LBC HURST GREEN
BEAUMONT ROAD HALESOWEN B62 9HD (Registered Charity No. 701531)
ANNUAL REPORT
YEAR ENDED APRIL 5[th] . 2022
1) GENERAL CHURCH REVIEW
The first half of the year was largely taken up with the whole church considering and discussing the future following a decision by Pastor Nigel Powell that it was time for him to retire.
Prophetic words and visions flowed freely as major decisions were taken resulting in an agreement with Aaron Jarvis for Hurst Green Family Church to join with the LBC Network of churches. Nigel agreed to stay in position until such time as a replacement could be found which ultimately took place at the end of August 2022.
September started with Hurst Green Family Church becoming part of the LBC network of churches and thus the name of the church changed to ‘LBC Hurst Green’ to better fit in with its amalgamation into the LBC network of churches. This change also included Nick Harrison taking up position as Pastor of LBC Hurst Green following the retirement of Nigel Powell from the Pastorate and Nigel Powell & Edwin Fletcher retiring as Church Elders. It was agreed prior to Nick’s appointment as Pastor in September 2021 that all running ministries would end to give Nick a clean slate to start from.
The same month saw first outreach community BBQ & family fun day, aptly named both in a spiritual and seasonal sense as the ‘Harvest time BBQ’. This was a great success with many people from the neighbourhood attending and the weather was fantastic too given it was late summer/early autumn. The aim of the day was to have fun whilst reaching out to a lost world. Fun was had by all who attended, and we made some great connections with the community. The day took a lot of organising and so we thank all those who helped bring the day together including those who came to help from our sister churches LBC Birmingham and LBC Oldbury. There are too many names to thank people individually.
October to Christmas saw the launch of our first Alpha Course (see further details of this under Alpha Course). We also had a few ‘impact’ visiting speakers such as Craig Bennet (a street preacher/pastor from Castlegate Church – Dudley), Jay Smith (from Rise for Christ – an evangelistic ministry born out of Cfan), Andy Flute (an ex-professional boxer), and our own LBC senior leader Aaron Jarvis bringing an evangelistic anointing and supporting us in the initial months.
Sunday evening services were certainly times to set cold hearts on fire for the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ and we had four salvations between September and December 2021.
Christmas services were disrupted somewhat with the continued Covid19 situation and people falling ill, but we managed to remain open and continued with both morning and evening services. We were also able to deliver 57 free food hampers for needy families in the local area, which were supplied by a Christian charity. Nick is particularly thankful to Joan Betteridge and Mark Whitehouse for their help with the logistics in getting these hampers out.
The families received them gratefully and we have kept the contact details should we be able to this again in the future.
The new year of 2022 saw the beginning of some structure in LBC Hurst Green with Andrew & Yvonne Gisbourne and John & Michelle Fisher being invited to serve the church as the new LBC Hurst Green leadership team. In Addition, Nick asked Nigel Powell to chair the new Advisory Counsel consisting of Nigel & Christine Powell, Dennis & Sandra Shearman, and Joan Betteridge. The Advisory Counsel was set up based on a scripture from the book of proverbs
‘Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisors’ plans are established’ Proverbs 15:22
The purpose of the Advisory Counsel as the name suggests is to advise the Leadership Team where relevant on how to achieve short-, mid- and long-term goals as the church endeavours to fulfil the vision of becoming a church planting church. This AC team has proved invaluable for the church and is working well at the time of writing, thank you to those involved and named above.
We also had our men’s group lead by Nick start on a Tuesday and women’s group lead by Joyce Neech start on a Wednesday (see below for further details of these groups). The men also joined in fellowship with LBC Birmingham and Oldbury at men’s breakfasts and pizza night. The women likewise joined in with the women from LBC Birmingham and Oldbury on women’s fellowship days.
On 30[th] January 2022 we had our first salvation of the year during an evening service and salvations every week following this for eight weeks straight up to
the end of March. We were seeing salvations both in services and on the streets.
During the period of September ’21 to March ’22 we sadly had ten existing members leave the fellowship for pastures new; however, ten new believers joined the fellowship in the same period, so numerically we were pretty consistent during the initial months of the change.
