2024-04-05-annual-report

Charity name and address= Hillside Community Church Doury Road, Batlymena, BT43 6SA Charlty Commission Reglstration Number: NIC 101903 Annual Reportfor2023-2024 Structure and management Hillside Community Church was registered with The Charity Commission for Northern Ireland on 28" April 2015 as required by the Charities Act (Northern IreLand) 2008. The charity's Trust Deed was executed on 218t December 2014. The four current trustees are S Bonar. M Jones. S Reid and P Veal. They meet at least twice peryear. as required by the governing document. The dayto day running of the church involves both the spiritual care of its members and the practical issues of organisation. These are devolved to a leadership group consisting of A Al&xander S Bonar. M Jones. S Reid. P Stevenson. P Veal. which meets monthly throughout the year. This group normally avaits itself of regular leadership training through a biannual LEAD forum, organised forthe benefit of leaders of similar churches. Due to the charity's income level. the accounts are prepared on a 'receipts and payments, basis and are subject to independent examination. as required under Section 64(3) of the Charities Act (Northern Ireland) 2008. As part of the annual reporting. the trustees have complied with their duty to have regard to the Charity Commission's statutory guidance on Public Benefit Requirements. The legal framework for these two aspects of the report is found in The Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015. Non8 of the trustees claimed or received any remuneration or expenses for their services as trustees during the year. Rl8k to the charfty The trustees are grateful to the members of the church for their generous giving to the work of the Lord. It is this income which enables the church to achieve its charitable purposes. In financial terms, the main risk to the charity would be a reduction in the voluntary donations from its members. Should such a decrease occur, the trustees would seek opportunities to reduce costs in orderto maintain the financialviability of the church. Purposes The charitable purposes of the church are fourfold: 1. To advance the gospel of Jesus Christ amongst the general public. in accordance with Biblical principles and practice, in Northern Ireland, the Uk and abroad in a manner consistentwith our Statement of Faith

1. To prevent or relieve poverty among those in hardship in Northern Ireland. the UK and abroad
2. To relieve those in need by reason of adverse circumstance8 in Northern Ireland, the UK and abroad
3. To advance education by supporting existing schools and by providing out of school educational opportunities in Northern Ireland. the UK and abroad. Activities During the year the church has organised a range of activities intended to advance the gospeL These are open to the public and include weekly worship services for praise, communion and Bible teaching. a creche and Bibletime foryoung children and Bible class for teenagers. We enjoy excellent rnusic a8 part of ourweeklyworship and appreciate the talent and commitment of both our musicians and technical teams. These service formats achieved our first charitable purpose. by enabling those who attended to live outtheir faith through worship and prayer. learning about the gospel and how to put into practice and developing their Bible knowledge and trust in Jesus Christ. The teenagers also meet monthly- called Basement- in reference to its location in the building. Basement provides a safe environment for teenagers to relax together and explore the implications of the Christian faith for their lives. Teenagers who are not members of the church also attended. Some of ourteenagers had the opportunity to participate in summer Bible residential8, music residentials and GLO teams abroad. The public benefits of these activities are spiritual and qualitative: nevertheless. we are encouraged by continual good attendance. generous giving and positive feedback from those engaging. Many members of the church are involved in voluntary personal service to one another and to our community; this included volunteering in a local Foodbank. Some church members are trained as Neighbourhood Chaplains and visited lonely or disabled folk in their homes and ran a monthly lunch in Dunclug Community Centre. This has been greatly appreciated by those attended. We have continued our links with nearby Dunclug Primary School by offeringvolunteers to take school assemblies and assist with an SU prayer space for pupits at Ballyloughan Church and running a holiday Bible club in the school. We have also continued to share financiatly in a range of rnissionary projects and outreaches in Northern Ireland and abroad. These gifts amounted to over 60% of our total expenditur& For all these missionary causes we have received reports. both oral and by email. about the effect of our giving in sufficient detsil to satisfy us that there has been considerable public benefit under each of our four charitable purposes. Two examples of these projects are:

4. Steven and Hannah Wallace at Chitokoloki mission hospital in Zambia- offering excellent health care in a remote region and sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ

5. Revival Movement Association publishes and prints evangelistic literature in over 95 languages and supplies itfree of charge to many missions and Christian workers in over 170 countries. The trustees believe that no harm has come from any of these activities. The only private benefit to the trustees arises from religious events. in that the trustees benefit personally. but only in the same way as any member of the public could do so. This benefit is therefore incidental and necessary to achieve our purposes of advancing the gospel of Jesus Christ among the general public. Statement of Tru3tee3' responslbility In respect of the Annual Report and Accounts The Annual Report must contain certain administrative information about the charity. 88 set out in the accounting and reporting regulations. It also contains information about the charity's work and how our money has been spent during the past year. The trustees are responsible for preparing'receipts and payments, accounts. consisting of a summary of all monies received and paid via the bank and in cash by the charity during the financial year, along with a statement of balances. The trustee8 confirm that they have complied with the above requirements. By order of the Trustees S A Bonar (chair ) Date signed