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1 St George’s Church Annual Report 2024 Message
2 Our five-year vision for 2020-2025 finished at the end of the year. We are so grateful to God for the way we have seen his powerful hand at work achieving that which he set out to do in and through us over 2024. We are a church with Jesus at the centre, where the Bible is our guide, and where people matter. This year, St. George's Church has experienced remarkable growth and transformation. We've witnessed the powerful hand of God moving within every aspect of our ministries. We continue to encounter God's presence in our Spirit-led worship, our faithful and bold preaching, our community outreach and shared fellowship. Our unwavering belief in Jesus Christ as Lord fills us with immense gratitude for his life, death and resurrection, and all he has achieved for us. As we reflect back on the last year, and indeed last five years, we can see how we have fulfilled our God-given vision to: Grow radically in maturity, Christlikeness and number. Overflow joyfully with God’s love in worship, prayer, disciple making, and serving our community. Resource generously as we usher in God’s Kingdom in St George’s Church, Stamford, the surrounding villages, market towns and overseas. We hope and pray the entire report on the pages that follow share the wonderful work of God in and through us this year. As we look to the next 5 years (2025-2030) the PCC and staff team have been working with us (Martyn and Ben) to seek God’s face for the next 5 years. Our new vision will be presented at the APCM on 19th May – we hope to see you there. Highlights We have had a wonderful year of blessings through the corporate gathering of God’s people in our church services week on week. We have grown numerically over 2024 as new people have started attending worship. We continue to see a growing number of children and young people at our 11am service. Our preaching team have helpfully applied God’s never changing word in our ever-changing world. Our worship and media team, hospitality team and welcome team have facilitated our worship each week. Our worship leaders have enabled our corporate praise, and our AV team have broadcast our services by YouTube to those who are unable to attend. We have continued to support both Andy and the church he leads at St. Anne’s in Grantham, and Greg and the church he leads at St. John’s in Spalding. As the Strategic Development Funding Rector’s Report Martyn Taylor & Ben Topham
3 comes to a natural end, we will need to consider how we can maintain the momentum around being a Resource Church, enabling other churches to thrive. One way this will continue to be done is through the Mission Lincs Network, a group of likeminded mission-focused evangelical churches in South Kesteven who meet together to Celebrate all that God is doing in each church, Calibrate ourselves to the mission of Jesus in Lincolnshire, and Cultivate a heart for church revitalisation and planting across the diocese. Our staff team retreated for two days in April along with the staff teams of St John’s and St Anne’s. We welcomed the Rev’d Anna Mayo as our training curate after her ordination in June. It’s been a delight to welcome Anna into the church family and team. Another significant change for our church has been the development of the Raising Generations Team (RGT) overseeing our children’s, youth and young adults’ ministry. This year we appointed Mark Beckett as our Youth Worker, and Jacob Kutschera as our trainee Youth Worker. We celebrate the growth that the RGT has seen in the number of young adults coming to church, forming a new small group and enjoying life together. Matt Wild led a young adults’ weekend away to Letton Hall and has another planned for 2025. We have expanded our provision at both 9.15 and 11am, with new Bible study groups each Sunday and midweek for those ages 14-18. None of this would be possible without the dedicated team of youth and children’s volunteers who enable this incredible ministry to happen. Alpha ran earlier in the year, with an evangelist, Greg Downs, launching the course. The course was well attended and saw new people coming to faith and joining the church. We enjoyed another Season of Invitation from September to December with many new people invited to events and services. We partnered with Jonathan Conrathe form Mission 24 for a special service of healing, with many people coming to faith and being healed. We welcomed West End Has Faith back for a special Christmas concert. We had a market stall with a pop-up nativity for December. All this culminated in an increased attendance to our Christmas Services, ready to launch an Alpha Course in 2025. Our Fresh Hope ministry is expanding. We brought Phil Chand and Helen Walton onto the Fresh Hope Team which enabled us to launch the Community of Hope, a regular opportunity for prayer, Bible study, and learning new skills. One of the first Community of Hope projects was to refresh all the tired chairs in church, making them fit for purpose for the years to come. CAP has seen many people go debt free in 2024, and some give their lives to Christ. CAP Sunday was a wonderful celebration of this important ministry. We have seen greater expansion of CAP’s area, ably led by Simon Jary. We know that prayer is central to all we do. Prayer Central has continued to be one of our most important meetings of the month, with over 100 gathering. We have also enjoyed two 24/7 prayer rooms in the year. Our small group ministry has been supported by the recruitment of four SEED pastors, to support, encourage, equip and disciple our leaders. We have about 75% of the church family in 41 small groups. The New Leaf has continued to get hundreds of good Christian books into the hands of church members to read. Around 100 of us attended New Wine United 2024, with our young people camping together and attending Luminosity. Martyn, Lorraine and Ben have been invited to take part in a learning community with X Collective (run by John McGinley) to share and learn from likeminded churches how we continue to multiply churches that are Spirit filled, revitalising and resourcing. Thanksgiving Gratitude for Our Congregation We are profoundly grateful to our congregation, God's people, for their unwavering support over the past year. Each of us contributes to the work of the Lord at St George's through our service in various ministry roles, our financial offerings that fund God's work, and our prayers that intercede for the church and bring the Kingdom closer to us week by week. Our weekly ministry is sustained by a vast army of humble, highly capable and devoted servants of Christ who give of themselves lovingly. Thank you, congregation. Gratitude for our PCC We extend our heartfelt thanks to our PCC, who have made bold decisions in 2024, keeping the Gospel at the forefront of our mission to reach many with the Good News of Jesus. They have invested in Kingdom initiatives and provided good governance, challenge, and spiritual direction to “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!
