Faith in all of life ## Thinking **Faith** Network ## Thinking **Faith** Network Registered charity #271987 Formerly West Yorkshire School of Christian Studies (incorporating International Association for Reformed Faith and Action – United Kingdom (founded 1976)), also known as WYSOCS Governed by declaration of trust executed 19[th] July 1976, as amended by supplemental deeds dated 11[th] January 2006 and 16[th] January 2016 ## **Trustees’ Annual Report for the period:** 1[st] August 2022 to 31[st] July 2023 ## **Trustees** Richard Gunton Chair from January 2023 Steve Bishop Anne Burghgraef-Roques Sareen Galbraith Justin Gill David Hanson Cal Bailey Chair to January 2023 (to January 2023) Trustees assent to a Christian doctrinal statement and appoint new members to the trustee body, which shall not exceed ten in number. The selection of new trustees is made from the pool of the charity’s supporters and attendees at events put on by the charity, with regard to the needs of the charity, age and gender representation, and the expertise required. ## **Staff and volunteers** Patricia Gray (Executive Director – to July 2023) Mark Roques (RealityBites Director to March 2023, Honorary RealityBites Director from April 2023) Richard Gunton (Honorary FiSch Coordinator) Ben Clymo (Operations, Finance and Communication) Mark Kelly (Communication – March to July 2023) ## **Bank** CAF Bank, 20 Kings Hill Avenue, West Malling, Kent, ME19 4TA LiFEMATTERS | REALiTYBiTES | **FAITH** -IN- **SCHOLARSHIP** **Thinking Faith Network** 2 Dale Villas, Horsforth, Leeds, LS18 4JN www.thinkfaith.net Page 1 Registered charity #271987 Thinking **Faith** Network Faith in all of life ## **Objectives** The Charity’s Objectives, as summarised in its trust deed, are the advancement of education and opportunity for learning in a wide range of subjects from a Christian perspective, and the furtherance of the gospel in the United Kingdom or elsewhere, particularly with the regard to the promotion of God-centred living through faith in Jesus Christ. In pursuit of these objectives in 2022-23, Thinking Faith Network has carried out activities in each of its three strands: LifeMatters, RealityBites and Faith-in-Scholarship. In planning their activities, the trustees had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit, and it is their constant priority to ensure that public benefit is served by the charity. The trustees take care that access to events is, as far as possible, not restricted by physical or financial barriers. More significantly, our work is about communicating life-enriching and justice-enabling truths, patterns and rituals which have widened visions of life and supported connections between individuals and groups. ## **Achievements and activities** We continued to employ Patricia Gray as Executive Director and Mark Roques as RealityBites Director, and to use the services provided by Ben Clymo as required for finances, administration and publicity. The posts of Executive Director and RealityBites Director were made redundant at the end of July owing to financial necessity. Trustee meetings transitioned to being held online (via Zoom) when Cal Bailey resigned as Chair in January and was replaced by Richard Gunton. Financial support continued from a generous committed base of donors. The number of regular givers has slightly decreased, but the decision not to recruit a new Director is expected to return the Charity to having a net surplus. The lack of younger members of the support community upon whom we will rely for future management and administration continues to be a matter of concern. This is being addressed in the Trustees’ deliberations. Activities were carried on in all three streams of Thinking Faith Network’s life, as follows: LiFEMATTERS Our main event was a day conference in Leeds on 5[th] November 2022: ‘C.S. Lewis: a Visionary for our Time?’ This drew around 30 delegates to hear a speaker from the USA. The autumn also saw a 6-part course on ‘Eco-warriors, Tree Worship and Creation Care’, where a small group explored Christian responses to ecological crises. Three ‘Iron Sharpens Iron’ events were held in the first part LiFEMATTERS | REALiTYBiTES | **FAITH** -IN- **SCHOLARSHIP** **Thinking Faith Network** 2 Dale Villas, Horsforth, Leeds, LS18 4JN www.thinkfaith.net Page 2 Registered charity #271987 Faith in all of life ## Thinking **Faith** Network of the year, bringing international audiences to hear about and explore applications of Christian faith in various areas of public life. ## REALiTYBiTES The RealityBites blog continued with approximately monthly posts. Mark Roques also delivered talks to a range of audiences including schools, churches, a chaplaincy group, and people from diverse socio-cultural backgrounds at a drop-in centre in one of the most deprived areas of Leeds. His writing ministry also continued, with monthly posts in the RealityBites blog and pieces in the Baptist Times and Premier Christianity website. The Slave Chronicles course developed last year was sold to a number of individuals and organisations. The creative phase of the grant-funded educational project ‘Playlets with Purpose’ was brought to a successful conclusion, producing