2020-12-31-accounts - Free Methodist Church, Morecambe And Heysham

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Lay Delegate Summary Report 2021

The annual Lay Delegate report is structured around eight core areas in the Life of the Free Methodist

Church. These areas are approved by Conference and they consist of the following. That every Church is a Prayerful, Worshipping, Discipling, Evangelising, Reproducing Church. Together with these we are a Culture and Mission engaging congregation who seek to be a Purpose-Driven congregation.

We may ask then, what is our purpose? It is that we believe God has called us to be a passionate and compassionate family of believers, reaching out to our community with the love of Jesus. With this in mind our Church Vision Statement is ‘Helping people find and follow Jesus’

A) We seek to see lives transformed through teaching and applying unchanging Biblical Truth in a changing world
B) We seek to be passionate about reaching those who don’t yet know Jesus
C) We seek to be relevant to our community in its diversity
D) We seek to show God’s Love to all people in word and action
E) We seek to encourage and equip people to reach their full potential in Christ
F) We seek to be open and accessible to all, no matter where they are on life’s journey G) We seek to lovingly encourage and build each other up In Christ

We are living in unprecedented times for the Church. But these are also times when God is doing new things among us, both in our personal walk with God and our life together as His People. Adapting to lockdown may have been challenging for all of us and harder for some but we are thankful that our hope and trust is in Jesus and not in our ability to meet in a building. This time has shown us that the building may be closed but the Church is very much Alive.

It has meant that we have had to adapt to varied and new ways of staying together and helping one another through the tough times. It has also made us more creative in how we endeavour to make Jesus known to those who don’t know Him yet. We know that a virtual relationship cannot take the place of our meeting together face to face, nevertheless many new contacts have been made during this time.

Relationships within the fellowship have also been strengthened as people have found ways of connecting with each other. Untold number are logging into our weekly meetings online and our Pastors, Mark and Dan, are encouraging them to connect with us as they make decisions to follow Christ or are just searching for life’s answers. This has been especially effective during our Sunday morning online service.

Our Church plant ‘Heart Church’ are meeting fortnightly at present on Thursday evening online, Heart in the Home. If you would like to be a part of this or just want to encourage the team then please tune into these services or contact Dan for current information.

Sunday morning services are going well, with communion regularly shared together. We are currently journeying together in an 8 part series in the Gospel of Mark. We are also journeying through Marks Gospel in our online Daily Devotionals. Two new online daytime Growth groups have been established to encourage people to connect for the first time with church and help others to stay connected in fellowship. These groups are helping people to digest and apply the Christian message to their lives as they look together at material from the Christianity Explored Course. There is also another evening online Growth group.

Video Prayer Meetings via Zoom have been well attended and a real blessing. Our online Prayer Chain continues to be effective in helping with special needs and also thanking God for answered prayer. Both our Pastors are available for Prayer via telephone or online when needed.

The Leadership Team continue to meet via Zoom every Tuesday evening fortnightly to pray and seek God for the way ahead. Practically people have been able to keep in touch and just have time to chat on a Wednesday morning at the online Coffee Morning. The Mums and Toddlers group (Little Fish) have been able to catch up on a Friday morning fortnightly via Zoom. WhatsApp and other means have also proved to be effective Bridge Builders within the fellowship.

We continue our giving to Missions, both worldwide and local during this time. We as a church have made vital contributions to those in our own fellowship who have been struggling during lockdown. We are thankful for all the unseen acts of kindness. We are also thankful for the way God has used the generous giving of God’s people to give to what we have named the ‘Acts 2 Fund’. In Acts 2 in scripture the church pulled together sharing their possessions and belongings with those in need. Many have contributed to this fund and we have been able to support those who are part of our church family at HFM through these challenging times of loss of income and financial security. To be able to provide both materially and financially has been a very rewarding part of our mission during lockdown.

As a Church we are grateful and thankful to all those who have been a part of the online Children’s Ministry which has been such a blessing to all the children. And our thanks go to all who have worked so faithfully behind the scenes to make all these, and more outreach ministries thrive.

I wanted to close by quoting some words from our new Bishop, Keith Cowart, who oversees the Free Methodist Church in the UK and Ireland. “We are sheltering at home and trying to learn how to do life and church in these strange and difficult days. But there is something that gives us great strength and hope for this time. We are absolutely confident in the many promises of God’s Word. That God always has an agenda in every circumstance and in every situation. And that His agenda is always for our good. We can know that God’s aim is always to accomplish his purposes of purifying us and making us whole and moulding us in the image of His own Son Jesus Christ.

