St Paul’s Ealing

AGM16th March 2009

8pm in Church

Contents:

PCC Agenda

Welcome

Prayer

Annual Meeting of Parishioners (Vestry Meeting)1. Minutes of last meeting (Monday 10th March 2008)2. Matters Arising3. Election of Churchwardens

AGM Agenda1. Apologies2. Notification of Matters of Any Other Business3. Minutes of last AGM (10th March 2008)4. Matters arising from same5. Treasurer's Report and Accounts6. Appointment of Auditor7. Election of PCC 8. Chairman's Report9. Any Other Business10. Questions11. Prayers & Worship

Mark Melluish Welcome

Balancing the BooksTreasurer’s Report

Maintenance & DevelopmentFabric Report

PCCPCC Report Church AttendanceMinutes of Annual Meeting held on Monday 10th March 2008

Welcome Mark Melluish, Vicar

Dear Friends,

As I write this I am aware that we will be facing many challenges as a church family this year. The financial recession will be hurting many families who also support the church and, of course, any drop in finances will affect all that we do as a family together.

However the upside is that we have this fantastic opportunity to share with people where our true treasure lies and a hope that will never fade and is not subject to recession.

Mrs Rae Troke, our church administrator has just gone through the church attendance figures for this last year and, by all accounts, it sounds encouraging with about 140 new members having joined us over the course of the year. Let’s pray for even more in 2009.

What follows is just a short summery of accounts and legal minutes for the AGM. Please do pick up a copy of our magazine for a fuller picture of church life or visit the web site www.stpauls-ealing.org

Thank you for all that you give to help God’s Kingdom become even more real in this community

Mark MelluishVicar

Balancing the Books Vicky Read

Treasurer’s Report on 2008

2008 was a busy year in the life of St Paul’s with the arrival of a new youth worker, two new curates, building work in the church hall and buying a new house. Through all of this, God has clearly been at work and for yet another year, we started with a budgeted deficit of £21k and have finished with a small surplus of £3k. This has been achieved through the regular support from the church family and gifts and loans towards the new house.

IncomePlanned giving rose by 8% over last year which shows that new people joining the church have made financial commitments as several families have also left in the year.

Collections continue to fall year on year and were 21 % below the budget but this has been outweighed by the increase seen in planned giving and one off gifts where we have received just over £24000 in addition to the money given for the new house. During the year our charity collections raised just under £10k for Walking with Maasai and Burma.

Rent for the halls was £6k below budget which was mainly due to an invoice which was not paid before the end of the year and small amount of income lost due to the building work in Ridley Hall where groups could not be relocated.

Expenditure

Staff expenditure was mostly within budget. We had lower salary costs due to vacancies at the start of the year but had additional costs due to the youth worker house purchase and loan repayments and the bathroom being refitted at Erlesmere Gardens. The house itself was paid for through a combination of gifts and loans from church members as well as from the roof account. We will start to replenish this account as soon as possible.

The children’s and youth leaders delivered a huge amount for our young people with the budgets they had. The youth work was slightly overspent due to a weekend away to Fort Rocky.

PlannedGiving64%

Collectionsand gifts12%

Tax13%

Rent7%

Other3%

Staff41%

London Diocese16%

Missions15%

Church costs20%

Other9%

Our other ministries continued to develop and support other activities in the community within their budgets including Skylight which required £4k less than was allocated for its support.

Missions continued to receive 15% of our income for work here and overseas, supporting both short term and long term projects. By the end of the year, all the money had been allocated except for £1,806 (due to gifts received in December) which was sent in early 2009 to support the Bible Society.

Ray Elliott has continued to oversee the repairs and maintenance of the church and hall and due to his careful management we have been able to set aside £6k for further work in 2009 as well as repay £10k to the roof account. During the year, we fitted the new windows for the church office, replaced the flat roofs on the church office and baptistery, improved the lighting in the balcony room and stated work on bookstall.

Fuel costs were £4k over budget due to significant price rises during the year and increased usage as the church has been heated during the week for groups while the building work has been taking place. Capital expenditure was slightly over budget but this includes a long needed upgrade to the church computer network.

