Registered Charity No: 1187641 **ST MARY ERITREAN ORTHODOX TEWAHDO CHURCH** ## **ANNUAL REPORT** **AND** ## **ACCOUNTS** **FOR THE YEAR ENDED ON JANUARY 29, 2022** 1 ## **REPORTS OF THE TRUSTEES** The trustees present their reports with unaudited financial statements of the charity for the year ended on January 29, 2022. The trustees have adopted the provisions of Accounting and Reporting by charities: Statement of recommended practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standards applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) which is effective as of January 1, 2019. ## **Objectives and activities** In general, the main objective of the charity is to advance the Christian religion and in particular the Orthodox faith, for the benefit of public mainly, but not exclusively through the holding of prayer meetings, worship services, lectures, public celebration of religious festive, provision of pastoral care and outreach work to enlighten others about the Christian Orthodox religion. The charity has been providing the following services and will continue to provide in accordance with its charitable mission and objectives: To teach and educate members of the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahdo Church community the doctrine and principles of Eritrean Orthodox Tewahdo church. To operate and promote youth activity both spiritual and physical to include the provision of Sunday school, youth meetings and family trips. To teach children and youth Eritrean language and culture in association with Eritrean Orthodox church doctrine and principles. To provide weekly masses, performance of the rites of marriage, christening, funeral services and other ceremonies according to the principles of Eritrean Orthodox church. ## **Achievement and performance** The charity carries out a range of activities in pursuance of its charitable objectives to promote the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahdo church. The consequence of the pandemic has also continued to affect our religious and charitable performance in this year. However due to the dedication of our volunteer, management body and all our congregation huge progress has achieved by the charity. Most of the weekly mass service and prayers were provided in the church in person, while children and youth bible study and language classes and other related services were provided virtually via zoom and other network services. The Sunday school services has also resumed this year on partial capacity due to the availability of the church hall and occasional lockdown measures. The trustees and board of management body have also conducted 2 several conferences and meeting virtually as well as in person to evaluate and analyse the progress of the charity. ## **Organisation** The charity is based in Birmingham, United Kingdom. Its congregation come from Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Walsall and Dudley. The management of the charity is vested in trustee committee who are appointed by the congregation in a general election. The Trustee committee meets at least one a month and are responsible for all decisions taken in relation to the administration of the charity. ## **Volunteers** Volunteers, who are member of the church are involved in our church and community activities contribute greatly both to our faith and community work. We encourage our youth to participate in our church activities and strengthen their cultural background and indigenous language. Trustees are responsible for appointment of new trustee which is governed by charity’s constitution. Our charity has created different volunteer committee from the congregation to specially deal the search, biding, and purchase of prayer hall or church building. The trustees are very grateful for all the volunteers who have served the Trust and we believe the invaluable contribution of volunteers will continue in the years to come. ## **Fundraising activities** The church has continued to receive donations from the congregation during the past year. The congregation have been devoted for several years to purchase their own church or prayer hall. The consistent campaign, endeavour and performance of the congregation have resulted to secure the targeted fund for the initial phase of the church purchase project. The initial stage of the project is to purchase prayer hall or church building. The second stage of the project is to build and renovate the prayer hall or church structure according to Eritrean Orthodox Tewahdo church tradition and values. ## **Future Plans** The future plan for our charity for the year 2022 is to create an environment where the congregation could get enhanced spiritual and charitable services. This includes bible study, lectures and training of spiritual servants (deacons and priests), choir service, indigenous language (Tigrigna) classes to different age group of children and young adults. To continue delivering charitable services to the congregation and ensure the sustainability of the charity by advancing the best interest of the charity and engaging with the congregation 3 for service improvement. As the initial target for church purchase is achieved the trustee and management body will continue to strengthen and encourage different committee to secure the purchase of prayer hall or church. To purchase charity’s own accommodation for the church to conveniently provide spiritual as well as other related educational and training service to the congregation. 4