2024-11-30-accounts - Upney Baptist Church

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UPNEY BAPTIST CHURCH

30 November 2024

Report and Annual Accounts

Charitable Incorporated Organisation

Charity Commission Registered Number: 1197596

Tandem Accounting Limited Chartered Accountants 17 Heathville Road London N19 3AL

UPNEY BAPTIST CHURCH

Report and Annual Accounts 2024 Contents

	Page
Legal & Administrative Information	2
Report of the Trustees	3
Independent Examiner's report to the Trustees	7
Receipts and payments account	8
Statement of assets and liabilities	9
Notes to the accounts	10

UPNEY BAPTIST CHURCH

Legal & Administrative Information For the year ended 30 November 2024

Charity Name	Upney Baptist Church.	Upney Baptist Church.	Upney Baptist Church.	Upney Baptist Church.
Charity Registration	The	church previously had excepted registration status. A Charitable Incorporated
	Organisation (CIO)		in	the church name was	registered on 20thJanuary 2022 (registration
	number 1197596) and			the assets of the church (excluding property) were transferred to the
	CIO on 30thNovember 2022.
Governing Document	CIO	Association Model document dated 20 January 2022. The church is governed by its own
	constitution and rules as approved at the church members' meeting. The revised (and
	extended) rules of		government were approved at the members’ meeting held on 23rd
	November 2021.
Objective	(1)	the advancement		of the Christian faith as a Baptist church and in accordance with the
		basis of faith	primarily but not exclusively within Barking 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.
Affiliation	The Church is a member of the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches.
Principal Address	9-11 Cavendish Gardens Barking IG11 9DR.
Trustees	The Trustees who served during the period or who were serving at the date of this report were:
	Jonny Dowds			Pastor (resigned 30 April 2025)
	Josh Turner
	Mary Parish
	George Rae
	Graham King			(appointed 16 February 2025)
Key Management	Those in charge of planning, directing, controlling, running and operating the Charity, including
Personnel	those members of staff who are the senior management personnel to whom the trustees have
	delegated significant authority or responsibility in the day-to-day running of the charity are the
	Trustees.
Bankers	Lloyds Bank Plc
	11 Station Parade
	Barking IG11 8ED
Independent	John Helm ACA
Examiner	Tandem Accounting Ltd
	17 Heathville Road
	London N19 3AL

UPNEY BAPTIST CHURCH

Report of the Trustees For the year ended 30 November 2024

The Trustees submit their report and annual accounts of Upney Baptist Church (“the Church”) for the year ended 30 November 2024. The legal and administrative information set out earlier in this document forms part of this report.

1. Structure, Governance & Management

1.1 The Trustees

The Trustees of the Church are the persons appointed as elders, or elected by the members (if there are insufficient elders) in accordance with the Church Constitution and are responsible for the day to day management of the Church’s business in accordance with the Church’s objects. One of the Trustees (the Pastor) received remuneration.

The induction process for any newly appointed Trustee comprises an initial meeting with the trustees and receipt of copies of the Church Constitution.

1.2 Church Members

Church members share in the responsibility for the finances, administration, maintenance and activities of the Church and elect the Trustees. Church members meet at least 3 times per annum for business meetings and to receive reports from the Trustees.

Requirements for Church membership are:

profession of repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ;
baptism;
evidence of God’s grace in a consistent Christian life;
regular attendance at the Sunday service and midweek prayer meeting;
a desire to participate further in the privileges, obligations and fellowship of the church; and
acceptance of the Rules of Government of the church.

1.3 Risk Management

The Church’s primary concern and objective is the glory of God. Whilst it is the Church’s policy to trust wholly in the Lord that He will work out His purpose to this end, the Church also acknowledges that it has a responsibility, both as individual members and as a body of members, for the proper management of the Church in accordance with applicable laws and accepted good practice and for ensuring that the risks faced by the Church in achieving its primary aim are addressed as best as possible. The trustees believe that, by monitoring reserve levels, by ensuring that controls exist over key financial systems, and by examining the operational risks faced by the church, it has established effective systems and procedures to mitigate those risks.

2. Activities & Strategies

The Church is committed to maintaining a Gospel witness in the Barking area of East London.

The Trustees have given due regard to the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit. The Trustees believe that the Church provides benefit to the public by:

providing resources and facilities for public worship, pastoral care and spiritual, moral and educational
development, both for the congregation and for anyone else who wishes to benefit from what the Church offers; and
promoting Christian values and service by members of the congregation to the community, for the benefit of
individuals and society as a whole.

At the start of the period the Church continued to carry out the following activities, in order to promote the Gospel in the local neighbourhood and fulfil its main objects.

