**Registered Charity No. 1191260** ## **TRURO EVANGELICAL CHURCH** **TRUSTEES' ANNUAL REPORT, ACCOUNTS and INDEPENDENT EXAMINER'S REPORT FOR THE 12 MONTHS ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2022** Truro Evangelical Church CIO Charity number: 1191260 ## **Trustees' Annual Report** From 1[st] January to 31[st] December 2022 ## **Objectives and Activities** The main purpose of Truro Evangelical Church is the advancement of the Christian faith in accordance with the church's Basis of Faith, primarily within Truro and the surrounding neighbourhood. In addition, the church also aims to carry out other charitable purposes that put into practice the Christian faith. The main activities that relate to the church's purposes are: two Sunday services of corporate worship (morning and afternoon), with a fellowship lunch in between; meetings for prayer and Bible study each Tuesday evening; Sunday school for children aged under 11; weekly evangelistic outreach in Truro city-centre to share the Christian faith; monthly men's and ladies' breakfasts for fellowship and Bible study; monthly ladies' prayer meetings; occasional outdoor evangelistic services during the summer; promotion of mission and matters of social concern through prayer, financial giving and monthly donations of food to Truro Food Bank; monthly evangelistic outreach in conjunction with the Free Church in St Just, Penwith; and occasional informal social gatherings. The trustees have given consideration to the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit, and confirm that benefit has been provided for any members of the public who wish to avail themselves of the spiritual support provided by the Sunday worship services, and the emotional support and company provided by opportunities to join us for lunch on Sundays; all of which is freely open to all. Further spiritual help is offered to all in the public who will receive, through the distribution of Christian literature and one-to-one conversations in our weekly city-centre outreach; through the pre-Christmas distribution of Christian literature to the homes near where our services are held; and through our summer outdoor evangelistic services in a local park. Pastoral visiting for those in need is also available for any who wish to attend our services. Public benefit is also provided for those in financial need, through monthly donations to the Truro Food Bank and a donation at Christmas to Cornwall Christmas Boxes, giving food to needy families over Christmas. Finally, all may benefit from the Christian teaching that is provided freely in our Sunday services, or to children through our Sunday school. Members of the public unable to attend in person are able to benefit from the services via Zoom video conferencing facilities, or subsequent free access to the sermons via the church's website. ## **Achievements and Performance** ## _Sunday services_ Our main ministry this year has taken us firstly through the book Song of Songs on Sunday mornings. This proved to be a wonderfully refreshing encouragement to stir and stimulate the believer's loving relationship with God, while also providing some helpful applications to those seeking to maintain or improve their marriages. We then worked through a series looking at the biblical exhortations regarding 'one another', to help develop and strengthen the loving unity we enjoy at TEC. A third series began working through the epistle 2 Peter, with its exhortations to live upright, godly lives in anticipation of the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. On Sunday afternoons we began the year by using material provided by A Passion for Life, with helpful videos and Bible-based discussion to encourage and equip us to share the good news of Jesus more effectively with our community, through one-to-one conversations with people we meet day to day. We then completed a series in the first major section of Isaiah (chapters 1-39), with its solemn warnings of judgement against evil behaviour, interspersed with messages of hope for those who trust in God. Our other elder, Patrick, preaching once a month, completed a lengthy series in Romans, with the wonderful assurances from the 8[th] chapter, before teaching