SEPTEMBER 2019 – AUGUST 2020

In this past year, our activities have been highly affected by COVID-19 and the resulting lockdown. Therefore our finances look quite different from how we expected them to be for the year, with expenditure reduced & giving income remaining steady. We are very grateful to God & for the generosity of City Church during this time.

Our financial year runs in line with the academic year, from the beginning of September to the end of August. We have now completed the 2019/2020 financial year and would like to offer a preliminary summary of our income and expenditure. Please note that this report is based on our unaudited accounts; a full audited report will be available in 2021 when submitted to the Charity Commission.

SUMMARY

We want to thank you for being such a generous church in the midst of a global pandemic- praise God! As COVID-19 has seen a modest reduction in our costs and has seen our income remain steady, from a financial standpoint we are entering the new financial year on a strong footing.

We are aware of future uncertainty in our nation as the pandemic continues, so we are glad to be able to build our reserves in faith for the future and to see our vision fulfilled. We are glad to have been able to be generous this year in giving away to others where there has been need.

WHAT HAVE WE RECEIVED?

We are glad to report a total income of £456k this financial year, with an average of just over £29,500 a month in giving. We also had a gift day in March 2020 raising over £26k plus gift aid.

It has been greatly encouraging to see that giving has remained steady throughout the year, despite the circumstances we are all facing.

Overall Income & Expenditure for September 2018 - August 2020

Breakdown of expenditure - September 2019 - August 2020

WHAT HAVE WE SPENT THIS YEAR?

The chart above gives an overview of our outgoings between September 2019 & August 2020. Mostly due to the national lockdown preventing us from meeting, and associated savings in venue hire & other meeting costs, we have spent 11% less than we budgeted to in this financial year.

For each of these areas, below are more details and examples of what has been spent:

Staff Team (inc. salaries): As planned we have spent £267k of our budget on employing, training and equipping our nine members of staff. During the period Ash George joined the staff team to launch the Fishponds site. Staff costs will always account for the majority of our outgoings, as all we do relates to people, and they are the primary method by which we enable our vision to be fulfilled. We invest in people in order to serve our vision of Helping Bristol Believe.

Sunday Meetings: This year we’ve spent £37k on venues, supplies & equipment to facilitate our services in Bradley Stoke, Fishponds & Cotham where we gather to worship God, pray & hear the gospel preached. We’ve also invested a small amount in equipment to allow the transition to City Church Online services via youtube.

Giving Away: The generous giving we have received has enabled us to support former members of our church working in Mozambique with a £4k gift. We have also been able to support the Belfast Church planted during COVID, as well as initiatives closer to home such as InHope (formerly Crisis Centre) and the Foodbanks in Bristol. We also continue to give monthly to our Commission family of churches.

Mission & Discipleship: During the year we have run two successful Alpha courses in-person, with another two hosted online.

We launched our weekly Encounter meeting in January. Streetlife was able to restart in the summer to serve those in need every Saturday night, and we were able to host five weeks of the Bristol Churches’ Winter Night Shelter. Little Elms has continued outreach into the local families online, and until March Coffee and Cake was able to support the elderly in Bradley Stoke.

Although mission and discipleship look like a small slice of overall expenditure, as was mentioned above, much of our investment is in employing people and equipping the church to reach others with the gospel. This is expressed through the witness of the church, preaching of the gospel on Sundays and through Alpha, plus our numerous social action initiatives and community activities.

Fishponds Site: Our long-anticipated Fishponds site was launched on March 1st and just under £7k has been spent on equipment, venue hire, publicity and setting up of the children’s work. As with other areas, we have spent less than anticipated here, due to lockdown, but the site will be well resourced to relaunch in-person when restrictions allow.

Children’s, Youth & Student Work: Until March our Friday night youth group continued to gather young people from all three sites, in addition to a calendar of engaging socials and activities. Remarkably the youth met online every Friday throughout lockdown.

City Kids and 0-5s activities were also run on all three sites weekly. We also ran a successful Makaton Training day to equip our team to help our children with additional needs. Since March all of this activity has been moved online, and we’ve been able to resource our kids workers really well to engage with kids and youth.

OurCity (students & young adults) had its first weekend away in February with over 40 students and 20s travelling to Dartmoor.

Events costs & other: This year we have spent money on outreach events such as a Craft Evening in Bradley Stoke, Christmas pudding making, and a Beer Tasting event.

Office, Insurance & Governance: This covers our office rent at the Elmgrove Centre, as well as communications, I.T., and resources that enable us to get the most out of our staff team, support our trustees and ensure that all we do is safe and well-governed.

What does this mean?

If you are new to City Church and would call this your church family, but aren't yet giving, please consider how you could play a part. We encourage everyone who calls City Church their home to give financially as part of following Jesus. This isn't so much about the amount that you give but about your heart for God and a desire for other people to come to know him.

To start playing your part by giving to City Church please make use of the standing order and gift aid forms attached. These are also available at citychurch.org.uk/give

If you have any questions about finance or giving, please get in touch with our finance team: