# **THE MICHAEL CHURCH OF THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM** 

**Registered Charity Number:   1198712** 

**Trustees’ Annual Report for the financial year end:   31[st] December 2022** 



Annual Report – Page 2 of 5 


## **THE MICHAEL CHURCH OF THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM** 

**ADDRESS:** 131 Burton Road, Stockwell, London, SW9 6TG 

## **Objectives and Activities** 

The Michael Church of the General Church of the New Jerusalem (the ‘Society’) is committed to the advancement of the Christian religion of the New Jerusalem according to the acknowledged Word of the Lord and according to The Order and Organization of the General Church of the New Jerusalem. It aims to advance education in accordance to its religious principles. 

The Society has regard to the Commission’s guidance on public benefit. It strives to connect God and spiritual life to people’s daily life and decisions by teaching the acknowledged threefold Word of the Lord (the Old and New Testaments and the Theological Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg) and supporting individual spiritual growth by connecting people with others on their spiritual journeys. This is achieved through worship, learning about the three-fold Word, provision of pastoral care and outreach work. 

To facilitate these uses, the Society aims to maintain and develop the fabric of the Michael Church building on Burton Road in London. 

## **Achievements and Performance** 

The Society revised its Constitution and adopted it at its Annual General Meeting held on 30[th] March 2022. This enabled the Society to be registered as a Charity in April 2022. 

As the threat of Covid diminished, we returned to weekly in-person worship services at Michael Church. We continue to live-stream these services of worship for the wider community and those who are unable to attend church in person. Some audio-visual equipment to improve this service was purchased and installed during the year and it is hoped to make further improvements to this important facility in the year ahead. As ever, the contribution of the musicians to these worship services is vital and deeply appreciated. 

The Feast and Friendship worship services, which take place once a month, are proving successful. The Pastor and his wife provide some food and encourage participants to bring their own so as to eat a meal together after worship and serve the local community. 

The Pastor holds classes for reading groups regularly and is able to reach people otherwise isolated by holding these via Zoom. They are small groups but have been a great avenue to bring a sense of community and to share the sphere of the Word and church. 



Annual Report – Page 3 of 5 


The Board has met regularly and, as part of its business, is working on a renovation project for the kitchen and toilet facilities of the church building. 

Our Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) for the General Church Council is a member of the Society and liaises with ‘31:8’ (a reference to a verse in Proverbs), an organisation which specifically serves churches. She continues to process DBS checks to support our education functions and our work with young people. She and her deputy have updated their training and organised and monitored the training of our educators across the UK. She emphasises at all times that it is up to all of us, each member, to keep in mind the safeguarding of the young people and vulnerable adults at our church and reminds us to bring her or her deputy any concerns we may have. 

The Young People’s Weekends, All Age Weekends and the annual British Academy Summer School continue to serve young people and adults across the world, educating them in the three-fold Word and encouraging them in their individual spiritual journeys. 

The membership and friends of the Society are recorded as follows: 

|Membership Roll<br>Friends/Young People 21 and over<br>Young people 15-20<br>Children<br>Total|2022<br>24<br>39<br>4<br>8<br>75|2021<br>2020|
|---|---|---|
|||22<br>22<br>39<br>38<br>7<br>5<br>10<br>13|
|||78<br>78|



## **Financial Review** 

The Charity is in a good financial position at the end of 2022, despite a deficit of £12,850 due to one-time building works and reductions in financial returns on investments related to the Covid pandemic, which is not expected to be repeated to the same extent in future years (a surplus of £62,695 had been recorded in 2021), and assets of  £889,612 including cash reserves of £119,325. 

Reserves are held in order to balance variations in operating expenses, particularly related to occasional building renovations.  The current level of reserves is further inflated due to a soonto-be initiated major building refurbishment program estimated to cost £50,000. 

Michael Church has only two funds, a General fund with £95,641 cash reserves and the Pastor's Discretionary Fund (a restricted fund for social/evangelisation purposes) with £23,684 which are both in credit. 

There are no financial reasons why the Charity cannot maintain its uses and purposes for many years to come. 



