## **Annual Trustees Report - October 2024** _This report is prepared for the church AGM (2[nd] October 2024) as part of our obligations as a CIO. An anonymised version will be submitted to the Charity Commission._ ## **Introduction** The Trustees (Church Officers) have pleasure in presenting this report for the past year, to October 2024. As a CIO, the aims of Hamilton Road Evangelical Church are: - _The advancement of the Christian faith in accordance with the Basis of Faith primarily but not exclusively within Whistable and the surrounding neighbourhood;_ - _Such other charitable purposes as shall, in the opinion of the charity trustees, put into practice the Christian faith in accordance with the Basis of Faith, including but not limited to: the prevention and relief of need, hardship and sickness; the advancement of education; and the provision of facilities in the interests of social welfare or other leisure time occupation of individuals who have need of such facilities by reason of their youth, age, infirmity or disability, financial hardship or social circumstances with the object of improving their conditions of life;_ ## **Report** During the past year we have held regular Sunday worship services morning and evening, as well as prayer meetings on Wednesday evenings. These are usually led by our Pastor, although visiting speakers or members of the church lead occasionally.) Attendance has increased, with new adults and families attending. These meetings are open to the public and guests are warmly welcomed. Average attendance in the morning would be around 35-40 adults, with 9-15 children approximately. Evening attendance is generally lower. ## Regular ministries within the church have all seen encouragements. Below are brief summaries. _**(Separate written reports were submitted to the AGM)**_ - Junior Church continues to grow, with typically 9-10 children, occasionally more. - Our Thursday morning toddler group (now, “Little Oysters”) has met regularly, with breaks coinciding with typical school holidays. There are usually around 12-15 children in the group. - Our Tuesday Bethany Lunch Club has met regularly through the past 12 months, with breaks coinciding with typical school holidays. Bethany continues to be very popular and attendance has grown slightly, with 30-35 now being typical. - We recently held the first of our monthly Sunday afternoon youth group meetings. This is for the benefit of our 11-18 year olds (currently 5 young people). - The monthly women’s breakfast and bible study has resumed again (see Appendix 2), and a new women’s book group has also begun in the last year. We have held other outreach events through the year, including Christmas Carol Services, Easter Service (with breakfast), Harvest Thanksgiving (with hot food) and our Easter Family Fun day. All were well attended and provided opportunities for gospel outreach. We have also held a number of “social,” events, including the bonfire event and church BBQ. These fellowship events are good ways of fostering deeper friendship and love within the church. We have gained 8 new members and lost one (deceased). **Our current membership now stands at 31** (with 4 of these being associate members). Our church officers currently consist of one Elder (our Pastor) and 4 deacons. We rejoice at the appointment of an additional deacon. All church officers automatically become trustees of the CIO, with Pastor being Chair of Trustees. Trustees must oversee the CIO and ensure it is well managed, in line with our charitable aims. Some areas that we have focused on this year include: updating our Safeguarding Policy (and assorted documents), our Fire Risk Assessment, our Doctrinal Basis and Distinctives. All these things help the church to function, “decently and in order.” We have seen a number of improvements to the fabric of the building. These projects include the redecoration of the Junior Church room, the reworking of the pulpit area, the new front doors and the renewed fire doors and storage cupboard in the rear hall. ## **Pastors final thoughts** The past year, like the one before, has generally been one of consolidation, growth and encouragement. We are thankful for the ongoing spirit of love and unity, as well as growing numbers. We give all the glory