\ Stirling North “I. Parish Church
## The Church of Scotland
Stirling North Parish Church of Scotland (North Parish Church, Stirling)
Trustees Report and Accounts for the year ended
31 December 2024
Congregation No: 231428
Charity No: SC011795
## Reference and Administrative Information
Charity Name:
Stirling North Parish Church of Scotland (North Parish Church, Stirling)
Charity Registration Number: SC011795
Congregation Reference No: 231428 i ae
## Trustees
Bankers Royal Bank of Scotland Stirling (A) Branch Units 22/23 Thistles Shopping Centre Stirling FK8 2EA
Page 2 of 16
Trustees’ Annual Report Year ended 31 December 2024
## Structure, Governance and Management
## Governing Document
The Church is administered in accordance with the terms of the Deed of Constitution.
## Recruitment and Appointment of Trustees
Members of the Kirk Session and the Congregational Board are the charity trustees. The Kirk Session members are the elders of the church and are chosen from those members of the church who are considered to have the appropriate gifts and skills. The minister, who is a member of the Kirk Session, is elected by the congregation and inducted by Presbytery. The Congregational Board is appointed from within the congregation and members of the congregation are invited to nominate individuals, who are believed to have the skills and commitment to contribute to the management affairs of the Church, to become members of the Board. Board Members are then appointed at the Stated Annual Meeting and serve for a period of three years after which they must seek re-election at the next Stated Annual Meeting.
## Organisational Structure
The Congregational Board is chaired by the minister and under normal circumstances meets four times in a year. Certain responsibilities are delegated to the Finance Committee and the Property Committee as appropriate. The Kirk Session which meets five times a year is responsible for spiritual affairs within the church.
## Objectives and Activities
The Church of Scotland is Trinitarian in doctrine, Reformed in tradition and Presbyterian in polity. It exists to glorify God and to work for the advancement of Christ’s Kingdom throughout the world. As a national Church, it acknowledges a distinctive call and duty to bring the ordinances of religion to the people in every parish of Scotland through a territorial ministry. It co-operates with other Churches in various ecumenical bodies in Scotland and beyond.
We continue to focus on reaching out into the local community with God’s love through all of the activities mentioned below. We will continue to change and adapt what we do in order to serve our community and bring glory to God.
Page 3 of 16
## Achievements and Performance
In 2024, Stirling North Parish Church continued to live out our mission of worship, service, and community-building, experiencing spiritual growth, deeper fellowship, and an increasing impact in our local community and beyond.
## Worship
Sunday Morning Worship lies at the heart of our congregation, providing the spiritual nourishment and inspiration for our wider ministry. In 2024, we explored the theme of ‘Spending Time with Jesus’, delving into the books of Luke and Acts. This journey shaped our discipleship, renewing our commitment to live out the teachings of Christ in every area of our lives. We have continued to stream our services online, allowing those who can’t be with us on a Sunday morning to join our services, along with people from across the UK and around the world, including, on occasion, some of our Missionary Partners.
Holy Week united us with other Stirling churches for a series of deeply meaningful services, culminating in an Easter Morning celebration in King’s Park. These moments of shared worship strengthened bonds of fellowship and provided a powerful witness to the hope of Christ’s resurrection in our wider community.
## Communication
Our weekly bulletin, North Notices, and monthly magazine, North News, were key in keeping our congregation informed and connected, sharing stories of faith, upcoming events, and ministry updates. Distributed primarily digitally, these publications ensure that all members of our church family are actively engaged in our shared mission.
## Pastoral Care & Discipleship
Our Pastoral Care Team, in close partnership with the ‘Church Family Elders,’ has provided compassionate support and practical help to those in need. Through personal visits, prayers, and fellowship, we have ensured that no one in our congregation has to face times of difficulty on their own. Our DNA Groups have continued to grow, offering deeper fellowship and spiritual formation, and our monthly prayer meetings remain well-attended, reflecting our commitment to prayerful living.
