The Quarry Gospel Church
Trustees Report
Year ending 31 March 2024
Administrative information
Registered Office: 8 Pydar Close, Ne w quay, Cornwall. TR7 3BS Registered Charity No. 1195276 Treasurer: Steven Wilkins Secretary: Jane Mitchell Website: www.tqgc.org Email: office@tqgc.org
Structure Governance and Management
The Quarry Gospel Church is a foundation CIO and as such is governed by trustees who are appointed in accordance with the Constitution an d Church Handbook.
Ex Officio Trustees as at 31 March 2024:
Andrew Duncan Mitchell, Pastor
Trustees as at 31 March 2024:
Linda Kenna Ruth Dymond Fiona A Knight
Aim and Purposes
The Trustees of The Quarry Gospel C h urch (‘TQGC’) working together with the P a stor, Andrew Mitchell have the responsibility of:
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1) advancing of the Christian faith in accordance with the Basis of Faith pri m arily but not exclusively within Newquay and the surrounding neighbourhood; and
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2) such other charitable purposes a s shall, in the opinion of the members of the Church in general meeting, put into practice the Christian faith in accordance with the Basis of F aith, including but not limited to: the prevention and re l ief of need, hardship and sickness; the adva n cement of education; and the provision of facilities in t h e interests of social welfare for recreation o r other leisure time occupation of individuals who ha v e need of such facilities by reason of their y outh, age infirmity or disability, financial hardship or s o cial circumstances with the object of impro v ing their conditions of life.
Objectives and Activities
When planning the activities of TQGC the Trustees are mindful of these responsibilities and also the Charities Commission guidance on public benefit. Therefore they seek to enable as many people within Newquay and the surrounding area to attend worship at TQGC, and live out their faith in such a way that these purposes and responsibilities are met.
To achieve this church activities centre around:
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Sunday Worship including Sunday school for those 11yrs old and younger.
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Mid week Bible study.
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Weekly home group prayer meetings.
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Pastoral care.
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Wider participation through the internet and social media.
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Social gatherings to build relationships.
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Evangelism.
These activities not only meet the aims and purposes of the church as laid down by the Charities Commission but also match the model of the church given in Acts 2:42, our church motto:
“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer”.
Achievements and Performance
Psalm 100 calls all people to praise and worship God.
Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.
It is the desire of the Pastor and trustees of the Quarry Gospel Church to provide the local community with an opportunity to do this every Sunday morning. This collective worship lies at the heart of the Quarry Gospel Church’s life and witness. We aim within the services to enable reverent praise, provide sound teaching and the opportunity for meaningful prayer, regardless of age, background or education.
As we look back at the last 12 months we can give thanks to God that in these services we can see real growth in both numbers and in the personal development of those attending. The number of regular worshippers has increased by approximately 20% on Sunday mornings and we see people coming from Newquay and the surrounding villages.
Age appropriate teaching is provided for all children between 4 and 11 years and it brings great joy to the teachers and the fellowship as a whole to witness how the children’s knowledge and understanding of the Bible is growing.
In addition to Sunday worship the church continues to offer weekly Bible Study for all regular members and attendees.
Bible studies can be systematic expositions of a particular book or they can be topical. For the past 25 weeks the focus has been on Mark’s Gospel and we look forward to following this study to its completion later in 2024.
The number of people attending the weekly study has grown and several members have expressed a desire to attend following the Easter break. Paul in the book of Ephesians prays for the church asking:
That out of the riches of His glory He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. Then you, being rooted and grounded in love, will have power, together with all the saints, to comprehend the length and width and height and depth of the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
It is clear to the Trustees that as the fellowship comes together to study the Bible, the Holy Spirit is answering that prayer.
The weekly prayer groups, started in 2022, continue to offer more people the opportunity to enjoy more intimate and directed prayer and worship and numbers attending are increasing.
The 4 week ‘Bible basics’ course, which ran in 2022/23, was repeated this year by popular demand. This time the course was focused on Doctrine and was enjoyed by all attending. We anticipate more of these in the future.
Pastoral care continues to be a vital aspect of life in the Quarry Gospel Church. As we give thanks for increasing numbers on Sunday mornings we are mindful, as always, that several members of the church are now unable to attend the services due to illness or infirmity. We continue to minister to their needs by visitation and delivering weekly audio CDs of our services. It is a joy to see that the number of church members involved in visitation and pastoral care is growing.
