IWC Convention (‘IWC’)
Trustees’ Annual Report for the year ended 31 May 2023
Charity number 107823 Company number NI 645873
1. Objectives & Activities - public benefit report
The activities of IWC flow directly from its objectives, i.e. by organising a Bible-teaching conference on an annual basis, the delegates hear a clear explanation of what the Bible teaches and its implications for living in today’s world. As a result of this, Christian maturity is fostered and its outworking demonstrated in wider personal and community relationships. Those who have benefited in this period are Christian women, most of whom are resident in Northern Ireland.
2. Achievements & Performance
In this period we were again able to meet in person at two events, both in Assembly Buildings in Belfast. Following the previous year’s Biblical theology workshop with Nancy Guthrie, the theme of our conferences was Biblical literacy, as our aim is to give women the tools to search the Scriptures for themselves.
We were delighted to welcome Kathleen Nielson for our conference on 8 October, 2022 at which she spoke on the theme of ‘Words of Delight, Words of Truth’. Kathleen had last spoken in 2013 to IWC and this time she introduced the women present to some of the Old Testament genres and how God uses these genres to communicate his truth. These comprised that of narrative (using the story of Joseph in Genesis 39), poetry (drawing on Psalm 77) and an introduction to wisdom literature (Lady Wisdom in Proverbs 1-9). This was a deeply enriching day, with Kathleen expounding the text and bringing her subject to life with her customary warmth and authority.
On 21 May 2023, Christine Mahood led 300 women to deliver her practical workshop on why and how to study the Bible more deeply. In her first talk in ‘Digging Deeper’, Christine explained from Psalm 119:1-21 why we ought to study God’s word, viz. it has the power to keep us walking in God’s ways, it is the only reliable guide for ‘aliens in a hostile world, it gives us strength in suffering and it is the source of true delight. This was followed up by two talks in which Christine looked at some of the tools for studying the Bible, such as context, genre, author and audience, Bible timeline (redemptive history), vocabulary, linking words, repetition and allusion. Memorably, Christine shared her own mistakes, for example, reading the Bible as if it’s all about me, reading verses out of context, thinking that a five minute devotion equates to a Bible study, and relying too much on other people’s thoughts and opinions on a passage rather than studying the Bible for ourselves.
Again the conferences were supported by an amply-supplied bookstall provided by the Evangelical Bookshop, featuring trusted Christian resources and books recommended by both members of the Committee and the speakers as well as discounted goody bags. Video recordings of the talks are made available on the IWC website free of charge after the event.
IWC makes significant use of volunteers to steward the various events and the Committee is again
deeply thankful that so many previous volunteers returned to serve in this way during this period.
3. Financial review
To this point we have managed to keep the price of tickets (£17 and £12 for students) unchanged since the first conference in 2012. This year’s accounts show a turnover from these two events of £20,039.27, and after an honorarium for the speakers, disbursements for the venue, food, technology and other necessary expenses incurred, a loss of £6,612.67. The goody bags and food for the many volunteers were again in part subsidised by the profits from previous years. None of the Committee receives any payment for time or services. In the previous year the conferences returned a profit of nearly £11,000 but in this past year rising expenses have eroded our reserves and as we look to the future we acknowledge that ticket prices will have to rise in order to cover our costs.
4. Structure, governance and management
The trustees are also directors of the company IWC Convention (NI 645873) under the provisions of the Companies Act 2006. The company was registered as a charity number 107823 with the Charity Commission Northern Ireland on 21 September 2020.
The organisation is governed by Articles adopted in 2017. In this period there were 9 trustees who met throughout the year to select themes and speakers and plan events, as well as take on board feedback. The board seeks to ensure a spread of ages, skillsets and church affiliations are represented. Meetings are minuted.
5. Plans for the future
Plans for the future ministry of IWC continue with Courtney Doctor speaking on ‘Transformation (to his glory, by his mercies, for our good)’ on 19 October 2023 and a workshop on 1 June 2024 with Rico Tice entitled ‘Holding out Hope’.
14 March 2024