2024-12-31-accounts

LAMPETER EVANGELICAL CHURCH

’ - TRUSTEES REPORT FOR 2024 25

1. The Objectives

These include:

• To gather regularly for worship, prayer and praise on the Lord’s Day and other occasions.

• To teach consistently the Word of God to all, with a view to conformity to the Will of God in everything.

• To administer the ordinances of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. By baptism we mean baptism of believers by total immersion.

• To proclaim the Gospel of Salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.

• To provide meaningful encouragement, support and pastoral care for all members and adherents.

• To support and be actively involved in the spread of the Gospel throughout the whole world.

• To promote the fullest possible co-operation in fellowship and witness with all churches and fellowships who embrace the evangelical faith.

2. Strategies, Activities and Achievements in view of these Objectives

The Church has striven to keep all the above objectives in mind as it has worked through the year:

• the Eldership, two in number for many years, continues to have generally taken a leadership role which includes arranging for the preaching and teaching of the Word, pastoral and counselling work; they are supported by visiting preachers who contribute substantially from Sunday to Sunday as well as in terms of the midweek Bible Study and Prayer Meeting (with other appropriate members of the church also being given opportunities to preach and to teach); one of the long-serving Elders resigned because of ill-health in 2023 – however, the church in 2024 elected four new Deacons who have a substantial role in the leadership and direction of the church; moreover an experienced retired pastor, also in 2024, became an Advisory Elder who can contribute to preaching and teaching, leadership discussions and decisions; together they have formed a well-knit and effective Leadership Team for the Church

• as noted above, practical support is given by four church Deacons who were elected in March 2024; the church continues to support our Korean family who are members of LEC and have now returned to Lampeter to work voluntarily for the church – their present visa lasts for 3 years until 2028

• We have now become a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO), we adopted a new constitution in 2023 and have become affiliated to the FIEC

• normally two services are held on Sundays, at 10.30 a.m. (English language) with Sunday School and at 5.00 p.m. (Welsh language with simultaneous translation facilities so that it is an inclusive meeting – we bought new equipment in 2025), with midweek meetings consisting of a Ladies’ Meeting (now on Monday mornings, and increased to two a month), Bible Study and Prayer Meeting (Wednesday evenings, with a specific Prayer Meeting every first Wednesday of the month); Men’s Prayer Breakfasts are now held monthly and we make them outreach events

• a Young Adults’ Meeting, established in 2024, has continued to meet on the third Saturday evening of each month and has drawn several young people to its activities

• in 2022-23 an Alpha Course and a Christianity Explored Course were run for those seeking to know more about the Lord Jesus Christ and the Christian Faith (one of those attending became a Christian); this year a Bible Overview Course has been established, again with the purpose of presenting basic Bible teaching to those who are seeking

• • the Church has established a Safeguarding and Pastoral Care Group which meets at regular intervals and has recently produced a Church Safeguarding Policy

• we continue to appreciate being able to make great use of our new church building; there is still some work that can be done to refurbish parts of the house in order to make the two upper floors into a flat, during 2024-25 some remedial work was carried out on part of the roof as well as indoors; again, amazingly this year, due to the grace of God, we have seen many new people joining in worship and the size of the congregations holding up consistently, as well as a continued increase in the membership of the church; the building has been officially registered as a place of worship and also registered for marriages

• a number of babies have been born to church families this last year, and it has been a joy to see the first of them being dedicated during part of a morning service

• over the last few years, since we moved into our new building, we have seen 15 people baptised, and another two are now following a baptismal course with a view to their baptisms taking place before the end of 2025 – this continues to be a source of joy to us

• on the third Wednesday of each month House Groups are normally held, one English language group and one Welsh language group

• many services are held with the particular intention of reaching out into the community – these include e.g. a Christmas Carol Service, a Good Friday service, missionary meetings and other special worship events such as the visit of Renewed Faith from Northern Ireland; the Church is also involved in supporting a number of missionary societies

as well as individuals who have connections with the Church; it has been particularly associated with the work of the Christian Charity, Blythswood Care, though this came to an end in 2025

• other outreach activities continue too, particularly a weekly Prayer Walk around the town, providing opportunities to give out tracts and Scriptures, and Opening the Church (now extended to two mornings a week) so that the public may turn in and be able to pray or be given help in their various needy circumstances; the Prayer Walkers have for some time now been holding services at the town’s Care Home (Hafan Deg) every other Friday and this has continued in 2024-2025

• • the Church has also continued to take services at a local Residential Home (Allt-y-Mynydd, Llanybydder) which we have been visiting for many years

• the Church provides voluntary support for a local Christian Centre (“Yr Hedyn Mwstard”) which comprises a Coffee Shop, a Christian Bookstall and meeting/counselling room, and in return is able to use its facilities for regular midweek meetings (e.g. the Men’s Breakfast, now being held once a month, and the Ladies’ Meeting, held twice monthly); the new church building is next door to the Centre and both continue to benefit from each other’s facilities

• the Bible is central to all activities and the Church’s Statement of Faith is based on Bible truths

• the Lord’s Supper is celebrated twice a month, on the first Sunday morning and the third Sunday evening of each month; also every Church Business Meeting begins with the Lord’s Supper - two such meetings are held during the year, in February/March and September (additional ones are convened if necessary)

