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2024-03-31-accounts

Charity Number: 1201850

EMMANUEL CHURCH SHEFFIELD

UNAUDITED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 31 MARCH 2024

Emmanuel Church Sheffield 200 Springvale Road Sheffield S6 3NU

Trustees' Annual Report for the period

Period start date Period start date Period start date Period end date Period end date Period end date
06 02 2023 31 03 2024
From To

Section A Reference and administration details

Registered Charity Number 1201850
Principal address 200 Springvale Road
Sheffield
S6 3NU
Trustees David May (Senior Leader)
Ben Leach (Chairman)
Ben Bradbrook
Alison Hattam (appointed 17/04/2023)
Leadership Team David May (Senior Leader)
Jude May
Faith Oyegbile
Roger Mason
Hannah Mason
Independent Examiner Sam Rebbettes
18 North Street
Kingsclere
Newbury
RG20 5QX

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Section B Senior Leader’s Overview

Our first year as an official charity has been a very significant one for Emmanuel. We launched as a church plant in September 2020, initially we were part of Emmanuel Church Oxford’s charity, until in February 2023 we established our own charity. This was the year we became an established church with an exciting future ahead of us.

We have come a long way since we launched with 15 of us on Zoom in the middle of a global pandemic. During this last year, we continued to grow often gathering over 80 of us including children on a Sunday. We have not only continued to grow numerical and grow in how we are serving our city together, but we have also continued to deepen our sense of community. We have spent a lot of time over first few years speaking about our vision and how we are seeking to build a loving and healthy church family.

One of the highlights of the last year has been our growing number of mid-week groups. Our leaders have done an excellent job at supporting and equipping those in their groups. Groups are proving to be essential; they are helping to ensure that as we grow numerically, we build strong relationships and community. In the term leading up to Christmas 2023, we did the Alpha Course in all our groups, we received lots of positive feedback about this.

During this year we have seen a growing numbers of families with young children joining us. We have started in the last year an additional children’s group on Sunday mornings. The team leading this are doing a fantastic job and the children enjoy the group time.

In terms of leadership at Emmanuel, we currently have a leadership team of Faith Oyegbile, Roger Mason, Jude May and me. During this year, I had the honour of becoming our first Elder. Into the future we plan to add more Elders. We started the year with three Trustees Ben Bradbrook, Ben Leach and me; we were delighted to add Alie Hattam as a Trustee early in the year as well. In November, Deborah Awolola joining our staff as a part-time Administrator, this has made a huge difference to the smooth running of the church and ensuring we are communicating well with everyone at Emmanuel.

When we first started Emmanuel in September 2020 we operated as part of Emmanuel Church Oxford’s charity, until we established our own charity in February 2023. Most of the initial team had courageously moved from Emmanuel Oxford to start Emmanuel Sheffield. The support of Emmanuel Oxford has been invaluable, they gave us a very generous financial gift at the start that has been vital in getting the church established. While we are now our own charity, we continue to have a strong relationship with Emmanuel Oxford. They continue to pray for us and support us in many ways, their senior leader, Matt Partridge continues to provide mentoring and support to myself and comes to preach at Emmanuel regularly.

Along with Emmanuel Oxford we are actively part of the Catalyst Network of churches. Through Catalyst we can build meaningful connections with many like-minded churches in the UK and around the world. It also provides great opportunities for equipping of our leaders and wider congregation to help us fulfil our objectives and vision.

This year hasn’t been without challenges, several of our leadership team and a spouse of a trustee have spent time in hospital. This has at times been very challenging, but the church has responded courageously to this, and we have supported one other beautifully and with great generosity of heart.

A church doesn’t go from 15 to over 80 without significant time and energy invested from many different volunteers who have served so beautifully to make it all happen. We are also grateful for the financial generosity so many have our congregation has shown, to make this all possible.

Signed:
Name:		 28/01/2025
David May

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Section C Structure, governance and management

Description of the charity’s trusts

Type of governing document

CIO constitution dated 06/02/2023

(eg. trust deed, constitution)

Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) How the charity is constituted

(eg. trust, association, company)

Trustees and leadership

The charity is governed by its Trustees. The following held office in the period to 31st March 2024:

David May – Dave heads up the leadership team, overseas the staff team and provides visionary and strategic leadership for the church.