4 the church. We also express our gratitude to their subcommittees (HR, Buildings and Global Impact Group). Special thanks go to our churchwardens, Gordon McKechnie and Koleh Rees, for their strategic and prayerful ministry throughout 2024. Safeguarding Commitment We are deeply grateful to Liz Fell for her significant role in safeguarding, alongside our operations manager, Clare Arthey, ensuring the safety of all God's people at church. As the Church of England's safeguarding history has been scrutinised this year in the media, and exposed for huge failings, locally we remain committed to maintaining the highest standards of safeguarding in all our ministry areas. Appreciation for Our Staff Team We thank God for our wonderful staff team and their dedication to serving the church and the Kingdom in 2024. We experienced significant changes in our staff team this year, welcoming Anna Mayo as our curate in training following her ordination in June. Alice Pinney transitioned to a wider role at a church in Cheltenham, and Mark Beckett was appointed to lead the Youth Ministry after completing his training. Additionally, Jacob Kutschera joined us in September, training in youth ministry. Michelle Smith stepped down from cleaning our premises after many years of service in this role. Financial Blessings We are particularly thankful to God for His financial provision in 2024. We have been financially blessed, with regular giving increasing and significant one-off gifts supporting church projects. As we started the year, we predicted a significant deficit in our finances; as the year ended, we were blessed by God with a surplus. We also extend our thanks to our finance team for diligently stewarding our finances. With all the changes we experienced, we are grateful that our finances have remained in good shape throughout 2024. “I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now” (Phil 1:3-5). Resource Church Update for 2024 We have continued to resource through the concentric circles emanating outwards from St George’s in formal and informal ways. St George’s connections have continued to help bless the ministry in local villages, including Ryhall, Carlby and Ketton all in Peterborough Diocese. These villages continue to be in vacancy. We give thanks for our SDF revitalization projects at St John’s in Spalding and St Anne’s in Grantham. Spalding has seen increased giving over 2024 and ended up with a small surplus having predicted a deficit at the begin-ning of the year. Average attendance across both services is 97 with 13 children present at the earlier family-friendly service. There are challenges with an elderly congregation at the 10:45 service who lost five members over 2024. The 9:15 service faces the challenge of encouraging the different families to attend regularly and grow into a community. There are now two small groups with the plan to launch a third in 2025 after the Alpha course. There is a growing youth and children’s ministry throughout the week. Martyn and Lorraine continue to pray regularly with Greg, Richard and the leadership team. St Anne’s averages 112 people with fifteen children and youth. Giving has been growing , enabling the recruiting of a part-time administrator for 2025. There is a growing fringe and one of the main issues from 2024 has been the dissolution of the old parish set up and the separation of St John’s from St Anne’s. This has nearly been completed and will enable both parishes to plan effectively for their re-spective futures. Andy is exploring leadership structures to enable growth and is supported and advised by a strong leadership team. Martyn completed his D.Min in Market Town Resource Churches with Asbury Seminary, graduating in May 2024. He is very grateful for the support of the PCC in enabling him to invest significantly in the final third of his ministry. The Diocese are creating a new strategic plan for the next ten years and we wait to see how we can play our part as a Resource Church in the way that lies ahead.