The Guild remains a vibrant and essential part of our congregation, consistently embodying a spirit of service. Meeting fortnightly from September - April they enjoy worship & fellowship together and raise funds and awareness for Guild projects at home and abroad. Their efforts culminated in a well-attended Christmas concert, featuring our thriving Singing Group, which broughtjoy and inspiration to all who participated. Our children’s ministry, Kidzone, continues to evolve in response to the needs of our young people, providing a fun and nurturing environment where they worship and grow together, along with our amazing group of Kidzone leaders and helpers.
Every Wednesday morning during the school term we run our Coffee Pot Cafe. This continues to attract around 50 people each week from the church and from the wider community and is supported by a dedicated group of volunteers. Money raised by the Cafe is used to support our missionary partners around the world.
Page 4 of 16
## Mission & Outreach
2024 was a transformative year for our Mission & Outreach as we launched the Connect Project, a key initiative designed to develop and enhance our mission work. Grounded in the work we have been doing with Messy Church for several years, the aim of the Connect Project is to help us create genuine opportunities for discipleship, community building and service.
As part of the project we have recruited a Parish Worker whose remit is to develop this work and to assist our minister in the day to day running of the project. The work of the project is overseen by a team of seven people appointed by the Kirk Session. In addition Presbytery have —<— the post of Assistant Minister on a short term contract in order to support the work we have been doing. One significant concern for the Trustees is the impact of the proposed ministry reduction to 0.75fte outlined in the Presbytery plan.
Key achievements from the Connect Project in 2024 include:
Continued development of Messy Church with a renewed focus on the values of ChristCentred, All Age, Hospitality, Celebration, and Creativity.
Successful Messy Events including Messy Pancakes, Messy Movie Nights, Messy Quiz Night, and Messy Christingle, which attracted a number of new families.
The Establishment of our Connect Youth Group for P7-S6 which runs weekly and is well attended with around 15 young people coming along every Sunday evening.
A successful Summer Mission Week, featuring a week-long Holiday Club for P1-P7s, four evenings of Youth Work, and a Messy Church Service to conclude the week.
The establishment of Toastie Tuesdays, an intergenerational gathering that has been wellreceived by participants of all ages.
Partnerships with Braehead Primary and Bannockburn High Schools, where we now run weekly SU Groups and Christmas and Easter Journey events.
The development of The Hub, a welcoming space where people of all ages can come and connect with one another.
Through these initiatives, new relationships have been built, particularly with young families and individuals who had little previous connection to the church. Looking ahead, we are excited to explore the possibilities of running evangelistic courses such as The 321 Course, alongside discipleship programs such as The Prayer Course. These will further our mission to invite more people into a living relationship with Jesus.
## Lookingforward
In all of our ministries, we have seen God’s faithfulness at work, guiding us and blessing us as we serve our community. As we move into 2025, we look forward with hopeful anticipation, committed to faithfully expanding our mission, deepening our discipleship, and glorifying God in all we do.
Page 5 of 16
## Financial Review
## Income: Offerings
The principal sources of income are: donations paid by standing order of £46,598 (2023: £51,175); Weekly Freewill Offering (WFO) donations of £9,063 (2023: £9,007); Ordinary (Open Plate) Offerings of £3,817 (2023: £4,243); and tax recovered on gift aid donations of £14,712 (2023: £15,018).
We received donations of £1,318 (2023: £1,957) towards the support of our Missionary Partners and other offerings, donations etc. amounted to £16,043* (2023: £5,730) resulting in total donations for the year of £91,551 (2023: £87,130).
There are 45 individuals in the gift aid scheme and 40 contributing by standing order.
“Other offerings, donations etc. includes: £4,368 of one-off donations to church funds; £1,500 to the AVAT Fund; £10,095 towards the support of activities funded by our new Connect (Youth and Community) Fund; and £81 towards the support of other activities.
## Income: Other Regular Income
## Other regular income included proceeds from use of premises of £5,931 (2023: £4,508).
Our weekly Coffee Pot Café is run to support our Missionary Partners. The proceeds of the Café along with funds contributed by members of the congregation, resulted in a total of £5,878 being raised during the year. Taking into account the balance carried forward from the previous year and distributions paid during the year, the balance available at the year-end to support our Missionary Partners is £5,097 (2023: £3,971).
