**Charity number: 1210424** 



**SOUTH OXHEY BAPTIST CHURCH Trustees Report and Receipts and Payments Account Year ended 31 December 2025** 

**140 Gosforth Lane, South Oxhey, Watford WD19 7BX** 

South Oxhey Baptist Church Trustees Report for year ending 31[st] December 2025                      Report Page **1** of **4** 



## **Legal Structure** 

South Oxhey Baptist Church (SOBC) was established as a charity by a Declaration of Trust dated 19 October 1955. The day to day governance and procedures were set out in the Model Trusts set out in the Baptist and Congregational Trusts Act 1951 commonly called the “Fuller Trusts” 

With the development of charity law SOBC was required to register with the Charity Commission. In doing so an updated model constitution was approved by the Church Members on the 18[th] July 2024. It was then signed by the initial trustees on 22 September 2024. SOBC was subsequently registered with the Charity Commission on 10 October 2024. With a registered number of 1210424. 

|With a registered number of 1210424.||
|---|---|
|**Principal address:**|140 Gosforth Lane<br>South Oxhey<br>Watford WD19 7BX|
|**Advisers**||
|_Property Trustees_|The Baptist Union Corporation Ltd<br>129 Broadway<br>Didcot<br>Oxfordshire OX11 8RT|
|||
|_Bankers_|Barclays Bank<br>62/64 High Street<br>Watford<br>WD17 2BT|
|_Independent examiner_|Roy Farrant<br>Central Baptist Association<br>150 Midsummer Boulevard,<br>Milton Keynes, MK9 1LZ|
|_Affiliated to_|The Baptist Union of Great Britain<br>Central Baptist Association<br>Churches Together in South Oxhey<br>Christians Across Watford|



## **Trustees** 

|**Trustees**|||
|---|---|---|
|The following are the present trustees.|||
|**Trustee**|Date of appointment|Date no longer a trustee|
|Rev William Bismark|13/1/2025||
|Susan Luff|22/9/2024||
|Jill Willimott|22/9/2024||
|Copeland Beckles|27/3/2025||
|Sean Benford|22/1/2026||
|Kay Sanders|22/9/2024||
|**Previous trustees**|||
|Anna Sanders|27/3/2025|6/3/2026|
|Rebecca Benford|22/9/2024|30/1/2025|
|Linda Leaver|22/9/2024|30/1/2025|



Most trustees serve as Deacons and typically serve for a term of 3 years. They have an option to serve a further 3 years. 

South Oxhey Baptist Church Trustees Report for year ending 31[st] December 2025                      Report Page **2** of **4** 



## **Values** 

South Oxhey Baptist Church is a welcoming community of people with Jesus Christ at the centre who love God, one another and the lost. We share the Gospel, through worship, prayer, biblical teaching, house groups, and children's programmes. The church encourages spiritual growth, fellowship, serving the local area, supporting people of all ages, in a safe, nurturing place of faith, hope, and care. 

Our emphasis is on trusting and following Jesus together in Christian discipleship. Our identity as Christians is determined by the life of Jesus. We believe that this involves living in radical commitment to Him. We are called to follow Him, doing as He did and giving ourselves to God's loving purposes in the world. 

We exist to bear witness to Jesus Christ in the world, to share in His mission, to make known His faithful and saving love for all creation, and to express His concern for the wholeness and harmony of all that He has made. 

## **Structure, governance and management** 

In 2025 we welcomed our new minister; Rev William Bismark. We had not had a minster for some time and are very grateful to have William leading and teaching us from God’s Word. 

The Charity Trustees are the Deacons, Minster and Church Treasurer, who are responsible for providing spiritual leadership, oversight, and management of the affairs of the Church. 

With respect to the general operation of the Church, it conducts its work using a wide network of volunteers from its fellowship. The Trustees meet at least four times a year. The whole Leadership meet as stated in the Constitution. 

The Church is governed by an Approved Governing document which states “its principal purpose is the advancement of the Christian faith in accordance with the principles of the Baptist denomination, to include the advancement of education and carry out other charitable purposes in the United Kingdom and/or other parts of the world”. 

When planning activities for the year, the Church Trustees have considered the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit, under the requirements of the Charities Act 2011, and particularly the specific guidance on charities for the advancement of religion. 

## **Activities and achievements** 

The Church fulfils it’s purpose through a variety of activities for its fellowship and for the local community generally. The aim is to show the Love of Jesus Christ in both word and deed and to bring people into a closer relationship with Him as the living Lord. 

Each Sunday morning, we join in regular public Christian worship. The church is a diverse community of believers. The morning worship is at 10.30 a.m. 

The church seeks to be a friendly, welcoming community and anybody is free to attend. There are bimonthly praise evenings and we also have more casual services e.g.  Mother’s Day including breakfast. 

This is a selection of activities that run regularly : 

There is further worship through bible studies on Wednesdays and Thursdays and a bible journaling session on Tuesday mornings. Prayer sessions are on most days of the week. Dance is on Monday afternoons. A Whizz kids’ group; for mums and toddlers is on a Wednesday morning. A social group ‘Open Space’ meets on Wednesday afternoon. Explorers group for 6-11years old is on Thursday evenings. Men’s Breakfast meetings are monthly. There is a holiday bible club each summer and canal trips and a Christmas Panto most years and a church camping away weekend. 

