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2021-12-31-accounts

– – Hope Community Church Biddenden Annual Report

Aims & Purposes

Hope Community Church (HCC) is a new church in Biddenden, Kent that started in January of 2020. We aim to share the gospel of Jesus with those in Biddenden, the surrounding area and beyond.

We are a Bible-centred, family church looking to serve our community. We believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that His death and resurrection are good news for everyone who trusts in him.

In the last year, the Eldership felt called to begin a search for a Pastor. A search team was formed from a cross-section of the church membership. A suitable candidate became available after a relatively short time and, following a detailed selection process, the membership appointed Dave Stone as the church Pastor in 2021.

HCC is a member of the Kent Gospel Partnership.

Objectives & Activities

We aim to live out our faith in Christ in the community around us and we welcome new people to join in any of our regular activities regardless of belief or background. In particular, we do this through:

Achievements & Performance

Worship & Prayer

We offer a regular, Sunday morning service throughout the year together with special events such as a Christmas carol service, a stall at the annual village fete and hosting special guest speakers such as Rory Stein who was once Nelson Mandela’s bodyguard but now travels around delivering a message of hope and redemption. Communion is integral to the Sunday

morning service on a monthly basis and we hold three separate mid-week Home Group meetings where Bible passages are discussed in detail.

We have recently commenced a monthly prayer meeting which follows the Sunday morning service and, from September, we will hold a bi-monthly coffee morning for older members of the congregation and the local community.

We hold regular membership meetings where votes are held on important issues.

Pastoral Care

HCC has a WhatsApp group for anyone who wishes to join it. This serves as a useful tool to keep those involved informed of specific requests for prayer or practical assistance with, for example, providing meals to those who, for whatever reason, are not able to cook for themselves.

Apart from a break in the summer, our regular Sunday morning service also includes provision of a Sunday School for school age children and a supervised creche for babies and toddlers.

During the pandemic when physical attendance at church services was not permitted, sermons were streamed into people’s homes and, now that normal attendance at church has resumed, we continue to stream Sunday morning services so that those who cannot, or prefer not to attend, can see and hear the service and still feel part of the proceedings.

Outreach Work

Our pastor has begun a regular engagement to take assemblies at the local village primary school. This runs once a month and involves teaching about 100 children between reception and year 6. He would usually lead a song and then teach a story from the bible with as much interaction as possible, finishing with short prayer.

Our pastor was involved in leading and speaking at a summer camp in the Lake District (Christian Adventure Holidays). It was attended by 40 young people from both church and non-church backgrounds. The camp aims

that finances should not be a barrier to any young people attending and a number of the young people this year were from families of very limited resources. 25 leaders volunteer their time to allow the young people to attend. The young people took part in activities such as sailing, canoeing, hill walking and climbing and then had an evening meeting with songs, interaction and a bible-based talk.

Hope Church has recently begun a partnership with Petrovaradin Evangelical Church (PEC) in Serbia. This is a small church plant with a similar theological outlook to Hope Church. Our partnership with PEC involves a commitment to regular prayer, seeking to grow relationships between PEC members and Hope members, and helping Hope Church to expand our involvement in global mission. We are also planning to give financial support to PEC which will be channeled through the UK charity Grace Baptist Mission (GBM)

 Village Fete

This summer the church was able to run a stall at the village primary school fete. This was an especially significant event celebrating 800 years of the school. We offered crafts, a bran tub and crazy golf. The stall was well attended and we strengthened existing contacts with village residents and engaged with some new people. Lots of our church members volunteered in one capacity or another.

This Autumn we have begun a new biweekly coffee morning for older people. This is a free event to connect with and support older people in and around the Biddenden community. Coffee plus is run in the village hall and we offer drinks and an opportunity to chat and play games. Each event will have a short ‘epilogue’ type talk to engage visitors with the Christian faith.

 Marcus Appleton

The church has continued to financially support a former member of our congregation, Marcus Appleton in his studies in the United States. Marcus is studying global missions and hopes to be involved in supporting and helping global mission after his course finishes in December 2022.

Financial Review

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Report of the Independent Examiner(s) to the Trustees of Hope Community Church – Biddenden

On the accounts for the period ended 31[st] March 2022

Respective responsibilities of Trustees and Examiner

The Church’s Trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. The church’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:

Basis of independent examiner’s statement

My examination was carried out in accordance with general Directions given by the Charity Commission. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the church 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 material matters have come to my attention which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect:

I have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

Signed by or on behalf of the Examiner Date 20[th] September 2022

Name Roger Ashley Hughes

Relevant Professional Qualifying body ICPA

Address Wayside, Aldington, Ashford Kent TN25 7DT

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