Interest on deposits continued to earn a high rate of interest, resulting in interest from deposit/current accounts of £5,374 (2023: £2,462).
Solar panel Feed In Tariff (FIT) receipts amounted to £2,028 (2023: £2,187).
Total Other Regular Income for the year amounted to £22,245 (2023: £17,501).
## Income: Other Receipts
Following a successful grant application, we received an initital instalment of grant income of £20,000 from the Church of Scotland Seeds for Growth Fund. We also received additional grant income of £8,000 from the Presbytery of Perth Mission Grants Fund which was contingent on Seeds for Growth funding being secured. These grants have been a significant boost to our income in support of our activities.
## Total Income
Total income for the year was £141,796 which was higher than the previous year's total of £109,514 mainly due to the grant income received, as noted above. Total income for the current year comprised £93,797 unrestricted income and £48,000 restricted income. Further details of income generated during the year are shown in the Receipts and Payments Account and in the Notes to the Accounts.
Page 6 of 16
## Expenditure
On the expenditure side, the most significant item of expenditure to note is the Giving to Grow Allocation of £36,853 (2023: £35,843). The current year's allocation includes a deduction in respect of transition funding in recognition of an increase in the allocation compared with the previous Ministries and Mission allocation, and is due to increase next year as transition relief is exhausted. Fabric repairs and maintenance costs amounted to £16,812 compared with £19,169 in the previous year.
Expenditure on Audio Visual and IT equipment was lower than the previous year. Total audio visual and IT expenditure for the year amounted to £2,334 compared with £3,372 in the previous year. Printing, Stationary and Postage costs of £2,446 were also lower than the previous year's amount of £6,752 although the previous year's total included the cost incurred in purchasing a new printer at an overall cost of £4,546.
Staff costs increased significantly compared with the previous year. Total expenditure for the current year amounted to £29,295 compared with £13,714 in the previous year. This is due to the additional costs associated with employing a parish worker for the purpose of overseeing our work among children, young people and families, including activities now supported by our Connect (Youth and Communities) Project.
We also undertook a review of our seating arrangements in support of our Connect (Youth and Communities) Project activities. As a result, we replaced our pews with more flexible seating at a total cost of £18,926.
Total payments for the year were £143,146 which was higher than the previous year's total of £107,985. Total payments for the year comprised £90,685 from unrestricted funds and £52,462 from restricted funds. Further details of expenditure during the year are shown in the Notes to the Accounts.
## Reserves Policy
It is the Trustees’ policy to hold reserves of approximately six months! expenditure including designated funds. At the year end the Church held unrestricted cash funds of £130,610 of which £58,136 had been designated for various purposes described in the notes to the accounts. The remaining balance of £72,474 is approximately equal to six months’ total expenditure.
The Church also held £12,039 of restricted funds which have been provided for the purposes specified in Note 2.
Page 7 of 16
## Statement of Trustees' Responsibilities
The members of the Kirk Session / Congregational Board must prepare financial statements which give sufficient detail to enable an appreciation of the transactions of the Church during the financial year. The members ofthe Kirk Session / Congregational Board are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which, on request, must reflect the financial position of the Church at that time. This must be done to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005, the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 and the Regulations Anent Congregational Finance approved by the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 2007. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the Church and must take reasonable steps for the prevention and/or detection of fraud and other irregularities.
Approved by the Trustees and signed on their behalf,
**----- Start of picture text -----**
= Clerk
Dateldeh.
**----- End of picture text -----**
Page 8 of 16
## Independent Examiner's Report to the Trustees of Stirling North Parish Church of Scotland
I report on the accounts of the charity for the year ended 31 December 2024 which are set out on pages 10 to 16.
## Respective responsibilities of trustees and examiner
The charity's trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the terms of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006.