South Oxhey Baptist Church Trustees Report for year ending 31[st] December 2025                      Report Page **3** of **4** 



## **Review of transactions and Financial Position** 

We thank God for His faithfulness and provision throughout the year. 

The budget income for meeting the church’s expenses in 2025 was exceeded and the general running costs didn’t rise. In addition, five months of tax return were claimed from the previous year. These factors together resulted in a positive balance for the year of £ 3,700 instead of a budgeted deficit of £ 3,100.  This put us in a much better situation starting the new year, especially as we have a project planned to underpin the kitchen area of the church early in 2026. 

£ 8,700 of funds received went out from the church via the World Mission Fund. 

In addition, we had nearly £ 40,000 given to the fund for providing a Manse. The manse would be used to house our pastor, since South Oxhey is an expensive area for young ministers to set up a home to work from. At the end of the year this fund stood at £188,845. 

## **Reserves Policy** 

It is the policy of the charity that unrestricted funds which have not been designated for a specific use should be maintained at a level equivalent to between three and six month's expenditure. The trustees consider that reserves at this level will ensure that, in the event of a significant drop in funding, they will be able to continue the charity's current activities while consideration is given to ways in which additional funds may be raised. At 31[st] December these funds, represented by cash at bank, amounted to £19,381, representing three months estimated core expenditure. 

## **Major risks** 

The trustees are regularly identifying and reviewing the major risks to which the Trust is exposed. They are satisfied that appropriate systems are being installed to mitigate those risks. 

## **Church administration details :** 

Church website **https://www.southoxheybaptistchurch.org.uk/** Church email **info@southoxheybaptistchurch.org.uk** Church telephone Number 0208 4287207 

South Oxhey Baptist Church Trustees Report for year ending 31[st] December 2025                      Report Page **4** of **4** 



**South Oxhey Bap�st Church   Receipts and Payments Figures for Year ending 31[st] December 2025** 

Figures are to the nearest pound. 

|||**2025**|**2025**||||**2024**|**2024**||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|**Receipts**|**Un**<br>**restricted**<br>**funds**|**Designated**<br>**funds**|**Restricted**<br>**funds**|**Total**<br>**funds**||**Un**<br>**restricted**<br>**funds**|**Designated**<br>**funds**|**Restricted**<br>**funds**|**Total**<br>**funds**|
|General Fund|**72,275**|||**72,275**||**62,379**|||**62,379**|
|Manse Fund|||**42,103**|**42,103**|||**5,000**|**3,030**|**8,030**|
|World Mission Fund||||||||||
|Youth Fund|||**378**|**378**||||||
|Building Fund|||**1,000**|**1,000**||||||
|Panto Fund||**1,468**||**1,468**||||||
|SoundEqptFund||||||||||
|Christmas Appeal<br>current year|||**180**|**180**||||**529**|**529**|
|Christmas Appeal<br>last year|||**9**|**9**||||||
|BMS Harvest<br>Appeal|||**310**|**310**||||||
|MAF|||**25**|**25**||||**25**|**25**|
|Foodbank|||**70**|**70**||||**7,524**|**7,524**|
|Pastoral||||||||||
|_Sub total_|**72,275**|**1,468**|**44,075**|**117,818**||**62,379**|**5,000**|**11,108**|**78,487**|
|**Payments**||||**60,012**<br>**8,690**<br>**278**<br>**5,150**<br>**1,250**<br>**56**<br>**538**<br>**310**<br>**50**<br>**225**<br>**100**<br>**76,659**<br>**41,159**<br>**169,329**<br>**210,488**||||||
|General Fund|**60,012**|||**60,012**||**15,017**|||**15,017**|
|Manse Fund||||||||||
|World Mission Fund||**8,690**||**8,690**|||**7,626**||**7,626**|
|Youth Fund|||**278**|**278**||||**78**|**78**|
|BuildingFund|||**5,150**|**5,150**||||**4,953**|**4,953**|
|Panto Fund||**1,250**||**1,250**||||||
|Sound Eqpt Fund|||**56**|**56**||||||
|Christmas Appeal<br>current year||||||||||
|Christmas Appeal<br>last year|||**538**|**538**||||**325**|**325**|
|BMS Harvest<br>Appeal|||**310**|**310**||||||
|MAF|||**50**|**50**||||||
|Foodbank|||**225**|**225**||||**17,496**|**17,496**|
|Pastoral||**100**||**100**||||||
|**_Sub total_**|**60,012**|**10,040**|**6,607 **|**76,659**||**15,017**|**7,626**|**22,852**|**45,495**|
|||||||||||
|_Net of_<br>_receipts/payments_|**12,263**|**-8,572**|**37,468**|**41,159**||**47,362**|**-2,626**|**-11,744**|**32,992 **|
|**_Transfers between funds_**||||||||||
|_Transfer to World_<br>_Mission Fund_|**-8,550**|**8,550**||||**-7,285**|**7285**|||
|_Transfer to Manse_<br>_Fund_||||||**-64,400**|**20,000**|**44,400**||
|_Cash funds last_<br>_year end_|**15,668**|**26,229**|**127,432**|**169,329**||**39,991**|**1,570**|**94,776**|**136,337 **|
|**_Cash funds this_**<br>**_year end_**|**19,381 **|**26,207**|**164,900**|**210,488**||**15,668**|**26,229**|**127,432**|**169,329**|



