2024-12-31-accounts

TRUSTEES’ REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDING DECEMBER 31st 2024

Table of Contents

Reference and Administrative Information ............................................................................................ 2 Objectives and Activities for Public Benefit ............................................................................................ 3 Structure, Governance and Management .............................................................................................. 3 Trustees’ Annual Report ......................................................................................................................... 4 Financial Review .................................................................................................................................... 16 Statement of Trustees’ Responsibilities ............................................................................................... 17 Independent Examiner’s Report to the Trustees of Life Community Church Bristol ........................... 18 Receipts and Payment Accounts ........................................................................................................... 19

Reference and Administrative Information

Charity Details

Life Community Church Bristol The Vassalls Centre Gill Avenue, Fishponds, Bristol BS16 2QQ England

Life Community Church Bristol is a registered Charity, registration No. 1202324

Trustees

PHILIP RAYMOND MALCOLM (22-05-24- ONGOING)

GARETH WYNFORD MATTHEWS (22-06-24- ONGOING)

GEMMALOUISESELLARS (14-03-23- ONGOING)

JENNIFER ESTELLE WARREN (14-03-23- ONGOING)

NATHANIEL IAN CAMPBELL (14-03-23- ONGOING)

JULIAN JONATHAN ONOCHIE OKOYE (14-03-23- ONGOING)

Independent examiner

Joshua N Kingston BSc Burton Sweet Limited The Clock Tower 5 Farleigh Court Old Weston Road Flax Bourton Bristol BS48 1UR

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Objectives and Activities for Public Benefit

The objectives are:

a) To advance the Christian faith in accordance with the Statement in such ways in such parts of the United Kingdom or the world as the Church Council from time to time may think fit;

b) To relieve sickness and financial hardship and to promote and preserve good health by the provision of funds, goods or service of any kind including though the provision of counselling and support in such parts of the United Kingdom or the work as the Church Council from time to time think fit; and

c) To advance education in such ways and in such parts of the United Kingdom or the world as the Church Council from time to time may think fit.

Public Benefit

The Trustees believe that the facilities and services that are offered to the public by Life Community Church Bristol make available access to all, either as part of the congregation or the local community and as such believe that the charity is of benefit to the whole community.

The Trustees have due regard to the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit.

Structure, Governance and Management

Governing Document

The Charity is a CIO Foundation, registered 14 March 2023.

Trustee Structure and Leadership

The trustees meet quarterly as a minimum. In these meetings decisions are made in relation to vision, budgets, finances, maintenance, and people. As laid out in the church deed, trustees are recruited and appointed by current LCB trustees. Philip Malcolm agreed to remain the Chair of trustees.

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Trustees’ Annual Report

Welcome

Welcome to our annual report that gives a brief snapshot into the last year here at Life Church.

Eph 2:8-10 says “ ...For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them .” This reminds us that God has a purpose for each one of us, which encourages us in being faithful in the good work of serving as trustees.

For me, 2024 was a year of consolidation. We settled into Avanti Gardens School as our church home. We continued to review and improve our policies, and put scalable mechanisms in place to help us as the church continues to grow.

We solidified new relationships with partner organisations, such as Home for Good and Bristol Charities, and we finally transferred over to the new CIO (Charitable Incorporated Organisation) Reg no. 1202324. I believe as a trustee team we have also solidified as a team and remain committed to serving the church with due diligence and being careful to honour the Lord in how we conduct business and in every decision we make.

I'm also excited to be a part of (and working with) the wider LCB team as we move forward into the greater things that God has in store for us for 2025. I hope you enjoy reading this report!

Phil Malcolm (Chair of Trustees) [e-mail]

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From Gareth (Senior Pastor)…

2024 was a year that saw much change for the family of Life Church Bristol. As such, we had the opportunity to have a ‘quiet’ year and ensure that we caught our breath and played it safe. Yet, whilst we are still pursuing our vision of seeing Everyone Connected, Everyone Contributing and Everyone Growing we did not sense from God that we should stand still. In fact, we believed that God had clearly asked us to sow into a number of different things.

