Staffing
Neil & Kate Woodward continued to lead SW London Vineyard throughout 2017, with a focus on setting the vision and direction of the overall ministry of the church, leading weekly congregational celebrations on Sundays as well as the day-to-day running of the church. They were also responsible for overseeing the development of the ministry of the church by working alongside and through the leadership staff, administrative staff and lay leaders. Neil also acted as a trustee and as chair for the Board of Trustees/Directors.
Neil & Kate continued to be supported by a team of full-time and part-time leadership staff members whose roles were to oversee and develop areas of ministry, and by full-time and part-time administrative staff members who were responsible for providing support to existing and developing ministries.
Towards the beginning of the year we said goodbye to Samantha Joiner who left the staff team to take up a post in a local school. Sam was an integral part of the team and brought her extensive experience, gifts and skill to the role and transformed many of our operating procedures and policies. Single-handedly Sam developed systems and ways of working that released us to focus on leading the church and provided a much-needed framework from which to build. Sam will be much missed from the role and we wish her all the very best in her new position.
Following Sam’s departure, we were delighted that Helen Kite has stepped in and has taken on the full running and oversight of the administrative elements of running a church. Helen is highly competent, thorough with a meticulous eye for detail and we are confident that under her oversight we will go from strength to strength.
In September, we appointed Sophie Missen as part-time Operations Assistant reporting to Helen Kite, to provide a wide range of administrative support to the SWLV Leadership Staff team and leaders in their ministry-related work.
In December, Charlie Nohre joined the Leadership Staff team on a full-time basis with specific responsibility for developing ministries for Youth, Students and 20s and to work in association with the Senior Leaders and the Leadership Staff to implement the vision and values of SW London Vineyard. We remain grateful for the financial legacy given by Linda Spicer which has made the creation of this role possible.
Website
With websites now affording churches a primary channel to provide not only information and details about the church, but also a sense of who we are, we responded to the need for updating our existing website. James Wake spent a considerable amount of time and energy working alongside experts in the field to redesign a brand-new website, which was launched in April 2017.
As well as being far more reflective of who we are as a church and what we are called to do the website has given us a significantly improved and user-friendly platform to profile Small Groups, events, podcasts, blogs and a range of other ministry related activities. Given the work that James has carried out the website is now much easier to maintain and update in-house and creates a more logical and accessible flow using a fresh and modern style.
As part of the process of reviewing the website we took the opportunity to review our existing logo, which was changed to reflect a new design with the Cross at the centre of the image.
Health & Safety Review
Following a review of our Health & Safety Policy, the Trustees approved the appointment of Ellis Whittam to conduct a full review and audit of all aspects of Health & Safety relating to church activities. Site inspections were carried out in December and we look forward to receiving their reports and recommendations as to how we continue to provide as safe an environment as possible for all those connected to the church. Ellis Whittam will also carry out a review and update to our Health & Safety Policy, ensuring these remain compliant with latest legislation.
Safeguarding
In accordance with our desire to regularly review and update our approaches to Safeguarding across the church, in June 2017 Manny & Sinead carried out an extensive policy review to ensure we remain up to date with recent legislation and best practice. The revised policy has now been updated, reviewed by the Trustees and implemented.
Throughout the year a number or Safeguarding Training sessions were held to better equip teams both working with children and vulnerable adults on best practice.
Structure, Governance & Management
SW London Vineyard (incorporated on 13 February 1995) is a charitable company (limited by guarantee) and is governed by the Memorandum and Articles of Association which were adopted on 13 February 1995 and amended by special resolution on 3 August 2008. As a charity the church acts entirely as a non-profit making organisation. The church has also been granted exemption from using the word “Limited” in its title.
The trustees of the church are appointed as trustees/ directors by the Board of trustees/ directors and act as directors for the purposes of company law.
The church is also affiliated to Vineyard Churches UK & Ireland, a wider network of some 100 or so churches across the country. SW London Vineyard regularly grants a proportion of its income to the work of Vineyard Churches UK & Ireland in the establishing of new churches and missions work abroad.
Trustees/ Directors
The trustees set out below have held office during the whole of the period from 1 January 2017 to the date of this report:-
- Neil Woodward (Chair)
- Stephanie Bell
- Patrick ten Have
- Martyn Wake
Robert Byk attended Trustees’ Meetings as an Observer up until 24 April 2017, when he became a trustee.
The following trustees also joined during 2017:
- Amaryllis Earle – joined 26 June 2017
- Ravi Gidoomal – joined 26 June 2017
- Giles Pearman – joined 23 July 2017
The following trustee resigned during 2017:
- Rachel Bower – resigned 24 April 2017
The trustees met formally to discuss business on 5 occasions throughout 2017:
Statement of Responsibilities
Charity and company law requires the trustees/ directors to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the company and of the profit or loss of the company for that period. In preparing those financial statements the trustees/directors are required to:
- Select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently
- Make judgments and estimates that are reasonable and prudent
- Comply with applicable accounting standards subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements
- Prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the company will continue in business.
The trustees/ directors are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the company and to enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
Internal Controls
As part of their continuing responsibility the trustees have endeavoured to ensure that reasonable internal control procedures are in place as appropriate for the development of the church.
They include:
- Annual budgets are approved by trustees and reviewed on a regular basis
- Management Information Reports issued on a monthly basis, including cash flow, actuals against budget, monitoring of operational reserves
- Periodic review of risk register and associated action log
Risk Management and Compliance
Throughout 2017 the staff team continued to maintain a centralised risk log to identify and mitigate major strategic, operational and financial risks to the charity. The full risk log was reviewed periodically by the trustees, with an extract of the key risks being distributed by email on a monthly basis as part of the regular Management Information Reports.
The risks listed in the risk log include those which focus on governance, leadership, financial operational and external risks. In addition to the ongoing risks that are on the register from year to year such as those relating to safeguarding and the risk of a decline in donations, specific risks managed during 2017 included:
- Failure to maintain, review & implement proper Health & Safety policies. This is being mitigated by carrying out an extensive review of our Health & Safety policy and by the appointment of external Health & Safety consultants.
- Fire related injuries at Ark, The Yard or Vineyard Offices, resulting in criminal charges, reputational damage and/ or financial loss. This is being mitigated by reviewing our fire procedures at the Ark, Yard & office
- Reduction in financial gifts due to changing demographic of membership, changing economic climate or reputational damage etc. endangering financial viability of the church. This is being mitigated by tracking and monitoring giving trends through regular reporting to the Trustees. In addition, we are committed to maintaining 3-6 months’ operating expenses as part of our reserves policy.
On-going monitoring was carried out during 2017 with regard to the compliance requirements of the church in the areas of Child Protection, Disability Discrimination, Employment Law, Health & Safety, etc.
RSM UK Ltd. (formerly Right Hand HR Ltd.) continued to act as the church’s HR consultants and worked closely with the Senior Leaders and Operations Manager ensuring compliance in employment matters and enabling the church to keep fully up to date with changes in Employment Law.
During 2017, the accounts continued to be audited by Mazars LLP and this firm of Chartered Accountants continued to provide on-going financial services to the church.