FRONTIERS IRELAND
DIRECTORS' REPORT
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024
The directors present their annual report and financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2024.
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the accounting policies set out in note to the financial statements and comply with the charity's Memorandum and Articles of Association, the Companies Act 2006 and “Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102)" (effective 1 January 2019).
Objectives and activities
The charity's object are the advancement of the Christian faith.
The directors have paid due regard to guidance issued by the Charity Commission in deciding what activities the charity should undertake.
Achievements and performance
This year we are again encouraged at the impact of our work under the gracious hand of God and through the prayers of his people. We are deeply indebted to our founding Chairman, Hugh McCormick, who stood down after 23 years of service as Chairman of the Board. It has been a privilege to have David Best succeed Hugh in this role, bringing fresh expertise into the role.
We had the joy of sending a single lady to the Arabian Gulf to serve for a year on a church planting team. She came from one of the first churches to be involved in our ‘Pray for Thirty’ initiative to see 30 churches send out 30 workers over the next 3 years. It was a real blessing to see her sent out from her church on the North Coast, which was very supportive of her during her time there.
During her time away, we were able to arrange a pastoral visit to her, her team and some of our international personnel there. We were also able to bring a prayer/worship team out during the year, with a group of young adults who were really impacted by seeing life in a different culture and ministry in a very different setting.
Another family from Dublin, hoping to serve with us overseas, were able to find a new team during the year, after the previous potential team leader no longer being able to take them on. The couple were able to visit a different city within the same country in North Africa and God-willing, they will sign the team’s Memorandum Of Understanding in the new operating year in April 2024, once one or two things are finalised. They hope to be commissioned in December 2024 and move to North Africa in January 2025.
In October 2023, the Sending Base Director was able to join a team from a church which was travelling to visit some of our other workers in North Africa. This was a real blessing to be able to not only visit them, but also visit several of the projects which we have supported financially and prayerfully over the years. We were also able to visit a new team which is located in another town farther south of our workers. They hope to launch their own new team in September 2024.
We were able to visit a rural project which provides schooling for a minority community, and several other projects as well as a local medical clinic, where our workers have been serving now for 10 years. They will treat 700 women during any given year, with pre-natal and post-natal care. They provide this service with the greatest of care to the least and the greatest alike without favour. The work was recognised this year on World Women’s Day with a special presentation.
The team was able to provide humanitarian aid to rural villages during a recent crisis, providing basic food
supplies at a time of great need.
It was so exciting to hear later in the year of the first fruits of faith among the people group they serve. People had come to faith through personal witness, through media, through the humanitarian aid in two different projects. This is a real spiritual breakthrough in this area among this people group. This has been such a joy to experience and is such an encouragement to workers who have been there for a long time. It is a reminder to us that God is always at work, even if the work he is doing remains unseen for a period of time. It is also a blessing to all those who have prayed from a distance and those who have come to pray over the years for this work and for this people group.
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FRONTIERS IRELAND
DIRECTORS' REPORT (CONTINUED) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024
Not only in North Africa did we see first fruits, but also in SE Africa. Our team there saw several people come to faith among a minority Muslim people group, who are very poor. Not only did they see people come to faith, but also take the step of baptism, which is a particularly vital step for any believer, but particularly so in a Muslim context. The bible studies continue and have been growing in numbers. There are still no women who have come to faith, and that is a matter of prayer. We were able to fund several more water boreholes, which will make a huge difference to the wellbeing of four communities of 600-1000 people. This also provides access for sharing the good news of Jesus.
In July 2023 there was a month of prayer for the people group, using a pray guide that was commissioned by our office, and written by field workers, to give it an authentic flavour. It has been very well received and was a tremendous way for people to pray in different parts of the world at the same time. The fruit of those coming to faith followed the prayer several months later. The success of the prayer month has encouraged the team to try it again in June 2024.
Back home, in support of churches across the island of Ireland, we produced and published the second of the Pray for Thirty prayer booklets on Thirty Cities. These are 30 key cities across the Muslim world, which are in need of workers and in need of much prayer. It has been exciting to see this new resource of churches fill a gap in enabling churches to pray for cities anywhere, but especially in the Muslim world. With a majority of people now living in cities, it is important that we prepare churches and furnish them with the material to be able to encourage their congregations to be able to pray intelligently and in an informed way, for cities across the globe, whether Muslim or otherwise. We were delighted to see new churches joining the Pray for Thirty initiative this year.
One of our goals this year was to see new connections and relationships established in the Republic of Ireland. It has been encouraging to see the way God has opened up new opportunities for us this year. Our involvement in the Irish Mission Agencies Partnership (IMAP) also helps us in this regard. The SBD is currently the secretary of the Executive Committee for IMAP. This is a way for us to invest into the partnership which is a real blessing to the church in Ireland in processing gifts for missionaries. As we will be sending a couple from a Dublin church next year, we have also been building relationships with them as a sending church.
One of the 5 key goals of the new International Director Team of our global organisation is to see the next generation raised up. Part of the way we are trying to embrace that is through our initiative to partner with several like-minded organisations in NI, called Global Disciples, to bring together each of our connection of young adults, to collaborate together, to be able to offer more as a combined group. The quarterly events have been a real success, hearing from workers, using multicultural worship and various other innovative ways to inspire them for mission.
