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2022-12-31-accounts

HOUSEHOLD CHRISTIAN CHURCH ANNUAL REPORT

This report is very brief for the simple reason that we are a very small church and there are not many activities going on, hence, the brief report. Our Sunday church attendance ranges from 10 to 20 adults and 5 to10 children. Although we are just a handful of believers, our influence goes beyond the four walls where we meet for church services. We have a Facebook page where we post our weekly preaching for others on social media to have access to. We have a church branch in Ghana, we support seven disadvantaged people on monthly basis, and we also make one-off donations to people in need both home and abroad.

PERSONAL GROWTH

As disciples of Jesus Christ, personal growth into the knowledge of God is our priority. People become believers with little or no knowledge of the Christian faith. The Bible calls this “babes” in the Lord. But then we are expected to grow into maturity of the faith.

Household Christian Church prepares its members for growth through Bible Studies, Preaching, Prayer, Worship and Fellowship. The Bible Studies are conducted two times in a week. One on Sunday as part of the church service and the other on Tuesday specifically for that. We use well known Bible study guides which are designed for Christian growth. They are structured with some key topics which are relevant for the Christian faith.

The topics are designed to help believers with our walk with God as well as our relationship with fellow human beings. Our Bible studies facilitator is very elaborate and passionate about leading the adult class. He uses a lot of illustrations and real life experiences to bring the message alive.

The Sunday Bible studies deals with different topics from character building to empowering believers to have a closer relationship with God. Unlike the Sunday Bible studies which is part of the church service, the Tuesday Bible studies takes an hour and the whole hour is dedicated to the Bible studies. The style of the Tuesday Bible studies is slightly different. There we treat one topic at a time, and it can last for several months before we finish and move on to another topic. We also have separate Sunday schools for the youth and the children. It provides the opportunity for the young ones to ask any question that they may be curious about. It also gives them the chance to share their knowledge and take part in a group discussion.

PRAYER

We believe that prayer plays a crucial part in the believer’s life that is why we have three different sessions of prayers in the church. The first session is 30 minutes of prayer. This is part of the Sunday service, and it is the first thing we do when we come to church. The second session is a Friday night prayer meeting which lasts for an hour and a half. This gives us a bit more time to build our prayer stamina and also to pray about various things within the time. The weekly Friday night is devoted to prayer alone. The final session is our monthly half-nigh prayers. This happens on the last Friday of every month. The prayer session lasts for 3 hours. It is designed to encourage the church members to spend a longer time in prayer. The three whole hours of prayer is not the only challenge in that prayer session, the real challenge is that part of the night chosen for the prayers between the hours of 10pm and 1am.

PREACHING

The preaching time, for most preachers, is the most and best part of the service. The preaching time is where the preacher gets the opportunity to share with the congregation whatever message they have prepared. In the past, the main Pastor was the only preacher. But this year the church has been fortunate to have another preacher who also supports the preaching ministry. We were also fortunate to have three of our matured Christian brothers who preached few times during the summer period. The preaching of the word is very crucial to the church’s service. The preaching comes last after the other main activities of the service so that church can remember some of the things that were preached.

PRAISE AND WORSHIP

Another area we were struggling with was the area of praise and worship. We did not have a praise and worship leader until recently when the second Pastor’s wife took up the position. It has been a tremendous relieve to see that area covered.

CHILDREN AND YOUTH SERVICE

The church has separate services for the children and the youth. When the children Sunday school teacher migrated abroad, the children were lucky to have another teacher straightaway without any issue. Few months later, the youth Sunday school teacher went to university and the youth struggled to get a replacement teacher. Since there was no one to lead them, they had no choice but to merge with the children so that they would all have one teacher. After a while, this proved to be difficult as the different age groups meant that the two needed to be separated for different focus. The youth now have two adult volunteers who supervise them of Sundays.