to the Lord. By the Lord’s grace and mercy, we look to him to continue to bless and strengthen the work. In line with this, we suggest the following areas require our ongoing (or renewed) prayerful attention: - **Evangelism** . We need to be encouraged and equipped both in personal and corporate evangelism. We should consider some training sessions and seasons of prayer in this vital area. We want to see members increasingly enthused in their own personal evangelism. - **Eldership** . The need for elders and deacons remains. In particular, eldership to share the pastoral and leadership responsibilities. At present, we are maintaining the regular weekly ministry and planning, but the pressures of time restrict the amount of “important but not necessarily urgent,” matters that also require attention. The biblical pattern for local churches should be a plurality of both elders and deacons. We pray the Lord will raise up suitable men. - **Service and involvement** . We rejoice at the number of people actively using their gifts in service already. We are encouraged to see more people leading in public prayer, reading the Scriptures, giving testimony, etc. We hope to promote more of this as we go forward. - **Prayer** . The growth in attendance at prayer meeting is a wonderful encouragement and I trust shows our increasing awareness that, “unless the Lord builds the house,” we labour in vain. Without the blessing of the Lord Jesus Christ, nothing we attempt will have lasting significance. We must together as a church all give priority to prayer together and individually. - **Unity & Fellowship** . As already stated, we rejoice in the loving spirit that exists amongst us. We have been blessed with many new faces in the past year. We must prioritize welcoming new people, and help them to settle into the fellowship, with a view to joining as members (in the Lord’s time.) We can also listen and learn from new perspectives on church life – we must be open to fresh ideas about how we function as a church. Our prayer is that together “new faces,” and “long-standing regulars,” will grow together into one new church family in Christ. Pastor will soon begin a Sunday morning series of sermons, looking at the, “One Another,” commands in the New Testament, which provides some valuable teaching on our shared church life together in Christ. This report was accepted at the Annual General Meeting of Hamilton Road Church, 2[nd] October, 2024. Signed: (ADAM LAUGHTON Chair of Trustees) 2[ND] OCTOBER 2024 Hamilton Road Evangelical Church ## I ncome & Expendit ure 2023-24 From 01/ 04/ 2023 to 31/ 03/ 2024 (in GB Pounds) |Category (Income)|| |---|---| |Bank Interest|648.17| |Bethany Lunches|3,952.50| |General|34,336.89| |Gift Received|1,098.58| |Manse Rent|12,000.00| |Refunds|982.06| |Tax Reclaimed - HMRC|5,065.01| |Total Income|58,083.21| |Category (Expense)|| |Accounts Inspection|-450.00| |Advertising and Publicity|-715.46| |Bethany|-2,912.32| |Caretaking|-231.60| |Catering|-213.60| |Charitable contributions|-122.08| |Church Utilities: Electricity|-2,060.68| |Church Utilities: Gas|-7,804.43| |Church Utilities: Phone & Wifi|-632.34| |Church Utilities: Water|-345.13| |Category Total:|-10,842.58| |Equipment|-1,653.07| |FIEC Subscription|-300.00| |Insurance|-2,802.59| |Literature|-712.83| |Maintenance: Church|-17,134.04| |Ministry: Bethany|-200.00| |Ministry: Lord's Day|-960.00| |Ministry: Missionary|-590.00| |Category Total:|-1,750.00| |Misc Exp|-577.63| Hamilton Road Evangelical Church |Pastor: Accommodation|-10,587.53| |---|---| |Pastor: Conference expenses|-310.00| |Pastor: Pension|-3,824.00| |Pastor: Salary|-27,352.60| |Pastor: Travel|-35.20| |Category Total:|-42,109.33| |Stationery|-163.69| |Sunday School|-102.70| |Training|-22.00| ||-| |Total Expenses|82,815.52| Total: -24,732.31 Hamilton Road Evangelical Church ## Account Balance 2023-24 at 31.3.24 Account: All Accounts Net Worth at: 31/ 03/ 2024 (in GB Pounds) |Bank|| |---|---| |Cash|20.00| |Current|2,114.09| |Reserve|42,217.42| |Bank Tot al|44,351.51| CIO Registered Charity No:1189551 CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examiner's report on the accounts Section A Independent Examiner's Report Report to the trustees HAtai kloJ Cqfva 4 LQ, ieA U ￿￿k/Is{A SL MA4c4 31- Pltt l& gvlLY