As part of our commitment to the wider world of mission, one of our staff is involved in the financial administration of the Groundwork event. This is a global annual prayer event, with this year over 1,000 people gathering to pray on behalf of the nations. We offer this as a service to the organisers to bless this important and growing ministry.
Both these field situations, in North Africa and SE Africa, formed a core of our Days of Prayer at the office. We invited supporters to come and pray for an hour in the prayer room at the office from 8am - 8pm. We also had times of corporate prayer and we would normally invite someone to speak via zoom at those times. This provided a real connection between those serving overseas, their team colleagues and the supporters here. We covered different people groups, countries and themes over the year.
This year we saw a record amount of project funding, with over £100,000 coming in from various sources. These funds enabled us to support our own field workers, but also enabled us to contribute significantly to several humanitarian crises as well. We are very grateful to individuals, churches and Trust Funds for supplying the finance to enable us to pass on these funds to bless those in need and to see the extension of God’s kingdom.
We are able to receive funds not only for our own workers, but also on behalf of other workers with links to the island of Ireland. This means that we are able to leverage significant funding through our small office operation, adding value to the wider mission endeavour globally. We also saw an increase in our total income this year which is encouraging.
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FRONTIERS IRELAND
DIRECTORS' REPORT (CONTINUED) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024
We have approached a number of people about joining the Board, but we have not had any success, due to significant other involvement or timing issues. We will continue to pursue this as a matter of priority.
The Sending Base Director notified the Board in January 2024, that it is his intention to stand down in March 2025 after the completing of 25 years of service, God willing. The Board has begun a succession process.
Financial review
The results are set out in detail on pages 7 to 19. The company returned net outgoing resources for the year of £12,380 (2023 - £7,265 net incoming resources), unrestricted funds of £224,919 (2023 - £227,520) and restricted - funds of £46,619 (2023 £56,398). The unrestricted funds are required to provide sufficient funds to cover any unforeseen costs which may arise and fulfill legal obligations of the charity in the event that current levels of income are not maintained.
It is the policy of the charity to maintain sufficient unrestricted reserves as are consistent with the ongoing financial requirements of the charity.
The directors has assessed the major risks to which the charity is exposed, and are satisfied that systems are in place to mitigate exposure to the major risks.
Plans for the future
We plan to recruit new workers to serve overseas.
We plan to build on progress in building relationships with churches across the island of Ireland.
We plan to recruit more churches for the Pray for Thirty initiative.
We plan to speak in churches and to attend the main missions convention in Bangor and other conferences as appropriate.
Training will be provided for these churches during the year.
We will write, design and publish a prayer guide called Pray for Thirty: Unreached Peoples.
We plan to offer vision trips to the churches involved in Pray for Thirty.
We plan to run monthly days of prayer in our prayer room for supporters.
We plan to continue our regional prayer groups.
We plan to commission a couple from Dublin in December 2024, to serve in North Africa from January 2025.
We plan to appoint a new Sending Base Director, as the founding Director will complete his service after 25 years on 31 March 2025.
We will put in place a succession plan to ensure a good appointment, a smooth leadership transition and review staffing and developmental needs.
We plan to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Irish Sending Base in March 2025.
We plan to appoint at least one new director for the Board.
We plan to provide member care for our own workers and also provide funding for member care at international regional conferences.
We plan to secure funding for a longstanding clinic in North Africa and for four water boreholes in SE Africa.
We plan to secure new funding partners and source fundraising expertise to develop new opportunities.
We plan to play an active role on both mission partnership bodies in NI and Ireland ie MAP and IMAP
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FRONTIERS IRELAND
DIRECTORS' REPORT (CONTINUED) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024
Structure, governance and management
The charity is a company limited by guarantee incorporated on 8 March 2000 and registered with the Inland Revenue on the same date. The charitable company is governed by its Memorandum and Articles of Association. The company is not for profit and limited by guarantee, the liability of the members is limited to £1. The organisation is governed by its Board of Directors who meet regularly.
The directors who served during the year and up to the date of signature of the financial statements were: Mr H McCormick (Resigned 20 June 2023) Miss R Baxter Mr D W Best Dr S A Rodgers Mrs S E Clarke (Appointed 3 June 2024)
New directors are appointed by the members of the charity at the annual general meeting.
All directors are required to participate in training relating to good governance and directors are regularly updated on legislation that impacts upon the running of a charitable organisation e.g. recent changes in legislation introduced by the Charities Commission and the GDPR.
The Board of Directors oversees the work of the Sending Base Director, who in turn is responsible for the volunteers. The Sending Base Director is not a director under Company Law.
Frontiers Ireland is affiliated to the Frontiers network worldwide.
Key Management Personnel Remuneration
The Board consider the board of directors and the chief executive as comprising the key management personnel of the charity in charge of directing and controlling the charity and running and operating the charity on a day to day basis. All board members give their time freely and no board remuneration was paid in the year. Board members are required to disclose all relevant conflicts of interest and register them at each monthly board meeting and in accordance with the Trust's policy, withdraw from decisions where a conflict of interest arises.
This report has been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to companies entitled to the small companies exemptions.
The directors' report was approved by the Board of Directors.
Mr D W Best
Director
Dr S A Rodgers Director
Dated: 7 October 2024
Dated:7 October 2024
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