In 1 Corinthians 15:36-38, it says ‘When you put a seed into the ground, it doesn’t grow into a plant unless it dies first. And what you put in the ground is not the plant that will grow … Then God gives it the new body he wants it to have. A different plant grows from each kind of seed.’

We prioritised sowing into the next generation , our local community and the city we are part of. We did so trusting in the promise that as we put those seeds into the ground, God would bring growth to it. It may require sacrifice and change (death!) in the short term, but the growth from it would far outstrip what we were able to plant into it.

It was so encouraging that as we sowed into the next generation we have seen a massive increase not only in the size of our kids and youth community, but also the depth of their desire to pursue Jesus. This year has represented a big shift in our approach to youth work and I’m so grateful to the whole team for their hard work in establishing a Jesus-centred culture in our youth and kids.

It was also so amazing to see Tara appointed as our new Community Outreach Pastor and begin to work with the team at the Vassalls Centre to be part of seeing this local community transformed and changed. We’ve been afforded an amazing opportunity to be part of what God is doing here and we’ve only just begun to see the effect of it.

It’s been my privilege to be part of some of the bigger picture things that are going on city-wide this year as well. It’s our conviction that these seeds that have been sown are contributing to something bigger that God is doing in Bristol. We’re excited about what God is growing here!

Gareth Matthews (Senior Pastor) [e-mail]

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Kids

It’s an incredible honour to watch what God does in the lives of our children when we give them the space to meet with Jesus in their own way through our weekly programs.

As the church continues to grow, so do our kids ministries and 2024 was no exception. On a Sunday morning we’ve been able to launch a tots program that encourages reading Bible stories and crafting as well as giving them space to play. In September we split our LCB Kids program into two separate groups, which has allowed us to tailor teaching, craft and games to their ages and abilities and give them more time and space with leaders to explore and ask questions. We’ve seen so much growth and engagement from the kids from doing this and I’m excited to see what God will do with it. We also launched the 2nd year of ‘Young Lions Juniors’ and took 9 of them away to camp in October. They are now spending time together once a month exploring what leadership looks like for them and how they can be an example in their worlds.

Friday nights are so much fun! The kids are kind, encouraging, and fully engaged in everything we do. We have acted out bible stories, completed team challenges and games, built mega-crafts, and played so many games! Each week we see them listening to our messages, dancing and jumping to praise songs, and asking to pray and seek God for all they need for themselves and others.

I want to say a big thank you to the incredible LCB Kids team members; thank you for serving so faithfully and enthusiastically each and every week, I couldn’t do it without you. I appreciate each of you so much.

If you’d like more information on what we do at LCB kids, or you’d like to be a part of one of our incredible teams, please come and see me or email me at the email address below.

Gemma Sellars (Children’s & Youth Pastor) [e-mail]

Gemma works for the church as the Children’s and Youth Pastor.

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Youth

What a year it has been for LCB Youth! We've seen a real growth in numbers attending both our Friday and Sunday programmes, growth in team numbers but more importantly a growth in relationships and in depth of faith.

In 2024 we launched our LCB Youth Discipleship programme, which included Youth Sundays once a month. We started off by looking at Youth Alpha to build the foundations of our faith. We finished Youth Alpha with a Big Weekend spent together in Bristol, with a focus on the Holy Spirit and building momentum before we go away next year to the ‘Satellites’ festival. We hosted our first panel-night in September; inviting members of the Church to be a part of the panel answering the big questions from our young people. This has led to our ‘big questions’ series on Youth Sundays which has been a great opportunity to explore big topics together.

At LCB Youth Fridays, we have looked at series including ‘Thriving not Surviving’ and ‘LCB Youth at the Movies’. We have focused on some of the foundations of our faith; the Bible, Worship, and Prayer. As part of this, we launched ‘Catalyst’, our Discipleship course running on some Friday nights in the Autumn term where we explored how to read the Bible for ourselves, this was attended by approximately 75% of our Friday night youth.

We also attended ‘The Mix’ event several times throughout the year; joining together with other local youth groups for an evening of fun, games, worship, and a guest speaker. Leading on from this we also had our first youth ‘Elevate’ Worship Night in October where we created space to praise and worship God together, which was a really fun and powerful night!

Another highlight was the ‘LCB Youth Takeover’ Service in May where we saw so many of our young people get involved in the planning, serving, and leading of the Sunday service. It was amazing to see so many of them getting involved and growing in their confidence to use their gifts, talents, and creativity in leading!

We saw 10 Year 6s graduate from LCB Kids into the LCB Youth family across the different areas, bringing an injection of fun and curiosity. But we also said goodbye to our amazing Year 13s who headed off to either further study or the church’s ‘Year Out’ program and into the Young Adults Ministry.

We launched mentoring for Year 12 and 13s with an amazing new team of mentors and provided a pastoral branch to our mentoring for those who we felt could benefit from the extra support. Both elements have been a big success!

We have also had a lot of fun together including a day trip to the 4 Waterfalls in Wales, an amazing day of hiking and laughing together, bowling trips, a summer party in the park, and a family hangout where

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we invited parents and carers to join in the fun! We also had our ‘Versus’ competition running over the spring/summer months on Friday nights where Team Red took on Team Blue over various games and challenges!

Leadership is a core value for LCB Youth. We want to encourage all our young people to be leaders in their world whether at school, clubs, home or at Church. Over 2024 we have seen our Young People really step up in serving on kids, tots, production, worship, photography, and Welcome on Sundays and Friday nights; with around 90% of those in year 8 and above on a serving team. Their contribution is crucial to the smooth running of all these teams, and they set such an example for our kids of what it looks like to lead and love God, what a blessing they were to the Church this year.

We want to say a huge thank you to all of those who serve on the LCB Youth teams, we love and appreciate you and all you do to serve the next generation.

Gemma Sellars (Children’s & Youth Pastor)

[e-mail]

Steph Haberfield (Friday Youth Coordinator)

[e-mail]

Charlotte Cooper (Youth Discipleship Coordinator) [e-mail]

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Young Adults

Just after our last annual report for 2023, the LCB YA set off for the 2024 LCB YA annual Weekend away and we were met by a mighty presence of God - what a

blessing that was! It was nothing short of a phenomenal weekend spent being soaked in God's word, worship, nurturing conversations, laughter and so much more.

It has been an honour serving the Young Adults since September 2023 and what an amazing journey our young adults have had to go through the last 2 years. We’ve seen an increase in attendance (especially in our 18-25 age group); the same as we

did in 2023, and even more so in 2024; adding more brothers and sisters into our family. Our 2024 Weekend away remains one of our most impactful experiences of the year, and I am glad to say we are going back again this year with even more young adults and greater expectations for what God will do in all our lives.

The vision for our LCB young adults remains the same; having young people on fire for Christ whilst building a strong community to support each other in our walk of faith, more so now with the current crisis we continue to face out in the world. I’m excited to see all that God has in store for us this year. We have been able to create a safe environment where young adults meet up, come together to grow, be ministered to, share life, form a community, and learn from each other what life is like as young adults who’ve chosen to follow our saviour Jesus Christ amid the chaos around us.

We believe that life is better with good friends supporting and praying for us, as we were not created to do life alone. So meeting up regularly allows for good relationships to be formed and we hope to continue building such a strong community this year. Our prayer is that from this Young Adult family, future men and women of God will rise to the calling that God has placed in their hearts.

Miracle Ede (YA Coordinator)

[e-mail]

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Men’s Group

It has been such a blessing to be involved with the men’s group this last year as we seek to encourage and support one another in our walks with Jesus. It has been amazing to see an increase in engagement, particularly through the WhatsApp

group. Our members regularly request prayer for their jobs, work or travel visas, health or other personal situations and lean on and share with each other as a community. The brotherly love, advice and care shown amongst the group, interspersed with the odd (dad) joke, has really warmed my heart.