Ben Leach – Ben is the charity’s chairman and a practising accountant.

Ben Bradbrook – Ben is a paediatric consultant working in the NHS.

Alison Hattam – Alie is the director of governance and compliance for a physiotherapy clinic.

The power of appointment or removal of trustee’s rests with the Trustees and new trustees are selected from the church family. They are well known to the existing Trustees and have demonstrated a high level of commitment and dedication to the vision of the church by the way in which they model and live out the vision and cultural values of the church. Prior to being appointed, any new trustees will meet with the Chair of Trustees and the Senior Leader to understand their responsibilities and the framework within which the church operates. This induction will include reading and accepting the policies and guidelines contained in Emmanuel’s Staff Handbook.

The Trustees meet quarterly, in addition to this the Trustees meet from time to time with the leadership team. The Trustees retain responsibility for the overall strategic decisions of the CIO and are responsible for approving budgets and monitoring on-going financial performance against those budgets. The Leadership team and those staff and volunteers overseeing different ministry areas within the church make day-to-day decisions on expenditure and activities.

Emmanuel Church Sheffield is led by the Leadership team, who provide the functional and spiritual leadership of the church, including responsibility for maintaining the understanding of the Christian faith in accordance with the church’s statement of beliefs and providing pastoral care of the church. The Leadership Team is responsible for the day-to-day management of the church’s various activities under the oversight of the Trustees.

Staff and volunteers

The following staff worked for the church in the period to 31[st] March 2024:

David May – Dave heads up the leadership team, overseas the staff team and provides visionary and strategic leadership for the church.

Deborah Awolola – Deborah worked part-time as the church administrator, providing administrative support to all areas of church life.

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Section D Objectives and activities

The main objectives of Emmanuel Church Sheffield are the advancement of the Christian religion in accordance with its statement of beliefs and the relief of any charitable need as the Trustees shall determine.

Summary of the objects of the charity set out in its governing document

As the primary means of furthering these objectives, Emmanuel Church Sheffield wants to help people meet Jesus. To encounter God’s lifetransforming presence, know His peace and flourish in His purposes. We desire this not just for individuals, but our dream is to play our part in seeing the communities of Sheffield flourish.

The church’s strategy for working for our above vision, and fulfilling its charitable objectives, focuses on the activities undertaken through its various ministry areas, considering the following overarching principles:

We want to provide a great environment for people to connect with God, to encounter his life transforming presence. And we think that the best way to do that is with others, both through our Sunday church meetings and throughout our city in our Mid-Week Groups. We also hold monthly worship and prayer meetings, which allow extend time to enjoy God’s presence while worshiping together.

Summary of the main activities undertaken for the public benefit in relation to these objects (include within this section the statutory declaration that trustees have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit)

Peace in the bible is so much more than just tranquillity or the absence of war, it’s about wholeness and being fully complete not on our own, being made whole and complete in Jesus. We seek in our teaching on Sundays and in our mid-week groups to help equip people to know this peace.

As a church we want to see Sheffield flourish, and we want to play our part in that by connecting faith with everyday life. Working closely with our friends at other churches in the city, we want to help make Sheffield a better place to live and work. We are and want to increasingly support projects and people who are trying to make life better for everyone – particularly those facing poverty. We also want support other seeking to do similar things in other parts of the UK and around the world.

We are also passionate about working in partnership with other churches and organisations within Sheffield and the UK. The groups we work with include:

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The work of Emmanuel Church Sheffield relies on the commitment and hard work of its Leadership team, two staff and many volunteers, as well as the sacrificial financial giving of church members. We could not achieve what we do without the large amounts of time and energy invested by our volunteers.

Public Benefit

When planning activities for the period and the services available to the local community, the Trustees ensure that they have due regard to the public benefit guidance published by the Charity Commission. The Trustees affirm their commitment to the public benefit and continue to see how this can be developed.

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Section E Achievements and performance

Summary of the main achievements of the charity during the period

During the period to 31st March 2024, the church undertook the following activities:

Sunday Services

Our Sunday services provide an environment in which people can encounter God’s presence and grow spiritually. The church has maintained its aim to present a rounded teaching programme in keeping with the church’s vision, and the church has also been served excellently by several visiting speakers.

