Community Church Annual Report 2013

COMMUNITY CHURCH

TWENTY THIRTEEN www.mycommunitychurch.org.uk | hello@mycommunitychurch.org.uk This report covers of some of the events and ministries of the church throughout 2013

Message from the Elders O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory above the heavens.

Psalm 8:1 We worship an almighty God! A God of glory and majesty. He has revealed his glory through his Son, Jesus, who in turn reveals his glory through his church. That is us! So we are thankful for another year of the glory of God being proclaimed and demonstrated through his church and are grateful and privileged that we at Community Church can play our small part in his divine plans and purposes.

It is with great joy that we recognise that God has brought us together to worship and serve him. We rejoice in the growth of the church and the increasing opportunities that we have had to demonstrate God's love and grace to our communities. It is wonderful to be part of a church family where so many people serve in such a dedicated and faithful way.

Worship Media Sunday Set up

As we look back over 2013 we have so much to be grateful for. Salvation, healing, provision, restoration, all have been ours by his grace. I hope that this review of the year will be a helpful reminder of what we have been involved in over the twelve months, and that all the glory goes to God! 2014 is already proving to be an eventful and fruitful year, and there is much more to come!

O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Psalm 8:9

The Numbers!

440 150 highest attendance Children & Youth

2 Weddings

2 Alpha Courses

2 Locations 1 Pastoral Care Course

12 Lifegroups

3 CAP Courses

10 baptisms

As passionately involved disciples, we will be a church with wide and effective influence in our communities, where people are saved and added weekly to our congregations-

1 CHURCH

Church Life

2013 was a year of transition for Community Church as we launched our new branding and website moving the focus away from location but more on what God wants us to be doing.

It also saw us double our locations with the addition of Chadwell in Autumn.

Key events: 10 Days of Prayer, 2 Leadership Conferences, Presence of God Tour, First Women’s Conference, Kids Camp, Life Group Sunday plus a trip to the Cinema!

Pastoral Care LIFEGROUPS Attendance generally was up on last year, with two groups getting so big that a split may be on the cards.

We have 12 Life Groups, (soon to be 13) all over the Thurrock area, with new people joining in the last year.

One group (Ladies Thursday) started a new outreach work - Knit N Natter - which blossomed and attracted new people from diverse backgrounds and communities to join. The significant friendships which have developed over the 11 months since it started have resulted in new people attending Community Church, and opportunities to invite them to Alpha and other outreach events.

Regular training and support for leaders of Life Groups was provided throughout the year.

The "Fun Day" on Chafford Hundred in May and "Carols on the Green" were Life Group outreach events or supported by them, both were successful (despite the weather at Christmas!)

The Pastoral Care Foundation Course ran from March - December, with 14 people completing the course. A new one has already begun, training 14 more people in Pastoral Care.

Development of a comprehensive Pastoral care network began, and is gradually being introduced during 2014.

Church Finances Throughout 2013 we have been grateful to God for all His provision, which has enabled us to take the work further. Giving has increased but not in proportion to the number of people who now attend Community Church, in addition our expenditure has increased also.

We are thankful for the ÂŁ12k received in our Giving Sunday in October of which 50% went to support the Sozo Foundation, however we ended the year with a ÂŁ13k deficit. Whilst we have reserves to draw from, we must pray that this trend does not continue in 2014.

RECEIPTS Tithes and Offerings Income from School Services Supplied Miscellaneous Income Specific Donations Gift Aids Tax Reclaimed Interest Received

287,754 12,360 16,888 79,613 * 40,635 73 437,323

PAYMENTS Hall Rental Church Office Costs Donations Training Youth Work Other Administrative and Running Costs Staff Costs

NET DEFICIT *includes New Wine giving for The Sozo Foundation

* includes New Wine giving for The Sozo Foundation

Church Expenditure split by percentage

22,089 34,375 104,871 * 20,329 23,292 30,611 214,798 450,365

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13,042

Children’s Work Our Children’s Work (Community Church Kids) has gone from strength to strength in 2013. In terms of numbers of children who attend each Sunday our highest numbers where 45 in our 0-4 years age group and 100 in Kids Church (5-10) and numbers are growing.