OUTREACH AND EVANGELISM

The church growth has been very unstable. We had some good number of visitors but most of them did not stay. The church attendance for the regular members has also one down. We have seen inconsistency of the church attendance. This is also due to the fat that two families move to settle abroad.

Outreach and evangelism is solely done by the Pastor. He goes out on Saturdays and preach the word of God in Town. He gives out tracts and do one on one evangelism. This year, there has been a lot of outreach cancellations because of different activities crashing on the Saturdays. Sometimes the Pastor is out of town for different activities and other times he is in town but involved in different tasks.

BABIES

Unfortunately, one family in the church lost their newborn baby due to complications found in the baby few hours after he was born. The Doctors did whatever they could do to save that precious baby’s life, but unfortunately, he could not survive. The whole church mourned with them and prayed that the Lord would comfort them and replace what they have lost. On the other hand, a mother welcomed her first children a bouncing baby boy. She felt the arrival of the baby compensated her for all the troubles she went through during the pregnancy. The church rejoiced with her.

INTERNATIONAL MINISTERIAL COUNCIL OF GREAT BRITAIN

In May 2023, the church moved from being an independent church to becoming part of the International Ministerial Council of Great Britain (IMCGB). The IMCGB is a

group of independent churches who were not recognised as part of the mainstream churches in the United Kingdom who are also known as the Churches Together in Great Britain and Ireland. However, the independents churches under the umbrella of the IMCGB have now been recognised as part of the Churches Together in Great Britain and Ireland.

The IMCGB membership also provided the opportunity for Household Christian Church’s Pastor to be ordained. The pastor had remained a lay-pastor for many years leading to the ordination. The church celebrated the IMCGB membership and the ordination service together. It was nice to see some old pastor friends who came from London to grace the occasion in Swindon. The refreshment and fellowship afterwards were amusing.

CHAPLAINCY TRAINING

Household Christian Church’s Pastor enrolled on a chaplaincy course last year September and completed the course July this year. He thanked the church for their prayer and support which helped him to complete the course. He said the purpose of the course was for two things. First, it will help him to take a post as a

chaplain which will give him more flexibilities to concentrate on the church’s work. Lastly, it will help him to extend his ministry beyond the four walls of the church to the hospital environment where he will often meet different people with various needs.

THE ELECTRIC DRUM

The whole church was very happy when a church member decided to buy an Electronic Drum kit as a gift to the church. The Drum has really brought transformation to the praise and worship of the church. Prior to that the church either picked songs from YouTube and sing-along or clap our hands and sing without instruments. This was mainly because the church did not have an instrumentalist who could play for us. Interestingly, the church member who purchased the Electronic Drum for the church is also an instrumentalist who currently plays the drum in the church.

CANCELLATIONS

There were cancellations of three main activities of the church. The first one was the trip to the beach which was cancelled because of bad weather. The second one was the Picnic at the Park, which was also cancelled because of bad weather. The last one was the baptism of six candidates. It was cancelled because the Centre where the baptism was to take place was flooded. The church now has to look for another venue to do the baptism. The picnic was later held at the Pastor’s house and the church members who attended had a good time. The only thing the church did not attempt again was the trip to the beach.

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Minutes from previous year (unedited)

Meeting 12/06/21 @ 10am

Personal Growth

The ministry is all about personal Growth…if we continue with the ministry without looking at it, then it will not be the plan of God

Sonia - Members feel that learning how to hear the voice of God has helped a lot and feels that spiritually she has grown a lot. She talks to the Lord throughout the Lord, she shares her personal feelings with the Lord. When she is facing problems in her life. She is able to recover very fast. She is strong in situations and feels that when she started the online courses, it was tough on her and feels like God has been talking to her, keeps her going. She has been experiencing God for the past 1 year. She feels like the Lord talks to her throughout the preaching. She feels like her prayer time has reduced but feels the Joy and Peace inside of her. She said that it was a different experience and she did not feel this kind of experience with the Lord, she keeps talking to him and feels his presence and she started sharing with the Lord. When she feels that there is a burden in her heart, the Lord gives her the assurance and she did not feel any depression during lockdown. The Lord gave her ladies around her and now has good friends at work. She feels like God is using her to talk to them.