us lessons of faith from the beginning of the life of Abraham, in Genesis. Through all this, we have been encouraged, corrected and challenged to live out the Christian faith with integrity and perseverance, rooted in a firm focus on the Lord Jesus Christ. We have also put on a number of evangelistic guest services, for those seeking God and investigating the Christian faith, when it has been the 5[th] Sunday of the month. In addition, we were able to take the gospel out to the community as a whole church, when we had a couple of open-air services in Boscawen Park in May and June, with some of the community listening in. We also heard encouraging personal testimonies at these services, of how God transforms lives for the good, most especially of Ben Barker, whose MND-driven return to Christ impacted many when videorecorded and placed on our website. Our Sunday morning services have been preceded by a half-hour Sunday school for our children, to help them develop their own relationship with God, led faithfully by Rosemary Griffiths, assisted by Ursula Hosking. With the improvement of the covid state in the community by the end of February we were glad to resume our usual 'bring and share' lunches after the morning services, to foster our church family relations and be more welcoming to visitors to join with us. We continue to have the morning services also run with Zoom, and recorded onto DVDs. This has proved helpful for members unable to attend in person due to ill health or immobility. ## _Membership_ It was a delight to baptise Darrel Leigh on Easter Sunday, after his profession of repentance and faith, having been met through our weekly city-centre outreach, and then to welcome him into membership. We have also been encouraged by the arrival and welcoming into membership of Elizabeth Haigh and Ieuan and Alice Richards. Having been so encouraged and inspired by the faith and courage of Ben Barker through his MND, it was a great sadness when he finally died in September; but we are greatly comforted to know that his suffering has been transformed into rejoicing in the presence of Christ. We also received notification, towards the end of the year, from Susanna Tufnell of her resignation and transfer of membership to Widcombe Baptist Church, Bath, where she has settled in recent years, and gladly commend her to God's safe-keeping in that fellowship. So we end the year with 29 members, and give thanks to God for each precious brother and sister in Christ. ## _Evangelism_ Our weekly evangelistic outreach (a book table) in the city-centre has run consistently since our last AGM. Having exhausted our previous stock of 'Looking for...' TEC leaflets, we produced 3 new leaflets with the good news, to be particularly relevant for younger, middle-aged and older people, and began distributing these this year, alongside a range of helpful booklets and books given freely to those who want to know more of the gospel message. We thank God that we've been able to give out around 6000 gospel leaflets in that time, and have about 700 good gospel conversations, sharing the Christian faith. Our increase on last year has been largely through being joined since June by an enthusiastic couple of evangelists from St Ives. With a desire to take the gospel beyond Truro, and to help a strategically placed church, with whom we had personal links, we continued to transport our book table to St Just once a month, joining to help the Free Church there. We give out a different set of tracts, invite people to the Free Church, and have had about 150 good gospel conversations there this year. We also received some encouragement from Emmanuel Church, Leamington Spa (where our pastor was once a member), to engage in a few days of evangelistic outreach at the end of June, as they sent down a small team of helpers. The hope is that this initiative will grow, with a larger team coming to do more work for a week each summer. On this occasion we began with an open-air service in Boscawen Park on the Sunday afternoon, then ran our book table in St Austell, St Just and Truro on 3 consecutive days. We also engaged in door-to-door evangelistic visiting in 3 sessions in an afternoon or evening. Altogether, we were able