The Trustees want to place on record their sincere thanks to all those who served the church so brilliantly in providing high quality weekly services for both adults and children.

Our standard format of service comprises worship, notices and teaching, However, we have regularly celebrated communion, held baby dedications and adult baptisms.

We have had times of corporate prayer and have heard from lots of our church family on various topics. Our Sunday services are open and accessible to everyone.

Children

Children and young people are a crucial part of the life of the church. Martha Taylor, Dani Bradley and Hannah Cooper, our volunteer leaders of our Children’s and Youth team, have led brilliantly. They together have provided high-quality weekly groups for our children. We moved during the last year from having one group to two groups.

We are committed to nurturing and safeguarding our children and young people. All our children's workers are required to undergo a Disclosure and Barring Service Check and complete relevant safeguarding training.

Emmanuel Mid-Week Groups

We have 6 groups meeting on Wednesday and Thursday nights. We started in the last year a new online group; this group uses Zoom and enables people who can’t make a group in person to take part. Our groups are crucial in helping create a space where we can help each other grow in our Faith. The groups meet to study the bible, pray, socialise, provide other training and encourage each other. We encourage the groups to take part in ‘Discovery Bible Studies’, a very simple way of reading and studying the bible together that makes it possible for anyone who comes to get involved. In the term leading up to Christmas 2023, we ran the Alpha Course in all our groups, and received lots of positive feedback about this.

Prayer and Worship

Prayer and worship play an essential part in our church life. We pray in our Sunday gathering and Mid-Week Groups take time to pray time they meet. In addition to this, once a month on Wednesday evenings our groups take a week off and we have a special prayer and worship time all together.

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Section E Achievements and performance

Our monthly prayer and worship meetings are always very significant times together as a church, we have chance to pray for a wide range of areas. We are encouraged by the number of people who make a real effort to attend these times. Our prayer and worship meetings are open for anyone to join us.

Alpha

Alpha is a programme exploring the Christian faith in an open-minded and welcoming environment. Each session includes a short video and a time of discussion in which the group can share their thoughts and questions about what they have heard. In the last year the church has run the Alpha course in all of our Mid-week groups.

Pastoring

At Emmanuel, we want to take care of each other in the ups and downs of life. We seek to provide such support and encouragement through our group leaders and leadership team. We seek to ensure that our group leaders don’t get isolated and know when they should seek help and who on the leadership team, they can seek help from.

Young Adults

We have a good number of students and young adults who are involved in lots of areas in the life of the church, we love giving opportunities for them to use their gifts and passions in the church.

During the last year, our Young Adults team have provided monthly meetings for young adults to gather, encourage each other, pray, worship together and socialise. They have also been on a weekend away alongside Emmanuel Church Oxford and some attended Project 24, a weekend-long event run by Catalyst for young adults.

Serving teams

We have many volunteers who serve on various teams to make all that Emmanuel does possible. As well as serving others, teams are a great way for people to get to know others in church and for people to get use giftings God has given them.

Our current teams include:

• PA – the audio team runs the PA system, working alongside the worship team. • Projector – the visuals team is responsible for displaying the song words, slides, videos and other visuals during our Sunday services, setting up the projector and running the software. • Emmanuel Mid-Week Group Leadership – this team is responsible for leading our Mid-Week Groups and does an excellent job in making sure that the groups achieve their aims.

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Section E Achievements and performance

• Football ministry – this team runs our weekly football ministry, as well as organising the actual football they plan meaningful short talks and discussion before playing football each week.

Catalyst

Being part of Catalyst enables us to maintain meaningful relationships with churches in the UK and overseas. Catalyst also provides access to training, mentoring and support for leaders and individuals at Emmanuel. In the last year we have taken our leadership team to training days and our staff team have benefited from prayer, training and relationship building days. We have also sent one of our younger leaders on a two-year Leadership and Theology training programme with Catalyst and plan to send start more on this programme in the coming year.

The whole church has benefited as well from gifted guest speakers from other Catalyst churches coming to preach in last year. Looking into the next year, we are planning on going as a church to the Catalyst Festival as a church together.

Supporting Catalyst financially is important in furthering our objectives, particularly in that we want to be a church that supports other churches, social action and the planting of new churches in the UK and around the world.

