Reach Church Trustees Report 1[st] April 2024 to 31[st] March 2025
Our Vision:
Everything we do is driven by our mission, vision and purpose as Reach Church.
Mission :
- To help people find their way back to God
Vision :
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Reach up – in worship and prayer
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Reach out – in love, compassion and evangelism
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Reach in – in fellowship and discipleship
Purpose :
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Releasing people into their God given destiny through community engagement & outreach
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Equipping believers through discipleship & development
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Advancing the Kingdom through church planting & missional communities
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Creating a culture of honour & purpose where everyone can thrive
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Helping hurting people find freedom and purpose in Christ.
Our Team:
At the core of Reach Church is a dedicated team of volunteers and staff who give their utmost to see God’s Kingdom established. While we have had some changes on teams as people have moved on, we still have a vibrant team of staff and volunteers who breathe life into our work of reaching people and helping them find their way back to God.
This year Gary Smith has been added to the trustees and is continuing his induction. A priority for the next year will be to provide training and development opportunities for our trustees with courses led by the Charity Commission already identified as opportunities to learn and develop. Trustees are kept informed of progress in different church activities and ministries and are regularly briefed on matters of finance and compliance. Trustees are responsible for strategic decisions on vision, staffing, compliance and finance. The Trustees function in the role of “Strategic Leadership”.
In addition to our Trustee board, our Core Team make key operational decisions about how our mission and vision are achieved, alongside our staff team. The Core team organise events and outreach programmes, lead our small discipleship groups (Impact Groups), head up significant ministry areas and function as “Operational Leadership”
Church activities
During this period, we have continued to rebuild attendance and engagement following on from the pandemic. We have been encouraged by new connections being made with the community and others in the vicinity through our community outreach programmes such as Tiger Tots, the Community Garden and the new Bereavement Cafe project.
The Community Garden has continued to thrive, attracting grant funding and volunteers from the local area. This project builds friendship and rapport with local people who would not normally have church on their radar. We are also working with a local High School who bring groups of children to the garden to help them develop teamwork and behaviour management strategies. This teaches the young people teamwork, resilience and environmental skills. It has also proven to be making a big difference in their school attendance and behaviour. We are also seeing growth in our volunteer team from the local community who expressed the benefits to their physical and mental health, as well as reducing isolation and growing in gardening skills. We have seen some cross-over with garden volunteers attending church events and volunteering with other church activities, becoming part of the wider church community.
Impact Groups in people’s homes have continued to grow and develop, and while being small in number, they have developed a deeper sense of togetherness, unity and fellowship around the word of God.
Our Kids Church has been busy with creche, 3 Up, 7Up and youth meeting in the church kids rooms. We decided to end our use of the facility over the road as it wasn’t being used to its fullest extent.
Our regular Youth evenings have continued with visits, games and discipleship sessions. This has largely been possible due to the ongoing work of our Kids & Youth Leader, working 2.5 days a week, including Sunday mornings where she also leads the Kids Church team. Our Young Adults group is growing, with plans to develop this further in 2025/26.
We continue to encourage church family to get involved in volunteering and serving in church ministries to maintain effective ministry across the range of activities we can offer. At times we have had to consolidate Kids Church groups due to limited number of children in specific age groups and a lack of volunteers.
Our Trussell Trust Tameside East Foodbank centre is open on Wednesday mornings with hundreds of people being fed through this vital ministry as the cost-of-living crisis continues to
press people’s finances. In addition to this, we have been able to give out fresh meals made in partnership with a local community group. These meals are given out at the foodbank in addition to blessing needy local people of all ages.
Our October Light Party and Christmas Special events were held on site with a light trail and Christmas trail in the community garden. These events continue to be very well received and popular with members of the community.
This year our Easter Sunday fun day was well attended by the local community and people were able to enjoy a range of crafts and games, hot food and drinks.
The Prayer Shield team have continued to cover the ministry and team throughout this period meeting via WhatsApp prayer updates. We have also shared our January prayer and worship events with churches from the local community and enjoyed connections with other churches through the Tameside Kingdom Partnership. We look forward to seeing these connections grow in 2025/26.
Tiger Tots continues to be successful with many new families coming through the door. This is enabling us to build relationships and refer people to other ministries. We have been successful in a grant application to help improve pre-natal and post-natal mental health through the Tiger Tots sessions. Further funding and developments are also planned for 2025/26.
We have also been successful in various funding bids through our links with Action Together and a church volunteer who has helped us to secure several grants to cover ministry and staffing costs, particularly with funding for the community garden. This has helped us continue with projects even though our income from church donations has decreased.
One of our members has opened a Bereavement Cafe in order to provide friendship and support to those dealing with loss and grief. This has seen regular visitors receiving help and support. This project has also seen some cross-over with visitors to the cafe also joining us on a Sunday morning for worship and fellowship.
Finances.