a set of twelve ‘Windows on Worldviews’ videos, written by Mark Roques, for GCSE and A-level RE students and their teachers to explore contemporary worldviews. This project employed two actors for filming under Peter Gray as director (pro bono) and Patricia Gray as producer. ## **FAITH** -IN- **SCHOLARSHIP** The FiSch blog continued to generate articles every two weeks on average, written by Rev. Dr Michael Wagenman, Dr Alicia Smith, Dr Mark Hutchinson and Dr Richard Gunton. Our impact can be judged by number of followers on Facebook, which reached around 350. Some notable research outputs produced by FiSch and Thinking Faith Network team members include: - Richard Gunton’s paper “What is enlightened agriculture? A multi-normative approach to the nature and values of food production systems” in Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems (7: 181), using Reformational ideas. - Richard Gunton’s chapter, “The Significance of Dooyeweerd’s Work for the Natural Sciences” in Discovering Dooyeweerd, pp. 259-271 (Paideia Press) - Steve Bishop’s papers: “Abraham Kuyper and some of his Critics” in Journal for Christian Scholarship (58) and “Kuyperania 2022” in Koers: Bulletin for Christian Scholarship (88). LiFEMATTERS | REALiTYBiTES | **FAITH** -IN- **SCHOLARSHIP** **Thinking Faith Network** 2 Dale Villas, Horsforth, Leeds, LS18 4JN www.thinkfaith.net Page 3 Registered charity #271987 Thinking **Faith** Network Faith in all of life ## **Finances and reserves policy** In the 2022-23 period, the charity received income of £32,466 (2021-22: £23,092) and made expenditure of £46,002 (2021-22: £37,596), a net expenditure of £13,536 (2021-22: net expenditure of £14,504). The closing balance at the end of the period was £5,901 (2021-22: £19,437). The trustees aim to hold free reserves of 9-12 months’ expenditure. Free reserves at the end of the period were £5,347. With significantly reduced expenditure budgeted for next year, including the cessation of payroll expenditure, although these reserves are below the aimed-for figure based on this year’s expenditure, they are quite sufficient for the budgeted expenditure next year. ## **Declaration** The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above. Signed on behalf of the trustees: Richard Gunton Richard Gunton, Acting Chair, 12[th] April 2024 LiFEMATTERS | REALiTYBiTES | **FAITH** -IN- **SCHOLARSHIP** **Thinking Faith Network** 2 Dale Villas, Horsforth, Leeds, LS18 4JN www.thinkfaith.net Page 4 Registered charity #271987 Thinking **Faith** Network Faith in all of life ## **Independent examiner's report on the accounts** ## **Section A Independent Examiner’s Report** |**Report to the trustees /**
**members of**
**On accounts for the year**
**ended**
**Set out on pages**
**Responsibilities and basis**
**of report**
**Independent examiner's**
**statement**
**Signed:**
**Name:**
**Relevant professional**
**qualification(s) or body:**
**Address:**|Thinking Faith Network|Thinking Faith Network|Thinking Faith Network| |---|---|---|---| ||31stJuly 2023|**Charity no**|271987| ||7-8||| ||I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity (“the
Trust”) for the year ended 31/07/2023.
As the charity trustees, you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in
accordance with the Charities Act 2011 (“the Act”).
I report in respect of my examination of the Trust’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.
I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to
my attention in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that
in, any material respect,:
•
the accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Act;
or
•
the accounts did not accord with the accounting records; or
•
the accounts did not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the
form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports)
Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a ‘true and
fair’ view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent
examination.
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.
**Date:**
13/01/2024||| ||||13/01/2024| ||||| ||CHARLES TAYLOR||| ||||| ||||| ||99 SOUTHWAY||| ||HORSFORTH||| ||LEEDS LS18 5RW||| LiFEMATTERS | REALiTYBiTES | **FAITH** -IN- **SCHOLARSHIP** **Thinking Faith Network** 2 Dale Villas, Horsforth, Leeds, LS18 4JN www.thinkfaith.net Page 5 Registered charity #271987 Thinking **Faith** Network Faith in all of life ## **Section B Disclosure** Only complete if the examiner needs to highlight matters of concern (see CC32, Independent examination of charity accounts: directions and guidance for examiners). **Give here details of any items that the examiner wishes to disclose** . LiFEMATTERS | REALiTYBiTES | **FAITH** -IN- **SCHOLARSHIP** **Thinking Faith Network** 2 Dale Villas, Horsforth, Leeds, LS18 4JN www.thinkfaith.net Page 6 Registered charity #271987 Thinking **Faith** Network Faith in all of life ||**Charity Name**|**Charity Name**|**Charity Name**|**Charity Name**|**Charity Name**|**No (if any)**|**No (if any)**||**CC16a**| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| ||
