ANNUALREPORT 2009

We do give huge thanks to our Living Lord for this last 12 months- the third year since the

plant from Holy Trinity Brompton.

One of the things that gives us most encouragement is that HTSC gives us a glimpse of God’s heavenly family with people from all the nations, situations and stages, including more and more newly borns; God is Good!

Our prayer has always been that any person coming to HTSC will feel they have a place here, and can be involved in a positive way. This every member minis-try has been evident in so many ways. Fuller details are set out below, but highlights have to be:

- the launch of Red Sky Cafe allowing us to of-fer Christian hospitality to hundreds of people each week and a new community arts venue for the area;

- the parenting course with parents of different faiths and backgrounds attending- one Muslim mum was asked by her friends “how is it that your chil-dren have begun behaving so well recently?”!

- the launch of Totspot becoming a hub for parents carers and tots with puppets and songs and weekly prayer;

2009 What a year for the HTSC family!

- the instant hit that is Massive with more than 40 kids from all around coming along for food, fun, new skills, hearing the gospel week by week;

- the homeless shelter welcoming men and women off the streets during Advent;

- Sarah Featherstone appointed XLP Camden Borough Worker; with TYouth beginning youth work on two estates;

- wonderful growth of families, children and Red Sky Youth;

Behind all of this, the prayer and worship life of the community has strengthened, both at 7UP, through Freedom Prayer, and with wonderful words of knowl-edge and healing in our services. Even as we write this in 2010, the Lord has begun to do great things for us this year.

We hope that you will enjoy taking a few mo-ments to reflect on our partnership in the gospel for 2009, and be inspired by His Spirit for all that lies ahead.

Much love

Andy and Sue

Our three dimensional groups are based upon our Lord’s Trinity:

-for worship and prayer upwards;-for study, mutual care, and friendship inwards;-for touching the wider community outwards.

Each TGroup has an identity that indicates the general focus of its outward activity.

The TGroups have really taken hold now, and are very much form the fabric of church life. Each group meets on a regular basis with each of the 3 dimensions coming into every meeting.Tg

roup

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Alpha developed as a TGroup in itself during the year, with lots of people who have joined the church through the Alpha course itself. Once again the Alpha course proved an amazing resource as we were able to welcome more than 60 guests from outside of the church to consider the meaning of life and to learn of the real offer of relationship with God through Jesus.

Guests came from all back-grounds; some invited by members of the church, some just responding to advertising or the website or passing by.

Graham and Andy also saw the grace of the Lord power-fully at work during Alpha Holy Spirit days in Pentonville Prison

Image has hosted Freedom Prayer appointments on the last Thursday of each month, with many people hearing from God in a new way and finding a new passion in their faith.

TYouth have continued to minister to our teenagers through the Red Sky Youth group, as well as be involved in the XLP ministry outlined below.

Shine provides the engine room for our Jump Kids church on Sundays which has grown to a pool of more than 50 children. Alongside this Shine launched the Massive kids group meeting on Thursday evenings, putting on a fantastic 90 minutes for local children, including a wholesome hot meal at the start!

Crossover brings together those with a passion to connect the Christian message with modern culture. 2010 will see more of the Crossover vision released as a new album is released and Hanif takes the Crossover band to other churches.

H2H has been as active as ever, with the first ever parenting course in the autumn bringing a new view of church commu-nity and real practical teaching to a wide range of families. It was wonderful that the council could offer the course to parents, and for families of other faiths to attend.

Taste began a few months after the launch of Red Sky Cafe, as various members began to realise the potential of the cafe to de-velop as a community hub to engage with people through arts, media and music. As well as the daily vibe of the cafe with its great home-made food and fantastic fair trade coffee, the regular acoustic nights with guest musicians are proving hugely popular.

Is there a passion on your heart not represented by any of the other TGroups? Please speak to Andy or Chris if you have any ideas for new min-istries that we can get involved in as a church.

As a Spirit led church, we believe the Spirit of God is at work in our lives today, and it has been very encouraging to see evi-dence of this week by week in our Sunday gatherings and during the week.

With our worship team wonderfully strengthened by the arrival of Kath Mar-tin, our Sunday worship includes full band in the morning and evening.

Vibrant worship resounds every Wednes-day morning at 7UP. Red Sky Crossover services happen regularly with guest band members and contemporary loops and sounds.