• our annual church trip, suspended after the onset of the pandemic, was re-instated in 2025 with a visit to Brecon and Hay-on-Wye

• Missionary Societies are invited to visit the Church at different times of the year, and this year we had a visit from Adrian Carey Jones (Romanian Ministries), Stephen James (Daylight Prison Ministries), Rhys Roberts (Christian Institute) and Tabitha Doey (Wycliffe Bible Translators); there has also been support for those doing Christian charitable work at home and we are thankful that this service to the community continued throughout the year – indeed there was a heightened need for it as a result of the cost of living crisis, meaning that food has been regularly provided for the Lampeter Food Bank, set up in 2013 with the co-operation of other local churches; financial support has been given to individuals connected with the church who are either involved in ministry or working in the mission field (including our Korean family and Paul Daniel who is an evangelist working for AECW); the Church regularly prays for other countries and makes special collections at times of particular need

• Our Harvest Thanksgiving Services continue to be held every Autumn, with the food collected being donated to the Lampeter Food Bank, and this has become a special event in the Church calendar

• the Church’s Half Days of Prayer have now been re-established, setting aside a Saturday twice a year for this purpose; we continued to hold special series of prayer meetings at the beginning of the New Year, during Easter and at other times if and when necessary

• for many years the Church has produced a professionally published Church Booklet every quarter, sharing a Gospel message as well as other general information about the Church and its activities, and these are made widely available to other churches and the whole community; extra efforts have been made to take church literature out into the community e.g. again in 2024-2025 we have distributed hundreds of leaflets at Easter time and hundreds of Christmas Cards inviting people to activities held by the church over the Christmas period; we continue to produce an Information Leaflet for our congregations every Sunday

• as noted above, LEC has now affiliated with the FIEC; the Church also continues to be a member of AECW (Associating Evangelical Churches of Wales) and there are ongoing links with the Evangelical Movement of Wales

• the Church over many years has had strong links with students from the University College of Lampeter and with its Christian Union; sadly, however, the College closed its Lampeter campus in 2025, though we look with anticipation to be able to serve any new developments that take place there in future

3. Future Plans

Several ideas for future development have been discussed and prayed for:

• the need to expand the leadership team by adding to the number of Elders, including one who would be committed to part-time or full-time preaching and teaching; we have been actively pursuing this and approached a number of individuals in 20242025, but so far without any further developments

• as noted above we have made tangible progress in ensuring that we now have our own church building; our aim is to see the house part fully developed as soon as is viable.

4. Finances

Great care is taken with accounts, but naturally finances are used to further the Church’s objectives and necessitate stepping out in faith. The following comments need to be noted:

• most of the giving is done through covenanting and this has been a very effective and efficient way of making the most of our resources

• • regular use is made of a professional accountant to help with the Church’s financial obligations

• payment is made each year for Church Accounts to be audited

• the Treasurer presents accounts regularly to members at the Church Business Meetings (usually held twice a year), one being an AGM, and they are discussed thoroughly and openly.

5. Conclusion

In view of the above, the Trustees would like to express their gratitude to the Officers and Members of Lampeter Evangelical Church for their faithful adherence to the terms of the Trust. We are again encouraged by the fact that the Church continues to meet its responsibility to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the local community whilst also facilitating missionary activity worldwide. We are satisfied that the accounts have been kept to the highest standard and that all transactions have been carried out with the utmost integrity. Money has been wisely used to pursue effectively and successfully the Church’s stated objectives.

We trust that the Church will continue to know much blessing in the future and are very happy to endorse the vision the Church Officers have to continue strengthening the cause.

Signed on behalf of the Trustees: Mr. T. Gareth Jones September 22[nd] , 2025

Eglwys Efengylaidd Llanbed / Lampeter Evangelical Church Cyfrif Cyffredinol yr Eglwys / Church General Account

– 1/1/24 31/12/24

Out-going Income Speakers £4,925-70 Giving – Non-Gift Aid WiFi £302-36 Giving - Gift Aid Outreach £7,764-07 Collections Translation Equipment £1,488-00Charity Commission Gift Aid Printing £1,307-63 Internet Refund Tabeel Trust Loan £10,000-00 Deo Gloria Trust Grant Fire Safety £549-60 Emmaus Walk Christian Safeguarding Service £217-97 Funerals Insurance £1,615-87 Electricity BG £2,142-53 Gas BG Music Licence Communion Cups & Wine Tech Equipment Boiler Service & Heating HSBC Charges Rev Choi Mustard Seed Usage Dwr Cymru P Daniel Sponsorship AECW & FIEC Subscription Church BBQ Bibles Prayer Walk Tracts Other Out-going £997-50 £450-00 £218-41 £1,273-42 £1,599-71 £150-16 £7,625-00 £1,500-00 £240-00 £1,200-00 £3,272-00 £200-00 £153-00 £63-84 £229-41 Total

£5,581-00 £25,182-96 £12,723-80 £5,449-14 £1.62 £4,000-00 £137-07 £460-00

£53,535-59

Total £49,486-18

Total Income £53,535-59 Total Outgoing £49,486-18 Balance £4,049-41 Account Balance as of £55,762-44 31/12/24 Account Balance as of £51,713-03 1/1/24 Balance for the Year 2024 £4,049-41

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