Looking back, we have had some intense spiritual battles to get the church where God wanted us in heart and mind. It’s been very busy and we have experienced many highs and a few lows as a fellowship over these first six or seven months. We have witnessed some incredible miracles and breakthroughs. The weekly corporate prayer evenings known as the Engine Room of the church have consistently proved to be an amazing place of encounter.
We have some very gifted and committed people at LBC Hurst Green and thanks be to God for the pure blessing it is to be part of the loving church family that is LBC Hurst Green. You are all loved, valued, and appreciated. God bless and thank you for your continued service to The King of Kings.
2) MINISTERIAL REPORTS
Sunday Servies
Morning & evening church services have been held weekly since September 2021. Various street evangelists were invited to come and speak on Sunday evenings with the sole purpose of encouraging the fellowship to more evangelism. One highlight of our Sunday evenings was at the end of November 2021, we had ex professional boxer Andy Flute come and give his testimony as part of the ongoing outreach. We celebrated our second decision for Christ at this event.
Sunday evenings continued over the Christmas period of 2021 and at the end of January we celebrated our first evening salvation of 2022. This was a great encouragement for the church as we sensed a real move of God beginning.
Summary – Sunday morning services became more focussed on Biblical teaching for building the body of Christ, whilst evening services proved to be more evangelistic by nature.
– Prayer The Engine Room
The plan for prayer to become the bedrock of church activity took the form of corporate prayer meetings held in the main sanctuary of the church building. These meetings are held every Thursday evening and open to everyone, they consist of worship and prayer, words of knowledge, people getting scriptures and pictures from the throne room of heaven. These prayer meetings are by and large, well-attended by up to twenty people. We have recognised many answers to prayer since September ‘21, but the highlight up to March ’22 has to be when news came through to the fellowship one Thursday night of a young mum who was pregnant and had been rushed into hospital after contracting Covid19.
We were told that her condition had deteriorated so much that they were considering delivering the baby by Caesarean Section and that the mother had less than 10% chance of surviving.
Whilst in prayer for this woman, God gave a picture of a woman disappearing down a water swirl and into a plug hole. The church began to pray in earnest that God would deliver this woman out of this ‘swirl’, give life to her and that the pregnancy would go full term. God answered our prayers and the young woman recovered miraculously. Upon gaining consciousness she told her mother that she felt her life ebbing away from her and that it felt like she was ‘going down a plughole and there was no way she could stop herself’. The same night we prayed was the same night she said she felt God lift her out of the swirl. Glory to God alone.
Life groups / Bible study
In January 2021, we launched our men’s and women’s midweek groups which initially proved very popular. Both groups worked through the Reinhart Bonke ‘Catch the Fire’ teaching series as part of Bible study. The purpose of the teaching series was to inspire and give confidence for people to share the gospel with non-believers who wouldn’t necessarily call themselves
evangelists. The scriptures teach that every Christian is to be a witness for the gospel and so we must change the way we think if we think differently to this.
The purpose of the men and women meeting separately for a few months was that the meetings were more apt for each of gender groups and allow a space for relationships and friendships to be built after the initial upheaval of change during the first three months from September.
The understanding is that men will share more openly with men if women are not around and vice versa. If people are sharing more openly it will encourage trust between people in the fellowship with a view to the two groups dovetailing into smaller mixed gender groups in September of 2022.
Youth Work
Youth work was non-existent in September apart from an occasional Sunday morning teaching. In January, Nick and Andrew Gisbourne began to run Friday night youth meetings.
Whilst these nights seem to run well it soon became obvious that we were putting a sticky plaster on a gaping wound and the young people in the church need and deserved something far more substantial. These nights were drawn to an end, and we decided to wait and pray that God would send a youth worker who had a passion for working with young people.
Children’s Ministry – by Becky Davison
Leaders / responsibilities
Rebecca Davison and Andrea Powell are the joint leaders of KidzChurch. Rebecca Davison is responsible for the planning, resourcing of weekly lessons, delivery of lessons and ensuring that all children have permission forms completed, identifying any allergies.