The charity trustees consider that the audit requirement of Regulation 10(1) (d) of the Accounts Regulations does not apply. It is my responsibility to examine the accounts as required under section 44(1) (c) of the Act and to state whether particular matters have come to my attention. Basis of independent examiner’s statement An examination is carried out in accordance with Regulation 11 of the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and seeks explanations from the trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit, and consequently I do not express an audit opinion on the view given by the accounts.
## Independent examiner’s statement
In the course of my examination, no matter has come to my attention
1. which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in any material respect the requirements:
- to keep accounting records in accordance with Section 44 (1)(a) of the 2005 Act and Regulation 4 of the 2006 Accounts Regulations; and
to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and comply with Regulation 9 of the 2006 Accounts Regulations have not been met; or
2. to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
**----- Start of picture text -----**
Signed:
**----- End of picture text -----**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
Name:
**----- End of picture text -----**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
Address:
**----- End of picture text -----**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
Date: ¢ 2 <
**----- End of picture text -----**
Page 9 of 16
## Stirling North Parish Church of Scotland Receipts and Payments Account
## Year ended 31 December 2024
|||Unrestricted|Restricted|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||Funds|Funds|Total|Total|
|||2024|2024|2024|2023|
||Note|£|£|£|£|
|Receipts||||||
|Offerings||||||
|Offerings|3|63,845|12,994|76,839|72,112|
|HMRC Charities
Tax Recovered on Gift Aid donations||12,901|1,812
Se|14,712
SS|15,018
SS|
|Total for Offerings||76,746|14,805|91,551|87,130|
|OtherRegularIncome||||||
|Use of Premises||5,931|-|5,931|4,508|
|Contirbutions from Congregational
Organisations||1,000|:|1,000|700|
|Income from Weddings and Funerals||200|-|200|500|
|Income from Fund Raising Events||49]|-|491|774|
|Coffee Pot Café (Missionary Partners
Support Fund)||7|4,498|4,498|3,465|
|Dividend and Interest from Investments||197|377|574|510|
|Interest from Deposit/Current Accounts||5,055|319|5,374|2,462|
|Fabric Income||-|-|-||
|Music Income||-|-|-|100|
|Designated Guild Fund||2,149|-|2,149|2,294|
|Other Regular Income||2,028|-|2,028|2,187|
|Total for Other Regular Income||17,050|5,194|22,245|17,501|
|OtherReceipts||||||
|Legacies||-|-|-|-|
|Grant Income Received||-|28.000|28.000|1,000|
|Insurance Claim (Aviva)||-|-|-|3,883|
|Sale ofAssets||=|-|-|-|
|Total for Other Receipts||-|28,000|28,000|4,883|
|TotalReceipts||93,797|48.000|141,796|109,514|
Page 10 of 16
## Stirling North Parish Church of Scotland
## Receipts and Payments Account
**----- Start of picture text -----**
|||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|Year|ended|31|December|2024|
|Unrestricted|Restricted|
|Funds|Funds|Total|Total|
|2024|2024|2024|2023|
|Note|£|£|£|i|
|Payments|4|
|Costs|of generating|funds|-|-|-|85|
|Charitable|activities|90,685|52,462|143,146|107,899|
|Governance|costs|-|-|-|-|
|Other|payments|-|-|-|-|
|Total|Payments|90,685|52,462|143,146|107,985|
|Excess/(shortfall)|of|Receipts|over|1530|
|Payments|for the year|before|transfers|able2|(|4,462|)|(1,3|5|0)|»-5|
|Transfers|(3,744)|3,744|-|-|
|Excess/(shortfall)|of|Receipts|over|
|Payments|for|the year|(633)|(718)|(1,350)|1,530|
**----- End of picture text -----**
Page 11 of 16
## Stirling North Parish Church of Scotland Statement of Balances At 31 December 2024
|||Unrestricted|Restricted|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||Funds|Funds|Total|Total|
|||2024|2024|2024|2023|
||Note|£|£|£|a|
|Bank& Deposit Balances||||||
|Bank& deposit balances||||||
|brought forward||131,243|12,756|143,999|142,470|
|Movement in year:||||||
|Excess/(shortfall) ofReceipts over||||||
|Payments for the year||(633)|(718)|(1,350)|1,530|
|Bank& deposit balances||||||
|carried forward||130,610|12,039|142,649|143,999|
|Investments at market value||||||
|(cost £11,653)||9,315|17,819|27.134|24,795|
|Assets||||||
|HMRC Charities GiftAid Receivable||4,204|675|4,879|5,346|
|||4,204|675|4,879|5,346|
|Fixed Assets||||||
|Manse (cost)|a|||385,000|385,000|
|||||385,000|385,000|
|Liabilities||||||
The accounts were approved by the Kirk Session and Financial Board on Ly$[:[A] ot For and on behalf of the Kirk Session and Financial Board
**----- Start of picture text -----**
“
**----- End of picture text -----**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
Session Clerk
Treasurer
**----- End of picture text -----**
Page 12 of 16
## Stirling North Parish Church of Scotland Notes to the Accounts
1. Trustee Remuneration and Related Party Transactions During the yea received reimbursement of expenses incurred totalling £1,404 and Council Tax paid in respect of the manse amounted to £3,183.
