Annual Report 2007

St Luke's Church, 71 Liverpool Road, Crosby, Liverpool L23 5SE
Telephone Number: 0151 931 3119
Office correspondence to Parish Administrator (Mrs Shirley Wallin), Parish Centre, at the above address.

PCC members are:

Priest in Charge	Rev Canon Peter Spiers	Chair
Ordained Local Minister	Rev Barbara Chambers
Readers	Mr Alan Lewney
Church Wardens	Mr Gordon Lawrence
	Mrs Ann Somers
Deanery Synod Representatives	Mr Peter Naylor	(to June 2007)
	Dr Peter Owen	Vice-Chair
	Mrs Diane Kerr	(from Sept 2007)
	Mr Lester Davey
	Miss June Barnard
	Mrs Pam Stubbs	(from June 2007)
Elected Members	Mrs Dawn D'Auvin	(from APCM 2007)
	Mr Ray Terry	(from APCM 2007)
	Mrs Jan Matthews	(from APCM 2007)
	Mr Barry Fell	(from APCM 2007)
	Mrs Carol Roocroft	(to APCM 2007)
	Mrs janet Woods	(to APCM 2007)
	Mr Dave Roberts	(to APCM 2007)
	Mr Peter Dobson
	Mr Eric Linford	Treasurer
	Mr Les Railton
	Mrs Linda Moore
	Mrs Sharon Thornton
	Mr Steve Matthews
	Mrs Joyce Fell
	Mrs Ann Somers
	Mrs Jane Nurney
	Mr Iain Graham
Co-opted	Mrs Linda McDowell	Secretary

Bankers: Barclays Bank, 18-22 Liverpool Road, Crosby, Liverpool L23 5SF

Independent Examiner: Mr Alan Bruford, 6 Marldon Avenue, Crosby L23 OSL

Quinquennial Architect: Mr Bill Schafer, 56 Belvidere Road, Ashton In Makerfield WN14 8RU

Day to day management control of the Church is exercised by the Priest in Charge and Church Wardens: Rev Canon Pete Spiers, Mr Gordon Lawrence and Mrs Ann Somers : contactable via the Church Office 0151 931 3119.

Structure, Management and Governance

St Luke's Church PCC operates under the Parochial Church Council Powers Measure 1956. The PCC is excepted by order from registering with the Charity Commission. The PCC met on six occasions during 2007, one of which was an away day.

The method of appointment of PCC members is set out in the Church Representation Rules. All church members are encouraged to register on the Electoral Roll and stand for election to the PCC.

The PCC operates two subcommittees: The Standing Committee and World Mission Group.

The Standing Committee prepares the agenda for the Parochial Church Council meetings and transacts any business that it has been empowered to do so. It also acts as a finance committee. Membership comprises: Priest in Charge, Churchwardens, PCC Secretary, PCC Treasurer and one person elected by the PCC (Peter Naylor until June 2007 and then Les Railton from October 2007).

The World Mission Group encourages the work of the seven supported Church charities which are: South American Missionary Society (SAMS), Church Mission Society (CMS), Toybox, Sefton Women's and Children's Aid (SWACA), projects in Bunyoro Kitara Diocese (Uganda), Queen Elizabeth Children's Hospital (Malawi), Childrens Society. Membership comprises: a world mission co-ordinator and one representative for each organisation.

We also have a Shared Ministry Team which was selected by the PCC in July 2007. Each member has a specific role ie cell groups, youth work, children's work, pastoral, worship, welcome and administration. They work with the priest in charge to take responsibility for the work of the church in these areas and to develop the gifts of others.

Objectives and Activities

The PCC (Powers) Measure 1956 states the PCC "is to co-operate with the minister in promoting in the parish the whole mission of the Church, pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical".

At St Luke's we seek to conduct our activities on our five values:

All Involved
Becoming Disciples
Creating Community
Doing Evangelism
Encountering God

We list our objectives for 2007 and what we did to achieve them:

1. Re-form the Shared Ministry Team which will take us forward in key areas of our work
After a process of teaching, prayer and discernment this took place in the summer and they began to meet fortnightly from September. They are meeting with those working already in their areas of responsibility and assessing what needs to be done next.

2. Undertake the essential repairs listed in the Quinquennial Report
It has been a frustrating year as the most urgent action is required on the vestry roof. Our architect has drawn up a design and this has been agreed by the PCC.

3. Have a clear vision for the re-ordering of the Church building
There was another successful evening in the summer for all the congregation to come and discuss how it could be re-ordered. This was organised by a small group of congregation members who are building on these findings. The next step is to discover what the community of Crosby think and the help of Sefton CVS is being sought for this.

4. Make our Church grounds more welcoming and attractive
Our successful bid to the Breathing Places fund for £10,000 has led to a lot of activity! There was a Wildlife activity morning in March, the planting of a butterfly garden and hundreds of bulbs, the pruning of trees causing a problem and the relaying of a path. Children for Crosby High school and St Luke's Halsall have also participated. We took part in Crosby in Bloom in the summer. Plans have been drawn up for a community garden.

5. Explore strategic partnership and mission with the Anglican Deanery
The clergy at St. Luke's have been meeting on a fortnightly basis with neighbouring clergy (cluster) to build friendships and promote understanding. There have been some joint activities like a confirmation service. The PCC passed a resolution for the Sefton Deanery Synod to debate about whether the deanery boundaries are the most suitable for mission. Following discussion across our neighbouring parishes, the establishment of a formal 'team ministry' is not being pursued at the present moment.