Andrea Powell is responsible for setting up snack in the morning, cleaning up after snack, supporting Rebecca Davison with delivery of lessons and supporting the resourcing of lessons.
Number of children
In September 2021, 9 children regularly attended KidzChurch – Joseph, Jacob, Reuban, Ella, Joanna, Arrabella, Holly, Sophie and Jessica. By January 2022 that number had dropped to 6 and stayed at that amount until March 2022.
Resources for planning
Rebecca Davison used an array of trusted websites to plan and resource weekly lessons, these included ministry to children, children’s ministry and ministry
spark. Rebecca Davison was never happy with the planning of weekly lessons due to lack of vision and planning resources, Andrea and Rebecca resourced a range of different schemes but were never entirely happy. Rebecca reached out to Abigail Yates at LBC Oldbury and she recommended ‘Mission Bible Class’ Rebecca then started to use this resource from March 2022.
Structure of KidzChurch weekly lessons
Each week we start off with snack and catch up with the children, snacks include biscuits, fruit, crisps and juice. We then carry out a short worship session where children sing Kids worship songs from YouTube, these include videos from Hillsong Kids, Bethel Kids and CJ and friends. We then introduce the main theme for the lesson, watch a video from Saddleback Kidz or other trustable site, we then carry out a craft to reflect the learning in the lesson. In the warmer months we then go outside and complete team games.
Themes covered during September 2021 – March 2022
Armour of God, Christmas and the birth of Jesus, how to pray to God, why we pray to God, Jesus calms the storm, Jesus calms the sea, purpose of communion
Struggles of KidzChurch during period of September 2021 – March 2022
Adult support – needed more adults to support weekly lessons
Lack of input for leaders – as it is the same adults carrying out KidzChurch leaders do not get to listen to any sermons during church
Low number of children – some activities that we had planned for required more children
Lack of room to carry out activities – this changed when we moved downstairs Lack of funds to buy resources – After discussions with Nick Harrison he provided us with funds to buy what we needed
Highlights of KidzChurch during period of September 2021 – March 2022
New planning resource – Mission Bible class – much better structure to lessons Move of classroom to downstairs – more space and definitive areas for different aspects of the lesson
Pot of funds available for KidzChurch Access to outdoors area
’ Women s Ministry - By Joyce Neech
The aim of the women’s ministry is to encourage our women to become all that God has called them to be both inside the church family and outside in our
community. We are looking for ways to reach out in an evangelistic way into the area. Our aim was to have quarterly meetings to be held on a Saturday afternoon.
The first of these meetings occurred on the 5[th] February which was very successful. As it was our first meeting, we shared with those attending what the aim of the group was and asked for input from them. We had a worship time and eats afterwards.
In order for us to fulfil the call of this ministry we need to enlist the help of leaders who can commit time and ideas to move forward. I am in the process of praying and seeking the right women for the job and am looking forward positively to re-starting in March of 2023.
Worship by Mark Whitehouse
Where this report begins, the worship team at LBC Hurst Green had 10 members, and the leader was Tracy Evans. There was a rota, so that members got a break from always playing every Sunday. Tracy was keen for all to have time just worshipping in the main congregation. The team was leading worship at morning and evening meetings on Sundays, as well as at the engine room (prayer meetings) on Thursday evenings.
However, we were only practicing once per month, usually on the evening of the last Monday of the month. It was felt that this needed to change, and so from late October, Monday evenings became the regular practice night for the worship team.
John Fisher joined us, and Andy & Bev Dawes left the team around this time.
We continued leading worship at Sunday morning and evening services and on Thursday evenings throughout the Autumn.
In early December, we began to plan for the Christmas services - Carol services on Sunday, December 19th, and the service on Christmas day. We planned to have a normal morning service on the morning of the 19th, and, in the evening, an outdoor service on the church car park, involving the local community. This would entail the group singing along to a backing track, to avoid having to move electronic instruments outdoors. This plan had to be abandoned, and the service moved indoors due to inclement weather. We had a traditional Carol service on Christmas morning.
Barbara Murdock left the team at the end of December, while Isaac & Josiah Gisbourne were added. We continued into the new year.
Different members of the team had a variety of illnesses during the winter months.