to have about 100 good gospel conversations. We also put on a fun quiz night in November in a local café, with a low-key evangelistic epilogue, to bring the good news to our friends and colleagues, and were grateful that a few people availed themselves of the opportunity. We give God the thanks and praise for all the opportunities to speak about him and our wonderful Saviour Jesus, and pray that he would bring many of these people into a loving relationship with him, for the saving of their souls. ## _Pastoral care_ The elders have continued to visit, or meet up with, both members and non-member regular attenders, as they have been able, for pastoral oversight. Informal pastoral visiting also occurs as members look out for one another, and visit one another as the need arises. In addition, our church WhatsApp social group continues to keep members connected with one another with their current news and prayer needs, and proves a great blessing to a number. Furthermore, a monthly prayer diary is compiled to encourage members to pray for one another and for mission outreach in their personal prayer times. The sense of loving community enjoyed by the church has also been fostered by informal gettogethers, including: a pasty lunch and walk at Trelissick Gardens on Good Friday; a meal and games at a restaurant to celebrate the decade birthdays this year of several people from the congregation, in June; and a joint event with Grace Church St Austell in July. The men have enjoyed meeting for men's breakfasts once a month, for fellowship around a hearty meal, and food for the soul through studying the books of Daniel and 1 Thessalonians. The ladies were glad to resume their physical breakfasts earlier in the year, having been previously meeting on Zoom, due to covid. ## _Safeguarding_ Patrick Buckley: the trustee lead Leota Morris: Safeguarding Officer Chris Rotheray: assistant Safeguarding Officer This year the church safeguarding team met on Zoom to devise an application form which is required by the Charity Commission for all different aspects of the Church work. The generic form devised covers relevant job specification, referees, and any relevant experience that the applicant may have. There was one Safeguarding issue that arose during the year which was dealt with according to Church agreed procedure and policy. Thanks to Leota Morris and Chris Rotheray for their diligence and support in this area of the church life. ## _Data protection_ The church has implemented the requirements of the Data Protection Act as it pertains to charities. Members' and friends' data are held in a secure computer and all possible steps are taken to protect the data. No personal data are held on any external internet-based storage. In accordance with the DPA provision members and friends have to opt in to give permission to store their personal details and preferences on the church database. This is normally done in writing using a form for this purpose. Members and friends will not be included in e-mails sent from the church, or details added to the church data base, until specific consent is given. Unless consent is given, no personal data from the database will be shared with 3[rd] parties, e.g. other churches, etc. Anyone may request a print-out of their data held on the church database. Details can be amended on request. Consent is to how data are used: e.g. contact methods; whether personal details can be included on the church website or in printed materials; etc. These options can be changed at any time on request. All details of names & addresses plus phone numbers and e-mail address are made available to members and friends periodically. These printed lists should be stored carefully so as not to fall into unauthorised hands. Currently Robin Griffiths is responsible for Data protection matters and maintaining the church database. ## _Trustees' meetings_ The trustees have met quarterly to ensure the church is meeting our main purposes of the advancement of the Christian faith and other Christian charitable purposes (see Objectives and Activities). We considered the advancement of the faith within Truro and the surrounding neighbourhood, identifying that our website needs updating, to ensure