**Thinking Faith Network**|||||
**271987**|||| ||**Receipts andpayments accounts**||||||||| ||**For the period**
**from**||Period start date||**To**||Period end date||| ||||01/08/2022||||31/07/2023||| ||||||||||| |**Section A Receipts and payments**|||||||||| ||**Unrestricted**
**funds**||**Restricted**
**funds**||**Endowment**
**funds**||**Total funds**||**Last year**| ||**to the nearest**
**£**||**to the nearest £**||**to the nearest £**||**to the nearest £**||**to the nearest £**| |**A1 Receipts**|||||||||| |Donations - one-off|**481**||**-**||**-**||**481**||**2,068**| |Donations - regular|**12,115**||**1,200**||**-**||**13,315**||**14,295**| |Gift Aid|**3,563**||**-**||**-**||**3,563**||**3,086**| |LifeMatters income|**1,266**||**-**||**-**||**1,266**||**1,583**| |RealityBites income|**39**||**13,538**||**-**||**13,577**||**1,141**| |FiSch income|**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**| |Other income|**264**||**-**||**-**||**264**||**919**| ||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**| |**_Sub total_**_(Gross income for_
_AR)_|
**17,728**||**14,738**||**-**||**32,466**||**23,092**| ||||||||||| |**A2 Asset and investment sales,**
**(see table).**|||||||||| ||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**| ||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**| |**_Sub total_**|**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**| ||||||||||| |**_Total receipts_ **|**17,728**||**14,738**||**-**||**32,466**||**23,092**| ||||||||||| |**A3 Payments**|||||||||| |Salaries, fees and tax|**20,734**||**7,276**||**-**||**28,010**||**34,246**| |Travel and expenses|**74**||**-**||**-**||**74**||**189**| |Events andpublicity|**1,605**||**-**||**-**||**1,605**||**1,238**| |Resources development and costs|**356**||**7,108**||**-**||**7,464**||**119**| |Office, telephone, insurance, fees|**617**||**-**||**-**||**617**||**1,804**| |Redundancycosts|**8,232**||**-**||**-**||**8,232**||**-**| ||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**| ||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**| ||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**| |**_Sub total_ **|**31,618**||**14,384**||**-**||**46,002**||**37,596**| ||||||||||| |**A4 Asset and investment**
**purchases, (see table)**|||||||||| ||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||| ||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||| |**_Sub total_ **|**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**| ||||||||||| |**_Totalpayments_ **|**31,618**||**14,384**||**-**||**46,002**||**37,596**| ||||||||||| |**_Net of receipts/(payments)_**|**- 13,890**||**354**||**-**||**- 13,536**||**- 14,504**| |**A5 Transfers between funds**|**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||| |**A6 Cash funds lastyear end**|**19,237**||**200**||**-**||**19,437**||| |**_Cash funds thisyear end_**|**5,347**||**554**||**-**||**5,901**||| LiFEMATTERS | REALiTYBiTES | **FAITH** -IN- **SCHOLARSHIP** **Thinking Faith Network** 2 Dale Villas, Horsforth, Leeds, LS18 4JN www.thinkfaith.net Page 7 Registered charity #271987 Thinking **Faith** Network Faith in all of life |**Section B Statement of assets and liabilities**|**Section B Statement of assets and liabilities**|**Section B Statement of assets and liabilities**|**Section B Statement of assets and liabilities**|**Section B Statement of assets and liabilities**|**at the end of the period**|**at the end of the period**|**at the end of the period**|**at the end of the period**|| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| |**Categories**|**Details**||||**Unrestricted**
**funds**||**Restricted**
**funds**||**Endowment**
**funds**| ||||||**to nearest £**||**to nearest £**||**to nearest £**| |**B1 Cash funds**|CAF account||||**5,119**||**554**||**-**| ||PayPal||||**228**||**-**||**-**| ||Petty cash||||**-**||**-**||**-**| ||||||||**-**||**-**| ||**_Total cash funds_**||||**5,347**||**554**||**-**| ||(agree balances with receipts and payments
account(s))||||OK||||OK| ||||||**Unrestricted**
**funds**||**Restricted**
**funds**||**Endowment**
**funds**| ||**Details**||||**to nearest £**||**to nearest £**||**to nearest £**| |**B2 Other monetary assets**|||||**-**||**-**||**-**| ||||||**-**||**-**||**-**| ||||||**-**||**-**||**-**| ||||||**-**||**-**||**-**| ||||||||||| ||**Details**||||**Fund to which**
**asset belongs**||**Cost (optional)**||**Current value**
**(optional)**| |**B3 Investment assets**|||||||**-**||**-**| ||||||||**-**||**-**| ||||||||**-**||**-**| ||||||||**-**||**-**| ||||||||||| ||**Details**||||**Fund to which**
**asset belongs**||**Cost (optional)**||**Current value**
**(optional)**| |**B4 Assets retained for the**
**charity’s own use**|||||||**-**||**-**| ||||||||**-**||**-**| ||||||||**-**||**-**| ||||||||**-**||**-**| ||||||||||| ||**Details**||||**Fund to which**
**liability relates**||**Amount due**
**(optional)**||**When due**
**(optional)**| |**B5 Liabilities**|||||||**-**||| ||||||||**-**||| ||||||||**-**||| ||||||||**-**||| ||||||||||| |Signed by one or two trustees on
behalf of all the trustees|Signature||||Print Name||||Date of
approval| ||Richard Gunton||||Richard Gunton
||||12/04/24| ||||||||||| LiFEMATTERS | REALiTYBiTES | **FAITH** -IN- **SCHOLARSHIP** **Thinking Faith Network** 2 Dale Villas, Horsforth, Leeds, LS18 4JN www.thinkfaith.net Page 8 Registered charity #271987