# Grace Community Church Loftus Report and Accounts Year ended 31 October 2023 ## **LEGAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS** ADDRESS FOR CORRESPONDENCE Grace Community Church Loftus Deepdale Road Loftus Saltburn-By-The-Sea TS13 4RS GOVERNING DOCUMENT CIO - registered 12 November 2021 CHARITY REGISTRATION NUMBER 1196546 TRUSTEES RESPONSIBLE FOR MANAGING THE CHARITY BANKERS INDEPENDENT EXAMINER Robin Singleton Robert Partlett James Duff Barclays Bank plc Allan Chandler ## **INDEX** Page 1 Legal and Administrative Details Pages 2-4 Trustees' Report Page 5 Independent Examiner's Report Page 6 Receipts and Payments Account Page 7 Statement of Assets & Liabilities **Grace Community Church Loftus** ## **REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 OCTOBER 2023** The Trustees have pleasure in submitting the Report and Accounts for the year ended 31 October 2023. The charity was registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales on 12[th] November 2021 so this is the second annual report and the second set of annual accounts. The period covered is 1 November 2022 - 31 October 2023. ## **Objects of the charity** The charity, which is a church, is governed by a constitution and church handbook. The church is constituted as a charitable incorporated organisation (CIO). The purposes of the Church are: - _1) The advancement of the Christian faith in accordance with the Basis of Faith primarily but not exclusively within Loftus, Saltburn by the Sea and the surrounding neighbourhood; and_ - _2) 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 for recreation 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;_ _provided that the advancement of such purposes must be undertaken in a manner that is consistent with the Doctrinal Distinctives and Ethical Statements as may be adopted and amended by the Church from time to time in accordance with the provisions of the Church Handbook._ In planning the activities the Trustees have applied the guidance on public benefit issued by the Charity Commission. ## **Summary of the charity's main activities and achievements** To further the above objects and vision, the charity's main activities and achievements were as follows: ## **Sunday Services** We continue to meet weekly on Sunday mornings for corporate public worship, using the hall. The service includes praise, prayer and preaching/teaching. Regular attendance has risen to about 40 including children. After the service refreshments are served. Most people stay to enjoy this time of fellowship and also stay for a hot community meal that is provided every Sunday. ## **Mental Health Support Group** The Mental Health Support Group was established during the Covid-19 lockdown to provide support for those who were isolated and/or facing mental health problems. This group continues to meet and is open to anyone in the community. They do not need to be Christians and the the format is very informal but it does include Bible study and prayer. ## **Church Night** Most Thursday evenings we have a church family night. We meet at 6pm to enjoy a hot meal together and then between 7.00pm and 8.15pm we usually study the bible together and pray. The bible study is for all ages and usually takes an interactive form - working in small groups. We close by praying together. Occasionally we have visiting speakers - for example Travis Burleson, a Pastor from Texas, visited in June 2023 and a team from SASRA visited the following week. Some church members also travelled to attend a presentation by Caring for Life at Geneva Road Baptist Church in February 2023. We also occasionally dedicate the whole time on a Thursday evening to pray together - for example for the work of Open Doors amongst persecuted Christians. ## **Cafe - Grace Brew House** In September 2023 Grace Brew House completed it’s first full year of operation. The cafe opening times have settled at 10.30am - 2pm Wednesday to Saturday every week. The appointment of a Cafe Manager was funded by an external donor for the trial period (until 31 Dec 2022) and then by an FIEC Grant until October 2023. A team of Page 2 committed volunteers work alongside the Cafe Manager. The purpose of the cafe is to provide a gateway for the community into the church and a gateway for the church into