that the most frequently accessed pages contain appropriate evangelistic content, and implementing the holding of two evangelistic events per year, outside of the church premises, to which to invite unbelieving friends. We also considered the advancement of the faith outside of Truro, seeking to employ a trainee pastor for 2 or 3 years, whom we could give experience working alongside our pastor, to send him out to minister in another church. Much time was given to the consideration of one candidate, who visited us for a 2- week placement, but later withdrew his application. We considered the advancement of the faith through making disciples of our attenders, by addressing the format of our Sunday afternoon services, and proposing a change to more of an allage Sunday school format, dividing into small groups for Bible study for half of the service. ## **Financial Review** |For the period 1stJanuary 2022 to the end of financial year 31stDecember 2022| |---| |Total income:
£64 926.42| |Total expenditure:
£62 751.74| |Total funds on 31stDecember 2022: £206 054.35| The church has a policy for holding reserves equivalent to 3 months of the pastor's salary and expenses, rental of the school hall where we meet for worship, plus our missionary giving and bookkeeping fees, as a safety net to ensure these prime responsibilities can be paid. This amounts to £12 060. ## **Structure, Governance and Management** Truro Evangelical Church is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO). The governing document for Truro Evangelical Church is the Constitution based on the Charity Commission Association Model for a CIO, as approved for independent churches, in conjunction with our Church Handbook. Trustees are the elders of the church, as according to the Constitution. They are nominated by the other elders, and appointed by the vote of the membership at a members' meeting. In the event (as is current) where we have fewer than 3 elders, the third trustee is similarly nominated by the other trustees and appointed by the vote of the church members. Most of the members volunteer their services to help in the life of the church, according to their ability. They are too many to name for personal thanks, and we do not wish to downplay the significance of those with limited physical capabilities, who are nonetheless stalwart pillars upholding the church by their faithful prayers. However, the trustees would like to give particular thanks to Priscilla Buckley for her diligent services as treasurer, and to Paul Sebuava for his faithful and tireless service in ensuring the practical functioning of our Sunday services. ## **Reference and Administrative Details** Charity name: Truro Evangelical Church CIO Charity number: 1191260 Charity's principal address: 27 Navigator Way, Truro, Cornwall, TR1 3GE Independent Examiner: Rev. Michael Coles BSc. (Fully trained HMIT), 14 Pengarth Road, Falmouth, TR11 2TY Bank: Lloyds Bank plc Lewisham (309089) Branch PO Box 1000 BX1 1LT Charity trustees _Name_ : _Office_ : Patrick Buckley Elder Nick Fuller Elder (pastor) Robin Griffiths Deacon ## **Declarations** The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above. Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees: Signatures: Nick Fuller Patrick Buckley Robin Griffiths Position: Chair Trustee Trustee Date: 24.4.23 YRURO EVANGEUCAL CHURCH Charitsble Incorporated Organisation No. 1191260 alARtrY c(AIMISSION 5TATEMENf OF ANA￿aAL ACTMnES DP1CW￿NG INCOME APID Total If4COME Regular GNii 48.224 48.329 Grft Aid clarm Bequest 11.6 ii. TOTAL IIICOME 64317 Re8ularour8otng 105 51,1 Trnnsfer 10.50) Extra missron 8rft 1.169 1.169 TOTAL OLITGOINGS 752 Ballr￿ in Bank @ l"Jar￿ry 2022 £17A3L18 8alarKe in 8ank @ 31"De￿mber 2022 £19.605.86 The restrirted gift5 werefrx Easter￿ 5UPP¢Xtirya asylum Seeke￿thrOUBh our mission partner Lynm mcLe￿, and towards a zfftto 8amabas to support thelr Ukralne m￿SloTh. £10,500 was moved to ourCCLA Ge￿rdI Fund. Th￿WaS frorn the Bequest receib*d in April 2022. Atsthe of the Bequest was8r•￿ as a On￿f81ft toour missio￿ry in India £SOJ78 £51, StipeF¥J 24.242 24.242 HMRC s￿76 s￿76 Pension 1,720 L720 - 3L838 Mln15try L177 1,177 Rent &1gJ Fees/in5uran IAVJ3 1.093 330 330 EYèn8elism 617 617 Visiting