Review of our Achievements and performance in the year

Every parish in the Church of England had to revise their electoral roll in 2007. We took the opportunity of writing to everyone on our existing list but also to people who we thought might be interested. As a result 104 people did not re-apply but we welcomed 50 others, making a total of 300.

Worship: Attendance figures for our 1 lam service were 98 adults and 38 children on average in 2007 whereas in 2006 they had been 96 and 45 respectively. Attendance figures for the 9am service were 51 adults compared to 55 in 2006. Attendance figures for 6.30pm service were 36 compared to 35 in 2006. The average attendance for the Wednesday morning Communion service has remained steady at 12.

Attendance figures for Easter Day 2007 were 228 adults and 46 children

Once again our Christmas services were very popular: our 3 Christingle services, midnight Communion and Christmas Day services attracted 631 adults and 272 children compared to 2006 which were 791 and 283 respectively. The numbers of children has continued to fall since 2000 during this period!

The attendance figures for our Carols by Candlelight service was 180, down on previous years. We held two Carol services for Halsall School which were attended by approximately 800 people.

During 2007 we took 1 wedding for which wedding preparation sessions were held. We also took 70 funerals and a small team of people undertook bereavement visiting afterwards. In November we had 155 people attending the Memorial service for those who had died in 2007.

We conducted 16 baptisms in 2007.

We were delighted to welcome 11 young people and 5 adults to confirmation classes and subsequent confirmation in St Luke's.

Pastoral Care and service to our community

A report from those organising our cell groups, pastoral visiting team, home communion visiting, Senior Citizens' group, Women's Fellowship and Mother's Union and prayer ministry can be found in our organisations' report.

Youth and children's work

A report from those organising our work with those aged 0-18 on Sundays, in uniformed organisations, toddler group (Stepping Stones), TAG (Teenagers and God) and The Way can be found in our organisations' report.

Other Churches

We are full members of Churches Together in Great Crosby and members of the Sefton Deanery (Church of England) and of In Another Place, a new organisation that seeks to work across all the churches in the area to produce high-quality, dramatic events to reach those outside the church.

Church Buildings

During 2007, the PCC wrestled with what to do about the church roof and vestry and explored various options.

The Church Hall continues to be well-used and we were very pleased to announce that Mrs Sue Kenyon would take over the bookings for the hall from Mrs Agnes Law who has taken on this role for 20 years. We employed a cleaner to look after the Hall.

We employed a Parish Administrator to work in the Parish Centre alongside a number of volunteers. Other rooms in the building were used for various meetings, for prayer and prayer ministry, a library, and by outside organisations such as Compass and NHS counselling.

Church Grounds

We employed a Site Supervisor to maintain the Church Grounds (which include a graveyard) and work was also carried out by a team of volunteers from the Church. We dealt with a couple of hundred enquiries regarding the graveyard.

We continue to be indebted to our Maintenance Team who did a lot of work on both the buildings and grounds.

Factors relevant to the achievement of our stated objectives

We were very fortunate to have a large number of people in the congregation who were willing to volunteer their services where and when required.

Financial Review

2007 was once again an encouraging year financially with income for the General Fund of the PCC at £167,000 compared with expenditure of £131,000, including our Share to the Diocese of nearly £62,000. Our main source of income was again direct giving by our members which amounted to £105,000. This was increased by tax reclaimed of £24,000.

We have continued to save £2000 every month out of our General Fund to meet our Giving in Grace (GiG) objectives and this fund stood at £47560 at the end of 2007. Its 4 objectives are:

1. To make effective use of our church building for mission in the 21st century
2. To be active in our outreach to the community starting with the children and parents in our church schools
3. To work collaboratively to develop youth work not only in our own church but throughout the area.
4. To sustain with passion (and also learn from) our relationships with Christians throughout the world.

The accounts show that members of St. Luke's have a clear understanding of "Who is my neighbour?" as a total in excess of £38605 was given away, equivalent to £106 every day of the year. This money comes from the direct giving of the congregation to our restricted funds for world mission, fundraising events by church organisations, and decisions of the PCC to make donations from its General Fund.

The PCC set a budget for 2007 which was dependent upon the outcome of our Annual Review of Giving early in 2007 yielding an increase in giving of £300 per week. Although this target was not quite met the PCC were still able to meet its day to day commitments.

The church has over 250 members of a planned giving scheme, an increase of 16 on the previous year.

The PCC decided to purchase a property for the new curate to live in. We decided to use some of the GiG fund and £13000 from the General Fund for the deposit and other initial costs. We further decided that the mortgage repayments could also be met from GiG funds, Having an additional full time worker in the parish was seen as a way of helping to achieve two of the four GiG objectives.

Performance of investments continue to be satisfactory with our endowments in the Central Board of Finance increasing in value from £41220 to £42253. The PCC decided to liquidate £30000 from this fund to part finance the repairs to the vestry roof and consider the balance of this fund as part of our reserves.

Reserves Policy

The PCC has a reserves policy whereby three months costs will be held as a general reserve. Currently the general reserve stands at £10,000 which is £20,000 lower than the desired level. We aim to build up our reserve fund to £20,000 by the end of 2010.

Plans for 2008

1. To re-build vestry roof
2. To achieve the Child Friendly Church Award.
3. To develop a vision for the Church for the next five years
4. To develop work with 18-30's
5. To organise basic Christianity and Discipleship Courses.

this page was last modified on 6 April 2008