Post pandemic finances have been tight as we have seen some of the church’s regular donors relocate or move on. We have worked hard to reduce costs and overheads, but income from donations continues to be lower than pre-pandemic levels. We have shared our needs with the church and encouraged greater levels of regular giving. We have also sought grant funding to cover some of our overheads, including some of our staff costs.
Whist this is very much a walk of faith, we are mindful of our obligations and retain funds to cover contingencies. We are also negotiating the purchase of our lease which will save us approximately £1000 per month. Whilst this will use a significant chunk of our capital, it will effectively make the charity more solvent in the long term.
Conclusions .
Whilst this year has had its challenges, God has continued to provide many opportunities for sharing the gospel, both online and in-person. On the whole, people have continued to be faithful in giving and serving, enabling us to continue to reach out to the local community and support missions and other ministries.
As we continue to Reach the local community with the gospel, we still believe that the best is yet to come!
Chair of Trustees:
Andy Chadwick
Profit and Loss
Reach Church
For the year ended 31 March 2025
| Profit and Loss Reach Church For the year ended 31 March 2025 |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
| Account | 2025 | 2024 | |
| Turnover | |||
| Amazon Smile | 0.00 | 36.28 | |
| Church income GASDS less than £30 (Gift Aid) | 9,797.79 | 5,909.07 | |
| Gift aid tax recoverable | 12,363.59 | 10,361.50 | |
| Gifted income (Under Gift Aid Relief) | 40,081.12 | 35,293.02 | |
| Interest Income | 3,403.18 | 1,555.50 | |
| Other donated income (None Gift Aid) | 8,115.69 | 12,462.73 | |
| Rent support | 27,000.00 | 25,000.00 | |
| Room hire Income | 6,037.50 | 4,720.00 | |
| Sundry Income | 151.13 | 1,505.90 | |
| Total Turnover | 106,950.00 | 96,844.00 | |
| Gross Profit | 106,950.00 | 96,844.00 | |
| Administrative Costs | |||
| Accounting Software Costs (Xero) | 453.60 | 417.60 | |
| Admin, Stationery & Other Office Costs | 459.26 | 276.39 | |
| Bank charges | 303.48 | 116.50 | |
| Book Keeping and Paye record keeping | 694.00 | 742.00 | |
| Buildings & Contents Insurance ic PL ins | 1,208.06 | 1,661.47 | |
| CCLI copyright licence | 559.69 | 956.37 | |
| Copier consumables SBS plc Sharpe | 452.82 | 314.06 | |
| Copier lease (PEAC) | 677.64 | 587.04 | |
| Core team development | 185.96 | 134.15 | |
| Costs associated with Church Services | 362.03 | 1,249.55 | |
| Donations made by Reach Church under Tithe Agreement | 7,180.50 | 5,407.37 | |
| Hire of Community Centre for Children & Youth Outreach | 1,092.00 | 910.00 | |
| Hospitality to the Community | 2,381.04 | 1,242.27 | |
| House Keeping & Cleaning | 260.45 | 285.40 | |
| Internet costs (Zen) | 440.90 | 372.04 | |
| IT Software and Consumables | 165.00 | 0.00 | |
| Legal Expenses | 610.00 | 4,134.60 | |
| Other Evangelical & Outreach Projects | 200.00 | 320.32 | |
| Outreach Children's & Youth Work Costs | 438.72 | 626.37 | |
| Paye and NI payments to HMRC | 10,583.14 | 10,921.00 | |
| Promotion and Advertising | 0.00 | 443.80 | |
| Rent Payable Church Premises | 15,000.00 | 15,000.00 | |
| Repairs & Maintenance to Building | 850.65 | 1,715.99 | |
| Safe Guarding and Vetting fees (Thirty One Eight) | 150.00 | 276.84 | |
| Staff mileage expense claims | 291.55 | 202.00 | |
| Staff Pension Costs | 6,889.44 | 5,304.68 | |
| Staff Salaries | 52,383.24 | 39,883.33 | |
| Staff Training & CPD fees | 4,428.78 | 1,089.39 | |
| Sundry Expenditure (Small Items) | 1,517.23 | 218.47 | |
| Telephone & Internet & IT consumables and equipment | 0.00 | 216.82 | |
| Utilities Electricity | 1,449.65 | 2,178.17 | |
| Utilities Gas | 4,369.62 | 4,369.89 | |
| Utilities Water | 398.15 | 558.61 | |
| Visiting Speakers Expenses | 512.55 | 600.00 | |
| Total Administrative Costs | 116,949.15 | 102,732.49 | |
| Net Profit or(Loss) | (9,999.15) | (5,888.49) |
Balance Sheet
Reach Church As at 31 March 2025
| Balance Sheet Reach Church As at 31 March 2025 |
Balance Sheet Reach Church As at 31 March 2025 |
||
|---|---|---|---|
| 31-Mar-25 | 31-Mar-24 | ||