Pastor said that we should experience the bible and not take it literally. He said that the Lord is so good that he knows how to work with us.

Bro Amaresh…this year has been a blessed year. There has been difficult time and it has been up and down experience in his life. He said that God has been very kind and he said that the cry of his heart was to hear the voice of God. He thought that he must someone who is great to hear the word of God and the voice of God---hearing the voice of God is very good. And it looks like hearing the voice of God is a basic thing and it looks like it is simple formula that he is able to crack it. He said that he felt lazy at times and one thing is that he plans so many things, then he hears it but he hears why you don’t ask God now. When he is working, he will be asking the Lord and not have a separate time and feels like God is constantly with him. He has

been experiencing Christ and compared to last year, he feels closer to God. He said that his discipline has gone bad and he pushes them off then say oh sometimes but he has started again and it looks out for his bible and spends time to start his discipline again.

Pastor said that hearing God’s voice has worked really good for him and at some point, he gave up on it and was not working at it but the Lord was merciful and brought it back again.

He said that Sis Sonia spoke to Pastor and she did not know that God was speaking to him. He said that we have all been through a lot of challenges but the Lord has always been faithful. He said that the Lord was angry when sis Sonia spoke to him. He said that he was under serious stress and could not pray, he said that he was struggling. He said that he would start listening to the voice of God. He wanted to have a place where he could pray. He gave his number to Bro Amaresh a number of his friend and the Lord asked him to join the prayer group and it was really good, the Lord used that for him to come back. He feels that his spiritual life has grown up and the Lord has given him the opportunity to grow.. Relatioshop with the Lord has grown.

During quiet time…always tempted that if care is not taking, the enemy tricks us and by the time you know it, you have given up. Ask the Lord why is he not seeing things. He said that he does not give it to those who do not search for it, he said search for it and you will know it. He said that he wanted to be a lifestyle.

When he comes to his presence, he wants it to be a lifestyle. Mark Virkler has stopped thinking, he just knows that this is want I want to do then he goes to the Lord, then he goes again. He does not worry and Pastor wants to live with the Lord 24/7 that whatever he does he knows that the Lord is in control. He said that the Lord said that when in his presence and if you don’t hear anything, he does that intentionally. if you listen to the two listener….he feels you in the way that you don’t know and it does not mean that he is not with us.

Pastor - we have all seen growth…the Lord told Mark Virkler that he has found him and he said that he is guiding him and showing him what to do.

Pastor said that the Lord taught him to study the bible and to learn to study the character of Jesus Christ. He said that he is doing it and part of his presence is that he will feel the Lord and want the fruit of the spirit to be natural and that he will put that into practice without knowing it. He said that he does not tell people that he is not a pastor and the whole colleagues and office will call him Pastor. People will send reports to the office and tell them that they want him there the next day. and he can see that spending time with the Lord comes naturally. He said that more than 5 people had said that they wanted to come to church and feels that he would like to live by the fruit of the spirit naturally and the whole point is to be able to grow.

Sonia - bible studies and prayer meeting is a blessing…and Zoom not able to walk around and pray as well, she said that she has been struggling with the Zoom.

Pastor said that we will continue to do the prayer meeting on zoom for now.

Sonia suggested that once all the lockdown is eased then we could have the prayer meetings in a hall. Amaresh states that since Sis Sonia is handling the kids, content and preaching is perfect he said that the prayers is going good at the right time.

Pastor advised that to move to the hall would not be an instance because the evenings were occupied but will look at it and see where we can fit that in. Pastor said that it will encourage people to come to the meeting and he said that we will meet when the hall is open and he sent him all the details so that he will send him the messages to go outside for the evening services. He said that let’s pray about it.