Football ministry

We run a weekly football ministry in the Hillsborough area; this is open for anyone to attend, for a small weekly contribution to the cost of hiring a pitch. Often the ministry sees as many as 18 attendees, primarily men from the local community. Each week, the session begins with a short talk and discussion.

Arise

We have continued to be heavily involved in Arise, a local prayer and mission movement involving over 100 churches in Sheffield. Many in Emmanuel got involved in the prayer walking that takes place each year in March. We also go involved in Streets of Light, decorating our windows with messages of light, peace and hope over Halloween. We also make being at the monthly church leader gatherings a priority.

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Section F Financial review

Brief statement of the charity’s
policy on reserves
Review of financial performance
Internal controls and risk
management		 The charity aims to keep unrestricted reserves equivalent to approximately
three months of ongoing expenditure. The Board considers such a level gives
reasonable security to staff expecting monthly payments.
During the period, receipts amounted to £136,482. The primary component
£134,526 related to donations from church members and visitors.
Payments totalled £92,857, with the primary component 55% being expended
on staff costs. In sum the charity operated at a surplus of £42,625.
The Trustees have overall responsibility for the charity’s internal controls and
risk management procedures.
The Trustees recognise that the nature of some of the church’s work requires
acceptance and management of some risk in order to achieve its charitable
objectives, and are satisfied that systems and controls in place are
sufficient to monitor, manage and mitigate the church’s exposure to these risks.
The Trustees regularly review any significant risks facing the church and this
review will continue in the coming year.
All major insurable risks are subject to normal churches and employers’
insurance. Any contracts entered into on behalf of the church are reviewed
before execution to ensure that they do not significantly impact the church’s
abilityto fulfil its objectives.

Section G Declaration

The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.

Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees

Signature(s)
Full name(s)
Position
Date

Ben Leach		 David May

Chairman		 Senior Leader

28/01/2025

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Independent Examiner’s Report

Report to the trustees/ EMMANUEL CHURCH SHEFFIELD members of On accounts for the period 31 MARCH 2024 Charity no 1201850 ended (if any) Set out on pages 12 to 13

I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity (“the Charity”) for the period ended 31[st ] March 2024.

Responsibilities and basis of As the charity trustees for the Charity, you are responsible for the preparation of report the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (“the Act”).

I report in respect of my examination of the Charity’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I have followed the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.

Independent examiner's I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come statement to my attention in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect:

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

Signed: Date: 28/01/2025 Name: Sam Rebbettes ACCA Address: 18 North Street Kingsclere Newbury RG20 5QX

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Section A - Receipts and payments

A1 Receipts Unrestricted
funds
to the nearest
£		 Unrestricted
funds
to the nearest
£		 Restricted
funds
to the nearest £		 Restricted
funds
to the nearest £		 Total funds
to the nearest £
Donations & Gift Aid 134,456 70 134,526
Other Income 1,956 - 1,956
Sub total 136,412 70 136,482
A2 Asset and investment sales, (see
**table). **
Sub total
-		 - -
Total receipts
A3 Payments
136,482
Staff Costs 51,561 51,561
Church & Sundays Costs 10,947 10,947
Mission & Social Action Costs 21,351 21,421
Office & Administrative Costs 8,928 8,928
Sub total 92,787 92,857

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Unrestricted Restricted Total funds funds funds

to the nearest £ to the nearest £

to the nearest £

----- Start of picture text -----
A4 Asset and investment purchases,
(see table)
Sub total - - -
Total payments 92,787 70 92,857
Net of receipts/(payments) 43,625 - 43,625
A5 Transfers between funds - - -
A6 Cash funds last period end - - -
Cash funds this period end 43,625 - 43,625
----- End of picture text -----

Section B - Statement of assets

----- Start of picture text -----
Unrestricted Restricted funds
Categories Details funds
to nearest £ to nearest £
B1 Cash funds Cash at bank 43,625 -
Total cash funds 43,625 -
----- End of picture text -----

These financial statements were approved by the board of trustees and authorized for issue on ________ and are signed on behalf of the board by:

Signature(s)
Full name(s)
Position
Date

Ben Leach		 David May

Chairman		 Senior Leader

28/01/2025

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