## **Trustees’ Annual Report for the period from 1[st] May 2021 to 31[st] December 2021 Charity name: CAREY BAPTIST CHURCH HEMEL HEMPSTEAD Charity registration number: 1188844 FIRST ANNUAL REPORT FOR THE CIO** ## **INTRODUCTION** Carey Baptist Church has existed as a charity for over 40 years since the amalgamation of Boxmoor and Marlowes Baptist Churches as an unincorporated association, affiliated to the Baptist Union of GB and Ireland which permitted us to act independently according to guidelines provided by the BU. In respect of the Charities Act, we were permitted to be excepted from individual registration, through the affiliation with BU, while our income was less than £100,000 per annum. This option is not open to us under the new legislation as our income exceeds the new £5,000 limit. In response to UK government legislation requiring small Church charities to register with the Charity Commission, the unincorporated church agreed at a special Church Members’ Meeting in July 2019 to establish a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) for itself. The unincorporated association of members Church transferred all its assets, debts and liabilities across to the CIO on the 1[st] May 2021 and Carey Baptist Church Hemel Hempstead CIO became fully functional as of 1[st] May 2021. The CIO held a number of short Trustee and Church meetings between July 2019 and 1[st] May 2021, but all substantial decisions and all financial matters were handled by the unincorporated association of members Church until 1[st] May 2021. This is the first Annual report by the CIO to the Charity Commission and the audited accounts only cover the period 1[st] May 2021 (when the assets of the UAM were transferred to the CIO) to 31[st] December 2021, which is the end of the Church’s financial year. Future reports will cover a full 12-month period from 1[st] January to 31[st] December. ## **AIM** The Church aims "TO KNOW JESUS BETTER AND TO MAKE HIM BETTER KNOWN" It does this by being open to all members of the local community joining the activities on the Church premises in Marlowes, Hemel Hempstead, HP1 1LD, elsewhere in the town and online. Our Mission Statements are: - **Nurture faith** - provide scripture-led, Christ-centred ministry for all members and generations of the church family, supporting growth in our faith and encouraging one another to live as Jesus would, in peaceful relation to God, to our community and to the whole of creation. **Outreach** - identify opportunities within Hemel to reach out and build relationships with young adults (2545), showing the message of Jesus is relevant to them today, through prayer and action, including prayer and action in response to our global environmental emergency. **Children & Young People** - share knowledge of the love of Jesus and bring them to know Jesus personally, helping them to feel valued within God's family and the church family at Carey and encouraging them to play their part in God's purposes for all creation. ## **OBJECTIVES** Our objectives are: - - ➢ to promote the pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical mission of the Church - ➢ to enable as many people as possible to worship at our Church and encourage membership - ➢ refurbishment/redevelopment our building for benefit of congregation and community - ➢ have due regard to the commission’s public benefit guidance ## **ACTIVITIES** ## _Evangelistic/Pastoral_ To ensure the continued promotion of our whole mission during Covid lockdowns, Carey used Zoom to hold church meetings, deacons’ meetings, and provide spiritual support and teaching through virtual prayer meetings, bible studies, coffee mornings, and Book Club meetings. This was coupled with individual visiting as appropriate, sometimes in people's gardens, on the doorstep, whilst following Covid regulations regarding mask wearing, hand-washing, etc. Our approach helped to relieve social isolation. Additionally, a system of regular phone calls to the more isolated and vulnerable in the fellowship was put in place in 2020, which continued during the lockdown early in 2021. During periods of easing Covid restrictions, Carey organised short social walks in the park, limited to bubbles of six people, with the groups of six following different routes. This helped ease social isolation, but encouraged exercise and time appreciating God's creation. Similarly, the resumption of our monthly Hymn Café, since September 2021, has been widely appreciated by people within and beyond our church. The Ladies’ Group also resumed in September with occasional lunchtime meetings at the church. Carey runs a Junior church/Youth church to share knowledge of the love of Jesus and to lead them into a growing relationship with Him. Separate Zoom sessions were run during Lockdowns. With more families attending the church, it is intended to start another group for young children after Easter. In 2021, Carey was pleased to be able to celebrate two Baptisms, one in September and one in December. We also organised carol singing outside the church, in keeping with our mission statement objective of sharing the good news