St Paul's 2008 Budget2008 2008 2009

Budget Actuals BudgetIncome

Planned Giving 303,720 331,195 320,000All Collections 46,000 36,392 35,000Tax Recovery 77,960 70,305 80,000Fees 500 756 500Church Rent 5,900 7,106 6,000Hall Rent 36,415 30,537 26,950Unspecified Gifts 20,000 24,504 20,000Bookstall 1,000 236 0Interest on current a/c 1,700 1,696 1,700Tithed income 502,727 490,150

Rental income from Skylight 4,000Rent for YW house 430 9,600Standing orders for YW House 2,265 4,140Charity Collections 9,686Total Income 493,195 519,107 503,890

ExpenditureStaffSalaries, N.I., Tax and Pension 173,555 156,467 180,432Vicar's Expenses 3,500 2,013 3,500Vicar's Discretionary Fund 2,000 2,325 2,000Vicarage Maintenance 2,000 1,967 2,000Curate's Exps Barry 1,500 1,306 1,500Erlesmere Gdns R & M 3,500 6,674 3,500Littlewood Close 7,000 7,566 8,000Y W House expenses 9,834 2,400

Y W House loan repayment 3,192 18,294Youth Dept Expenses 2,500 2,006 2,500Curate's Expenses Tim 1,500 2,054 1,500Children's pastors expns 1,500 1,574 1,500Worship/prayer pastors expns 1,500 1,139 1,500Year Team 3,840 2,874 3,840Staff Conference Expenses 4,000 4,000 4,000Cleaning 7,500 7,213 7,725

Church ActivitiesUnder 8's events 250 246 400Great & Small 250 247 250Beamers 250 246 250Sparklers 250 250 250Shiners 250 238 250Crackers 350 350 250Krafty Kids 300 296 300

8-11's MinistryLasers 250 250 200Breakout 250 351 350Schools Ministry 250 15 100Massive 500 530 500

11-14's MinistryExalt 500 1,610 500Transform 500 224 500

14-19's ministry Fusion 500 191 500Sports 100 495 100Youth Outreach 250 64 250

SP3 100 0 100Connect 800 325 600Women's Ministry (0) 200Men's Ministry 250 (186) 250Wednesday Circle 250 0 250Skylight flat rental 9,600 9,600Skylight operational subsidy 6,000 2,000 7,080Skylight closure compensation 5,000 5,000Small Groups 1000 599 3,500Ministry Team 200 0 200Young Adult Ministry 300 14 300Visiting Preachers 1,500 775 1,500Worship Group 2,500 2,944 2,500Missions 72,850 75,409 73,523U.K. Missions 1,000 675 1,000Charity Collections Given 9,686Evangelism 4,500 2,795 4,500Skylight Lounge 1,000 409 1,000Literacy Ministry 1,000 (0) 0

Alpha 1,000 941 1,000Discipleship 500 0 500Besom Foundation 2,500 2,500 2,500Events 750 624 750Prison Ministry 1,000 1,000 1,000

Church ManagementLondon Diocesan FundDiocesan Contribution 45,000 45,000 47,250Support for other churches 35,000 35,000 36,750Area & Deanery 25 0 25Church Repairs & Maintenance 30,000 30,000 20,000Hall Repairs & Maintenance 10,000 10,000 10,000Insurance 8,360 8,249 8,778Fuel 15,500 19,034 21,000Water Rates 1,300 181 1,300Telephones 2,000 2,120 2,000Office Expenses 11,000 10,570 11,000Capital Items 2,500 3,611 2,500Communion Wine 400 368 400Church Flowers 800 391 800Refreshments 6,000 6,820 6,000Advertising 5,500 5,500 5,500Printing 5,000 4,520 5,000PCC Bank charges 1,700 1,877 1,700

TOTAL 514,080 516,158 531,396

(20,885) 2,949 (27,506)

Money held on account for various projects At 31 December

Skylight frontage 4,500Besom 6,464Besom Furniture 3,543Fielding Walk 579Worship Development 3,000Skylight 8,000Language School 2,682Missions 1,806Bookstall Redevelopment 1,718Advertising 4,063Prison ministry 583Staff conferences 3,815Women's ministry 1,186Church/Hall R&M 6,240

48,178

Roof Account 11,094

Church Maintenance & Development (Fabric) Report Aaron Lawler & Debbie Worthington

WORKS COMPLETED THIS YEAR

Re-roofing of two flat roof's, the flat roof over the Baptistry at the rear of the church and the flat roof of the existing church office, this flat roof was also insulated with a warm deck to decrease heat loss.