preache 633 633 AV Equipment 291 291 PrintI￿oIrl￿ costs Chiklrens work 205 205 Refre5hrnents￿ndrieS 330 330 12,946 Regular support totsl Extra mission gift 1,169 1,169 1147 £52252 ".W3ve5 £540.55. Conferences £35&15. Books £110.53. Zoorn thar8es £129.51: Office equipment £39.77. M155ion Twro Evangefjcal Churth Tegularly sttppDrt5 six mission owani5*ion5finrfN¥du3& Gsfts a sent quarterty ènd 0￿rthe year £757 has gNen to each of the six- London Seminary. UFM (Lynne McLeovyl, %M (Matt and NaIrJOr￿Sl, GBM (Jason and Andrea Murffttl. Grnce Partnetship ljyoti ChakJaYartty. India). and Irrternational Mission to Jthvi5h People. We have given voluntary donatiorÉs to the Feltowship of Independent E¥angelir21 Churches o*r the year of £992. We have also Biven indr•idual missions and indMdua15 On￿Off wfts when a need has arisen. Bamabas Fund Ukrdinè- £2201£40 designatrdi Amiond irt Peru- £50 18or- Ukraine- £1 West Cornwall Convention. £2(Kl Slavic Gospel Association- £140. L McLeaYyfor asySum seekets Easter gifts- £55 des[Br￿ted tyoti Chakravartty with Grace Partnership in IrKlia ItFthefrom bequest)- £1.169 Tnjro Evangelical Church has four accounts in the COIF ChatÉty Depost Fund5 ICCLA Investment Management Ltd-a 8ener31 account. a Churth Buildin8 Fund account, a Benevolence Fund accounL and a ￿end¥ set up Trainin8 Fund account. Interest is added into the 3ccounts and quarterfy smements are senL The Kcounts are deslgnated but not restrirted. In April this year, we were sent a t*questfrom the estate of a churth member. and this wa5 tithed and £IO,SCQ was wt Into the Generdl Furwj. We conifinue to thk to ern￿o¥a trainee pastor. and the cost forthis will come from this fund. The Buildi￿ Fund ￿ Set up to 5abt whenfrf a butlding becaTT¥e milable for us to purchase as a churth buildin8. This is a restrirted fiJnd and those asknn8 for rnoneyto be Credited to thi5 acc(NJnt know that rfwe are rM>t able to purchase a building it can be used for the work of the church or employmert of addrbonal stsff. Benevolence Fund 15 forone4rfF S￿la1 grfts to those e¥perie￿I￿ difficulty, and is at the discretion of thÈ Pastor and Elder. Funds I"January 31"Oec {J¢M- (kt) Uoyds Bank alc 17,431.18 19.&J5.86 General FUNI 8uildin8 Fund Benevolen￿ Fund 101,623.50 72,352.98 65182 i05c￿￿ 112.776.32 72.780.01 892.16 427.03 Training Fund nd Totals The value of the assets owned are appfOX.£2.¢JY). The church not own any prowty. We do not h￿￿ any debts or liabbltties due tott* thur We have n(rt had arry seriou5 intidents in our d*rity overthis peri￿1 of 12 montt Fundral We do not funds the publi We do not ha¥e any 8Tantsor recer￿ incm frnm othertontrdcts with central 8(Nernment or local authorities. The thurch ha5 one employee whose remuneration and experw not in exctts of £60.(¥)). No ￿Muneration ortrustee expenses ￿re pasd to any other trustee duriE¥ the ar norto any person connected to them otherthan refvnds of legitlmate trustee nses. CHARETY COMMISSION FOR ENfjLAND WALES Independent examinerfs report on the accounts Section A Independent Examiner 5 Report Report toth• trus1¢ m•mb•rs ol Ch*ity M> 1 1191260 {rfanyl Set outon paqes 14 c*arity nhe Trusfi for the year end& Re¥onsibilili•s and basis of Yeport (g>unts in ￿))r(￿K?￿1h the WLMrerl￿S ofthe Charilie5 A(1 2011 rthe Acfl. I W in ￿Pect ofmy e￿￿nStr(￿ of the Tr￿$ thxtyNts carried out under Se¢b￿ 145 ofts 2011 Act and in carrying out my examin*Trtsn. I under Se{*L￿ 14515Xbl Lrfthe Att. examinerfs statement to my attention in oJnn&Yion wth the exanNn8tion lotherthan that Ihe Chanlies A(* or the axjurts (fid rx)mF* with the appkabk requiremerrts C*￿￿eming the fom and c¥Jttenl 0f￿untS set in the Chariti'es IAct*¥Jnts and ReFx*ts} Reguklions 2008 other than any req￿rement thatthe a Irue aThJ fairf Mv which is not a n wrth the exannatth to whith attention s￿Id be drawn in this reFX)rt in S*nod: 2P J*nuw 2023 NamÈ: I C Rekn*nt pffohssional qy•liftsknisl or Ix rrfany): (EXI Futy T Addr￿. 14 PW Road Oct 2018 Section Disclosure Onty (xThplete rfthe exarrArEr needs to h￿3hlIght material matters of corKEm (see CC32. Independent examination ot thanty &XOLuts". ch"rections and guidwKe fvr ewIr￿￿). Give he￿ brief detsi15 of any itenls thatthe •xaminer wish•s to dthcloM. Oct2018