We ran two Prayer Spaces in Schools in Quarry Hill Academy and Orsett Primary and took 18 children to kids camp where several made a commitment to Jesus.

Challenges: not enough volunteers for Sunday morning, some classes did not run during the summer Focus for 2014 - Recruitment of more volunteers - Splitting out Kids Church as quite a big age gap

Piglets - Parent Toddler Group Piglets is a Parent and Toddler group run by volunteers from the Community Church Chafford Hundred for children ages 18 months to school age. We also run Jelli-babies – for Mums and babies up to 18 months.

We reach around 40 families at Piglets and 15 at Jelli-babies weekly, these are mainly unchurched. These families include Bulgarians, Africans, South Africans, Indians and Pakistanis.

Piglets is self funded and 2013 we had visits from Keith and his Owls, RSPB Rainham and Little Havens. We have also held African weeks with African food, dress, dances, songs and stories and a Chinese week with Chinese food. We have our own “Knit and Natter” group.

We regularly support the Christmas Shoe Box appeal, MacMillan Coffee Morning and Foodbank. And now “Passiton” in Grays.

We have sponsored Sam who is in an orphanage in Uganda for the last 8 years (currently £25 per month). We also hold a well attended Carol service every year.

We form lasting relationships with most of these families and they respond to us by trusting us with their problems. We have had the privilege of praying with a number of them who have illnesses and/or domestic situations and have seen God answer in many cases. We have been told many times that Piglets is a great service to the Community and people are grateful for it.

Youth Work

Youth Alpha ran successfully last year and was responsible for a significant growth in the numbers of our young people, which saw an increase from an average of 35 to an average of 70 young people.

As a consequence we have seen a significant growth in the numbers attending the mid-week Life Groups. In fact another Life Group developed for Older Male Teens of 16yrs to early twenties in Chafford Hundred. This group concentrated on combating Gang Activity for At Risk Youth.

Newday we took over 65 young people, which is our biggest number to date. There were a number of young people who made a commitment to Christ or under took a re-commitment.

We also secured another Youth Work Student from Oasis College, Stevie who will work with us for 3 years alongside Jacquie.

A number of Unite 30/31 events were held around Thurrock last year most notably involving MOBO Award Winner Guvna B in Concert in Chafford Hundred.

Various Social Trips and Events.

1. Trips to Southend Amusement Park 2. Picnics 3. Ice Skating in Tower Hill Focus for 2014: - Ensure greater involvement by the Young People in all of the Ministries in Church and the 180 Project - Take a new contingent of young people on a Mission trip to SOZO in South Africa in October 2014 - To develop Youth Work at Chadwell.

- Secure another Youth Worker Student from Oasis College which would bring our total to 3 Full Time Youth Work Students.

- Secure Youth Worker for an additional Secondary School.

180 Project The 180 Project is the outreach arm of Community Church and in 2013 was involved in numerous projects.

Lunch Club Here we provide hot meals to school children during school holidays. Since we started in Summer 2012 we have served over 692 meals to 144 children.

TLG Primary School Mentoring Currently in 2 schools with 6 Students on programme - 50+ hours of one-to-one time with students since end October 2013.

Some of the children are engaging in church youth groups and coming to church.

Also their families have started to engage with church on a Sunday too.

Schools Work We retained the Contract to continue supplying a Youth Worker to Harris Academy, which has proved so successful that another Secondary school in the area would like to implement this model in 2014.

We have also retained the contract to manage and run their Year 7 Youth Club every Tuesday night during Term Time, which has also seen some young people engaging with our Church Youth Groups as a consequence.

We continue to Pioneer Secondary and Primary School Mentoring throughout Thurrock via Mentoring Programmes like COACH (Secondary) and TLG (Primary).

2 Crime Awareness Days at HACH and Grays School to 337 students in conjunction with Essex Police The Prison Service, Thurrock Council and MOBO Award Winner Guvna B. South Africa Successfully took a number of young people and leaders on a mission trip to South Africa to engage in the SOZO Foundation. ÂŁ80,000 raised for Educentre which will be built and fully kitted out in 2014.