the community. It is part of the ministry of the church and we long and pray that through this outreach many will hear and respond to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Trustees are pleased to report that the cafe has been well used by the local community and that a good reputation has been established. One customer has started to attend church activities regularly and has asked about baptism. A number of regular customers attended the Carol Service. ## **Evangelism** The evangelistic strategy of the church is one of encouraging church members to witness to the people that they meet in their everyday lives. We do hold occasional evangelistic events, like the Christmas Carol Service, but the main focus is of being an ‘everyday church’. The church also has an internet presence via its own website and YouTube Channel. The weekly sermons are also posted to the church Facebook Page. A monthly article will be placed in the newly launched secular community newspaper ‘Talk of the Town’. During the year some Door to Door evangelism also took place. ## **World Mission** The church currently supports and receives updates from Open Doors, SASRA and WorldShare. Open Doors supports persecuted Christians across the globe, SASRA seeks to reach serving soldiers and air force personnel with the Gospel, and WorldShare supports the global work of indigenous Christians as they preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. ## **Grace Pregnancy Support** The aim of this new work is to save the lives of babies by encouraging and supporting parents to choose life - rather than abortion. We also work and pray to see the spiritual salvation of the parents. The ethos is to ‘speak the truth in love’. An FIEC grant was secured to enable a small room in the church to be refurbished and dedicated to this task. A church member has received training and support from CBR UK and Brephos and is now working on the publicity strategy. ## **Affiliations** Grace Community Church Loftus is now a full member of: - FIEC - The Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches across England, Scotland and Wales. The pastor and his wife attended the leaders conference in Blackpool in November 2022. - Medhurst Ministries - Supporting, planting and revitalising churches in deprived communities of England and Wales. The pastor attended two retreats during the year and several folk from the church attended the Medhurst Weekender in Summer 2023. A group of Medhurst pastors meet locally for regular encouragement and prayer. - HeartCry Missionary Society - glorifying God through the support of indigenous missionaries. Having been introduced to HeartCry through Medhurst Ministries the pastor is now funded full-time by HeartCry for a period of 4 years. He attended the HeartCry European conference in Romania in October 2023. ## **Staff/Appointments** In December 2022 the church members made the decision to pay the Pastor of the church in a full-time capacity (office holder). The post began on 1 January 2023. This was a massive step of faith for the church but within a matter of weeks HeartCry had offered to meet the full cost for four years. The role of the Cafe Manager is now funded by an FIEC grant until October 2023. Funding for a further year has been secured through a generous external gift. ## **Financial review** At the end of the financial year the charity held £45,443.24 of which £28,255.82 is designated and £17,187.42 is unrestricted and can be used for any charitable purpose. ## **Reserves policy** The trustees do not currently have a reserves policy. The Trustees make judgments as necessary, balancing on the one hand the desire to have several months budgeted expenditure in reserves and on the other hand not wanting to sit on money that could be used for charitable purposes. On the whole the trustees will err on the side of caution so that the charity could continue to operate should income (including grant funding) and / or expenditure vary adversely. At the year end, the charity held unrestricted cash of £17,187.42. Page 3 ## **Governance** Trustees meet together regularly to monitor activities of the charity. They present the results of such meetings at quarterly members’ meetings. The trustees are responsible for ensuring the charitable purposes