2022-12-31-annual-report

Trustees’ Annual Report

Financial year from 1[st] January 2022 to 31st December 2022.

Grace Baptist Church is a member of the Association of Baptist Churches in Ireland and registered with the Charity Commission Northern Ireland NIC107371.

Trustees’ Annual Report

The Trustees present their Annual Report and Financial Statement for the financial year from 1[st] January 2022 to 31[st] December 2022.

Reference and Administrative Details

Grace Baptist Church, Kinross Avenue, Belfast, BT5 7GG Registered Charity in Northern Ireland (NIC 107371) Email: [e-mail]

The Trustees

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

Mr. Mark White (Chairperson and Elder) Mr. Ross Flynn (Secretary) Mr. Robin Francey Mr. Philip Hanna

Independent Examiner

SJO Accountants 37 Movilla Street Newtownards BT23 7JQ

Bankers

Northern Bank Ltd T/a Danske Bank Knock Branch 520 Upper Newtownards Road Belfast BT4 3HD

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Structure, Governance and Management

Grace Baptist Church is governed by its Constitution, current version adopted 18[th] June 2019. On 31[st] December 2022, there are 16 members. The office bearers of the Church consist of the Elders (1) and Deacons (3), and they act as trustees of the charity. Elders deal with all matters of spiritual importance and the Deacons take responsibility for all practical and temporal affairs. As a leadership they endeavour to promote the spiritual interest of the Church and to encourage the members to witness and serve in the local community.

The Trustees meet monthly with a break during July and August.

As all involved are volunteers it is difficult to quantify the amount of effort and man-hours spent in running and maintaining the life of the Church. But we acknowledge that Grace Baptist Church could not function without their faithful work and support.

Association of Baptist Churches

Grace Baptist Church is a member of the Association of Baptist Churches in Ireland. Although all Churches in the Association are autonomous, the Church benefits from support, guidance and encouragement provided by the Association Director and members of staff.

Objectives

Grace Baptist Church acknowledges the headship of Jesus Christ over His Church and exists to glorify the triune God by maintaining and promoting His worship both individually and corporately.

Its members devote themselves to the teachings of Scripture, to fellowship, breaking of bread, prayer and evangelism. They commit, with the help of God, to witness to the saving and sustaining power of the Lord Jesus Christ and to work for the extension of His Kingdom.

The principal charitable object of the Church is the advancement of the Christian faith according to the teachings of Scripture, the Doctrinal Statement and Baptist principles.

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Achievement and Performance

The following are short reports from each of the major areas of ministry. Sunday School - GraceKIDZ

Still recovering from the effects of COVID-19 pandemic, GraceKIDZ has been a little slower than other ministries to pick up. There were around 15-20 children who attended sporadically, with a core of around 10 children who attended regularly.

Activities begin with a light breakfast of toast, fruit and juice. Then some singing and Bible based teaching along with other activities.

In June we held the first of our regular Summer Outings, inviting those families from all outreaches at the church. Many of our families joined us in Portrush for the day.

Campaigners

Campaigners Youth and Childrens Ministry is a uniformed, evangelical and inter-denominational youth organisation, which seeks by means of a varied programme of activities to introduce children and young people to Jesus Christ as their Saviour, and to develop their relationship and personal faith in Him. Campaigners in Tullycarnet meet Monday nights during Term-time. Children from 3years to P2 are in the Eagles Clan, P3-P6 are in Junos Clan, P7 to Y9 are in Inters Clan and young people from Y10 to aged 18 are in Craftsmen. Following the difficulty due to the COVID-19 pandemic, when we were restricted in how we could work with children and young people, we were delighted to be able to open our Campaigners in 2021, albeit socially distanced, and with limited activities and numbers available.

However, during 2022, we have been able to lift the restrictions entirely. We started January following our Christmas break. The number of children attending Eagles grew from 15 to 20 weekly from January to May. Junos had steady attendance of 14-15. Inters had only 2 young people, but one of them had been inconsistent due to illness and hospitalisation. Centenary Celebration Carnival 2nd April, Crawfordsburn.

We had a successful parents evening on 9th May 2022, celebrating with the families the achievements of the Clansmen.

One observation coming out of the pandemic, is that with younger children, they have missed out on the social aspect of mixing with other children and families, so families are much keener to send children to Campaigners and other groups, and children are thriving.

Since September, we had 30 Eagles registered (and operated a waiting list for additional places) though usually approx. 25 attending consistently. There were

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16 Junos registered, 2 Inters and 1 Craftsman, and attendance in these Clans was usually consistent.

In October, we attended the Centenary Celebration in Ballymena Elim Church.

Parent and Toddlers - GraceTOTS

Our Parent and Toddler group, GraceTOTS meet on a Friday during Term-Time. We have an average of 15 parents/grandparents coming consistently. The staff have got to know the ladies on a personal level and appreciate the prayers of the Church for opportunities and courage to share the Gospel with them. Some of the families have children reaching nursery age at the end of the summer term, and so some families finish then, but new families joined in September. We’ve seen connections in GraceTOTS result in families moving their children into Campaigners and GraceKIDZ.

