Christ Church (Congregational) Abbots Cross Tru8toe8 Annual Report P•riod 111 January 2020 to 31•11)•c•mb•r 2020
Trustees Annual Re Charity- Christ Church (Congregaknnal) - also known as Abbots Cross Congregational Nl charity reference- NIC103423 Principal addreu- Christ Church (Congregational). Cwh Road. Newlownabbey, County Antnm. BT37 9QW. Introducllon This report Covers the penod 1•1 January 2020 to 31*1 December 2020 and is the fourth report required following registration as a chanty on 12th May 2016. Structure The congregation at Abbots Cross is an unincorporated institution made up of all those who take up membership and govemed by a constrtutson. Under the constrtution there is provision for a leadership bc#Jy made up of the Minister and Deacons {'a¢0nate}. The serving Minister is generally regarded as the Chairperson, a Secretary and Treasurer are apwinted frorn within the Diaconate and ratffied by the members of the Congregation. The Annual Business Meeting at which accounts are brought lo the members is held in February each year. with subsequent Church Meetings in June. September and Dernber. The congregation is al80 subject to the trusts placed upon it by a Trust Deed in which the property is also settled. under the requirements of the Trust Deed a number of persons have been appointed by arrfl on behalf of the congregation as 'holding trustees, to hold legal trtle to the buildings in which the Congregation meet and to the manse. Our Charitable Purposes are set oirt in the Covenant 8e(#ion of our constitution as follows: Wo engage therelorn, wfth tho ald of tho Hoty Splrf( to walk together In Chrfstlan lov•; lo strlve for tho advanc•mont of this church In kno•d98. holin888 and c¢)mfortr. to malrrtaln the worshlp, ordlnancos. disciplin• and doctrlnes: to contrlbuto cheerfully and regularty to the Church: th• r•li•f of th• n•ody; th• •pread of th• Gosw to all natlons. These purposes are advanced by means of our weekfy publFC services, <xrtreach into the local Communty, Organisatior meeting in our premises, missionary interest and practical support. Trustees For the wrpose of charty law. the Minister and Deacons have the day404ay role for the administration and management of the church and are thntffied as the charity trustees arKI ap)pointed by the members of the Congregation. The present Minister has been serving for 10 years. Deacons are elected for a Feriod of 3 year5 and on retirement are eligible for re- election. Instead of all retsring at the same ts'me, one third of the Deacons retire by rotation each year. During the period of this report the folk)w'ng persons served as tharity trustees:
fyllliam Annette (Secretary). Jeffrey Adair. Brian Bell. Samuel Carson, Andrew CLrthbert, Re¥. Trevor Gillanders (Chair). Andrew Kirkpatrick (elected February 2020), Richard Logan (retired February 2020), Paul Mcconnell. Thomas McLemon (Treasurer). Mark Thompson, David Walker. Publl The trustees confirm they have regard to the Commission's public tenefft requirement. While the Minister and l other trustee receive a salary and relevant expenses from the congregation. this is an inadental private benefit necessary to further our charitable purposes as sel oui in our F#Jrpose statement available to view on our registration page on the Ch817ty Cwmission lor Northem Ire18nd website. Despite the restriCInS Ought in due to the Coronaviws ouibreak. we continued to support our congregation in spiritual and practical matters. Our services were conducted arKI streamed on-lirn and we distribute(I dis of our servi5 to those without on-line access. We've had team of wple involved in 8 lelephone mintsty, keeping in contact with (xjr congregation. 'Driv&in' seNices whrch. even though subj.ect to restrictions, proved popular and gave our congregation an opportunty to stay in conta¢t. In the p8ri0d8 when we were able to assemble as a congregation we followed the Executive's guiddines, for exampk, limiting number attending. wearing face coverings. Despite these restrictions our congregation tre glad to be able to meet. Our live-streamed jerrfices are received in many drflerent countries arKI rt is also encouraging when some of our vievKrsllistenevJ contact us to say how tt*y appreciate the ministry. The Trustees remain aware of the 'duty of care, to children. All person8 working wth chiklren must be subpcl to an enhanc£d disck>sure under current legislation and this applies to persons working in organtsations associated wrth the church such as Boys. and Girls, Brigade. Although our organisations were unable to condud their programme5 this year, our safeguarding policy remains in place and at the 31° December 2020 there had not been any 'abuse' claims made, rK)r are VK presentty aware of any ¢ir¢wistances which rnht reasonably be expec#ed to give rise to a claim for abuse. FIMn¢lal Revlow Given the very drfficum financial situation in this year. we musl record sincere appreciation to our congregation fcK contsnuing to support our freewll givinglofferings. IhThen we were unable to meet. arrangements were made to enable the congregation to contribute and this made it possible for us to meet our ongoiTrJ financaal commitments. A number of persons gNe under the Govemment's 'Gift d, stheme. Accounts are prepared on a receipts and payment (income and expendrture) basis and we have complied with the requirement to disclose and submit the infonnation required in the Annual Monitoring Retum and to publish our accounts.
Our gross income for the year as reported here at 3181 December 2020 in our No.1 account was £189.321 wrth expenditure of £221,786. We maintain a dose interest in 'missionary' endeavour at home and abroad and each week donate at least 10% of weekly income to students and full time Ctyistian workers approved by Church {full Church members) and on each tenth SurKlay give the entire offwiNJs to designated missionary work as disdosed in our accounts. No.1 Account {balanc8 31* December 2020).. £59,9X SvJn8d on behH¥olth• TDA885.-