As the church has grown, and the men’s’ group has grown, we have seen more members stepping into leadership roles (which looks different depending on individual gifts). We have several men acting as connectors (very on message!) ensuring that everybody receives a warm welcome into the church/men’s group and the opportunity to join the fun. We also have some who act as encouragers, sharing a bible verse or a short video or similar on our WhatsApp group to stimulate conversation, spiritual growth and keep us focused on God. Of course we also have some social secretaries organising our social events too. 2024 included a men's Beefeater breakfast buffet, go karting, bowling and, as most would expect, football (both viewed and played via our LCB social football group).

Our Men Motivated group ran out of steam a little as 2024 drew to a close but we still managed to do a lot of running (and kick off a Couch to 5k) as well as a few other challenges.

If you would like to get more involved in our men’s ministry, in one of the ways mentioned above or otherwise, please get in touch!

Stan Campbell [e-mail]

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Women’s Group

At Life Church our vision is to see Everyone Connected, Everyone Contributing and Everyone Growing . In order to help the women of our church build relationships with each other, I was able to invite a few women to help lead better connections within the church. We now have an official Women’s Ministry team helping us all to be better connected to each other with planning events and linking women together.

We had a few fun events that we had most women of the church being able to come and join in this last year! Socialising and growing in fellowship with a cream tea, fun walks and great time bowling - which was the biggest highlight for me last year. Seeing so many of our women laughing, connecting, and sharing was a real joy!

Another area of growth in support and connections is developed through our WhatsApp Group. I’m so encouraged by women sharing their faith, talking about scripture and encouraging one another with God’s word in this crazy thing called life.

We have had the joy of welcoming so many new mothers and families to Life Church. And with that, we are able to join with our community mums and parents or carers in ‘Tea with Tots’ as it was officially launched in Feb 2024. How exciting it is to have the opportunity to share our faith with women in the community and develop further relationships to support those who need it. We already have a baby boom happening for 2025! If you’d like to be a part of this, or join any of the groups above, please do email me!

Tara Malcolm

[e-mail]

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Pastoral Care

At Life Church pastoral care takes place at many levels: through prayer pods, men’s and women’s groups, youth and young adult groups. Additionally, the members of our senior leadership team engages regularly with member’s pastoral needs. As a pastoral care team, we seek to complement this with specific help and targeted assistance.

We have been active this year in visiting some of our older members, especially those who are now unable to attend church. This includes coordinating a visiting rota and arranging transport where needed. We are often encouraged by the testimonies of our senior members and we seek to come alongside them and provide support and encouragement.

At church, we’ve been able to engage in conversation and offer encouragement both before and after the service. This sometimes leads to follow up home visits or a chat over coffee.

We continue to offer baby baskets to young families and meal trains have been organised for the family when mother and baby return from hospital. It’s always a joy to share in this special time in the life of our church family.

Our work this year has also included the provision of pastoral counselling for those with specific needs, including personal growth, overcoming obstacles to discipleship, relationship concerns and making plans for the future. It is good to offer a listening ear to people who need to talk through their personal struggles and also their aspirations.

At Life Church we have been developing a more structured approach to new members and we are always seeking to enhance the opportunities for connection and fellowship. Our pastoral care provision works within this structure, as we endeavour to ensure none are overlooked or forgotten.

As always, we look forward to another great year of growing together, as we seek to demonstrate God’s love in tangible ways.

John and Ruth Doherty [e-mail]

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Community Outreach

In our vision as the SLT to delve into local missions and what we read in the book of Matthew, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19 NIV), the church was able to invest in a new role of Community Outreach Pastor.

As such, I started in May of 2024 working within the Fishponds area of Bristol to start to invite the church into the community and with that, building relationships within the Vassalls Community Hub where we are based. This started with our first ‘Tea and Tots’ group in February 2024, where local parents and carers could come with their little children to have fun, build friendships, and be encouraged by church volunteers and staff. We quickly became oversubscribed!

of the most vulnerable in our community, and offered support to those in need by partnering with other charities in our area.