No trustee or a person related to a trustee had any personal interest in any contract or transaction entered into by the charity during the year.
## 2. Movements in Funds
|Movements in Funds||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||At1|Jan||||At 31|Dec|
||2024||Receipts|Payments|Transfers|2024||
||£||£|£|£|£||
|Unrestricted funds||||||||
|Designated Connect (Youth and||||||||
|Community) Fund||50,000|-|-|(3,741)||46,259|
|Designated Flower Fund||32|-|-|-||32|
|Designated Giving to GrowFund||-|-|-|6,000||6,000|
|Designated Guild Fund||1,540|2,149|(2,492)|-||1,198|
|Designated Music Fund||-|0|-|-||0|
|Designated TransportFund||4,663|224|(240)|-||4,647|
|Designated Youth Club Fund||56|10|(88)|22||"|
|Legacy Fund||38|15|-|-||54|
|General Fund||72,989|87,173|(87,865)|(6,026)||66,272|
|Reserve Fund||1,924|4.225|-|-||6,148|
||131,243||93,797|(90,685)|(3,744)|130,610||
|Restricted funds||||||||
|Audio Visual/IT Fund||-|1,887|(1,891)|3||-|
|Connect (Youth and Community) Fund||1,335|19,470|(22,627)|1,822||=|
|Connect (Youth and Community) Seeds||||||||
|for Growth Fund||-|20,000|(21,919)|L919||-|
|Holiday Club Fund||93|30|(102)|-||22|
|Imrie Fund||5,777|684|-|-||6,461|
|Messy Church Fund||1,351|50|(991)|-||410|
|Missionary Partners SupportFund||3,971|5,878|(4,752)|-||5,097|
|Refugee Resettlement Fund||229|-|(180)|-||49|
|||12,756|48,000|(52,462)|3,744||12,039|
|Totalfunds|143,999||141,796|(143,146)|-|142,649||
## Purposes of Designated Funds
Connect (Youth and Community) Fund: Established to support our Connect (Youth and Community) Project. This covers our work with children, young people and families, and our other outreach into the community.
Flower Fund: The Trustees have set aside funds for the provision of Church Flowers.
Giving to Grow Fund: The Trustees have set aside funds in light of the expected increase in costs as transition funding is exhausted.
The Guild Fund: The Trustees have set aside funds for use by the Guild.
Page 13 of 16
Music Fund: The Trustees have set aside funds for the purchase of music resources for use in worship.
Transport Fund: The Trustees have set aside funds to be used as and when a group might wish to hire transport for an event.
Youth Club Activities Fund: The Trustees have set aside funds for use by the Youth Club.
## Purposes of Restricted Funds
Audio Visual/IT Fund: This fund was created by donations for Audio Visual and IT equipment and expenses.