As Freedom Prayer has developed, so faith levels have been rising. Prayer min-istry after the services is becoming a more and more important feature as people are responding to words and pictures from the Lord, and to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

prayer, worship & sundays

Pictures from regular Sunday services, and (below) one of the Crossover gigs

We are also passionate about discover-ing more about God through the scrip-tures.

Our sermon series aim to balance pri-orities for those with more established faith, and connecting with people at dif-ferent points in their journey of faith.

Sermon series for the year included:

Breathe 009: building core strength for turbulent times

Naked 12: 12 questions you never dared to ask

House: church from good to great

Why Christmas: the Ultimate Guide.

Family services were a regular feature, with the Family Christingle Service of-fering a unique production of A Christ-mas Carol and many custard pies being thrown.

From January to December, the HTSC site has been a place of prayer, worship and the word of God, with many people coming in through the cafe, because of invites from friends, or just passing by. With the pressure on space at Jump, 2010 will see the launch of service num-ber 3!

2009 has been a wonderful period of growth and development of the chil-dren’s ministry at HTSC.

‘Kids Jump’, our weekly Sunday chil-dren’s church with a 14 strong volun-teer team – has gone from strength to strength. All three groups: Little Jump, Club Jump & Power Jump have grow, and a new group added during the ‘Jump’ service for 11-13s called Yoofee, this is beginning to take shape.

At ‘Kids Jump’ there is a strong sense of belonging amongst the children and team alike, and we regularly see well over 30 children every Sunday. Good feedback has been received from par-ents and kids in terms of enjoyment of kid’s church as well as the children’s spiritual growth.

In order to build on the relationships with children, teachers and parents at Holy Trinity School through weekly as-

Kids Ministry report by David Owens, Children’s Pastor

Above: children from Holy Trinity School at an assembly in the churchBelow: the Kids Jump team at the Dare weekend away

semblies, school trips, and lessons, we launched two new kids/family ministries, ‘Totspot’ and ‘Massive’.

‘Totspot’ is a toddlers drop in for pre-school kids and parents/carers that has been pioneered by Sharon, one of the mothers at HTSC, and our Children’s intern, Jessica Barnes. Already a new community of kids and parents/carers is growing on Wednesday mornings to play, chat with the team (including some won-derful HTSC volunteers), sing a song, see a puppet show and finish with the ‘Tot-spot’ prayer.

‘Massive’ is a Thursday evening kids club for 7-11 year olds run with a fan-tastic team of volunteers from the Shine TGroup. ‘Massive’ has weekly attendanc-es of between 40-55 kids from all around the local area. The children are encour-aged to think about how they live, and God’s nature shown in Jesus. Each eve-ning includes new skills, from drama to art to sport and cooking.

Through all that has been going on in the kid’s ministry during 2009 we have no-ticed an increased trust in the relation-ship between families in the local area and the church. This is something we long to nurture in 2010.

Above: children from Holy Trinity School at an assembly in the churchBelow: the Kids Jump team at the Dare weekend away

Red Sky Youth have continued to be a vital part of the HTSC community with new mem-bers joining during the course of the year. As well as meet-ing on Sundays, each member has a mentor who they meet up with regularly to chat and pray. A big highlight of the year was the first HTSC party going to Soul Survivor togeth-er with some brave TYouthers (and honorary TYouthers). They all survived, in fact they got the sunniest week of the summer, plus camping, plus awesome teaching and wor-ship, plus patience with the loos and showers.

youth

Beyond HTSC out of 10,000 young people in the borough of Camden, only 200 have any kind of link with a church.

XLP (The eXceL Project) is a Christian or-ganisation valuing the life of each and every young person, helping to unlock the poten-tial of those who lack a sense of ambition or vision in their lives through estates and schools work. The aim is to get to know young people both in their home environ-ment, and in their school context.

HTSC sponsors Sarah Featherstone as the first (XLP) youth worker for Cam-den borough .

2009 saw the work really start to develop, including:- ‘Regent’s Park’s Got Talent’ show in October 2009 with young people from Regent’s Park estate performing in front of their peers, and increasing in self confidence as a result.

- the XLP double decker bus youth group meets on Friday nights on the same estate – with TYouth providing all the volunteer team.