of the Christian message with our community. Over Advent, Sunday worship was conducted mostly in-person: the all-age Christmas service included Carey's Youth Church doing a drama sketch about the Shepherds, as well as a communion service celebrating Christmas around the world. Carey actively supports both local and global charities through donations and dedication of communion offerings. We also support the BMS World Mission and currently partner with mission workers in Bangladesh. Helping those in need is a demonstration of our faith. To this end, Carey supports Christian Aid, Operation Agri, Christians Against Poverty amongst others. ## _Social and Community_ Throughout the week the church is used by several groups including Baby & Toddler, Table Tennis, National Federation of Occupational Pensioners (NFOP), and Hemel Wargamers. Two valuable community services have restarted: Heather Club, which provides support to older people with memory problems, and Child Contact Centre, which offers opportunities for separated parents to meet their children, as well as providing access to legal advice to them from a visiting solicitor. The Baby & Toddler Group had run in a small way on Zoom, which was appreciated by those parents and children who could regularly attend. In-person meetings resumed when permitted, initially with limited numbers, pre-booking, and measures to reduce virus transmission. The increasing numbers attending since September 2021 show that the group has been appreciated by the wider community. Its positive contribution was recognised with a Locality Budget grant from our Local Councillor in 2021. Large developments of flats are being built opposite the church and Carey has been instrumental in reaching out to the community by including our church details in the developers’ purchaser information packs. ## _Ecumenical_ Carey is a member of Churches Together in Hemel Hempstead, who hold two forums per annum, engage in occasional events and have an Easter Walk of Witness. Carey produces a monthly magazine in conjunction with two other churches; this is distributed to the congregations and visitors. ## _Worship_ Initially, when the church was closed, weekly recordings of Sunday morning worship were put on our website. We progressed to home based zoom worship, including quarterly communion services. This reached a larger audience, although those who were not able to access this technology were still sent printed copies of the Sunday talks and the weekly newsletter. When Carey returned to meeting in person on 6[th] December 2020, we developed a hybrid form of worship which included on Zoom those unable or unwilling to meet in person. With a break due to the third Lockdown, this started again on Good Friday 2021, and this approach has since been significantly improved, thanks to our tech team and to people donating money and equipment to improve the Zoom experience. This hybrid form of worship ensured our objective of providing spiritual and practical support to both those within and beyond the church. ## **ACHIEVEMENTS & PERFORMANCE** Our CIO had a membership at 31[st] December of 67 people, and we were in regular contact with up to 124 adults, 4 secondary school age young people and 26 children under 11, through our weekly activities and email circulation of newsletters etc. We had two Believers’ Baptisms. By the end of the year the typical attendance in the church at the main service of worship was 40-45, including 4 secondary school age and 2 children under 11, with up to 12 accessing the service via Zoom. As part of his continuing ministerial development, our minister Colin Cartwright, was released by Carey for a time of sabbatical study, from May-August 2021. During this period, a number of local preachers and members of Carey led Sunday worship. ## _Eco friendly_ In keeping with a vital aspect of one of our new Mission Statements, Creation care, Carey attained a Bronze Eco Church Award in June 2021, having registered as an Eco Church in September 2020. To continue to remain as green as possible, and on our surveyor’s recommendation, we have been running the Sanctuary heating continuously at a low level, raising the temperature for services. When we have to replace lighting, we do so with more efficient light bulbs. We strive to ensure that the building remains as energy efficient as possible. To that end we have had an energy audit undertaken and currently await the report. ## _Mission_ Three groups were established to discuss how the church could further develop aspects of our new Mission Statement, under the headings of Nurture, Outreach, and Children’s and Youth work. _Outcomes_ from these included the following. - The launch of a new and improved website for our church, which is already seeing higher numbers of visitors to it. - Greater involvement of our young people in Sunday worship, particularly the monthly all-age services. - Increased input by members to Sunday worship, to ensure that the cultural diversity of our church is more recognised and celebrated. - More prayer meetings organised on Zoom, to deepen the prayer life of our church, to