed. Regular help has also been gladly given by Gareth Sherwood. To this generous and gifted group of ministers, including Roger and Lucinda, my heartfelt thanks.

(xvi) In summary: There has continued to be solid and sustained progress, with growth of both congregations and common good partnerships in St Peter’s, which is regenerating, growing and re-orientating itself towards serving all ages (including young people and children), and looking outwards with a desire to serve the town. The constraints are the

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demands of developing partnerships for all three of our BTCP churches. These partnerships need to be about furthering the common good of the town, as fundamental to the missio Dei , as our top priority, whilst nurturing our church community, caring for the needy and keeping our historic buildings in good order. I have summarised, below, the basic principles of the Homelessness Partnership Charter which is another important area, for us in BTCP, of partnership working . Faith-sharing, common good building and fund-raising sit quite comfortably together, and they are a vision-led and pragmatic way of being an enthusiastic and mission-shaped church, which those in the wider community can readily understand and relate to.

Thank you for your partnership in the Gospel with me and our leadership teams. It is a privilege to serve with you.

May God bless us all richly in His service in 2022 and beyond.

Ian

The Rev’d Dr Ian Terry - Team Rector

Homelessness Partnership Charter

Our foundations: We believe everyone with no home has the right to:

Our Values: This is how we will work together:

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