Sunday morning worship service and pre-service prayer meeting.
Prayer meetings and Bible studies.
Sunday school classes for 4-14 year olds.

UPNEY BAPTIST CHURCH

Report of the Trustees For the year ended 30 November 2024

Holiday Bible Club and Youth Events in the school summer holiday.
Christmas and Easter outreach services.
Girls Brigade weekly during term time.
Evangelistic events.
Supporting other local evangelical churches.

3. Achievements and Performance

As the year started Upney Baptist Church continued in its work of sharing the gospel in the local community.

Sunday morning worship continued to be held in person as well as being live streamed on YouTube for the benefit of those unable to attend in person. It was also available for viewing by people outside of the church. For the adults, there was also the opportunity to gather before the main service for a time of prayer. For the children, Sunday school was held before the main service, generally during term time.

On Tuesday evenings the church gathered for the prayer meeting when committed members of the church came together to pray for the activities of the church, connected missionaries and organisations, and the community at large, preceded by devotions. On alternate Tuesday evenings there was a Bible study and a time of prayer.

On Wednesday afternoons Women’s Own continued in its new monthly format. This group of older ladies met each month to hear a speaker bring a gospel message and to support one another and enjoy fellowship. Our membership has stabilised at around 15, after dropping during the pandemic, and we are encouraged by the presence of ladies whose only contact with the church is through this group. We are also grateful for the support of speakers from other churches to help in this ministry. In January 2024 we renamed the group “Wednesday Fellowship” in order to open it up to both men and women.

All members of the community are invited and welcome to attend these events.

We were able to hold a Children’s Holiday Club at the end of July 2024 – its theme was “Mission Possible” and there were about 35 children that registered. A full week of activities was held with 5 morning sessions for younger children, also 2 evening youth events plus 2 family fun nights which ended with a short Bible talk and were greatly enjoyed by the families who took part. In this outreach we were assisted as before by young people from Northern Ireland and as always, our thanks go to the Association of Baptist Churches in Ireland for recruiting an enthusiastic and energetic team to help make the week a success.

Two of our church members served as leaders for “The Ranch”, a three-day residential activity which is held in conjunction with other local evangelical churches.

Our Girls’ Brigade company continued to meet. Although numbers of girls are small, the Leaders have worked hard to maintain and try to grow the Company. An Awards Evening was held in May and a Fundraising event in October.

We were also pleased to support one of our young members who has taken a second year’s internship with the charity, Agape UK and now working with the Digital Strategies Team focussing on evangelism and discipleship

We were also pleased to host a Study Day for the Protestant Truth Society which was a great opportunity for learning and sharing fellowship with people from other churches. It is planned that this will be repeated in 2025.

We celebrated 89 years of faithful Christian witness at Upney with a church anniversary weekend. As well as the usual Sunday worship service we also held a fellowship lunch. Our visiting speaker for the day was John Samuel, a recently retired pastor now serving with the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches as a Regional Director.

We have continued to be involved with the London Gospel Partnership which allies Upney with about 10 other churches in the local area.

Mr Jonny Dowds has been serving as pastor since July 2013. The church has been very pleased with his dedication to teaching and his concern for the church fellowship and the local community. As a church we are saddened that he has now

UPNEY BAPTIST CHURCH

Report of the Trustees For the year ended 30 November 2024

been called to another church but know that this is God’s will for him. The church has been able to ask a recently retired pastor, who is already known to the church, to serve as a Moderator. He has kindly agreed to do and he will help our remaining Elder with advice and some preaching commitments during the interregnum to enable the church to move forward and seek a new Pastor. Our remaining Elder will lead the church in the meantime as we seek God’s guidance for the future.

The church has been a member of the FIEC (Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches) since the end of 2015.

We continued to welcome new attendees to the congregation. One young couple have since been received into membership.

The ‘Safer Neighbourhood Police Panel’ continued to hold their regular meetings in the church building. Children from the local Infants school also visited the church on 26th November 2024 to discover ‘What Baptists Believe.’

4. Financial Review

4.1 Financial Activity and Financial Position

The Church’s main sources of funding are the free will offerings of church members.

The Receipts & Payments Account and Statement of Assets and Liabilities can be found on pages 8 and 9 respectively. The Church’s cash reserves increased by £11,245 during the year to £58,354 (2023: increased by £1,691 to £47,109).

Included in reserves are amounts totalling £1,469 (2023: £979) which are restricted. These monies have either been raised for, and their use restricted to, specific purposes, or they comprise donations subject to donor-imposed conditions.