- Building links with the police and Camden council (who are particularly impressed with the relational and long-term approach.

- PHSE lessons, lunchclubs and assemblies started in two Secondary Schools.

XLP has already had a posi-tive impact on the life of one young man. Rambo, aged17, who relished the opportunity to perform at an HTSC cross-over gig in front of many of his peers, as well as getting to know some of the Red Sky Youth here at HTSC and other members of the church.

Watch this space for lots more planned for 2010!

February’s mission to Calcutta and Thakuranichak was HTSC’s first major over-seas mission. After one of the most fun fundraising evenings ever at the Calcutta Bollywood Light Party (to be repeated in 2010), a team of 12 (including several medical professionals) set off to Calcutta.

The motivation for the trip was to develop our relationship with the Dalit people in a semi-rural area called of Thakuranichak. Dalit people continue to suffer from the hangover of the caste system, with no edu-cation, bonded labour and few rights.

The team managed in 10 days to accom-plish more than we might have dared to hope for:- bringing practical medical care to more than 1300 patients, many also asking for prayer and connections with the local church;- to build our relationship with Pastor Anil and the Good Shepherd Church- to visit and encourage the first children and teachers at the new school being de-veloped as a result of the work of HTSC

overseas mission

 

 

OM India and Thakuranichak Report by Graham Singh, HTSC Curate

members Anil Khera, Derrick D’Souza and oth-ers in partnership with Operation Mobilisation- running an Alpha Conference in Calcutta to train nearly 100 church leaders to run the Al-pha Course in their local contexts.

As ever, the team returned blessed as much as they were able to bless! We are looking for-ward to the next trip soon!

Cafe report by Luke Wilkinson, Cafe Manager

Since opening in May 2009, the cafe has been steadily growing and developing to respond to the different culinary and artistic tastes of the community in Swiss Cottage! We have been blessed with support from sev-eral members of the church community, notably Juliana Lusquinoz who managed the cafe from the set-up pe-riod until baby Nico was born, and Jeanie Hosken, who has been a driving force behind our menu, baking and preparing much of the fresh produce that we sell.

Alongside the day-to-day community engagement through the cafe, we have also been building up a programme of arts events, which so far has included acoustic music and poetry nights, and a rolling exhibi-tion of paintings managed by Bernadette Kerr.

In October 2009 Red Sky Cafe hosted HTSC’s first semi-professional theatre perfor-mance in the church. The play, On Religion, was written in 2006 by a playwright, Mick Gordon, and an atheist philosopher, A.C. Grayling. Confirmation that God’s hand was upon the production was evident in the chance meeting with the playwright in a cafe opposite the church, and the sell-out success of the three performances. Well-known Brit-ish theatre director and critic, Sir Jonathan Miller, attended as a guest of our archdea-con, Michael Lawson, and gave us warm praise for our courage in staging such a bold play in our church space.

fabric reportRed Sky Cafe - The redevelopment of the room at the front into Red Sky Cafe was the definite building highlight for 2009!

With limited funds, the basic shell of the cafe was installed, with shelving, counter, display systems, and cafe furniture. Plumbing and an extension 3 phase electricity point was installed to serve the cafe and front facility.

The cafe has been equipped with good quality commercial equipment at each point, including dishwasher, fridges, refridg-erated display, cash till, coffee machine, grinder and blender, grill.

The cafe was opened at the start of May with the headline scripture: Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.(Psalm34.8).

A deck area was then added to the flower bed at the top of the stairs with capacity for eight more people to be seated outside. The railing wall was lowered alongside the stairs for improved-visibility, and a strong wooden trellis fitted to the top of the deck side wall to meet health and safety requirements.

Exterior Lights - Electricity feed for the outside has been in-stalled, with lights to the exterior of the church including up-lights at the front, a new deck light, and downlight on the cross at the front.

Glass Doors - The other major item of fabric development has been the fitting the fitting of glass doors to the front and side and interior. General - General maintenance work continued, including re-pairs to the roof near the lantern which continues to leak from

time to time. Remedial repair work to part of the rear flat roof has been carried out.

A safety cage frame has been built in the interior cupboard of the church to separate the fuse and lighting boxes from the oth-er storage areas.

The exterior emergency exit has been replaced because the old one was no longer fit for purpose.