Also in the existing church office new windows replacing the old existing leaded windows.

Three new balance flue gas heaters two of which are fan assisted at the rear of the church.

The book store at the rear of the church has been moved over into the left hand corner and a glass enclosure created. This also involved some minor plumbing work to re-position the heater.

New cupboards were built in the Beamers room to help with storage for the tables and Kitchen provisions

Re-plastering of all the walls in prayer room as the old plaster was loose.

A new water main replacing existing lead pipe into the church.

Redesigning of store room so that we can keep and store the Church's hoist.

The creation of the new office above the church hall which has been funded by New Wine who will occupy them for up to ten years has been the major project of the year. Although this was done primarily by outside contractors it has involved a lot of work for many members of staff. It is only right to thank all those who have helped move and re-move items for storage and re-organise events that would have taken place in the church hall. I think this is a very visual improvement from the outside, and I am sure many of you in the next few weeks will be able to see what has been done on the inside. As with all large projects, timing and additional work is hard to calculate from the beginning.

I would like to use this opportunity to once again to thank Ray Elliot and this year Peter Shaw for all their efforts and hours they have put in along side other church members in the upkeep of our church facilities.

This coming year there are several projects planned.

We are now looking into the secondary glazing in the balcony room and the insulation of new cycle racks are just some of the items on the agenda.

We also this year have our Quinquential of both Littlewood Close and the church building itself.

We look forward to working again with the PCC and others in caring for the church building in the coming year.

PCC Report and Church Attendance

What is the process for making sure the Church budget is managed effectively? The answer is the PCC. If you have an eye for finance or a heart for ministry – get involved. Either sign up for the committee or find a PCC member and ask questions, we all have a responsibility to make sure God’s money is well managed.

The PCC is a group of 15 church members, plus Mark, the Church Wardens and the Treasurer. The PCC meets 6 times a year and has an Away Day in September. Our aim is to ensure that money is prioritised so that all the ministries can continue and that the church stays on track to deliver the vision.

The PCC has two sub committees – the Standing Committee responsible for Finance and the Fabric Committee responsible for the building.

During the last yearWe have employed a new Youth Worker, Laura GarrettBarry Hingston and Tim Saiet became our new Assistant PastorsSheenagh Burrell rejoined the staffPurchased a new property, 16 Studley Grange Road Built an extension to the hall across the roadAgreed new format for our Sunday ServicesAgreed to sell SkylightRe-launched Small Groups, which have now become ‘Life Groups’ Carried out Maintenance and Repairs to the Church (see Fabric Report)

2009/2010 will have new challenges and the PCC would very much value your support and prayers. We would encourage you to consider praying for one or more specific individuals, read the minutes of the meetings (they are put on display) and please feel free to pass your comments/suggestions on to any PCC member.

Church AttendanceDuring the last year we have welcomed new members to our church. On an average Sunday our total worshipping numbers are approximately 900 including our children and youth groups.

The Electoral Roll number is 784.

Minutes

AGM 2008Monday 10 th March 2008

Mark opened the meeting in prayer and then welcomed everyone to the meeting. The meeting was attended by approximately 70 people.

Annual Meeting of Parishioners (Vestry Meeting)

1. Minutes of last meeting (Sunday 26 th March 2007 ) The Minutes were approved as a true and correct record. All those who attended the meeting were in favour.

2. Matters Arising – No matters arising

3. Election of ChurchwardensJohn Dales is standing down after serving seven years as a churchwarden.

Debbie Worthington has agreed to stand again this year.

Aaron Lawler, whose ministry is Small Groups, has been proposed to stand as the second church warden.

There were no other nominations.

Debbie Worthington and Aaron Lawler were duly elected as Churchwardens.

All those present were in favour.

Annual General Meeting

1. Apologies were received from Helen Collard, Richard & Rachel Colthurst, John & Ruth Dales, Bob Eckhard, Ray Elliott, Ian & Jo Gordon, Marion Hewson, Gina Hudson, Gordon May and Jo Reed.