5 Finance Report Simon Johnson and Pam Lee We say this prayer every week at St George’s as we acknowledge the generous giving of those in our congregations and ask God to bless and prosper its use. In our report last year we noted that one of the impacts on our church life of sending out people to Grantham was an immediate loss of talent and giving. However, we also noted that by the end of 2023, there were signs of an increase in regular giving by the remainers of St George’s filling that gap. We are delighted to say that gap has not only been filled, but regular giving is now higher than it was before the plant and running at around £33,000 per month before giving to CAP, Fresh Hope and the Gift Aid we can reclaim on many of those offerings. In 2024 Regular Giving bounced to £415,000 before tax reclaim (around £100,000) ahead of the £365,000 reported in 2023. Our largest expenditure is almost always staffing and the addition of Helen Walton and Phil Chand (both on a part-time basis) to the Fresh Hope team added to our ability to take on time-consuming cases but also to our wage bill. We also welcomed Mark Beckett as a full-time member of the Raising Generations team. Total wages (including National Insurance, PAYE and Employer Pensions) rose to £273,000 as we had 2023 joiners for a full year, our new joinees for much of 2024 and we brought in above inflation pay rises for many of the lower paid members of the team. This all means that staffing was around one-third of our income and around 40% of our expenditure. On the Capital side of things, we spent less than 2023 overall with the most significant spending being the £17,000 on refurbishing the church chairs, £5,000 in final payments on the chancel roof repairs and around £4,000 on upgrading the AV computing system in church. Overall before transfers between funds, thanks to generous one-off gifts of around £190,000 we have a surplus larger than 2023. The work of CAP continues to attract many new clients struggling with debt – but this was comfortably matched by an increase in giving to this work of around £10,000 meaning that it ended 2024 with a surplus and in a good position for the year ahead. At Fresh Hope (which covers SHEP as well) regular directed giving was up and grants and one-off donations continue to be pledged to cover any shortfall from both individuals and the PCC. You will recall that our Energy Support Fund caught the imagination of the congregation and has been wonderfully supported since its inception. Interestingly, demand has been lower than we had feared and we have a healthy balance taken into 2025 for what may be a very difficult year for many. All three of these works shows the concern that we as a church have for the poor, needy and vulnerable and we continue to pray in the year to come for all of our team and volunteers as they seek to help, encourage and minister to people in our community. The Global Impact Group (GIG) is charged with giving away 10% of our gifted income to Overseas Mission projects and a further 1% to UK Mission and did so in 2024 with significant support to Bishop Abraham in India, Tearfund across the world as well as regular monthly giving to our Mission Partners across the world. “Lord, everything we have comes from you. Please use our gis to build your kingdom”. 2024 (Year to December) Income Expenditure Balance in yr Transfers Fund Balance General Fund 679,828 509,174 170,653 -68,605 160,201 CAP 48,081 38,419 9,663 0 38,370 Fresh Hope 37,808 92,921 -55,113 60,000 41,481 Energy Sup-port Fund 6 1,719 -1,713 0 6,611 Gift 2020 0 2,347 -2,347 0 28,387 Other 33,859 35,603 -1,744 8,605 16,294 Total 799,581 680,182 119,398 0 291,344
6 2025 Budget The finance team (including Clare Arthey and ministry leaders) has considered long and hard what 2025 would look like – particularly for the General Fund. Having seen the response of the church family to giving after sending out folk to Spalding and Grantham, we have been emboldened to hope and pray for a 4% rise in regular giving and a steady stream of collection and one-off gifts. On the General Expenditure side we will have budgeted for not only the full year cost of new team members, but also making sure that we have allowed for the recent rises in the Living Wage (against which we benchmark some of our pay thinking) as well as the impact of the new thresholds and levels of Employer national insurance contribu-tions. We will be upgrading our church AV system and hope to get to work on restoring the chancel ceiling. On the latter – this will be partially covered by the Project Strong Tower (Gift 2020) fund – see above. On this basis (where we have been cautious on income but pessimistic on spending) before any significant capital works, the General Fund could see a deficit of around £6,000 assuming we achieve similar levels of one off gifts to 2023 (2024 was sig-nificantly ahead of previous years). To repeat our requests from Ben’s very helpful sermons on Giving – how can the congregation help? • If you don’t already – please consider giving regularly by standing order • If you haven’t recently reviewed your giving to the General Fund please think about it • Please distinguish one-off gifts from regular giving as it helps us plan • If you haven’t already, please consider including St George’s in your will. If you are liable for Inheritance Tax, charitable giving is exempt making this an efficient way of continuing to support the work here. As ever, we thank the whole of the Finance Team – Diane Faux for Gift Aid Management and Graham Mitchell for examining the accounts. Geoff Woodcock and the team for their management of collections and paying in and Sandra Freeman that checks our petty cash is being spent correctly! General Fund Budget 2025