With the developing partnership with Bristol Charities we supported the launch of the Vassalls Community Hub with several church volunteers. It was so wonderful to be part of a team greeting, directing, serving and supporting over a thousand guests from the local community as a church to show the love of Christ!

Christmas season saw us being able to serve those families in great need, with gifts from Father Christmas, food parcels and fun. We had Christmas parties for the most vulnerable, and in partnership with Vassalls we were able to bless so many families with the joy of Christmas. Further, we were able to invite families to come to see the real meaning of Christmas at our Christmas carol service; four new families joined us that had not been to church before. What amazing grace!

As we finish 2024, there are ample opportunities for more to be involved in serving and being the church IN the community. Please get in touch with me if you feel this is something you’d like to be a part of!

Tara Malcolm (Community Outreach Pastor)

[e-mail]

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Missions

Life Church is committed to the Great Commission both locally, nationally and globally.

Jesus said 'Go into all the World' and we want to play our part in reaching men, women and children with the Gospel! Over the last year, we gave away just under £14k to invest in various mission needs - equipping people on the ground to reach out with a demonstration of the love of Jesus and proclaim the good news!

This has included:

• Church planting & ministry in India (India Hope)

• Supporting young people & families in Brazil (Univida)

• Church planting in Aberystwyth - 'Freedom Church'

• Supporting rough sleepers in Bristol (Streetlife)

• Housing for the homeless (Hope into Action and ACT)

• Supporting the global charity Compassion through personal child sponsorship by members of Life Church and as a church.

• Church planting in Vienna - ‘Life Church’. This is a new church plant that we’re supporting in Austria.

• Support for women in the sex trade industry in Bristol, through the Beloved charity.

• One-off gifts to missionaries around the world, including All Nations for Christ in Benin City through contacts we have with AoG.

We were privileged to visit a number of mission partners this year including the team in Vienna at Life Church and Key to Life Church in Kenya. We are also exploring the possibility of a trip to Univeda in Brazil and Vienna, Austria in Summer 2025. If you are interested in coming with us on one of these trips, do get in touch!

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Looking Ahead to 2025

In addition to our Vision of seeing Everyone Connected, Everyone Contributing and Everyone Growing, the Senior Leadership Team have been prayerfully considering what we need to focus on in 2025. Specifically, what do we need to sow to allow God to begin to grow ? They’ve identified three key things:

➢ Sowing Into Our Leadership

We’ve invited Jye Allen to join the Senior Leadership Team, to expand our team and bring something fresh to the leadership of Life Church

➢ Sowing In

James 1:22: But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says.

We intend to sow into our discipleship this year, providing encouragement and resources for us to grow in our faith and be passionate about becoming like Jesus and following Him. We’re going to be changing how we structure our Prayer Pods to make them more accessible for people new to Life Church.

➢ Growing Out

Luke 13:18-19: Then Jesus said, “What is the Kingdom of God like? How can I illustrate it? It is like a tiny mustard seed that a man planted in a garden; it grows and becomes a tree, and the birds make nests in its branches.”

We intend to pursue seeing another congregation birthed and planted from Life Church this year.

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Financial Review

Review of the charity’s financial position at the end of the reporting period.

In 2023 the trustees of Life Church Bristol began the process of changing the charity from an Unincorporated charity (charity reg. number 1166678) to this CIO (charity reg. number 1202324). The transfer was completed in March 2024.

The decision was made to remove personal liability from the trustees, which was a hindrance to new volunteers joining the board of trustees.

This change included the transfer of the unincorporated charity’s remaining assets of 5,337 and liabilities to this CIO. There was no change to the charities purpose and the unincorporated charity (charity reg. number 1166678) has now been closed.

The financial statements are included from page 19 of this report. At the year end, the charity’s reserves were £141,895 (2023: £95,835). Receipts during the year was £183,590 (2023: £95,835), and the charity spent £137,530 (2023: £0).

