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FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, NEWTOWNARDS
CONGREGATION OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND
Trustees Annual Report and Financial Statements
For the year ended 31 December 2022
Registered Charity in Northern Ireland NIC105087

FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, NEwfowNARDS, CONGREGATION OF THE
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND TRUSTEES ANNUAL REPORT
The Charity Trustees of the congregation are the members of its Kirk Session. Under the
congregation's governing document, The Code, the book of the constitution and government
of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, the Kirk Session seeks to watch ovei and promote the
spiritual interest of the congregation and of persons not connected with any congregation who
are within its bounds. It ensures pastoral care is in place in the congregation and seeks to further
the contribution of the Church to Christian witness and service in the local community. The
Kirk Session has delegated to its Congregational Committee the temporal affairs of the
congregation including administering all funds and property belonging to the congi'egation.
Members of the Kirk Session are ex-officio members of the Congregational Committee.
The Kirk Session consists of the ordained minister and the ruling elders of the congregations.
All members are entitled to propose, speak and exercise equal votes at meetings, except that
the Moderator, the minister in active duty in the congregation, has no deliberative but only a
casting vote.
Stated meetings of the Kirk Session are held on about 6 or 7 times a year.
To be chosen for the office of the eldership in the congregation a person must be a voting
member and a regular attendant on its ordinances. The selection of those proposed to be called
to the office can be either by the congregation or by the Kirk Session. Members are elected if
they obtain two-thirds of those who vote.
Presbytery
Under the Presbyterian Church in Ireland fomi of governance the co￿Orate oversight of a
congregation is the responsibility of a Presbytery which superintends generally the spiritual
and temporal affairs of the congregations assigned to it by the General Assembly of the
Presbyterian Church in Ireland. First Presbyterian Church, Newtownards congregation of the
Presbyterian Church has been assigned to the Ards Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church in
Ireland. The membership of the Presbytery consists mainly of the active ministei's of
congregations assigned to it by the General Assembly, ministers who have retired from active
duty and an elder appointed by the Kirk Session of the congregation.
The General Assembly
The General Assembly is the supreme court of the Church, representing in one body the whole
Church and acting as its supreme legislative, administration and judicial authority, in dealing
with all matters brought before it. The General Assembly is normally constituted during the
first week in June for worship and to conduct its business. At the end of business it is dissolved.
The membership of the General Assembly consists mainly of the active ministers of each
congregation, retired ministers and a representative elder appointed by the Kirk Session of each
congregation.
DESCRIPTION AND PURPOSE
The charitable pU￿oSe of the congregation is the advancement of rcligion.
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FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, NEWTOWNARDS, CONGREGATEON OF THE
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND TRUSTEES ANNUAL REPORT
The congregation meets for worship each Sunday at 11:30am ( I I :00am in July and August).
At 3 1st December 2022 there were 196 communicant members and 216 families connected
with the congregation. The average weekly attendance at morning worship is 150 and evening
worship 40.
Pastoral care
Members of the congregation who are unable to attend church due to sickness or age are visited
on a regular basis by the minister, elders or by one of the congregation's pastoral visitors.
Mission and outreach
At a local level the congregation supports one of our members, who is working in the mission
field in Cambodia through the organisation Care for Cambodia. Part of this project involves
the support of a number of schools in Cambodia.
The congregation supports the United Appeal for Mission which is a central fund of the
Presbyterian Church in Ireland. This fund enables congregations to support the wider mission
of the denomination and to do mission and outreach on a denominational basis beyond what
the congregation could do on its own. The United Appeal Fund provides financial suppoit for
mission personnel at home and overseas, assists congregations with the deployment of locally
based staff, enables church planting, provides grant support for the upkeep of church premises,
assist with the running costs of Union Theological College, the Church's training college for
ministry students, and financially supports congregations in the areas of worship, discipleship,
global mission, outreach, leadership and pastoral care. We also supported the work of a debt
manager within the link for Christians Against Poverty.
The congregation also contributes to the denomination's annual World Development Appeal
and other special appeals.
Presbytery
The congregation was represented at the regular meetings of Presbytery by our minister and a
representative elder. This provides an important link between the congregations and the wider
sti'uctures of the church.
General Assembly
The minister and one of oiir elders were nominated to attend the meeting of the General
Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland held in Assembly Buildings, Bclfast, in June.
Property
The congregation now have a purpose built manse at Tullynagardy in Newtownards.
Organisations
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FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, NEwfowNARDS, CONGREGATION OF THE
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND TRUSTEES ANNUAL REPORT
Total Income of the congregation during the year was £568.154 compared to £1 19,900 in the
previous year.
Total Expenditure was £517,027 compared to £128.453 the previous year.
The higher income and expenditure is due to the sale of the old manse and the purchase of a
new one.
STATEMENT OF TRUSTEE RESPONSIBILITIES
The Trustees are responsible for preparing the Annual Report and the Financial Statements of
the congregation in accordance with applicable law and generally accepted accounting practice.
As the congregation's total income does not exceed £250,000, the Trustees have elected under
Section 64(3) of the Charities Act (Northern Ireland) 2008 to prepare a Receipts and Payment
Accoiint and a Statement of Assets and Liabilities.
The Trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that are sufficient to
show and explain the congregation's transactions and disclose with reasonable accuracy at any
time its financial position. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the
congregation and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud
and other irregularities.
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