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2021-12-31-accounts

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31[ST] DECEMBER 2021

CONTENTS

Page(s)
Trustees Report 2-5
Information Pages 6-7
Independent Examiners Report 8
Statement of Financial Activities 9-11

HOPE CHURCH SITTINGBOURNE CHARITY NUMBER #1186867

Trustee Report

for the period 1[st] January 2021 to 31[st] December 2021

The Trust & Trustees

Hope Church Sittingbourne is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO), registered with the UK Charity Commission (#1186867).

Hope Church Sittingbourne was officially registered as a CIO on 10[th] December 2019, and this is our second submitted annual report.

Hope Church Sittingbourne is a church-plant connected to Relational Mission within the Newfrontiers family of churches.

The Trustees of the Hope Church Sittingbourne CIO during this reporting period were:

When considering new Trustees, the existing board intends to invite committed church members, who are well known to us and have the necessary character, experience and skills needed and the time to give to this role, with the existing board all having to agree on the appointment. All current Trustees have been DBS checked. The Trust are formulating new procedures regarding background checks on prospective trustees according to the Charity Commission guidelines.

No Trustees have resigned and no new Trustees were appointed during this reporting period.

Trust Objectives

The object of the CIO is for the public benefit, the advancement of the Christian faith in Sittingbourne, Kent and in such other areas as the charity Trustees may from time to time decide.

Hope Church Sittingbourne exists to grow & multiply the HOPE of Jesus in the hearts of everyone, everywhere, everyday.

We aspire to reproduce disciples who; Honour Jesus, Obey His Word, Pray beyond themselves, Everyone a witness. We gather in homes & public places as well as weekly on Sundays to hear & obey the Word of God. We engage with local social justice & poverty issues.

Premises

Hope Church Sittingbourne do not currently lease or own any premises.

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HOPE CHURCH SITTINGBOURNE CHARITY NUMBER #1186867

Our church office and registered CIO address is currently the home of Gordon Watson, the church-plant leader. This is the office base for administrative purposes.

Since Sunday, 21[st] October 2018, Hope Church Sittingbourne have gathered every Sunday morning at our local Costa Coffee located in The Forum Shopping Centre. This has proven to be a successful public gathering point for our growing church community.

COVID-19

The challenges of navigating church life through the ongoing pandemic throughout much of 2021 caused us to experiment with new shapes and ways of communicating and gathering, predominantly online in various groups.

We began the year with our Sunday morning gatherings being online, and in May were able to return to in-person gatherings, returning to Costa Coffee.

We were able to make use of our Family Fund to directly support families and individuals within the church fellowship who were either sick with Covid or in financial need due to Covid related circumstances.

Membership

Despite the obvious Covid related challenges throughout the year, the Hope Church family continues to grow and develop healthily. We welcomed a number of new people among us over the course of the year.

Finances

At the beginning of the new financial year in April, we changed Gordon Watsons employment from self-employed to PAYE. We have entrusted our payroll to the West East Baptist Association (WEBA), they also manage our employee pension arrangements on our behalf.

As a PAYE employee Gordon Watson was able to make use of the Cycle to Work scheme offered by the HMRC.

We continued to support and finance a group of 6 people through the LEAD training course with Relational Mission.

We continued to finance Matthew Spocchia from Sheppey Gospel Plant in his undertaking of the two-year Shepherd training course with Relational Mission.

Reserves Policy

The Board of Trustees has established a policy to cover day-to-day cashflow and also any financial liabilities in the event of a sudden and unexpected drop in income, or the closure of the charity.

The Reserves Policy states that a figure of £5,000 should be maintained in this regard.

3

HOPE CHURCH SITTINGBOURNE CHARITY NUMBER #1186867

Overview of Church Life and Activities

Throughout 2021 we continued our regular mid-week activities as a church, but rather than meeting in-person in homes, we migrated these activities to online forums. This included prayer gatherings, bible studies, leadership development with our ‘Orchard’ group and some social activities.

On 23[rd] May 2021 we were thankfully able to start to gather again in-person for our Sunday morning worship services at Costa Coffee. These were all conducted in a Covid-safe way. We took guidance from the excellent Church of England guidelines that were freely available.

We helped two households move to Sittingbourne from Margate and from Erith (both in Kent). It has been a pleasure to see these new friends making their new homes in the local area. Our hope is that they will continue to flourish and participate in the life of the local Hope Church family.