encourage our spiritual growth in Christ and to develop deeper fellowship. - Introducing prayers for help and healing at the end of monthly communion services). ## _Refurbishment/Redevelopment_ We keep on top of the refurbishment of the church and have decorated and built cupboards in the Youth Church lounge. We continue without an internet connection within the church premises, but our location provides an excellent mobile phone service, allowing creation of a Wi-Fi Hotspot for a laptop connected to the projector at the front of church. We have been keeping expenditure on the buildings at a minimum. Fortunately, during lockdowns our cleaner was making regular visits to do necessary thorough cleans relating to Covid, which lowered our risk of break-ins and avoided insurance cost increases. The number of organisations using our buildings has not returned to pre-Covid levels, which has substantially lowered our income and limits our budget for maintenance. A necessary expenditure has been repairs to the street frontage retaining wall of our property, damaged by careless parking. We also continued to maintain the Manse for our Minister, and at the retirement of Belmont Road Baptist Church’s Minister, have taken back maintenance responsibility for its manse, which we own. Following some major work, it was re-let at the end of August. ## **FUTURE PLANS** It is intended that we continue with refurbishment and increasing the energy efficiency of the church in order to make it more comfortable and appealing to both the congregation and community. We will look to increase the use of the sanctuary by community groups and install new sound and vision systems. We are working to improve our large Memorial Hall, specifically to replace the heating system and the parking area next to it. These works will be financed by a combination of fund raising and grants for the larger projects. ## **FINANCIAL REVIEW** Total Income was £49,495 with Expenditure of £66,925 as detailed in the audited accounts for the period. Donations were made as follows: £2,000 to the Home Mission Fund (Central Baptist Association); £2,050 to the Baptist Missionary Society; £363 – Baptist World Relief Fund; £662 – Embrace Middle East (Gaza Appeal); £1,104 – Christian Aid (Annual Appeal); £756 - Operation Agri (Harvest Appeal); £409 – Spurgeons (Christmas Appeal). The balances carried forward are: General I&E Fund (unrestricted) - £-70.26 Designated: Building Fund - £1,513. _Monies for urgent repair works, outside budgeted maintenance_ . Forward Steps Fund - £2,357. _Funds raised for use in supporting Refurbishment/ Redevelopment objective._ Children & Families Worker - £24,000. _Gift from Trinity Church to support our aims with Youth ministry._ Flower Fund - £3,143. _Legacy gift to be used to decorate the Church with fresh flowers._ Restricted: Lord’s Supper Fund - £1,505. _Monies used to support the needy in the town (Hemel Hempstead)._ Legacies & In Memoriam - £1,7370. _Funds can be used to improve the premises or services of the Church but not for regular maintenance._ Total Balance carried forward: £49,867 ## **VOLUNTEERS** We would like to thank all our volunteers who work so hard to make our Church the lively and vibrant community it is. ## **STRUCTURE GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT** Carey Baptist Church is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation, and we adopted the Baptist Approved Governing Document as our Constitution. The method of appointment for Trustees is set out in our Constitution. Each of the Trustees has been appointed by a vote of the membership at our Annual General Meeting. All those who attend our services are encouraged to become members of the Church. The Trustees are responsible for making decisions on all matters of importance and general concern on behalf of the Church whilst ensuring that, where necessary, members’ votes are required to carry important issues. The Trustees have met on Zoom 8 times during the 8-month period of this Report, with an average level of attendance above 80%. Four Church members’ meetings were held on Zoom during the same period. All Trustees give their time freely with no remuneration being paid. Administrative Information The named Charity is Carey Baptist Church, Hemel Hempstead Address; Marlowes, Hemel Hempstead, HP1 1LD, which is the correspondence address. Charity Registration number 1188844. The following members have served as elected Trustees through the reporting period: Gill Blunden Hilary Donovan Raphael Femi-Ola Colin Hughes Aquila Leeniyagoda Bhagya Leeniyagoda Margaret Lye Kathleen McLeod Obed Sardar Reverend Colin Cartwright (as Minister) Approved by the Trustees on 9[th] March 2022 and signed on their behalf by (Chairman) ## **CAREY BAPTIST CHURCH - HEMEL HEMPSTEAD CIO ACCOUNTS May - Dec 2021** ## **General Fund** |**UAM Closing**
**Balance**
_BREAKDOWN_
**RECEIPTS:**
_17190_
Weekly and monthly offerings
0
Annual gifts
**17190**
**TOTAL OFFERINGS**
_10340_
Gift Aid Tax refunds … … …
_270_
Special Appeals (Pew Bibles)
_370_
Restricted Monies for C&F Worker
_1860_
Donations
_180_
Lettings ... ... ...