We would be lost without the help of those volunteers who come faithfully, and GraceTOTS might not be able to function without the invaluable volunteers.

Summer Outreach KIDZClub

Our Summer Outreach took place during the week commencing 8th August in the evenings. There are two streams to this, in the church building we had approx. 60 children attending Summer KidzCLUB, and approx. 20 children on the Hanwood Pitches at Summer Football Club.

Summer KidzCLUB, we taught the children the Gospel message over 4 evenings using the theme of Sea Explorers. At Summer Football Club, the children went through football skills training and games, paired with a scripture-based epilogue.

We had 34 families attend the fun night and BBQ on Friday evening, and 12 families attend church and lunch on Sunday morning.

It was good to see new families attending these outreaches, and growth in GraceKIDZ and Campaigners following these events.

Sunday Ministry

Grace Baptist Church meet every Sunday morning for worship, ministry, and to celebrate communion. We meet regularly for Bible Study and Prayer on Wednesday evenings, apart from in July and August. Our meetings are open for anyone to join us, regardless of whether they are members of the Church or not.

There is a monthly Ladies’ Fellowship/Outreach meeting, held on the first Tuesday of each month from September to June. This has not restarted since the break during COVID, but we are hoping to explore women’s ministry and outreach in 2023.

Our Elder has been blessed to meet with the leaders of the other 3 local

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churches regularly for prayer and to consider how we might work together for the Gospel in the Tullycarnet area.

We hosted a communion and fellowship evening on Good Friday, when people from all 4 local churches worshipped, prayed, and broke bread together.

In the Christmas Season, we held a Nativity Play, performed by the children and leaders of our children’s ministries, a Community Carol Service where the children take part, we hosted a Christmas Family Movie night, and we met at Tullycarnet Presbyterian Church with the other churches in the area to celebrate Christmas and fellowship together for a Candlelight Carol Service. Throughout the year, we hold special events, and we promote these through social media, and on the street invitation, presenting Gospel literature and a small gift to passers by at the local business hubs.

Fortunately, during 2022, we were able to relax our COVID restrictions, however, many of our activities were impacted in the earlier part of the year. It was a blessing in 2022 to be able to gradually lift COVID restrictions after our activities being so heavily impacted for over 18 months. Throughout the whole year, we were able to meet in person. Sunday morning services, Wednesday evening Bible Study and Prayer meetings, along with a selection of special events, throughout the year.

The Trustees have had regard to the Charity Commission's guidance on public benefit in managing the activities of the charity throughout the year.

Missions and Charity

Throughout the year, we made a few charitable donations:

• In response to the IBN Ukraine Appeal we donated £1000.

• As part of our Harvest Celebration, we donated long-life foodstuffs to Dundonald Foodbank and a cash donation of £100.

• As part of helping the Tullycarnet Community Centre Social Supermarket initiative we donated Food and toiletries to the value of £278.60.

• As part of the Elf Day efforts, we made the total donation of £400 to the Alzheimer Society.

• As part of the Community Christmas Festival, we held a Christmas Stall in aid of Marie Curie and made a total donation of £100

• We made contributions to the work of Fireblade Ministries totalling £500.

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Church Membership

On 1st January 2022 there were 16 members of the Church. One of our elderly members resigned their membership in June as they were attending another church with their family, and in September, one of our members was called home. There were two new members welcomed into membership. There were no further changes to our membership roll by 31[st] December 2022.

Public Benefit Statement

The Church has regard for the Commission's guidance on public benefit. The charity meets the public benefit requirement by providing benefit to its members and the general public in making the Christian Gospel known through the advancement of religion. The teaching provided by the Church leads to spiritual and moral development for those who are affiliated. In turn this leads to practical expression of Christian beliefs and standards in the community.

Public activities are made known via social media, printed materials, word of mouth, and personal invitation.

The Church does not anticipate any harm will flow from the purposes of the charity. Trustees have taken steps to mitigate harm and AccessNI checks are required from those involved with youth activities.

Due regard to guidance produced by the Commission is considered to ensure that our activities achieve the charity's purpose and benefit the beneficiaries. Presently there are no individuals benefiting privately.

The beneficiaries of this purpose are members of the Church, their families, and other individuals with whom they have direct and indirect contact; the children and families involved in our outreach and children’s activities, and the wider Tullycarnet and east Belfast community.

Finance

The main source of income for the Church is free will offering from members and those attending the Church Services, accounting for more than 50% of income in 2022. In the year 2022, the Church recorded a Nett increase in funds of £2873. There was a closing balance of £65,923.07 on 31[st] December 2022.

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The report of the Church Accounts was prepared by the Church Treasurer, Mr. Mark White, and presented at the AGM in April 2023.

Liabilities and Assets

The Northern Baptist Corporation act as property holding trustees to Grace Baptist Church at Kinross Avenue Tullycarnet. There is no outstanding Finance on the building and there is a freehold lease valid for 999 years on the land. Current Insurance policies hold the value of the building at £1,674,020.27 however, no survey and valuation has been carried out in recent years.

This concludes the Annual Trustees’ Report for 1st January 2022 to 31st December 2022.

Signed:

Mark White

Elder at Grace Baptist Church

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