Connect (Youth and Community) Fund: Established to support our Connect Youth and Community Project. This covers our work with children, young people and families, and our other outreach into the community.
Connect (Youth and Community) Seeds for Growth Fund: as noted above except specifically relating to grant income received.
Holiday Club Fund: To meet the expenses of running a Holiday Club for children.
Imrie Fund: This fund was created by the Bequest from the late Miss Imrie for Fabric Expenses only. Messy Church Fund: This fund was created by donations for the support of Messy Church events.
Missionary Partners Support Fund: This fund was set up from the proceeds of the Coffee Pot Café run one morning a week to support our missionary partners. Along with funds contributed by members of the congregation, a total of £5,878 was raised during the year.
Refugee Resettlement Fund: This fund was established to provide support for refugees moving into the local area.
|||Unrestricted|Restricted|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||Funds|Funds|Total|Total|
|||2024|2024|2024|2023|
|||£|£|£|£|
|3.|Analysis ofOfferings|||||
||WFO Scheme|9,063|-|9,063|9,007|
||By Standing Order|46,598|-|46,598|51,175|
||Ordinary Offerings (Open Plate)|3,817|-|3,817|4,243|
||Other Offerings, Donations ete|4,368|11,676|16,043|5,730|
||Missionary Partners SupportFund|-|1,318|1,318|1,957|
||HMRC Charities - Tax Recovered on|||||
||Gift Aid donations|12,901|1,812|14,712|15,018|
|||76,746|14,805|91,551|87,130|
Page 14 of 16
|||Unrestricted|Restricted|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||Funds|Funds|Total|Total|
|||2024|2024|2024|2023|
|||£|£|£|£|
|4.|Analysis ofPayments|||||
||Costs ofgenerating funds|||||
||Investment Managers’ fees|-|-|-|-|
||Offering envelopes|-|-|-|85|
||Charitable activities|||||
||Audio Visual and IT|68|2,266|2,334|3,372|
||Council Tax|3,183|-|3,183|3,095|
||Fabric Repairs and Maintenance|12,418|4,395|16,812|19,169|
||Giving to Grow Allocation|36,853|-|36,853|35,843|
||Heat and Light|3,996|2,928|6,924|4,096|
||Holiday Club|-|102|102|532|
||Insurance|2,417|-|2,417|2,310|
||Minister’s Expenses|473|931|1,404|1,054|
||Mission Work|2,842|5,597|8,439|2113|
||MissionWork
| Messy Church|-|1,611|1,611|1,442|
||Mission Work
| Mission Partners|||||
||Support Fund Distribution|-|4,752|4,752|6,465|
||Office Expenses
| Telecommunications|400|327|727|756|
||Organ and Music|1,020|-|1,020|978|
||Presbytery Dues|1,530|-|1,530|977|
||Printing, Stationery and Postage|1,085|1,360|2,446|6,752|
||Pulpit Supply|330|-|330|163|
||StaffCosts|20,574|8,721|29,295|13,714|
||Transport|240|-|240|410|
||Congregational Organisations|||||
||Donations to Charities|1,970|#|1,970|1,770|
||Congregational Organisations Sundry|||||
||Expenses|522|-|522|387|
||Other expenses|764|547|1,311|2,501|
||Other expenses
| Seating|-|18,926|18,926|-|
|||90,685|52,462|143,146|107,899|
Page 15 of 16
5. Minister’s Stipend
All Church of Scotland congregations contribute to the National Stipend Fund which bears the costs of all ministers! stipends and employer's contributions for national insurance, pension and housing and loan fund. Ministers’ stipends are paid in accordance with the national stipend scale, which is related to years of service. For the year under review the minimum stipend was £31,642 and the maximum stipend (in the Sth and subsequent years of service) was £38,884.
|||2024|
|---|---|---|
|||£|
|6.|Collections for Third Parties||
||Town Break|215|
||Salvation Army|675|
||Leprosy Mission|372|
|||1,262|
7. Fixed assets
The Church owns the manse at located in Calton Crescent purchased for the sum of £385,000 in May 2021.
Page 16 of 16