Page **1** of **3** 

South Oxhey Bap�st Church 



**Statement of assets and liabili�es at the end of the period 31st December 2025** 

|**Cash funds**|Bank Account Current|Bank Account Current|Bank Account Current|
|---|---|---|---|
||Bank Savings Account 1|||
||Bank Savings Account 2|||
||Monies to be banked|||
|||||
|**End of year balances on**<br>**Funds**|**2025**||**2024**|
|**Unrestricted Funds**||||
|General Fund|19,381||15,668|
|**Total Unrestricted Funds**|**19,381**||**15,668**|
|**Designated Funds**||||
|Manse Fund|25,000||25,000|
|World Mission Fund|170||310|
|Panto|941||723|
|Pastoral|96||196|
|**Total Designated Funds**|**26,207**||**26,229**|
|**Restricted Funds**||||
|Manse Fund|163,845||121,742|
|Youth Fund|100|||
|Building|611||4,761|
|Sound Eqpt|164||220|
|Christmas Appeal|180||529|
|MAF|0||25|
|Foodbank|0||155|
|**Total Restricted Funds**|**164,900**||**127,432**|
|**Total Funds**|**210,488**||**169,329**|



## **Notes** 

General Fund This is used for all receipts and payments Manse Fund This is for the project to buy a manse to house our minister 

20K of this fund was given in 2023 and 5K in 2024 from other churches. The membership decided this should be for the Manse Fund. As such it is designated not restricted. 

World Mission Fund The mission fund of the church which is supplied from money transferred from General Fund. From this we supported the following In 2025: 

||•|Mission Avia�on Fellowship suppor�ng missionaries from our church|1,200|
|---|---|---|---|
||•|Word for the World suppor�ng a missionary from our church|2,400|
||•|New Hope Trust - suppor�ng the homeless in Wa;ord and surrounding area|940|
||•|Central Bap�st Associa�on|1,750|
||•|Bap�st Missionary Society (BMS)|1,000|
||•|Open Doors charity suppor�ng the spread of the gospel|900|
||•|Wa;ord Schools Trust suppor�ng outreach to local schools|500|
|||Total|**8,690**|
|Youth Fund||To support youth events||
|Building||To support building work on the building and grounds||
|Panto Fund||To support the Christmas Panto outreach performed by Saltmine Trust||
|Sound Eqpt||To support buying or refurbishment of sound/media related eqpt||
|Pastoral Fund||To support pastoral concerns||
|Christmas Appeal||In 2025 the Appeal was for BMS||
|MAF||Misson Avia�on Fellowship||
|Foodbank||This is no longer run by the church, so funds have been transferred to Wa;ord|Foodbank,|
|||for use in South Oxhey||



Page **2** of **3** 

South Oxhey Bap�st Church 



|**Signature**|**Print Name**|**Date of approval**|
|---|---|---|
||Rev William Bismark<br>(Minister)||
||Sean Benford<br>(Deacon)||



## **REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT EXAMINER** 

## **TO THE MEMBERS OF SOUTH OXHEY BAPTIST CHURCH** 

## **ON THE ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2025 SET OUT ON PAGES 1 TO 3** 

## **Respec�ve responsibili�es of trustees and examiner** 

The charity's trustees (the deacons) are responsible for the prepara�on of the accounts.  They consider that an audit is not required for this year (under sec�on 144(2) of the Chari�es Act 2011 (the Act)) and that an independent examina�on is needed. 

It is my responsibility: 

- to examine the accounts (under sec�on 145 of the Act), 

- to follow the procedures laid down in the general Direc�ons given by the Charity Commission (under sec�on 145(5)(b) of the Act); and 

- to state whether par�cular maBers have come to my aBen�on. 

## **Basis of independent examiner’s statement** 

My examina�on was carried out in accordance with general Direc�ons given by the Charity Commission.  An examina�on includes a review of the accoun�ng records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records.  It also includes considera�on of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and seeking explana�ons from the trustees concerning any such maBers.  The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit, and consequently no opinion is given as to whether the accounts present a true and fair view and the report is limited to those maBers set out in the statement below. 

## **Independent examiner's statement** 

In the course of my examina�on, no maBer has come to my aBen�on: 

1. which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in, any material respect, the requirements: 

   - to keep proper accoun�ng records (in accordance with sec�on 130 of the Act); and 

   - to prepare accounts which accord with the accoun�ng records and comply with the accoun�ng requirements of the Act 

have not been met; or 

2. to which, in my opinion, aBen�on should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. 


R D Farrant BSc AKC FCA 

14 Le Corte Close  Kings Langley  Her;ordshire  WD4 9PS 25 March 2026 

Page **3** of **3** 

South Oxhey Bap�st Church