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2022-12-31-annual-report

CONNOR CONGREGATION OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND TRUSTEES ANNUAL REPORT

The Trustees present their Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2022 including a Balance Sheet as at that date.

REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS

Connor Congregation of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland Carncombe Road Connor Ballymena BT42 3LA

Registered Charity in Northern Ireland (NIC105329)

CHARITY TRUSTEES

The Charity Trustees who served during the year or who were trustees at the date of this report were:

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Rev Philip David Thompson Mr Robert Campbell Allen
Mr Matthew Currie Mr Craig Mark Preston
Mr Nigel James Francey Mr Charles Rodney Houston
Mr Alistair John Greer Mr James Barr
Mr David Preston Mr Warwick Farquhar
Mr George McDowell Mr William Mervyn Johnston
Mr William Allan Agnew Mr David Thompson
Mr Geoffrey Samuel Allen Mr Frew Johnston
Mr Robert James Nicholl Mr Neil McCullough
Mr David Murdoch
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PRINCIPAL OFFICE BEARERS

Minister Rev PhilipDavid Thompson
Clerk of Session Mr William Mervyn Johnston
Treasurer Mr Nigel James Francey
Secretary Mr Alistair John Greer

INDEPENDENT EXAMINER

John Finnegan Potter Finnegan Limited Unit 25 The Courtyard Business Park 190 Galgorm Road Ballymena BT42 1HL

BANKERS

Danske Bank 1-2 Broadway Ballymena BT43 6EA

SOLICITORS

Boal Anderson & Co 56 High Street Ballymena Co. Antrim BT43 6UH

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CONNOR CONGREGATION OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND TRUSTEES ANNUAL REPORT

STRUCTURE AND MANAGEMENT

The Kirk Session

document, The Code, the book of the constitution and government of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, the Kirk Session seeks to watch over 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 Sessions has delegated to its Congregational Committee the temporal affairs of the congregation including administering all funds and property belonging to the congregation. 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.

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. Voting members of the congregation elect Elders to the Kirk Session.

All meetings of the congregation are under the governance of the Kirk Session. Stated meetings of the Kirk session were held on 12 occasions during the year ending 31st December 2022.

Presbytery

Under the Presbyterian Church in Ireland form of governance the corporate 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. Connor Presbyterian Church has been assigned to the Ballymena Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. The membership of the Presbytery consists mainly of the active ministers 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 each 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 was 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

Connor Presbyterian Church is a congregation of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. The Presbyterian Church in Ireland, as a Reformed Church within the wider body of Christ, is grounded in the Scriptures, and exists to love and honour God mission to our world.

Connor Presbyterian Church exists to see unbelieving people become lifelong followers of Jesus Christ. We have three main objectives.

Objective 1 To encourage people to make use of the ordinary means of grace

Objective 2 To equip our people for service

Help our people to identify the gifts God has given them to serve others;

Identify appropriate training to enable our people to carry out acts of service.

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CONNOR CONGREGATION OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND TRUSTEES ANNUAL REPORT

Objective 3

To engage our people in missionary outreach at home and overseas.

To encourage our people to play their part in personal outreach and ministry.

We have followed this pattern by partnering with:

ACTIVITIES AND OBJECTIVES

Meetings are as outlined below. The dedication and commitment of Rev. Thompson and leaders of the organisations is greatly appreciated, and we are thankful to God that congregational life is now reverting to a more normal arrangement.

Sunday Prayer meeting 11.00am
Sunday School & Bible Class 11.00am
Morning Service 12.00 noon
Prayer meeting 6.00pm
Evening Service 6.30pm
Monday Boys Brigade
Anchor Boys & Junior Section 7.00pm
Company & senior Section 7.30pm
Tuesday A Warm Place
commenced Nov 2022		 Weekly 10-12noon
Girls Brigade
Explorers 6.30pm
Juniors, Seniors, Brigaders 7.30pm
Wednesday Prayer Meeting 8.00pm
Thursday Kirk Session meeting Monthly 7.30pm
Presbyterian Women (PW) Monthly 8.00pm
Church Committee As announced 7.30pm
Indoor Bowling Club As announced 8.00pm
Craft Group As announced 8.00pm
Friday As announced 7.00pm

ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE

Worship and prayer

The congregation normally meets for worship each Sunday at 12.00pm and 6.30pm. During the week, the Bible Study provides an opportunity for members to meet together for fellowship, to study the scriptures and for a time of prayer. On a Wednesday evening we have a prayer meeting alternating between a physical meeting or on Zoom.

There were no marriages conducted during the year. We sought to comfort those members who had been bereaved during the year.

On 31 December 2022 there were 272 communicant members and 310 families connected with the congregation.

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CONNOR CONGREGATION OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND

Pastoral care

Rev. Thompson and the Elders have resumed pastoral visitation. Members of the congregation who are unable to attend visitors.

Mission and outreach

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 denominational basis beyond what the congregation could do on its own. The United Appeal Fund provides financial support 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 of worship, discipleship, global mission, outreach, leadership and pastoral care.

Presbytery

The congregation was represented at the regular meetings of the Presbytery by our minister and one of the elders. This provides an important link between the congregations and the wider structures of the church.

General Assembly

The minister and one of our elders were nominated to attend the meeting of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland held in Assembly Buildings, Belfast, in June.

Property

The Congregational Committee met on three occasions during the year. The Congregational Committee had oversight of the material needs of the congregation. Their main activities ensured the upkeep of the Meeting House, Halls, Manse Farm and Graveyard.

Organisations

The Kirk Session

The Kirk Session met throughout the year to deal with the spiritual interests of our congregation.

The following organisations met throughout the year as announced.

Sunday Worship

faithfully preached, were built up in their faith and those who do not have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ were challenged to repent and live for Christ.

Sunday School, Bible Class and Ablaze

Children and young peo of what God has to say through his word and that they may come to faith in Christ and live their lives for him.

A Warm Place

A Warm Place began to meet from 10 am to 12 noon on Tuesday 15[th] November 2022 and each Tuesday thereafter. It meeting.

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CONNOR CONGREGATION OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND

Boys Brigade and Girls Brigade.

The uniformed organisations of BB and GB meet from September to April, and these are open to all boys and girls,

Presbyterian Women

Women of all ages met monthly. They had a varied programme providing reports on missionary interest and giving women opportunities for fellowship and special events.

The Congregational Committee

The Congregational Committee dealt with the temporal needs of the congregation as it met throughout the year.

The Bowling Club

The Bowling Club was open to all and provided friendship for those whose interests were in playing bowls.

The Craft group

The Craft group was open to all to learn new skills and nurture friendships.

All the meetings come under the governance of the Kirk Session who appoint all leaders. Connor Presbyterian adheres to the Presbyterian Church in Ireland Taking Care policy.

Volunteers

The Trustees wish to acknowledge their deep appreciation of those who give freely of their time by serving on committees and helping with organizations and other church activities.

PUBLIC BENEFIT STATEMENT

The Presbyterian Church in Ireland meets the public benefit requirement by providing benefit to its members and the general public by making known the Christian Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ through the advancement of religion.

The direct benefits which flow from the purposes of the Church include the gaining of an understanding in Christian beliefs Larger Catechisms) leading to spiritual and moral development and opportunities for response to Bible teaching. In turn, this framework leads to practical expressions of Christian beliefs and standards in the local community such as through the care of those in need (including the sick, disabled, and bereaved).

Generally, the above benefits are delivered locally by congregations and their members or are facilitated through presbyteries or are organised and delivered centrally. Local delivery is facilitated by central resources in almost all cases. Public access is made known through the use of noticeboards, printed material, press advertisement, websites, and social media or in other ways.

The benefits are demonstrated through regular evaluation of the services and informal and ad-hoc feedback from members, their families, and members of the public.

The purpose does not lead to harm. The only private benefit flowing from our purpose is related to Ministers, Missionaries, Deaconesses, Irish Mission workers and Lay Agents who receive benefits as a result of their holding office or employment. However, this is incidental and necessary in order to further our charitable purpose. There are no other private benefits. The beneficiaries of this purpose are members, their families, other individuals that the Presbyterian Church in Ireland is in direct and indirect contact with, the community in which pastoral services are provided and other communities throughout Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, and worldwide which benefit from our engagement with and support for both Christian and other secular organisations, charities, and individual members of the public.

The Kirk Session has had regard to the Charity Commission's public benefit requirement statutory guidance.

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CONNOR CONGREGATION OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND

FINANCIAL REVIEW

184 contributors during the year [210 in previous year, 2021] donating a total of £126,660 (£115,981 in previous year, 2021)

Total Income of the congregation during the year was £325,496, compared to £213,526 in the previous year.

Total expenditure increased from £204,298 to £261,779.

RESPONSIBILITIES IN RESPECT OF FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

The Trustees are responsible for preparing the Annual Report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice.

The Trustees are required to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the congregations and the financial activities for that year. In preparing the financial statements the Trustees are required to:

The Trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that are sufficient to show and explain the funds transactions and disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the congregations and enable them taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

GOING CONCERN

The activities of the congregation are dependent on ongoing contributions from its members. The Trustees are of the opinion that the congregation has sufficient resources at the date of approval of these financial statements to meet commitments which will arise in the year from the date of signing this report and subject to the continuing support from ctivities and other financial commitments.

RISK REVIEW

A review of major risks has been undertaken by the Trustees and systems and procedures implemented to manage identified risks. The principal risks are in relation to the likelihood of reputational damage and financial risks associated with the expectation of ongoing financial support from members. These risks are mitigated by the Trustees, and the Congregational Committee, regularly monitoring the various activities of the congregation at stated meetings and by encouraging members in their regular giving.

Approved by the Kirk Session at a meeting on 25th May 2023 and signed on its behalf by:

Rev Philip David Thompson Trustee

Mr William Mervyn Johnston Trustee

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