In June we launched our new Running Partners groups. These are small groups of 3 to 4 people that meet together fortnightly for mutual friendship, encouragement and accountability. More info can be found via: https://www.hopesittingbourne.org/runningpartners.html

In October we launched our new Households. These are mid-week small groups that are geographically organised. Our hope is that over future years we will see Households birthed across the various neighbourhoods and estates across Sittingbourne, each one taking spiritual responsibility and ownership of their local area.

We were able to occasionally support a member of our congregation in the local Riverbourne Court retirement development. She felt stirred to pray for her local community, so we visited several times to join her and encourage her in her endeavours.

There were numerous social opportunities that took place, both online and in-person (once Covid restrictions lifted). Some of the most notable occasions were a family picnic, a summer BBQ and a winter walk just before New Years eve.

We sadly took the decision to cancel our planned Christmas event as Covid numbers were heightened in Swale and wider Kent in the days before Christmas. As a leadership we didn’t want to inadvertently create a platform for germs to spread and for people to possibly get sick and have to isolate, ruining any potential plans for Christmas and New Year.

Local Mission

The local Sittingbourne Churches Together fraternal continued to meet both online and inperson throughout the year as Covid allowed. Over the months several new leaders moved to the town. It is fair to say that there is a fresh feel to the nature of relationships. We are hopeful for the future that this will continue.

4

HOPE CHURCH SITTINGBOURNE CHARITY NUMBER #1186867

Gordon Watson continued to volunteer as a trustee for the local Swale Foodbank. He had particular responsibility for negotiating premises contracts, drafting contracts and policies and for developing the financial reporting and auditing infrastructure at the charity.

Gordon Watson continued to provide regular contributions to our local Sittingbourne FM radio station for their Word for the Day slot on Sunday mornings. We are thankful to be able to serve our town in preaching and communicating the gospel in a relevant way.

We took the decision in the autumn of 2021 to withdraw our efforts at establishing a Christians Against Poverty Life Skills course in the town. We felt we were best positioned to support and serve an existing work rather than to spearhead something ourselves. We subsequently became a partner church with our local Swale CAP Debt Centre. The Project Manager attended our church one Sunday and was able to share the vision for the project, also recruiting several volunteers to assist as befrienders and serving in the steering committee for the project.

We ran an Alpha Course in a local home in the last quarter of 2021. Three of the guests made first-time confessions of faith and another made a recommitment. We are incredibly thankful for the opportunity to point to Jesus and make Him known in the hearts of local people.

Partnership with Relational Mission

RMC & Swale Squad

We continued to engage with our local Relational Mission Community, led by Adam Voke. We also continue to find great encouragement and brotherhood amongst the three Relational Mission churches in Swale.

ENOUGH prayer

There were several ENOUGH prayers gatherings online across our family of churches throughout the year. We’ve loved the opportunity to pray together across nations and time-zones for the same things at the same time.

PLANT UK

Gordon Watson continued to serve on the PLANT UK team, a Relational Mission initiative helping support and encourage those who are pioneering (or exploring pioneering) across the UK. There were several online events throughout the year, culminating with an evening conference in October.

Summary

We are thankful for another year of being able to love and serve our town, and also one another well. There have been numerous challenges presented throughout the obvious Covid pandemic, but it has also opened up some beautiful opportunities to reimagine the shape and form of the church community and its daily life, making use of innovative technologies to remain connected with one another and our wider community.

5

HOPE CHURCH SITTINGBOURNE

ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2021

Bankers:

Nat West Bank pie PO Box 209 Sittingbourne Kent ME10 4AU

Independent Examiner:

Mr Rob Trice MAA T 210 King George Road Chatham Kent MES 0PH

6

Hope Church Sittingbourne Annual Report

Year Ended 31 December 2021

Governance & Trustees

Hope Church Sittingbourne is governed by its Constitution dated 16[th ] October 2019.

The registered Office is Hope Church Sittingbourne, 32 Homewood Avenue, Sittingbourne, Kent ME10 1XW.

The Trustees are:

Jonathan Hugh Butson Jite Ufuoma ldowu Nathaniel Turner Christine Monica Willmott

Legal Status

Hope Church Sittingbourne is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation registered with the Charity Commission. Charity Number : 1186867.

Charitable Objects

The purpose of the Church shall be:

7

Independent Examiner's Report to the Trustees of Hope Church Sittingbourne

This Report on the accounts of the Church for the year ended 31 December 2021, which are set out in this annual report, is in respect of an examination carried out under s.145 of the Charities Act 2011 ("the Act").