7 the roles filled by its graduates. This year we have seen: • A new SEED pastor • A village churchwarden equipped for serving in their village • A leader for our Men’s breakfasts • Two new small group leaders • Two new staff members on the course The next Equip course will run in September 2025 – please submit possible candidates names to me. Equip—Ben Topham The Equip Course at St George’s Church runs once or twice annually as a key component of our leadership pipeline. Our mission is to raise leaders for Christian ministry—whether lay or ordained, local or beyond the parish boundary. While Equip isn't the sole training required for ministry leadership, it lays a strong biblical foundation upon which further specific training is built. For instance, those aspiring to be children’s leaders will also need to undergo safeguarding and possibly first aid training, with Equip serving as their foundational training. Equip courses typically take place during the autumn and spring terms, spanning 12 weeks each, on Wednesday evenings from 7:30 to 9:00 PM. Participants temporarily pause their small group involvement for the duration of the course, with their small groups' full support and commitment to pray for them. Over the years, Equip has become an essential part of St George’s Church's training, ensuring that all our leaders align with the church’s vision and values. The positive impact of Equip is evident in Alpha—Lorraine Wright We praise God for the encouraging Alpha course which started in January with 47 guests signing up for the Alpha Supper and 32 guests completing the course. We give thanks for our wonderful team working behind the scenes to cook, welcome, set up and take down, and host the small groups. Particular thanks to Freya Irvine for her coordination of all our teams. At the end of Alpha, 23 guests went on to attend our nine-week discipleship Bible Study course called “Encounters with Jesus”, which was developed and led by Martyn Taylor. Inspired by her involvement in the St George’s Alpha, Freya Irvine went on to lead an Alpha course at her place of work, with 9 colleagues attending.
8 With three large and growing congregations, small groups continue to be essential for those desiring to grow as disciples of Jesus, within a community of fellowship, friendship, pastoral care, Bible study and prayer support. Our small groups continue to compliment our Sunday gatherings as places where we can truly know one another and be known and loved. I’m tremendously grateful to our small group leaders who minister to their groups week on week. To support them in their crucial role, this year we have introduced SEED Pastors into our small group network. SEED (standing for Support, Encourage, Equip and Disciple) are pastors for the pastors; their role is support, encourage, equip and disciple those who lead our small groups. The small group leaders have been invited to meet together in new ‘SEED’ pods to offer increased support for leaders. Martin Fox, Dan Petrie, Sarah Robinson and Jess Hunter have been meeting regularly, and over 2025 we hope to fully embed this new structure to support our groups. We currently have 41 groups: 27 traditional home groups, three discipleship groups, five special interest groups and six ladies’ groups. There are now 334 people (approximately 75% of those regularly in worship) in our small groups, but there Small Groups Report Ben Topham is still room to grow. For this reason, we continue to work hard at expanding our team of small group leaders and creating new groups. Here is a snapshot of one of our interest groups, the Band of Brothers: The men's Band of Brothers group continued to meet regularly each week throughout the year. It was a particularly difficult year with one member of the group sadly passing away and two others struggling with serious ongoing illnesses. It was wonderful to see the strength and togetherness of the group rise in response to these situations, exemplifying the apt name of the group. Band of Brothers is now firmly established each Tuesday evening having run for 8 years or so, and the weekly times of testimony sharing, worship, prayer, Bible study and problem sharing all go to enhance the discipling of this precious group of men. Many have been bruised by life but the genuine support, respect and love for one another is wonderful to see. Simon Jary leads the group and extends his thanks to CJ Lattimer in particular for sharing the leadership since the summer, as Simon sought to set up a similar new group based in Spalding. If you want to join one of our small groups, please contact me.