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## **Structure, Governance and Management** 

The Michael Church of the General Church of the New Jerusalem (the ‘Society’) has as its governing document, its Constitution. 

## _Society Membership:_ 

There is a Roll of Members maintained by the Secretary. 

- a) Any Member of the General Church of the New Jerusalem may become a member of the Society by applying to the Pastor, and on acceptance, signing the Roll of Members. 

- b) Membership is for life unless a person: 

   - resigns from the Society, 

   - is removed from the Roll of the Society by special resolution at a General Meeting of the Society, or, 

   - resigns or is removed from Membership in the General Church of the New Jerusalem 

## _Composition of the Finance Board:_ 

a) The Finance Board shall consist of the Pastor, the Secretary, the Treasurer, and six other members of the Society nominated from the floor and elected at the Annual General Meeting. b) The Finance Board shall have power to co-opt not more than two (2) Members to serve on the Committee until the next Annual General Meeting. 

c) No person shall be entitled to act as a trustee of the Finance Board whether on a first or any subsequent entry into office until after signing a declaration of acceptance and of a willingness to act in the interests of the Society. 

D. The proceedings of the Finance Board shall not be invalidated by any vacancy among their number or by any failure to appoint or any defect in the appointment or qualification of a trustee. 

## _Determination of membership of Finance Board:_ 

A trustee of the Finance Board shall cease to hold office if he or she: 

- is disqualified from acting as a trustee of the Finance Board by virtue of section 72 of the Charities Act 1993 (or any statutory re-enactment or modification of that provision); 

- becomes incapable by reason of mental disorder, illness or injury of managing and administering his or her own affairs; 

- is absent without good reason from all their meetings held within a period of six months and the Finance Board resolve that his or her office be vacated; or 

- notifies in writing to the Pastor, or in his absence, to the Society Secretary, a wish to resign (but only if at least a quorum will remain in office when the Notice of Resignation is to take effect). 

**Reference and Administrative details** 



Annual Report – Page 5 of 5 


THE MICHAEL CHURCH OF THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM 

Registered Charity Number:   1198712 

131 Burton Road, Stockwell, London, SW9 6TG 

The Board of the Society meets at least three times per year. The Pastor of the Society is an ex officio member of the Board and presides at all meetings of the Board or appoints a member of the board as chair. 

The membership of the Board is as follows: 

|The membership of the Board is|as follows:||
|---|---|---|
|**Name**|**Role**|**Date of appointment**|
|Rev Grant Odhner|Ex Officio, Chair|30 June 2021|
|Oula Williams|Trustee|20 April 2023|
|Nancy Warwick|Trustee|15 March 2016|
|Gweirydd Williams|Trustee|15 March 2015|
|Rev Fred Elphick|Trustee|12 March 2015|
|Andrew Bruell|Trustee, Treasurer|22 March 2002|
|Stephen Elphick|Trustee, Secretary|14 March 1999|
|Greg Warwick|Trustee, Maintenance|12 March 1996|
||Inspector||






**Michael Church Society of the General Church of the New No 1198712 Jerusalem** 

## **Receipts and payments accounts** 

|**For**|**the period**<br>**from**|Period start date<br>1st January2022|**To**|Period end date<br>31st December 2022|
|---|---|---|---|---|