2. Notification of Matters of Any Other BusinessThere were no matters for AOB

3. Minutes of last AGM (Sunday 26th March 2007)The minutes were agreed as a true and correct record. Proposed by Marcelo Negro-Chacon, seconded by Annica May. Those present at the meeting all in favour. 6 Abstentions

4. Matters arising from same. There were no matters arising.

5. Treasurer’s Report and Accounts Presented by Cathy Webber I do hope that you have picked up a copy of the Vision Booklet and the 2007 accounts as you came in tonight. Our AGM is relatively early this year and the accountant has not had time to finalise the accounts so they are still in draft form but please be assured that they will be approved and signed off at a subsequent PCC meeting.

Unless you are a trained accountant, which I am not, these accounts probably look a bit incomprehensible to you so tonight I just propose to talk through the income and expenditure figures that are found in the vision document before briefly looking at the audited accounts and picking up on a few items there.

2007 was a financially challenging year for us as a church with our initial budget set at a deficit of just over £42,000 and the commitment to build new staff offices in the former organ loft and the refurbishment of the original offices. However, thanks to your great generosity we reduced the deficit down to just over £7,000 at the year end.

Planned giving rose by 8% last year showing that new people have joined the scheme as several committed members moved away last year. Collections fell by a further 20% in 2007. Collections have continued to fall for the past three years but this is more than outweighed in the growth in planned giving showing that more and more people are making a firm commitment.

If you look at this slide you can see how, over the last 10 years, the gap between our income and planned giving has widened. The top line shows our income, at just over £500,000, with planned giving just over £300,000 and over the years the gap has markedly increased showing that we have become more and more dependant on income from the halls, gifts from the congregation and Gift Aid to supplement our income. Hence the need to ensure that as many as possible are encouraged to make a financial commitment.

The item ‘tax recovery’ relates to money that we receive back from the government via Gift Aid. In 2006 it represented 7% of our income and increased to 16% of our income last year so it is important that we all give as tax efficiently as possible.

You maybe aware that the chancellor is giving us all a present this April but it is one that will hurt the church. The basic rate of tax is being reduced from 22% to 20% with a subsequent reduction in Gift Aid from 28p to 25p in the pound. If last year’s tax rebates had been at the lower rate we would have been £9,400 worse off.

Please can I remind you that if you want the church to receive the same gift from you in 2008 you will need to consider increasing your giving.

Continuing looking at our income figures:

Once again Rae Troke, our halls manager, has worked hard at booking halls to virtual capacity and all rents were received by the year end. The bulk of this money comes from the YMCA who run an after school club in the lower church hall and New Wine who rent the upper storey of the church hall.

Thank you to all of you who gave gifts totalling just over £50,000 last year – the majority of this was over and above regular giving – so thank you it made a real difference especially this year.

Our expenditure was largely within budget so I will just pick out a few salient points:

We continue to update and improve our staff housing with a new kitchen being fitted in Erlesmere Gardens and a new kitchen and heating system fitted in Littlewood Close after the latter was condemned by the gas board.

Once again the children’s leaders did an enormous amount of work with the small budgets allocated to them

As usual 15% of our income was giving away, via the Missions Committee, to those less fortunate than ourselves – please see the vision booklet for full details.

The first two items under church management relate to the money we pay the Diocese, totalling £73, 027 in 2007. Amongst other things this helps to pay clergy salaries, maintain their vicarages and run the Diocese as well as providing support for poorer parishes.

Ray Elliott has done a fantastic job again this year and has been overseeing and working on the new staff offices in the former organ loft. This has benefited all staff in giving us more space and privacy and it has been wonderful to be warm this winter! New windows are due to be fitted imminently in the downstairs office giving more light and preventing draughts and rain from the office.

The church was struck by lightening in the summer storms, which was a strange experience, this caused damage to the sound desk and electrical system with the repairs being covered by our insurance policy.

As we are all aware fuel costs continue to rise hence the overspend last year on the fuel budget and an increase in the budget for 2008.

Again office expenses continue to rise but this reflects increased staffing and workloads.

Bank charges are payable both to our bankers, Lloyds, and to Barclaycard through whom we process our electronic payments. Until July we enjoyed a 50% reduction in bank charges when this was, not unexpectedly, removed. We still receive more in interest payments than we pay in charges.

So, that’s our income and expenditure for last year and now you are going to ask me how this all relates to the audited accounts:

Pages 6 and 7 are a summary of the following pages 9 & 10, which are themselves the same figures I have already presented to you but in a different format. If you look at these in greater depth and have any questions do come back to me and, if I can’t help you, then I will contact our accountant.