Even when God causes or allows our worlds to shake, we can see it as a gift. We have received a Kingdom that cannot be shaken. There is no doubt that Covid 19 has been disruptive and unsettling at every level but I believe God is exposing everything on which we have built our lives and our churches that is not solid ground. No one likes the shaking but God’s intent is to give us an unshakeable foundation. And that foundation is not riches or the government or our well established church programmes. That foundation is Jesus Christ Himself and our mission is to live as whole and holy people rooted and grounded in Him and to take the light of life of Jesus Christ to everyone we know everywhere we go. May we have the grace and courage to let God shake off everything that can be shaken so that we might find ourselves standing on a foundation that can never be shaken”

Yours In Christ

Sandra Parker Lay Delegate HFM

Treasurer’s Report on Accounts 1[st] January 2020 to 31[st] December 2020

2020 has obviously been a very difficult year for us all and because physical gatherings were prohibited for so many months, this has affected our finances. The monthly income fluctuated during the first few months of the pandemic but gradually improved throughout the rest of the year. As the expenditure was lower due to no activities, we managed to sustain our income/expenditure throughout the year.

Income:

Offerings for the year increased slightly to £104,765.00. The General offering was somewhat lower at £38,235.00 which was 9% down on the previous year. However, the Gift Aid portion of the offering increased to £51,925.00 and together with the Gift Aid refund figure of £14,605.00 amounted to £66,530.00. The other income (income given separately for specific purposes) was £23,972.00 which amounted to an overall total income of £128,737.00.

The graph below shows a breakdown of the church income:

Expenditure:

The total expenditure for the year was £129,702.00 which equates to £10,808.50 per month. The budget figures were based on a similar income to the previous year with a provision to increase our reserves. However, although we had reduced running costs in some areas, this did not materialise due to extra maintenance costs and the purchase of new equipment (not totally budgeted for). The end of year showed a £965.00 deficit and a reserves total of £15,812.34

The graph below shows a breakdown of the church expenditure:

For more details on the above Income/Expenditure, see the following pages:

Morecambe & Heysham Free Methodist Church Income & Expenditure Account For the year ended 31 December 2020

38,235 51,925 14,605	2020 104,765 23,972	41,516 48,542 12,816	2019 102,873 6,855
7,487 1,000 9,600 109 - - 3,973 - - 1,804		- - - 130 352 1,237 1,850 671 315 2,300
140 999 1,140 1,176 307 646 1,344 4,725 200		276 1,770 1,042 1,484 889 636 3,120 345 200
	128,737		109,728
	10,678 3,714		9,762 7,628
1,696 632 718 668		1,632 526 4,776 694

HFMC Income and Expenditure: Page 2

Expenditure (continued)

3,030 21,268 2,574 20,730 10,819	58,420 212 33,852 22,826	2,984 20,661 2,327 18,788 10,239	55,000 721 31,502 6,090
- 149 - 15 48		75 142 - 124 380
360 4,932 180 15,695 287 127 - 561 900 129 385 7,612 2,585 100		3,631 4,536 575 14,028 1,504 181 450 444 875 157 268 2,339 2,515 -
6,148 1,000 - 1,804 4,274 - 9,600		- - 1,237 2,300 2,238 315 -

	129,702		110,702

	965 -		973 -

Independent Examiners’ Report to the Members of

Morecambe & Heysham Free Methodist Church

I report on the income and expenditure account of the charity for the year ended 31[st] December 2020

Respective responsibilities of trustees and examiner

The charity’s trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. The charity’s trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year (under Section 144(2) of the Charities Act 2011 (the 2011 Act)) and that an independent examination is required.

It is my responsibility to:

examine the accounts under Section 145 of the 2011 Act
to follow the procedures laid down in the General Directions given by the Charity Commission (under Section 145(5)(b) of the 2011 Act); and
to state whether particular matters have come to my attention.

Basis of independent examiner’s report

My examination was carried out in accordance with the General Directions given by the Charity Commissioners. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and seeking explanation from you as trustees concerning any such matters. 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 matters set out in the statements below.

Independent examiner’s statement

In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention:

(a) which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in any material respect the requirements: (i) to keep accounting records in accordance with section 130 of the 2011 Act; and (ii) to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and to comply with the accounting requirements of the 2011 Act;

have not been met; or

(b) to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper
understanding of the accounts to be reached.

S P Slater Taylor, Robertson & Willett Limited Chartered Certified Accountants 95 King Street Lancaster Lancashire LA1 1RH

12 March 2021

A breakdown of the tithe allocation is outlined below for reference:

TITHE ALLOCATION 2020 c/f from 2019 £2,760.09 £13,508.5 Allocation for 2020 7 £16,268. Total available in 2020 66 Donation: Niscu Stand By Me West End Impact Lancaster & Morecambe District Churches Debt Centre Helen Jensen Christian Concern Freedom Church Open Doors Helen Jensen (Extra) Tori Micah Project Total: Surplus £448.66

Allan Barnes Treasurer.