_0_
Wedding and funeral fees ... ...
_1_
Interest on Current and Deposit Accounts
_4500_
Rent for 55 Newell Road (gross)
_520_
Miscellaneous
_0_
Transfer to General Fund
**35231**
**TOTAL INCOME**
**PAYMENTS:**
_12757_
Ministry and direct costs ... ... ...
_0_
Pulpit supply ... ...
_71_
Office and Secretarial services ... ...
_0_
Junior Church and Youth Work ... ...
_1300_
Children and Families Worker
_0_
Organist ... ... ...
_2740_
Cleaning and Janitorial Supplies ... ... ...
_-255_
Water charges ... ...
_979_
Electricity ... ...
_3250_
Gas ... ... ...
_237_
Refuse disposal
_2746_
Repairs, Maintenance and Redecoration
_0_
Furniture and Equipment ...
_163_
Subscriptions … … …
_1000_
Baptist Missionary Society
_1000_
BU Home Mission Fund ...
_0_
Conference and Assembly fees
_0_
Insurances ... ... ...
_44_
Catering ... ...
_48_
Telephone ... ... ...
_112_
Miscellaneous
_0_
World Development and Relief
_3133_
Donations to others / Newell Road Costs
_176_
Transfer Gift Aid tax refunds to other funds
_0_
Transfer to other funds
_0_
Transfer interest to other funds
**29501**
**TOTAL EXPENDITURE**
_5730.50_
**_Income (Deficit) for the period_**
_12066.55_
**_Balance brought forward 1 May 2021_**
_168_
_Balance C/fwd for Pew Bibles_
**17630**
**_Balance carried forward end of period_**|**Actual**
**BUDGET**
_May - Dec_
_May - Dec_
**2021**
**2021**
31335
28000
0
0
**31335**
28000
0
4000
1
270
900
0
3407
333
3895
4667
0
0
43
0
9325
10500
588
33
0
0
**49495**
47803
27115
29333
565
1200
291
200
95
467
1625
2600
0
0
5648
6281
140
120
663
933
5593
2667
482
833
4542
5333
354
333
882
1000
2050
2000
2000
2000
120
67
4059
3000
0
67
94
133
1001
233
713
475
8463
3200
428
333
0
0
0
0
**66925**
**62810**
-17429.77
-15007
17629.53
11899
270.02
**-70**
**-3107**|**Actual**
**BUDGET**
_May - Dec_
_May - Dec_
**2021**
**2021**
31335
28000
0
0
**31335**
28000
0
4000
1
270
900
0
3407
333
3895
4667
0
0
43
0
9325
10500
588
33
0
0
**49495**
47803
27115
29333
565
1200
291
200
95
467
1625
2600
0
0
5648
6281
140
120
663
933
5593
2667
482
833
4542
5333
354
333
882
1000
2050
2000
2000
2000
120
67
4059
3000
0
67
94
133
1001
233
713
475
8463
3200
428
333
0
0
0
0
**66925**
**62810**
-17429.77
-15007
17629.53
11899
270.02
**-70**
**-3107**| |---|---|---| |||28000
4000
270
0
333
4667
0
0
10500
33
0| |||47803| |||29333
1200
200
467
2600
0
6281
120
933
2667
833
5333
333
1000
2000
2000
67
3000
67
133
233
475
3200
333
0
0| |||**62810**| |||-15007
11899| |||**-3107**| |**_UAM Closing_**
**_Balance_**
**Apr-21**
3055
0
500
2555
892
0
0
892
2351
0
17820
0
0
17820
513
1000
0
1513
7543
0
0
7543
0
0
0
0
4916
24834
20552
**50302**
17629.53
0.00
2351.00
2554.92
17819.63
1512.81
7542.68
891.85
0.00
**50302**|**Lord's Supper Fund**
**Dec-21**
Balance brought forward
2555
Income during the period
250
Expenses during the period
1300
Balance carried forward end of period
1505
**Flower Fund**
Balance brought forward
892
Income during the period
0
Expenses during the period