Then, in March, Tracy Evans, and her husband, Jason, decided to leave the group and also left the church. I was then invited to move into leading the team, and also at this time began actually leading worship, something I had begun to do when we started a men's fellowship group during this month. This coincided with the purchase of a new keyboard, specifically intended for me to lead worship.
We carried on leading worship through the month of March, operating a similar rota system to the one set up by Tracy. This was the position at the end of March 2022. At this point, the worship team had eight members.
Church Membership
The formal idea of church membership was shelved for a time, it was not possible to talk about membership with churchgoers whilst the church was going through such a change. When things have settled more, we will visit this again and offer a constructive membership to regular and committed attendees.
Website & Media Publicity
The website needs to be revamped and simplified. It has a nice appearance but needs to be simplified so that people are able to navigate round it easier especially with a view to it becoming a major source of outreach.
Media publicity is virtually non-existent and needs to be grown as a ministry. We will look at how we can best utilise media for church publicity and the spreading of the gospel – this is our main priority in all areas. Paul Robinson is looking in to this and we can’t wait to see the results.
The Bible Course
A big thank you to Edwin for leading the Bible course during men’s midweek group. This is an excellent course for getting an overview of the Bible and will prevent Biblical illiteracy if continued to be used to equip the saints in the future.
3) EVANGELISM
Community BBQ
In line with the vision, Nick set out to lead the church to be more purposeful in evangelism, meaning the church members would need to be further equipped and encouraged in outreach. This began with a church community BBQ at the end of September 2021 which was set out with dual purpose of LBC Hurst Green getting to know those in the immediate neighbourhood and to invite people to attend the forthcoming Alpha Course, an introductory six week course teaching people the basics of the Christian faith. The BBQ proved very successful in terms of being well attended by the community and 15 people were signed up for the Alpha Course.
The Alpha Course
The first Alpha Course in November 2021 was well attended by 25 people, most were new Christians (2 years and under in the faith) from another LBC church whom we had the privilege of ministering to. There were a few from LBC Hurst Green, five of these were non-believers and one of these made a decision to follow Jesus.
The second Alpha (attended by about 15 people) saw more people attend as a direct result of LBC Hurst Green outreach and evening services. This was really encouraging and showed that God was on the move bringing new life into the church. Again, we saw another salvation on the second Alpha course and other new Christians within the fellowship being given a solid foundational teaching in the Christian faith.
Thank you, Christine Powell, Chris Armstrong, Ruth Saul, Evelyn, Joan Betteridge, Mark Whitehouse and Brian Summerfield, for serving so faithfully to make the Alpha Courses such a success.
Our first salvation at LBC Hurst Green was not from Alpha or the BBQ but was a tradesman visiting the premises to do some work in October 2021. At the time of writing this person is attending services on a regular basis and growing in the faith.
Street Evangelism
No street evangelism occurred during the months September to December 2021, but in January 2022 a team began to prayer-walk the local streets around Hurst Green each Friday. This continued for 6 – 8 weeks and quickly developed into street evangelism in Black Heath (a shopping town local to LBC Hurst Green). The team felt it was right to spend more time where the shoppers were as this gave ample opportunity for street evangelism. During February, there were no salvations then through March 2022 we saw 4 decisions for Christ through street evangelism.
Church plantng
In line with the vision to become a church planting church, John and Michelle Fisher were approached in November 2021, with a view to heading up LBCHG first church plant. They agreed and at the time of writing the husband is working through LBC Hurst Green leaders training manual. The expectation is that this couple will remain with LBC Hurst Green for one year whilst they work through the training manual. Then come January 2023 they will begin to seek a location in Bromsgrove to plant a church. A few people in LBC Hurst Green fellowship are funding a part time wage for two years (16 hours per week) for John. Michelle will continue in her current job until such a time that she is able to find
Overseas Mission
LBC Hurst Green continue to sow financially in to the LBC Church Network funds for church planting. At the time of writing, funds are being used to fund a church plant in Burundi and a small team are planning to go to Burundi late
summer to consolidate the mission work there. LBC Hurst Green will be sending Mark Whitehouse with the team to weigh up whether this is something LBC Hurst Green is being called to work with the Burundi Church more closely and directly.