Kathryn Martyn has been appointed health and safety officer for the building and monitors all requirements in this area.

Hall and Building Usage - The building was increasingly busy with the ministries of the HTSC community as outlined in this report.

In addition Holy Trinity School continues to use the building for PE lessons on two days each week, and a range of additional events throughout the year, including science week, the nativity play, Mothers day afternoon and the Christmas disco.

We welcome the whole school for assembly each Wednesday.

The other regular users of the site are Weight Watchers and the Karate club run by the HT school caretaker. There is very little capacity for other hall usage.

Equipment - As well as the items mentioned above, various items of computer equipment, band equipment, kitchen items were purchased.

Administrative information - Holy Trinity Church is located on the Finchley Road just a half a mile from Swiss Cottage, North West London. It is part of the Area Diocese of Edmonton in the Diocese of London within the Church of England. The corre-spondence address is Holy Trinity Church, Finchley Road, Lon-don NW3 5HT.

The Parochial Church Council (PCC) is a charity excepted from registration with the Charity Commission

PCC members who have served since the APCM in 2008 are:

Vicar: Revd Andy Keighley (since 9 October 2006) ChairmanCurate: Revd Graham SinghWardens: Colonel Jeffrey Hosken Emily TwycrossRepresentatives on the Deanery Synod: Lauren PreteceilleElected members: Thurston Goliath (Treasurer), Tom Biddle, Alice Keen, Mina Bajomo, Femi Bajomo, Anil Khera, Anne Harding, Julianne Greenslade, Structure, governance and management

The method of appointment of PCC members is set out in the Church Rep-resentation Rules. All Church attendees are encouraged to register on the Electoral Roll and stand for election to the PCC. Members of the PCC are elected on an annual basis.

Church attendance and Electoral Roll

There are 163 parishioners on the Church Electoral Roll, 155 of whom are not resident within the parish. 50 names were added during the year and 16 were removed either through death or because they moved away from the parish. The average count during September was 157 and the average count during November was 161. The full PCC met 6 times during the year with an average level of attendance of 76%.

FINANCIAL REVIEW

Although the church grew in terms of members, resources of the church decreased compared to 2008 as the recession made an impact. Total income in respect of unrestricted funds was £273 923 and is detailed in the Financial Statements.

Total expenditure for the ministry of HTSC was £195 474.

This included the payment of £30 000 towards the Common Fund of the Church of England. This contribution is towards the cost of clergy in the Lon-don Diocese, upkeep of vicarages, training and central costs. This sum is less than the full Common Fund share for a church with a full-time minister, and we are continuing to increase our contribution year on year to try to achieve the full amount in the next two to three years.

The sum expended on general maintenance was £42 349The income from hall rental was £6 105.The sum expended on the development of Red Sky Cafe was £16 246. As part of the investment in the cafe, the PCC decided to sell the Shell shares during the year.

Other restricted fundsWe are extremely grateful for the support shown to us for our ministries at HTSC. The Rt Rev Michael Lawson, the Archdeacon of Hampstead continued to support the church with his prayer and wisdom, and with a grant to help us establish the theatre ministry. We once again received wonderful grants towards our children and youth ministries from Mustard Seed in the USA of US$12 000, and from the Urban Action Trust in the sum of £15 000.

During the year the church received a grant from the HTSC endowment fund controlled by the Diocese of London. The receipt of these funds was consis-tent with the principles applied to the endowment fund, namely that capital held on trust by the LDF may be applied to defray any exceptional expendi-ture that is towards ecclesiastical and charitable purposes. As Project Oyster represented the refurbishment and modernisation of the church and church hall in order to serve the community better, these purposes were met.

The net result for the year was an decrease in net incoming resources from unrestricted funds of £20 862.

The balance on unrestricted funds at the year-end was £65 032.

Reserves policy: The reserves policy is under review.

Approved by the PCC and signed on their behalf by (PCC chairman)

p.s.

Right: Also, in case you were wondering, Andy Keighley was made vicar (officially) with a second visit from the Bishop in September.

Left: Andy chat-ting with Prince Charles about our church plant. The Prince was hugely positive and affirming on hearing about all our ministries

Left: Having completed his training, July 2009 also saw the ordination of Graham Singh as a minister in the church. Big congratulations to our Canadian, Guyanian, York-shire Curate!