Let me just point out a few items for you:

Fixed Assets (page 12)Land & Buildings relates to the ownership of the church halls.

Equipment relates to a huge variety of goods from cookers, to computers and to drums – in fact anything in the church and halls that can move!!

Fixtures and fittings – office equipment, carpets

You may well wonder who our debtors were at the end of the year:Largely the Inland Revenue with money due on Gift Aid and planned giving payments and people like our insurers where we have paid an annual premium up until September of this year

And our creditors:Again the Inland Revenue and Scottish Equitable money due before the end of the current tax year but shown in our Income and Expenditure figures and money owed for stock on the bookstall. The loan mentioned here relates to money held on account for a church member.

Please do look at these in greater depth and if have any questions do come back to me and, if I can’t help you, then I will contact our accountant.

I just want to thank you for all the support you have given to the PCC and church over the past year. I hope that in reading the Vision booklet you are inspired and encouraged by all that your money enables us to achieve. I know that the financial outlook isn’t great for any of us this year but please can I either encourage you to join the Planned Giving Scheme or review your giving in the light of the tax changes.

In closing:

Remember that money isn’t everything:

It can buy you a bed but not sleepIt can buy you a clock but not timeIt can buy you a position but not respectIt can buy you medicine but not healthIt can buy you blood but not life.

St Paul's 2008 Budget2007 2008 2007

Budget Budget ActualsIncome

Planned Giving 283,000 303,720 307,177All Collections 50,000 46,000 39,578Tax Recovery 82,000 77,960 87,648Fees 500 500 1,238Church Rent 5,700 5,900 6,422Hall Rent 35,800 36,415 34,249Unspecified Gifts 20,000 20,000 50,231Bookstall 1,000 1,000 889Interest on current a/c 2,000 1,700 2,021Conferences 1,771

531,224Charity Collections 3,627TOTAL 480,000 493,195 534,851

ExpenditureStaff

Salaries, N.I., Tax and Pension 170,500 173,555 172,113Vicar's Expenses 3,500 3,500 2,833Vicar's Discretionary Fund 2,000 2,000 1,920Vicarage Maintenance 4,000 2,000 564Curate's Expenses 1,500 1,500 702Erlesmere Gdns R & M 4,000 3,500 5,374Littlewood Close 7,000 7,000 12,725Youth Dept Expenses 5,000 2,500 2,398Asst minister's expns 1,500 1,500 511Children's pastors expns 1,500 1,500 1,139Worship/prayer pastors expns 1,500 1,500 963Year Team 5,000 3,840 3,924

Staff Conference Expenses 4,000 4,000 4,227Cleaning 7,500 7,500 6,225

Church Activities

Under 8's events 250 250 199Great & Small 250 250 169Beamers 250 250 103Sparklers 250 250 151Shiners 250 250 230Crackers 350 350 315Krafty Kids 300 300 2998-11's MinistryLasers 250 250 168Breakout 250 250 311Schools Ministry 250 250 94Children's Celebrations 500 500 911

11-14's MinistryDivine Madness 1,000 500 423Focus & Life 1,000 500 63714-19's ministry Fusion 700 500 320Sports 100 100 0Youth Outreach 500 250 0SP3 300 100 0Connect 800 800 483Men's Ministry 250 250 86Wednesday Circle 250 250 153Flat rental 9,600 9,600 9,600Closure Compensation 10,000 6,000 5,869Opertaional subsidy 10,000 5,000 10,000Small Groups 3,500 1,000 661Ministry Team 400 200 0Young Adult Ministry 300 300 0Visiting Preachers 1,500 1,500 1,580Worship Group 1,500 2,500 2,395Missions: 74,147 72,850 79,417U.K. Missions 1,000 1,000 792Evangelism 5,000 4,500 2,992Skylight Community 2,500 1,000 1,042Literacy Ministry 1,000 1,000 1,000Alpha 1,000 1,000 1,074Discipleship 1,000 500 0Besom Foundation 2,500 2,500 2,500Prison Ministry 1,000 1,000 1,180