The Website and social media ministry of the church continue to be essential tools in our desire to reach out to:
“Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the uttermost parts of the World”.
In the past 12 months 557 unique users have accessed the website. Of those visitors 317 were from the UK. The other 240 visitors came from USA, Sweden, Ireland, India, Turkey, Canada, Romania, Hungary, Australia, Germany, Russia, Nigeria, France, Greece, Spain and South Africa.
In total 927 services and bible Studies were downloaded or streamed.
It is impossible to read the Bible without becoming aware that the prevailing attitude of God’s people is Love. Jesus frequently drew attention to the commandments:
‘Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”
As we grow in numbers it is of prime importance to the Trustees that we strengthen the ties of love which bind us together as a caring community. To this end we have engaged in a number of social events from Advent social evenings and family services at Christmas and Easter, to communal meals at a local restaurant.
The Evangelism working group formed in 2022 continues to look at ways of reaching out to our mission field and make the Quarry Gospel Church more visible to passers-by.
Various ideas were raised and as a result vinyl banners were purchased for our Christmas and Easter outreach and it is planned to continue with this ministry at other times of the year to provide a ‘Wayside Pulpit’, a practice employed by many other churches.
As a church with no building of its own everything required for worship has to be brought to the venue, set-up and taken down at the end. This is time consuming and hard work requiring commitment and dedication. We give thanks for all of those within the church who put so much time and effort into doing this.
Special thanks must be given to those who go the extra mile and do the unexpected such as providing an unlimited range of refreshments, cakes, doughnuts and even bacon sandwiches!
As we give thanks for individual service in the church we want to thank Philip Wright for his service as Trustee and Treasurer. Philip stepped down from this role in 2023 after serving in this capacity from 2019. We also give thanks for Steve Wilkins who took on the role of Treasurer and Fiona Knight who accepted the role of Trustee.
As we thank God for the past year and move forward into a new one we are mindful that the Quarry Gospel Church belongs to him. He is the power at work not us. The Psalmist declares:
Unless the LORD builds the house, the builders labour in vain.
Psalm 127
Financial Review
The accounts for the year ended 31 March 2024 are attached to this report.
We give all the Glory to God for his provision financially. The Trustees continue to seek ways of blessing other Christians and ministries with financial blessings as God enables us.
Note re Pastoral Costs:
Section 6.1 of the Constitution states that:
“Any office holder appointed in accordance with the Church Handbook and any employee of the Church may receive reasonable compensation (including accommodation) for carrying out their duties as office holders and/or employees notwithstanding that they are or may be a charity trustee of the Church or a connected person to a charity trustee.”
The Pastor of the Church, Ex officio trustee Andrew Mitchell, has received payment for his role as Pastor of the church and not for carrying out his duties as a trustee.
THE UARRY GOSPEL CHURCH- N UAY INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT FOR THE YEAR ENDEO 31st Marth 2024 2024 2023 INCOME Tithe5 and Offerin HMRC re Gift Aid Grft5 Received 27359 22% 24203 2936 5365 33255 32504 EXPENDITURE Rent Equipment Pastoral Costs Sunday School Materi•l Evangelisrn Materials Wèbsite Facebook &CD Mlnlstry InsuraTh¢e Llcenses & Subscriptlons DBS Checks Prlntln¢ & Statknnery PAT Testin8 Consumables G1ft5 & Donatknhs Sundries 11103 11))54 107 204LX) 115 263 128 278 204L) 65 454 586 251 72 115 31 345 1870 263 22 417 39 1314 253 34478 34521 34478 34521 -1223 -2017 MMA Openin8 Balances at 01.04.23 Exce55 01 Incorne o¥er Expendllu aostrq 8•l•nc•s •t 31A)3.24 10219 -1223 12236 -2017 10219 Cash in hand 8ank Account.. Barclays 347 8649 10219 10219 Signed.. Date S.Wllklns- T0rer Inde ndtni txamintr-. I have examined the accounting records kept by The Quarry Go1 Church forthe year ended 31 March 2024 and compared them to the accounts presented wilh those record5. NothlTrB has come to my attenth)n that woukl PeTht a propef undelandIng ofthese account Signed.. Date .Teague- Independent Examiner