100
Balance carried forward end of period
792
**Flower Investment Fund**
2351
2351
**Children & Families Worker Fund**
24000
24000
**Legacies and In Memoriam Fund**
Balance brought forward
17820
Income during the period
0
Expenses during the period
450
Balance carried forward end of period
17370
**Building Fund**
Balance brought forward
1513
Income during the period
0
Expenses during the period
0
Balance carried forward end of period
1513
**Carey Forward Steps Fund**
Balance brought forward
7543
Income during the period
154
Expenses during the period
5340
Balance carried forward end of period
2357
**Special Appeals**
**Collected**
**Sent**
Christian Aid (2020 donation from WDF)
1104
1104
Bibles for Schools
0
0
Operation Agri
806
756
Spurgeons
409
409
50
**End-of-Year Balance**
Assets: CAF Bank current account
1937
CAF Bank deposit account
27335
BU Corp Deposit
20594
**49867**
Commitments**:**General Fund
-70
Children and Families Worker Fund
24000
Flower Investment Fund
2351
Lord's Supper Fund
1505
Legacies & In Memoriam
17370
Buildings Fund
1513
Carey Forward Steps Fund
2357
Flower Fund (money held)
792
Appeals Balance c/fwd
50
**49867**
**CIO ACCOUNTS May-Dec 2021 - Other Funds**| |---|---| ## **CAREY BAPTIST CHURCH - HEMEL HEMPSTEAD (CIO)** ## **ACCOUNTS May - Dec 2021** |**Opening**
**Balance**
**May-21**
4,916
24,834
20,552
**50,302**
84
192
**276**
500,000
400,000
400,000
**1,350,302**
0
35,400
**35,400**
**1,314,902**|**Balance Sheet at end of period**
**Closing**
**Balance**
**Dec-21**
**ASSETS:**
**_Funds_**
CAF Bank current account
1,937
CAF Bank deposit account
27,335
BU Deposit account
20,594
**49,867**
**_Petty Cash Accounts_**
Weekly Flowers
132
_£100 Tfr from Flower Fund_
Catering Committee
192
_No Catering Activity_
Petty Cash sub total
**324**
**_Property_**
Church Premises
500,000
Cemmaes Court Road Manse
400,000
Newel Road Manse
400,000
**1,300,000**
TOTAL
**1,349,867**
**LIABILITIES:**
Debtors
0
Pension Deficit @ 20/12/21
27,200
TOTAL
**27,200**
Balance
**1,322,667**| |---|---| Independent examiners. statement I have examlned the accounts and relevant dcfuments presented to me by the Tnjstees of Carey Baptr'st Church - Fkmel Hemp*ead (a tcgether wlth darifylng explanatlons and, In my vlew, the accounts present a true afKI falr vlew of the fina￿[al affairs of said Church for t period l May to 31 December 2021. In connection with my examlnatlon, Th) matter has come to my attention.. (a) which gives me reasonable cause to believe that, in any material respett, the Trustees have ri)t met the rquirenieiits.. - to keep accounting records in accordan￿ with Section 144 of ttE 2011 Charities Act.. arKI - to preparE accounts which accord with the accounting remrds and comply with the accounting ￿UIremertS of the Charities Act 2011 (b) or to whlch, in my opin1c￿, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understandiro of the accounts to te reached. Barbara Dye Irkdependent Examiner