Reserves Policy

Setting the reserve amount

The Trustees will review the reserve target amount yearly at the start of each financial year.

Taking into account LCB’s financial commitments this amount will be determined by:

• Calculating the monthly committed expenditure for which we have contractual obligations. This would include employee salaries, lease, rental or mortgage payments.

• Ensuring that a minimum of 3 months of finance is held in reserve.

• Holding this amount in reserve ensures that:

• In the event of a downturn in finance all employees will have at least three months of income.

• The Trustees and Senior Leadership Team have sufficient time to make spending alterations to the organisation to ensure future stability.

The reserve amount is not to be held in the ‘current’ account used for normal day-to-day financial activities.

The reserve amount is monitored monthly and a notification by email is sent to the Trustees if the amount of money in the bank comes within 50% of the reserve amount. (For example, if the reserve amount is £5,000, this notification would be triggered if the bank balance went below £7,500). The current amount for 2024 is: £13,500.

Changing the reserve amount

The reserve amount can be changed by the Trustees at any time.

This should be done in line with this policy and minuted at a special meeting. Clear reasons for that change should be laid out that necessitate a change.

The Senior Leadership Team should be fully involved in this decision and give their consent.

In the event that the amount of reserves is being decreased, independent financial advice will be sought before making this change...

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Statement of Trustees’ Responsibilities

The trustees are responsible for preparing the Trustees’ Report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards including Financial Reporting Standard 102: The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

The law applicable to charities in England & Wales requires the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charity and of the income and expenditure of the charity for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the trustees are required to:

• select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;

• observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP;

• make judgments and accounting estimates that are reasonable and prudent;

• state whether applicable UK Accounting Standards have been followed, subject to any

• material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements; and

• prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to

• presume that the charity will continue in business.

The trustees are responsible for keeping sufficient accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Charities Act 2011, the Charity (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 and the provisions of the trust deed/constitution. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

Signed by order of the Trustees

Philip Malcolm

Date: 23 September 2025

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Independent Examiner’s Report to the Trustees of Life Community Church Bristol

I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of Life Community Church Bristol (the Charity) for the year ended 31st December 2024.

Responsibilities and basis of report

As the charity trustees of the Charity you are responsible for the preparation of 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 all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.

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:

1. accounting records were not kept in respect of the Charity as required by section 130 of the Act; or

2. the accounts do not accord with those records

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.

Joshua N Kingston BSc Burton Sweet Limited The Clock Tower 5 Farleigh Court Old Weston Road Flax Bourton Bristol BS48 1UR

Date: ………………………… 23 September 2025

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LIFE CHURCH BRISTOL Receipts and Payment Accounts CHARITY IOMMISSION FOR ENGLANO AND WALES Receipts and payments accounts CC16a Forth• p•rlod 01101r2W14 Jl112r Section A Receipts and payments Unre$tnct• lund Restncigd Endowm•nt lurKI$ Total luTrds La•1 A1 R•c•l 117.2Jl 10 t￿))4 i• 4747 ARI 182.231 I￿.S 2 AM•t 4nd thwsim•nt Sub lotal Tot•lrots 1W77 lJ7J>) Sub tol•l A4 Ass•t •nd Inw•tsn•n¢ purcttaua, IM• tabknl Sub toi•l Tot•lp•ym•nts 477 Il•t olf•cdpWp•rnts) AS Trnn•lw8 b•tWo•n Csh funds la•t y•r •nd Cash lund• th14 y•ar •nd 95.83S 19

LIFE CHURCH BRISTOL Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period ilnr0Stnagd (ur￿¥ Rostna fvnd• r•rn•¢ E Endowmont B1 Csh lun Jo3 137,71• 10 T￿1¢1$h lunds 303 luftd8 rw••i£ fund• D•talls Dètails B3 In¥utThnt Fwiiowlh Dè¢alls B4 Ass•ts r•t•ln•d ft* th• eharlty's ¢)wn us• IO•talls BS Ll•bllll1•# 2310912025 20