Church Management

London Diocesan FundDiocesan Contribution 41,027 45,000 41,027

Support for other churches 32,000 35,000 32,000Area & Deanery 25 25 25Church Repairs & Maintenance 35,000 30,000 55,893Hall Repairs & Maintenance 10,000 10,000 11,615Insurance 7,600 8,360 7,538Fuel 13,000 15,500 14,446Water Rates 1,200 1,300 173Telephones 2,000 2,000 1,669Office Expenses 10,000 11,000 13,812Capital Items 1,500 2,500 1,956Communion Wine 400 400 264Church Flowers 500 800 555Refreshments 4,500 6,000 6,029Advertising 5,000 5,500 3,640Printing 5,000 5,000 5,118PCC Bank charges 850 1,700 1,723Charity 0 3,627TOTAL 522,099 513,330 541,882

-42,099 -20,135 -7,031Money held on account

Skylight frontage 4,500Conferences 1,771Besom 5,730Besom Furniture 3,840Fielding Walk 579Vicarage R & M 1,436Worship Development 3,000Welcome pack 3,000Skylight 7,000Language School 988Office windows 4,480Missions 5,384

41,708

Roof Account 121,092

Mark thanked Cathy for her report and all the she had done as treasurer over the last twenty years.

Appointment of an Auditor. It was agreed to appoint the Auditor at the PCC Meeting in April.

6. Election of PCC

Mark read out the list of those who had put their names forward for PCC membership

Name MinistryDanny Anterkyi 11 O’clock CongregationJean Grant Missions work

Barry Hingston Small Groups, Staff MemberMadeleine Kolorz Playschool, Skylight Marcelo Negro Housegroups, TQFGerald Newns BuildingsHilary Phillips Missions workVicky Read Small GroupsJo Reed Welcome Team

The above were duly elected as PCC Members, proposed by David Read and seconded by Kathleen Glynn . Other members co-opted onto PCC are Mark, Bob, Churchwardens and PCC Secretary

Jean Grant agreed to stand for Deanery Synod

7. Chairman’s Report

On Vision Sunday we thought about the 5 key ministries of a healthy church …1 Lost people get found2 People find friends 3 A place where people mature in faith4 A place where people serve God5 A place where people can give to God

Although there is always work to do on each and every one of these areas our focus for this year is… People find friends A place where people mature in faith

There are 3 areas of church life that I’d love to encourage us in this year and which we will take us to even greater health as we look at these.

1 Prayer

One of the things that I am so sure of in my life is the way God answers our prayers.

There is such value in being in a community where prayer and fasting are part of our everyday lives. To help us all grow in our prayer lives we will be holding some more prayer schools throughout the year as well as calling us all to pray and fast. This will be a journey of growing in our relationship with God together. Please join us through the year as we journey in this together.

2 People

One of the greatest gifts that we can give to each other is the gift of relationship. This is something that St Paul’s has been very good at in the past. We have seen new friendships birthed and even had a good few weddings come out of it.

However in the last little while I think that the social, friendship area of the church has not had as a high a profile as perhaps should be.

This year we are going to focus on being a place where friendship can happen. We’ll look to do this through providing social events as well as adjusting our Sundays to allow more time for relationships to grow.

3 Praise

The final area I really hope that we can develop even further this year is the area of worship. One of the things asked for by some of those who have fed back to me about our church life is an encouragement to find different expressions of worship.

I have taken this on with such excitement and we have launched a new initiative in our evening worship with the 3:16 service.

Throughout the year we are going to try new things. This means that some will work but also that some will fail. Please allow this to happen and lets explore different and rich ways of developing our relationship with God. Lets together find different ways of connecting with Him and so making our worship of him a real adventure.

I think we can be encouraged as a church family. God is doing great things among us. 2008 looks like it’s going to be a great year.

Church Hall Extension

New Wine Offices

Over the last few years we have had many discussions with New Wine about the extension of the offices over the other half of the hall. We have visited all sorts of variations on this project from staying as they are to moving out completely.

Finally… we have come up with a solution where we build an extension on the hall with New Wine paying for it rather than paying us rent and then at the end of 8 years they return to paying us a commercial rent for the office space. After 10 years the New Wine offices will most probably move out and St Paul’s is left with a very good extension for ministry use that cost us very little (lost rent for 8 years) but gives us a great building.

23 Littlewood Close

The diocese has indicated that they will probably take this house back from us over the next year. We have had the blessing of the house for the past 16 yrs as a church at a rent that is very low.