LBC Hurst Green donate £50 per month to a Bible College in Nagaland, Northwest India – we are praying and weighing whether this is something where we can develop a closer partnership in order to plant in South East Asia.
Oversees vision is that when the time is right, and the Lord opens the doors we will hopefully plant in Southeast Europe and Israel.
Building Report by Joan Betteridge
There were only minor maintenance issues at the start of this period, including a re-weld on one of the mesh gateposts, and two water pipe leakages in the toilets.
In January the office was moved from the house to the old Busy Hands storeroom nearer the front door. This involved double glazing & electrical work, window blinds & carpets, whilst Nick did the decorating himself.
In February a new boiler was fitted upstairs, and an area at the back of church was sectioned off for very young children to stay in during the service. March saw new blinds in the main hall instead of curtains, and new expansion vessels on the other boilers.
Much more work is planned for the summer holiday period.
Final word from the Pastor
The vision of LBC Hurst Green is to become a ‘church planting church’ first & foremost in the UK and then beyond, but my God-given passion is to see the UK in revival.
The fulfilment of this vision will not come to pass overnight, but with steps of faith and obedience in time we will plant our first LBC Hurst Green plant. God once showed me that when the other side is too far to reach in one jump, He provides smaller more manageable steppingstones, it may take longer but these steppingstones are an essential part of achieving the vision.
Firstly, these steppingstones give us the time to go through necessary process, so that we have longevity when we reach the other side. For us the other side is multiple church plants. We are in the process of reformation. Holy Spirit is reforming our hearts and minds, that we become more zealous for Jesus and more radical in evangelism.
Secondly, if we are to plant healthy churches, then we need to have a healthy church to plant from. We can only reproduce after our own kind, so we need to learn first what makes a church healthy - love for God and love for one another, commitment, patience, preferring one another above ourselves, not being self-centred but being God-centred, putting off the old self and putting on the one man etc. these are all things we grow into. Imagine planting a church full of envy and back-biting – it doesn’t bear thinking about.
Finally, we should be greatly encouraged by the fruit we are already witnessing in church growth, it’s beyond what I think any of us expected in the first 7 months. So long as we focus on the Lord Jesus and live for Him alone, I believe God will truly give us the blessing that He is setting us up for – to reap a harvest of souls and plant many churches.
I can’t wait to see what God does over the next year, and the cherry on the cake for me is that I get to do the journey with people I sincerely love and enjoy being around.
Praise be to God alone!
AMEN
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Inde ndent Examiner's Re rt to the Trustets of LBC Hurst Green Beaumont Road H¥lesowen West Midlands. B62 9HD isÉered Chari No. 701531 :. IIMRC Ref. XN77764 . I report on the accounts of the Trust for the year end1 5 April 2022 attached herewith. ec¢ive res nsibilities of trte and examiner. As the charity's trtsstees you are responsible for the preparation of the aOnts. you consider that the audit rqu1ment of section 43{2) of the Charities Act 1993 (the ACÉ) does not apply. It is my responsibility to state, on the basis of procedures specified in the General Directions given by the Charity Commissioners under section 43 (7)(b) of the ACL whether particular matters have come to rny attention. Basis of inde endent exarniners Te My examinAtion w&8 carried out in accordanee with the General Directions given by the Charity Commissioners. An examination includes a review of the ac£ounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of th¢ accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and seeking explanations from you as trustees concerning any suGh matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audiL and consequently I do notexpress an auditopinion on the view given by the accounts. Inde endent exa]niners statement. In comiection with my examination, no matter h&$ come to my atteDtioo: (l) which gives me reasonable ¢aus¢ to believe that in any material respect the requirements to keep accounting records in acrdance with section 41 of the ACL and to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and to comply with the accounting requirements of the Act have not been m¢l or (2) to which, in my opinion, attention should be drdwn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be Teached. Name & Signature".- Relevant profe&sAonal quaJification=. PeterKelly......... ACMA CGMA Addre5S:_ 3, Yoxall Road, Shirley, Solihull, Wesi Midlands. B90 3SD Date'.-