|**Section A Receipts and payments**|**Section A Receipts and payments**|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|**A1 Receipts**<br>Subscriptions, Donations & Offertories<br>Interest, Dividends & Refunds<br>Refunds of Tax (Gift Aid etc.)<br>Bank Interest<br>Gyllenhaal Fund Interest<br>Property Maintenance Fund Grant<br>General Church Council (Open Road Contrib<br>Glanvill Bequest (Pastoral Grant)<br>General Church - Payments Received.<br>Pub Night Fund (Social Donations)|**Unrestricted**<br>**funds**<br>**to the nearest      £**|**Restricted**<br>**funds**<br>**to the nearest £**|**Endowment**<br>**funds**<br>**to the nearest £**|**Total funds**<br>**to the nearest £**|**Last year**<br>**to the nearest £**|
||**8,561**|**-**|**-**|**8,561**|**71,751**|
||**33,323**|**-**|**-**|**33,323**|**29,012**|
||**1,491**|**-**|**-**|**1,491**|**974**|
||**26**|||**26**|**32**|
||**3,038**|||**3,038**|**2,649**|
||**3,478**|||**3,478**|**3,045**|
||u**13,000**|**-**|**-**|**13,000**|**13,000**|
||**6,500**|**-**|**-**|**6,500**|**6,500**|
||**9,730**|**-**|**-**|**9,730**|**9,730**|
|||**4,272**|**-**|**4,272**|**4,249**|
|Council Tax Contributions (Michael Church F<br>**_Sub total_**_(Gross income for AR)_|l**910**|**-**|**-**|**910**|**560**|
||**80,057**|**4,272**|**-**|**84,329**|**141,502**|
|**A2 Asset and investment sales, (see**<br>**table).**||||||
||**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**|
|**_Sub total_**|**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**|
|**_Total receipts_ **<br>**A3 Payments**||||||
||**80,057**|**4,272**|**-**|**84,329**|**141,502**|
|||||||
|Contributions to Pastoral Office<br>Grants toPastoral Expenses|**67,824**|**-**|**-**|**67,824**|**56,634**|
||**238**|||**238**|**778**|
|Michael Church Building Expenses||||||
|Gas|**664**|**-**|**-**|**664**|**608**|
|Electricity|**5,713**|**-**|**-**|**5,713**|**1,994**|
|Water|**547**|**-**|**-**|**547**|**475**|
|Telephone|**719**|**-**|**-**|**719**|**656**|
|Insurance|**1,581**|**-**|**-**|**1,581**|**1,545**|
|Council Tax(Flat)|**952**|**-**|**-**|**952**|**1,055**|
|Cleaning|**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**|
|FacilitiesImprovements|**4,071**|**-**|**-**|**4,071**|**5,112**|
|Maintenance|**2,420**|**-**|**-**|**2,420**|**2,521**|
|Church Materials|**218**|**-**|**-**|**218**|**80**|
|Other Uses||||||
|Gifts (June19thetc)|**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**|**28**|
|PubNightFundExpenses||**1,482**|**-**|**1,482**|**-**|
|Professional Fees|**1,423**|||**1,423**|**1,650**|
|Manse Expenses||||||
|Insurance|**533**|||**533**|**464**|
|Council Tax|**-**|||**-**|**1,181**|
|Phone|**301**|||**301**|**150**|
|Maintenance &Improvements|**8,493**|||**8,493**|**3,875**|
||**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**|
||**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**|
|**_Sub total_ **|**95,697**|**1,482**|**-**|**97,179**|**78,806**|
|||||||
|**A4 Asset and investment purchases,**<br>**(see table)**||||||
||**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**||
||**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**||
|**_Sub total_ **|**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**|
|**_Total payments_**<br>**_Net of receipts/(payments)_**<br>**A5 Transfers between funds**<br>**A6 Cash funds last year end**<br>**_Cash funds this year end_**||||||
||**95,697**|**1,482**|**-**|**97,179**|**78,806**|
|||||||
||**-                15,640**|**2,790**|**-**|**-                   12,850**|**62,695**|
||**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**|
||**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**|
||**-                15,640**|**2,790**|**-**|**-                   12,850**|**62,695**|