When the house is taken back we will need to buy one as a church. No staff member earns more than £20,000 and so the possibility of any staff member buying in their own right is not an option. But for us to have staff who can continue to build the ministry here then we need to provide housing.

This will be one of the many challenges that we have as a church this year.

Works completed this year: Constructed a fire escape ramp from east entrance Fitted new low level WC in staff toilet

Provided tea point in old intake room for staff office LCH ceiling and lighting Secondary glazed outside face of chapel windows Cased in heating pipes in church hall for child safety Removal of stage in church hall and fitted hardwood strip floor. Built new vertical cupboards across rear wall and sliding wall Removal of organ gubbins in loft and refurbished for an office Fitted new heating system in staff offices Fitted new windows in church hall.

Works in progress Cupboard in beamers room for storage of tables New windows to office

To do Storage at top of balcony room stairs External lighting Internal flashing to spire Prayer room lighting Bookstall in rear hall Reredos and new cross Intruder alarm Fire alarm

Staff…….Mark acknowledged various people for their hard work and commitment, namely

Bob Eckhard, who has been our curate for the last five and half years, will be leaving us in June.

Barry Hingston, who will become our new curate in June, although has been working two days a week free

Stu & Lucy Plumb who have been our youth workers, will be leaving us, their last Sunday is on Easter Sunday. Stu is joining St Mary’s, Reigate as their Worship Leader.

Judith Curtis, since joining the staff, has done a great job at Skylight, we are ahead of where we thought we would be.

Darren Attard, has recently joined the staff and is working two days a week for St Paul’s and two and half days for Skylight.

Ed Stokes, who is doing the CYM course and is here on his placement with us for the next two years working two days a week and on Friday nights.

Ray Elliott, who does tremendous works at Wormwood Scrubs, as well as all the work he does here.

Eoghan |Heaslip, our Worship Leader and heads our prayer life. Simon, our children’s work is going from strength to strength and still growing. Lindsay, who is now working with us two days a week. Lindsay oversees the

Women’s work, helps run the Family Time, Marriage Course, Leadership Course, Mentors and does Pastoral work.

Cathy Webber, Rae Troke, Polly Neill, our administrators who work very hard to keep us working in a proper and orderly way.

Michelle Meban, doing a fantastic job with the Playschool. John Dales, who has been a huge blessing serving as churchwarden over the last

seven years.

8. Any Other Business – There were no items for AOB

9. Questions Concern re our Prayer Life. Prayer is a very important part of our lives here at St

Paul’s. Balcony Room on Sundays during the 11am service. The Staff is aware of the noise

levels and is looking at ways of reducing it, but is not sure what the solution is. Men’s Ministry. There are events coming up in the year for men

o Men’s Conference later in the yearo Golf Dayo Wacky Games Eveningo Wine/Real Ale Tasting Evening

Tough Questions. What is the future for Tough Questions, now that Bob is leaving? Tough Questions will run once a year, as does the Alpha Course, Family Time, and Marriage Course.

Young People, Teenagers and Children participating in Sunday Services. Eoghan and Simon working towards young people, teenagers and children participating in our services through worship, leading, talking, AV/Sound, hospitality, welcome etc.

Skylight Lounge. Real Life, Real People. Skylight Lounge now meets on a Tuesday evening. It is about getting to grips with what Jesus said and did, is a place where we ask what Jesus means for us today and try to do something about it, is informal and friendly, so come as you are, is church, but not as you know it. Our aim is to bring Jesus to the street and the local community. We are looking to a have live link with St Paul’s on a Sunday.

Partnering other Churches. St Paul’s works and supports other churches. Sheenagh Burrell, our lay reader, works with the Willesden Area World Developing Ministry.

Demographics of our Church. St Paul’s has become a broader culture than we have ever before, reflecting more of the community. We have grown, maybe not as much as we would have liked. People join us, but people also move on.

Discipleship. St Paul’s is looking to developing and maturing our church family through:

o a school of theology over a number of Sunday eveningso Offer a series of short midweek courses

Small Groups. Would like to encourage everyone to be part of a small group. Triplet Groups and Magnet Groups are continuing to grow.

Church Politics. Sunday Services are not the place to discuss church politics. It is the place to meet with Jesus and to listen to the Gospel.

10. The meeting closed in worship and prayer.