4.2 Reserves Policy

The Trustees have considered the level of resources they wish to retain, appropriate to the charity’s needs. This is based on the charity’s size and the level of commitments held. The Trustees aim to ensure the charity will be able to continue to fulfil its charitable objectives even if there is a temporary shortfall in income or unexpected expenditure.

4.3 Mission giving

There are two ways in which UBC gives to mission.

4.3.1 The designated mission fund is allocated a percentage of general giving (7% during 2023/24). From this fund payments are made regularly to organisations or missionary friends to whom we have committed support. Payments from this fund are made under the direction of the Church Leadership.

Those receiving regular support during the year were Mark & Florina Darvell (in Romania) and Phil & Carolyn Reid (in West Africa). The Reids were paid through the organisation Serving in Mission. We have also supported one of our young church members who is doing a 2[nd] year’s internship with Agape UK, working with the Digital Strategies Team.

Payment is also made to support Olive Howard after her retirement from the mission field, but this has been discontinued following her move to residential care.

4.3.2 The special fund is a fund to facilitate special collections. Principally at Christmas and Harvest (our anniversary offering is now used for the needs of the church) we invite the church to donate to a specified cause and then pay over the total to the organisation. It can also facilitate payments by individual members at other times who feel led to give to an organisation/people we regularly support.

5. Plans for Future Periods

Continue the main activities of the church.

UPNEY BAPTIST CHURCH

Report of the Trustees For the year ended 30 November 2024

6. Responsibilities of Trustees for the Annual Accounts

Charity law requires the Trustees to prepare accounts for each accounting year which record the receipts and payments of the charity for the year. The Trustees 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 annual accounts comply with the Charities Act 2011. The Trustees also have a responsibility to safeguard the assets of the charity and to take reasonable steps to prevent fraud or any other irregularities.

7. Approval

The report of the Trustees was approved by the Trustees on 19 June 2025 and signed on its behalf by:

George Rae Trustee

UPNEY BAPTIST CHURCH

Report of the Independent Examiner to the Trustees of Upney Baptist Church

I report on the annual accounts of Upney Baptist Church for the period ended 30 November 2024, set out on pages 8 to 12.

This report is made solely to the Church Trustees in accordance with section 145 of the Charities Act 2011 (the Act). My independent examination has been undertaken so that I might state to the Trustees those matters I am required to state to them in an independent examiner’s report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by the law, I do not accept responsibility to anyone other than the Trust and the Trustees for my independent examination, for this report, or the opinions I have formed.

RESPECTIVE RESPONSIBILITIES OF TRUSTEES AND EXAMINER

The Church Trustees consider that an audit is not required for this (under section 144(2) of the Act) and that an independent examination is needed.

It is my responsibility to:

Examine the accounts (under section 145 of the Act);
To follow the procedures laid down in the General Direction given by the Charity Commission (under section 145(5)(b) of the Act); and
To state whether particular matters have come to my attention.

BASIS OF INDEPENDENT EXAMINER’S STATEMENT

My examination was carried out in accordance with General Directions given by the Charity Commissioners. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity 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 Church 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 accounts.

INDEPENDENT EXAMINER’S STATEMENT

I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:

accounting records were not kept in respect of the church as required by section 130 of the Act; or
the accounts do not accord with those records; or
the accounts do not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a ‘true and fair view’ which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination.

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

John Helm ACA

Tandem Accounting Ltd 17 Heathville Road London N19 3AL

19 June 2025

UPNEY BAPTIST CHURCH

Receipts & Payments Account For the year ended 30 November 2024

Unrestricted Funds 2024 £ 89,535		Total 2023 £ 66,884
	Total
	2024
	£

	94,124

89,535		66,884
	94,124

- 78,780 78,780 10,755 10,755 46,130 56,885		- 65,193

	-
	82,879

		65,193
	82,879

		1,691
	11,245

		1,691 45,418
	11,245

	47,109

		47,109
	58,354

UPNEY BAPTIST CHURCH

Statement of Assets & Liabilities As at 30 November 2024

Note Assets Tangible Assets 4 Debtors Gift Aid Receivables: 2020 Gift Aid Receivables: 2021 Gift Aid Receivables: 2022 Gift Aid Receivables: 2023 Gift Aid Receivables: 2024 Cash At Bank And In Hand Liabilities PAYE and NIC Independent examination Trade creditors Total Assets Less Liabilities	Unrestricted Funds 2024 £ - - 12,586 13,097 - 8,711 34,394 56,885 91,279 - 960 322 89,997	Restricted Funds 2024 £ - - - - - - 0 1,469 1,469 - - - 1,469		Total 2023 £ - 810 12,586 13,383 11,499 -
			Total
			2024
			£

			-


			-
			12,586
			13,097
			-
			8,711

				38,278 47,109
			34,394

			58,354

				85,387 5,814 960 -
			92,748

			-
			960
			322

				78,613
			91,466

The annual accounts were approved by the Trustees on 19 June 2025 and signed on its behalf by:

George Rae Trustee

UPNEY BAPTIST CHURCH

Notes to the Accounts For the year ended 30 November 2024

1. Basis of Accounting

The accounts have been prepared on a receipts and payments basis.