|**Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period**|**Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period**|**Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period**|**Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period**|**Endowment**<br>**funds**<br>**to nearest £**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>OK<br>**Endowment**<br>**funds**<br>**to nearest £**<br>**-**<br>**Current value**<br>**(optional)**<br>**235,956**<br>**34,030**<br>**92,703**<br>**123,589**<br>**183,717**<br>**168,938**<br>**Current value**<br>**(optional)**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**When due**<br>**(optional)**<br>Date of<br>approval<br>26/10/2023|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|**Categories**<br>**B2 Other monetary assets**<br>**B5 Liabilities**<br>Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all<br>the trustees<br>**B3 Investment assets**<br>**B4 Assets retained for the charity’s**<br>**own use**<br>**B1 Cash funds**|**Details**|**Unrestricted**<br>**funds**<br>**to nearest £**|**Restricted funds**<br>**to nearest £**||
||Natwest Current Account|**85,641**|**-**|**-**|
||Natwest Current Account (Pastor's<br>Discretionary Fund)|**-**|**23,684**|**-**|
||Virgin Savings Account|**10,000**|**-**|**-**|
||**_Total cash funds_**<br>(agree balances with receipts and payments<br>account(s))<br>**Details**|**95,641**|**23,684**|**-**|
|||Agreement Error|Agreement Error||
|||**Unrestricted**<br>**funds**<br>**to nearest £**|**Restricted funds**<br>**to nearest £**||
||None|**-**|**-**|**-**|
||**Details**|**Fund to which**<br>**asset belongs**|**Cost (optional)**||
||a) Charity Equity Fund|**General Fund**|**136,326**|**235,956**|
||b) M&G Charibond Unit Trusts|**General Fund**|**38,871**|**34,030**|
||c) Sarasin Alpha CIF units|**General Fund**|**106,567**|**92,703**|
||d) Premier Global Infrastructure|**General Fund**|**140,000**|**123,589**|
||e) Mayfair Property ITC|**General Fund**|**205,038**|**183,717**|
||f) Edentree  Global Equity|**General Fund**|**159,426**|**168,938**|
||**Details**|**Fund to which**<br>**asset belongs**|**Cost (optional)**||
||<br>Michael Church Building|**General Fund**|**-**|**-**|
||1/3 share of Manse|**General Fund**|**-**|**-**|
||**Details**|**Fund to which**<br>**liability relates**|**Amount due (optional)**||
||None||**-**||
||<br>Signature|Print|Name||
||1||||
||||||



CCXX R1 accounts (SS) 



LJROSE
A C C O U N T l N G
T.. 01206 231647 E.infofoljrose.etsuk www.ljr05e&tcounting.¢fyuk
THE MICHAELCHURCH SOCIETY OF THE GENERAL CHURCH OFTHE NEWJERUSALEM
INDEPENDENT ÉXAMINERS REPORT TO THE TRUSTEES
Please find below the report by L J Rose Accounting on the account of the society for the year ended
31" December 2022.
RESPEcfivE RESPONSIBILITIES OF TRTUSTEES AND EXAMINER
The Charities trustees are re5pon5ible for the preparation of the accounts. The charities trustees
consider that an audit Is not required lor thi5 year lunder section 431211 ol the Charities Act 1993 and
that an Independent examination 15 needed.
It is my re5ponsibillty to
Examine the accounts lunder section 4313llall of the 1993 Act to follow the procedures laid down In
the general directions given by the charities commlssioners (under section 4317llbll of the 1993 Act
to state whether any matters have come to my attentlon.
8ASIS OF INDEPENOENT EXAMINERS REPORT
L l Rose Accountlng's examination w35 carried out in accordance with the general dlrections given bv
the charltles commissioncrs. The cxaminarion Included a roview of the accountlng records kept bv
the charity and a comparison of the accounis presented within the records. Thls Includod
COll5ideratlon of any usual items of d15closures In the accounts and 5eeklng explanatlons from
trusiees concernin8 these potential matters. These procedure5 undertaken do not provide all the
evidence that it would require an audit. Consequently, we do not express an audit opinion on the
a¢ctsunts.
INDEPENDENT EXAMINERSSTATEMENT
In CLinnecrion wlth the examination of accounts undertaken no rnatters has come to our attention.
This 8ives us reasonable cause to believe that in any materlal respect the requlrements..
To keep accounting record5 in accordance with 5èCtlon 41 of the 1993 Act and..
To prepare accounts which accord with the accountin8 records and comply with the a¢¢ountsn8
Tecords and..
To comply with the accounting requirements of the 1993 Act have been met or..
To which in my opinion. attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper under5tandin8 of the
accounts to be reached.
Llsa Rose
L J Rose Accountlng Ltd
9 Park Lane Buslness Centre, Langham, Essex . C04 5WR