Preaching time…. Pastor said to adjust the timing: Hall renting from 10 -1pm… Start 10:30 to 12:45pm Finish Then pack up 12:45 to 1pm

Women’s meeting- Sonia said that we are doing good, we pray together, the only problem is that the other ladies are not joining.

Pastor said that the whole point is how the women will grow and how we can become an instrument in the hands of the Lord and which is part of it. It is difficult when not enough people joining, it is hard, let’s carry the way that we are doing, the Lord himself will direct. The idea is to build and grow and we can reach out to others.

Men’s ministry? Plan to go out grab a coffee and have a chat, not able to go and men ministry, will encourage people to start together and meet up. Bible studies—children ministry…then…youth ministry… Adults on one side, children ministry… Try to minimise the noise during the bible studies The Zoom ministry will go on

Sis Sonia…will ask the parents if they wanted to continue to do on Zoom then do Saturday bible studies. Will try to leave the Zoom on …some people join from London will use tripod to leave the Zoom running.

Youth…learning about forgiveness for a few weeks. Usually 6 people turn up.

Pastor need to continue with that…had a couple who wanted to join and live in London who will be moving to Swindon…

Challenge- Analise said that the challenges are that sometimes people do not want to join….we would like Doyal to lead the group too.

Pastor said that we can talk about who is willing to carry on with it. The material is really good and need to maintain and look for other creative ways of helping the children to really cope and it is spirit filled and that they are not really growing. As time goes on, we would like an Adult to take charge of that. We need an Adult to take it on board to do it.

Sonia think that we give the children that they find the activities helpful and the activities is going well and we can try the youth too.

Pastor said that they need more hands and volunteers to be able to do that, we need more hands and committed people to do that, we can encourage people to come and be part of it.

Challenge with the children…little kids lose concentration and feel more challenging is that they are sitting in their own comfortable places.

Gives them activities and material. Last time was Joseph, this week colouring Joseph given them his brothers putting him in a pit. Send the parents the WhatsApp that she is treating…send them YouTube videos about what has been taught…

Hall…11/07/21 move to the Church – first Sunday…

Pastor has asked Sis Sonia to print some invitation…he said that he has about 5 people who could come and join us. He said that you never know …people will come and join. We thank God for the opportunity to sit in our home to join. The hall is off the Farringdon Road on Emlyn Square…when it is ready, we will go and see how it is.

Sonia. Is there any rules?

Pastor. At the moment there is no rules, we have to follow the Government guidelines.. we need to intensify our prayer and UK has discovered the Delta Variant virus and it is becoming questionable, and some experts have said that easing the lockdown is not ideal. We all need to keep our eyes open and Sis Sonia has been feeding us with the information. For now, there is no guidelines for the hall and will see as time goes on.

Baptism candidates are Analise, Janessa and Odelia, he said the Lord laid on his heart to take them through the Baptism but due to the lockdown, it was not possible. Pastor said that he will want to know where and how he can baptise them so we are looking at July if the weather becomes stable then will find one Saturday to do so. Pastor said that he does not know any area that we can go and do it…but Pastor said that we can go

to Western Supermare beach, planning to do that …will be announcing it for people who would like to be baptised to go through the teachings again.

Annual Thanksgiving? Pastor remembers the Lord’s Super. We will plan and see if we can do it on the first day back in the hall …will be to thank God what he has done for us. It is not just about money and we are alive and we also give a sign of our gratitude towards God and probably at the end of November 2021 and go for lunch, that is the end of the year get together. Thanksgiving is usually on a Sunday and we can talk about it…

First Sunday of December 5th 2021….for Thanksgiving General meeting – what time? Towards the end of the year… Sonia…online? Pastor said it is fine… Saturday November 27th General Meeting? Church BBQ Summers holiday for the kids?

Church finance?