2. Income

2. Income
Unrestricted Funds 2024 £ Restricted Funds 2024 £ Donations and legacies Offerings and donations 72,353 4,011 Gift aid Tax reclaimed 17,182 578 89,535 4,589
	Total	Total
	2024	2023
	£	£

	76,364	66,884
	17,760	-

	94,124	66,884

3. Expenditure

Wages & salaries Church Life & Outreach Missionary & Charitable Giving Provision of Office & Support Provision of Buildings and Facilities Governance	Unrestricted Funds 2024 £ Restricted Funds 2024 £ 49,889 - 1,333 528 4,008 1,281 1,034 - 21,556 2,290 960 - 78,780 4,099
		Total	Total
		2024	2023
		£	£

		49,889	32,525
		1,861	5,571
		5,289	9,617
		1,034	1,965
		23,846	13,595
		960	1,920


		82,879	65,193

4. Tangible Fixed Assets

The church has the beneficial ownership of two buildings, both held by the custodian trustee The London Baptist Property Board:

The church building at 9-11 Cavendish Gardens, Barking, IG11 9DR. It is insured for £2.360,000.
The manse at 2 Brockdish Avenue, Barking, Essex IG11 9DS. It is insured for £349,404.

The church owns other equipment. It is insured for £75,000. All fixed assets are used for direct charitable purposes. Some of the furniture, computers and equipment is used both for direct charitable purposes and the management and administration of the church.

UPNEY BAPTIST CHURCH

Notes to the Accounts For the year ended 30 November 2024

5. Restricted Funds

At 1 December 2023 £ 198 0 0 100 266 0 226 189 979	Income £ Expenditure £ 420 - 250 (250) 320 - 828 (891) 632 (630) 38 (38) - - 2,101 (2,290) 4,589 (4,099)	Transfers £ - - - - - - - -	At 30	At 30
			November
				2024
				£

				618
				0
				320
				37
				268
				0
				226
				0

		0
				1,469


At 1 December 2022 £ 198 715 1,050 30 1,226 0 3,219	Income £ Expenditure £ - - 989 (1,604) 467 (1,101) 150 (180) - (1,000) 1,321 (1,282) 2,927 (5,167)
At 1 December 2022 £ 198 715 1,050 30 1,226 0 3,219		Transfers £ - - (150) - - 150		At 30
			November
				2023
				£

				198
				100
				266
				0
				226
				189

		0
				979

The transfer between the restricted funds is to contribute towards the Building fund.

Descriptions of the main funds are as follows:

Missionary Fund - used to support missionary work.

Youth Fund - income used to sponsor the education of 2 children in Uganda through the charity Love in Action.

Special Fund – funds specifically designated to be paid to certain causes/individuals.

Development Fund - to support church members' spiritual development (attending Bible College, going on courses, etc).

Building Fund - anniversary offerings and other monies given for a specific purpose.

Chairs Fund – anniversary offering for the provision of replacement chairs.

Wednesday Fellowship (formerly known as Women’s Own) – used to support the Wednesday Fellowship meeting and give to chosen charities.

UPNEY BAPTIST CHURCH

Notes to the Accounts For the year ended 30 November 2024

6. Unrestricted Funds

6a Current year

Transfers £ (5,485) 5,419 66 -	At 30	At 30
	November
		2024
		£

		52,463
		1,767
		1,000
		1,655

0
		56,885

The transfer between the General fund to Designated funds is in line with the decision made by the Church Leadership to allocate a percentage of general giving (during 2023/24: 7% for the Missionary fund, 1% for Communion fund and 6% for the Building fund).

6b Prior year

Transfers £ (7,376) 7,192 184 -	At 30	At 30
	November
		2023
		£

		37,985
		33
		984
		7,128

0
		46,130

The transfer between the General fund to Designated funds is in line with the decision made by the Church Leadership to allocate a percentage of general giving (during 2022/23: 7% for the Missionary fund, 1% for Communion fund and 6% for the Building fund).

Descriptions of the designated funds are as follows:

Communion Fund - used to assist people in need.

Missionary Fund - used to support missionary work.

Building Fund - used to fund maintenance and repairs to church and manse.