| Current Assets Cash at bank and in hand UnityCurrent account Virgin Current Account CharityBank Deposit account Nat West bank Savings Account Total Cash at bank and in hand Prepayments and accrued income Year end adjustmentgeneralprepayments and accruals Total Prepayments and accrued income Gift aid recoverable Rent deposit Total Current Assets Creditors: amounts falling due within oneyear Legal fee accrual vis "Geldards" est of WIP vis lease Accruals Total Creditors: amounts falling due within one year Net Current Assets (Liabilities) Total Assets less Current Liabilities Creditors: amounts falling due after more than one year Outreach Community garden fund Total Creditors: amounts falling due after more than one year Net Assets Capital and Reserves Restricted Reserves M60 Food Bank Restricted Fund - LotteryFundingAwards for All Restricted Fund - Postcode LotteryGarden Grant Restricted Fund - Useyour Energy Restricted fund(Community gardengrant) Restricted fund Benefact Trust Grant Restricted fund Best startgrant Restricted Fund CommunitySafetyGrant Restricted Fund GMEF Gardengrant Billinda Mission fund Garfield Western Foundation Grant Restricted fund house hold supportgrant Restricted Fund Winter Pressures 22-23 Total Restricted Reserves Profit and loss account Current Xero Retained Reserves Current Year Earnings General reserves Fund Total Profit and loss account Total Capital and Reserves |
47,528.27 | 105,048.45 | |
| UnityCurrent account | |||
| Virgin Current Account | 80,643.13 | 7,563.96 | |
| CharityBank Deposit account | 87,365.06 | 83,961.88 | |
| Nat West bank Savings Account | 134.10 | 75,134.10 | |
| Total Cash at bank and in hand Prepayments and accrued income |
215,670.56 | 271,708.39 | |
| Year end adjustmentgeneralprepayments and accruals | 0.00 | 0.00 | |
| Total Prepayments and accrued income | 0.00 | 0.00 | |
| Gift aid recoverable | 15,638.49 | 3,274.90 | |
| Rent deposit | 2,500.00 | 2,500.00 | |
| Total Current Assets Creditors: amounts falling due within oneyear |
233,809.05 | 277,483.29 | |
| Legal fee accrual vis "Geldards" est of WIP vis lease Accruals |
3,330.12 7,180.50 |
3,330.12 (0.03) |
|
| 10,510.62 223,298.43 223,298.43 90.59 |
3,330.09 | ||
| 274,153.20 | |||
| 274,153.20 | |||
| 996.08 | |||
| 90.59 223,207.84 |
996.08 | ||
| 273,157.12 | |||
| M60 Food Bank | 46.27 | 150.40 | |
| Restricted Fund - LotteryFundingAwards for All | 24.39 | 19,852.26 | |
| Restricted Fund - Postcode LotteryGarden Grant | 290.62 82.04 |
5,248.29 | |
| Restricted Fund - Useyour Energy | 0.00 | ||
| Restricted fund(Community gardengrant) | 145.60 | 215.41 | |
| Restricted fund Benefact Trust Grant | 16,070.14 | 26,900.00 | |
| Restricted fund Best startgrant | 4,592.33 | 9,995.50 | |
| Restricted Fund CommunitySafetyGrant | 64.52 | 1,221.26 | |
| Restricted Fund GMEF Gardengrant | 209.24 703.01 415.00 |
8,307.16 | |
| Billinda Mission fund | 703.01 | ||
| Garfield Western Foundation Grant | 0.00 | ||
| Restricted fund house hold supportgrant | 10,000.00 | 0.00 | |
| Restricted Fund Winter Pressures 22-23 | 11.79 32,654.95 |
11.79 | |
| 72,605.08 | |||
| Current Xero Retained Reserves | 8,243.04 | 14,131.53 | |
| Current Year Earnings | (9,999.15) | (5,888.49) | |
| 192,309.00 | 192,309.00 | ||
| 190,552.89 | 200,552.04 | ||
| 223,207.84 | 273,157.12 |
Independent Examiners Report to the Trustees of Reach Church
For Accounting Period to 31[st] March 2025
I report on the accounts of the charity which are set out on pages following this report.
Respective responsibilities of trustee and examiner
The trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts.
The charity’s trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year under section 144 of the Charities Act 2011 (the Charities Act) and that an independent examination is needed.
It is my responsibility to:
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examine the accounts under section 145 of the Charities Act,
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to follow the procedures laid down in the general Directions given by the Charity Commission (under section 145(5)(b) of the Charities Act, and
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to state whether particular matters have come to my attention.
Basis of independent My examination was carried out in accordance with general directions given by the examiner’s statement Charity Commission. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and seeking explanations from the trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit, and consequently no opinion is given as to whether the accounts present a ‘true and fair’ view and the report is limited to those matters set out in the statement below.
Independent examiner's statement
In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention:
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which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in, any material respect, the requirements:
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to keep accounting records in accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act; and section 386 of the Companies Act 2006
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to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and comply with the accounting requirements of the Charities Act
have not been met; or
- to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
John MacDonald
FMAAT
Dated 20[th] of October 2025
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