We have practiced given to the church

Pastor thanked everyone for giving, though. We have the account that has what comes in and what goes out. The giving that we give out to the benefit of the church for the people that we support are in Ghana and we see how many people that we send money to.

Together coming in £3000 Give out £1982 have 6 people that we give to, have been giving to them for a while now: £1100 to them the 6 people.

Twins £30 Widow £30 Blind Pastor £30 Disabled woman £30 Caretaker £40 Elder’s Son Samuel £30 Spent £300 and gave them more than that

Pastor who pastors the church….no monthly salary but made a donation to start a small stall, gave £300. The church gave her £400 to a widowed woman to start a small stall.

A local evangelist wanted to go and preach the gospel in villages. He could not afford the equipment he needed for the word. He sent us a petition to help him buy the equipment. After verifying that his petition was genuine, we sent him £200 to buy the equipment.

Bought another speaker for a lady £150 to buy speaker for prayer marathon.

We need to encourage Bro Jimmy a lot and get them involve in Church activities. And to support other people in India as well…

Gifty has asked that the church should support a lady who lost her husband recently and her son is a drummer in the church in Ghana. Gifty suggested to support the lady £30 per month.

Sonia…how can we encourage people to join us?

Pastor said that we need to encourage people and invite people and let me know that we are a church, and they should come and join us. Pastor said to remove the dates of the old address then put the new ones on it.

HOUSEHOLD CHRISTIAN CHURCH

ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR TO DEC 2022

For period 01/01/22 - 31/12/22
INCOME
£
Tithe & Offerings
Total
EXPENDITURE
Rent
3,436.50
International
Support
2,600.00
Misson Abroad
1,073.00
Welfare
4,017.00
Internal Support
1,450.00
Zoom meeting costs
172.68
HCC registration
210.00
Printing &
stationery
245.00
Materials
285.87
TOTAL
EXPENDITURE
Surplus/(Deficit)		 For period 01/01/22 - 31/12/22
INCOME
£
Tithe & Offerings
Total
EXPENDITURE
Rent
3,436.50
International
Support
2,600.00
Misson Abroad
1,073.00
Welfare
4,017.00
Internal Support
1,450.00
Zoom meeting costs
172.68
HCC registration
210.00
Printing &
stationery
245.00
Materials
285.87
TOTAL
EXPENDITURE
Surplus/(Deficit)		 £
15,520.75
15,520.75
13,490.05
2,030.70

Balance Sheet as at 31/12/2022

Current Assets

Bank - Currents accounts

Represented by: Opening balance - 01/01/22 Bank – Current account

2,020.70 0.00

2,020.70

HOUSEHOLD CHRISTIAN CHURCH

Trustees Report for 2022/23

The Friends of Household Christian Church is a registered charity, number 1197453. The address to which correspondence to the charity should be sent is Household Christian Church, Central Community Centre, Emlyn Square, Swindon SN1 5BP,

The Trustees of the charity at 04 Dec 2021, when this annual report was approved, were as follows:-

Mr Jacob Frimpong (Chairman & Treasurer) 25/10/2023
Mr Gifty Frimpong (Trustee) 25/10/2023
Mr Amaresh Velamuri (Trustee) 25/10/2023

INDEPENDENT EXAMINER'S REPORT TO THE TRUSTEES OF

HOUSEHOLD CHRISTIAN CHURCH For the financial year ended 31st Dec 2022 BASIS OF INDEPENDENT EXAMINER'S REPORT

My examination was carried out in accordance with the General Directions given by The Charity Commissioners under section 43(7)(b). That examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by The Trustees and a comparison of the Accounts with those records. It also includes considering any unusual items or disclosures in the Accounts and seeking explanations from you as trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit, and consequently I do not express an audit opinion on the view given by the Accounts.

INDEPENDENT EXAMINER'S STATEMENT

In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention:

Imad Ahmad – IFA MIPA