of the CIO are carried out in accordance with the church constitution and handbook The trustees of the charity are all the persons appointed to the offices of Pastor, Elder or Deacon. In accordance with the charity constitution and handbook, trustees are appointed by a vote of the church membership. All trustees are members of the charity. There must always be at least three charity trustees. Presently there are three. ## **Responsibilities of trustees** Charity law requires Trustees to prepare financial statements for each accounting year which record the receipts and payments of the charity for the year. We are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and enable us to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Charities Act 2011. We also have a responsibility to safeguard the assets of the charity and to take reasonable steps to prevent fraud or any other irregularities. ## **Approval** This report was approved by the trustees and signed on their behalf by: Robin Singleton Date: 20/02/2024 Page 4 Independent examlnerfs report to the trustees of Grace Communlty Church Loftus I report t the year the trnstees on my exarnlnatbDn of the xcounis of Grace Communlty Church Loftus for nded 31 Octob•r 2023 whlch are attached to thls report. R•wnJl Illles and bas15 01 f•POrt As the ch accordan rlty trustees of the Trust you afe r•spon$lble for the Pfeparatlon ol the •eMunts In wlth the requlrements of the Charrtie5 Act 20111'the A(V), I report I 2011 Act the Chari respect of ftry examlnatlon of the Trust's accounis carrled out under sectlon 145 01 the nd In carrylng out nty •x•mlnatlon I have followed all th• appllcable Dlrectbons g￿n by ComrnlulDn under sectlon 145(5)(b) of th• Act. An examl Ihe •¢cou dls¢losur The proc and cons ation Includ•s a r•vlew of the accountln8 records k•pt by the charlty and a compaftson of ts presented wlth those records. h also Includes consld•ratlon of any unusual Ilems or in the accounts and seekln8 explanatlons from the irustees concemlTr8 any Such matters. ures undertaken do not provlde all the evklence thai would be requlred In a lull audlL uently I do not express èn Judit oplnlon on the accounts. Indewnd nt examlnrf5 5t•t•m•nt I have co conneclio pleted rny eXamInat￿n. I confirni that no materlal matters have come to my attentlon In with the exJrnlnatlon 8lvin8 rne cause to believe that In any m•terl41 respert: ountln8 r•cords were not kept In respect of the Trust as requlred by sectknn 130 of th• accounts do not accord wfth the records I have no whlch ati accounts I ncerns and have come across no other matters In conneciknn wlth the examlnatjon to Ilon should be drawn In thls report In ortler to enabl• a proper und•r5tandln8 of the be reached. Name Address Oate Ilan Chandler Arllngton 5tr••t, Loftu5, Saltburn rs13 4LA 510312024 Page 5 Grace Community Church Loftus Financial Activities 1•t November2022 to 31•t Odob•r 2023 Cafo IT Payr￿1 D•B￿rnt•d UndKvdM•d 2023 Incomo 6,325.95 6,325 95 1,839 f￿) Offwlng-dlrKt*o bank H•artcry G￿A 72. 12.iKJ 25,05393 4,565.(W) 35.41420 35.41420 35.414 20 5.676.02 5,676 02 I,￿th) 1.218 75 Gr*itsand DorAtsns 12,5W 47,91420 21.WO 21,(W IW) 95,492.10 25.5￿. Inccfflo 2,5Crftr.00 fi072.￿& 56.48620 39,005.9) 33,153J5 Ex￿￿dI1￿ ch￿￿h Supplkn 3,67& 3,675. 1,383. Copyrtght Uc•nc• Gasand Ek•ark J. 9300 12.427. 12.42730 1.363 24 O•n•r•l Bu1￿1￿4 Insurnnc•s 4,￿9.7? 4,02Q.97 8,539 69 1,767.39 1,767 39 &Tr*Th[r￿-C￿fth ).97 097 97 7M&1 775 81 37850 ￿,0￿.76 6,L￿.76 650. Pastor￿ GKis 161. 161 P&ytf*ll Expèntè PrMBhlng Fq 52,5th.91 5150891 52,5C6 91 3,413 66 260.(W) 540 PrIn￿n￿. PQStaA•￿d 51atbn•ry 113. 11380 4588 Subs, F•oB &Ctshf•r•nc•s Tr￿n￿n9- Pro4￿• Yl•t•r 1.019. 1,019 425 663 67 EXp•￿d￿￿• S2.￿ 91 4.5￿81 &72 31,265.66 7,74014 89,112.38 15,482A4 A,￿ 71 1.SJ5 16 I.Y8O.12 17,6M.91 Caf&ProfiVLoss 944.76 914 76 2.324 A8S6tTranBI 24.162 20 4,5•1.71 1.3fj057 7,37A.4 J9,509,0> Page 6 Grace Community Church Loftus Statement of Assets 1 st November 2022 to 31 st October 2023 Openlng Balance Closlng Balance Cash Funds Bank Current Account - Church 38,966.06 97.46 £ 39,063.52 45,147.55 295.69 £ 45,443.24 Cash Account fwhi General FurKJs 9,447.18 29,086.34 530.00 17.187.42 24.491.63 2.CE5.16 1.699.03 45,443.24 Designated - Payroll Designated - Pro Life Designated - Café IT 39,063.52 Page 7