Respective responsibilities of the Trustees and the examiner

As Trustees you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts; you consider that the audit requirement of section 144(2) of the Act does not apply. It is my responsibility to issue this report on those accounts in accordance with the Act.

Basis of this report

My examination was carried out in accordance with the General Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 144(5)(b) of the Act. That examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the Charity and a comparison of the accounts with those records. It also includes considering any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts and seeking explanations from you as trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit, and consequently I do not express an audit opinion on the view qiven by the accounts.

Independent Examiner's statement

In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention:

(1) which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in any material respect the requirements

(2) to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

t?o-b-W Tri:<»

19th April 2022

Mr Rob Trice MMT 210 King George Road Chafuam,Ke�,MES0PH

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Hope Church Sittingbourne Receipts & Payments Account -Year Ended 31 December 2021

RECEIPTS
Giving (Gift Aided)
Giving (Non Gift Aided)
HMRC Gift Aid repayment
Financial Support
ACTS 435 income
Refunded expenditure
Other income
Special ofering
TOT AL RECEIPTS
PAYMENTS
Employee wages and salaries
Pension
Vehicle Fuel
Travelling
Car Hire
Hotel and Accomodation
Printing
Ofice Stationery & Adm in
Internet Charges
Computer & software
Mobile Charges
Business Insurance
Equipment
Books bought
Food & drink
Family Fund
Gift (visiting speakers)
Gift (missional support)
Mission trips
CAP Life Skills
Cleaning
Miscellaneuos expenses
Subscriptions
Clothing Costs
DBS/Safeguarding
Training Costs
Conference tickets
Venue/Hall hire
Independent examiner
ACTS 435 expenditure
Office Equipment and IT - cost
Unrecorded payments
TOTAL PAYMENTS
Excess of Receipts over Expenditure
General Fund Balance brought forward
Funds introduced
General Fund Balance carried forward		 2021
£
32,043.00
3,228.50
8,147.31
2,000.00
1,280.00
1,373.19
14.48
134.00
48,220.48
2021
£
27,918.87
1,421.55
55.05
643.54
100.00
1,006.00
33.62
156.79
350.50
1,450.32
224.26
282.26
703.57
51.55
195.37
827.77
860.00
1,320.00
733.40
4.50
255.98
202.00
50.00
129.00
6,381.88
230.56
2,726.75
200.00
1,130.00
480.49
50,125.58
(1,905.10)
8,151.69
6,246.59		 First Year
2020
£
22,575.00
7,338.25
4,965.75
5,427.26
840.00
1,234.85
42,381.11
2020
£
23,656.00
156.70
158.05
364.02
798.29
217.96
272.82
469.49
92.39
174.95
885.67
1,320.00
3,592.98
(30.00)
804.89
33.06
187.51
189.00
221.25
2,390.00
150.00
817.15
690.00
498.41
254.50
38,365.09
4,016.02
4,135.67
8,151.69

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Hope Church Sittingbourne Statement of Assets and Liabilities - As At 31 December 2021

Bank Balances
- #1 Main Account
- #2 Hope CAP Funds
- #3 Training & Future Stafing
- #4 Building Fund
- #5 Crisis/Family Fund
Assets
Ofice Equipment and IT - cost		 2021
£
3,765.34
204.80
1,928.50
2.00
345.95
6,246.59
1,134.40		 2020
£
3,693.89
324.80
3,371.00
1.00
761.00
8,151.69
498.41

Jonathan Butson (Treasurer & Trustee)

April 2022

Signed on behalf of Hope Church Sittingbourne

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Hope Church Sittingbourne Notes to the Accounts - Year Ended 31 December 2021

  1. The accounts have been prepared using the receipts and payments basis.

2. Funds Movement Note

2. Funds Movement Note
Unrestricted Funds
Hope CAP Funds
Training & Future Stafing Fd
Building Fund
Crisis/Family Fund
ACTS 435		 Brought
Carried
Forard
Receipts
Payments Transfers
Forward
£
£
£
£
£
3,693.89
46,840.48
(42,085.53) (4,683.50) 3,765.34
324.80
(120.00)
204.80
3,371.00
(5,925.00) 4,482.50
1,928.50
1.00
1.00
2.00
611.00
100.00
(865.05)
200.00
45.95
150.00
1,280.00
(1,130.00)
300.00
8,151.69
48,220.48
(50,125.58)
6,246.59

11