9 Women’s Ministry Anna Mayo Women’s ministry at St George’s continues to develop, building on the faithful work of many over the years. Through 2024 a number of ministries continued, as well as new ones beginning. In addition to the ministries below, Ladies at Launde, our women’s retreat, runs bi-annually. After a fruitful retreat in 2023, the coordinating team has grown through 2024 in preparation for the next retreat in April 2025. Inspire – led by Lenny Topham and Julia Fox Inspire meets on Monday mornings in term time 9.30 – 11 am for mothers of pre-school and school-age children. We aim to support each other through reading the Bible and praying together. A number of new members have joined this year, some from other churches, with usually 8 – 10 mothers attending each week (including a couple of grand-mothers!). A creche is provided for babies and pre-school children so that we can have an hour off to focus on God. Over the past year we have studied the books of Esther, Ruth and Colossians, as well as the excellent Faith in Kids book “Raising Confident Kids in a Confusing World” and some parenting podcasts. The emphasis is always on practical Christian living, applying God’s word to our family life and supporting each other through the ups and downs of parenting. Lunch4Ladies – coordinated by Lesley Sweeting Following its establishment in 2023, Lunch4Ladies runs on selected Thursdays at 12:30pm and continues its focus to bless and encourage particularly the older Christian ladies in our community, many of whom have served faithfully in many capacities in both St George’s and the wider church but who are now rather on the fringe of things. Lunch is followed by an after-lunch Bible-based reflection from an invited speaker and an opportunity for prayer. There is no set charge, but a donation basket is present and to date God has blessed this, and there has been sufficient money not only to cover the meal costs but also to give the surplus to the church. There were nine lunches in total in 2024 and numbers have steadily increased to approximately 40 ladies signing up each month. Coffee Plus members who come to the lunches invite others and help with transport of older guests and with cake donations where necessary. Feedback has been very positive to date. At the start of 2025 Liz Nunn stood down from the administration of the lunches with the rest of the team continuing at present, coordinated by Lesley Sweeting. Coffee Plus - led by Caroline Avnit and Joy De Toney Coffee Plus women’s ministry has grown tremendously over the past year, not just in numbers (33 women gather weekly on average), but also spiritually. We continue to meet for fellowship and to praise God, study His Word in depth and intercede in prayer. The group of women vary in age and experience, but are all committed to Christ and being used by Him. They are leaning in to God more, praying for longer and learning to listen to God when he speaks. We have seen many prayers answered in recent months and the women continue to be a strong group of prayer warriors for each other and the church. We have also witnessed the Holy Spirit as a tangible presence in the group and each other’s lives. I’m excited as to what the future holds for this group. Ladies Invitational Events & Ladies Supper Club – led by Jocelyn Rose and Vanessa Brewer At the end of 2022, Vanessa and Joclyn both felt God nudging them to create events, firstly as an outreach to non-Christian friends, but also as a way to build stronger relationships within the St George’s family of women. In May 2024 Ladies Supper Club was launched, the idea being to create a social event without structure which gave the opportunity for women to talk, make connec-tions, meet other women who go to different Sunday services, build relationships and enjoy an informal evening out together. We have had 5 events so far, each one being attended by more than 20 women, and sometimes up to 35 women. Feedback has been very positive and we will con-tinue to run the event throughout 2025. We also create invitational events, such as the Christmas Wreath making which we ran in December 2024.
10 Fresh Hope Louise Rose This has been an exciting year for the Fresh Hope ministry. We welcomed Phil Chand and Helen Walton onto the Staff team in January 2024 taking on the role as Fresh Hope caseworkers. They have been such an asset to the team and have enabled us to expand and deepen the work of Fresh Hope. Helen and Phil man the front desk at the hub, meeting the needs of those who come in crisis, as well as coming alongside individuals to support, advocate and signpost. They are also involved in Friday Connect (our community café), New Beginnings (our Bible study group) and SHEP (our furniture project). This means that we now have great synergy across the different areas of Fresh Hope. Community of Hope With the expansion of the Fresh Hope team we were able to launch the Community of Hope in Summer 2024. The Community of Hope is a group of people who have come through the Fresh Hope ministry and who are committed to doing life discipleship together. We meet regularly to pray together, do Bible study and engage in meaningful activities, providing discipleship, routine and purpose. The Community of Hope have taken on the responsibility of maintaining the Church garden, meeting weekly to weed, prune, plant, sweep leaves and generally keeping the garden looking lovely. In the Autumn the Community of Hope held a pre-loved clothes sale to raise money for the ministry. They worked well as a team and looked great in their new logo-ed t-shirts.
11 “The Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour…” Isaiah 61:1-2 In November they began the Big Chair Project refurbishing 250 Church chairs; which entailed removing the old chair furnishings and replacing them with new. The Community of Hope learnt new skills, developed new friendships across the Church family, showed amazing team work and dedication and took great pride in their achievement. One member said “When I was refurbishing the chairs I actually felt useful; can we do it all again?”. SHEP Our furniture project this year has supported 150 people in need, delivering 532 essential items. If these items were bought new they would have cost £57,054, that’s a big saving for our clients. We have also saved 8.124 tons from going to landfill. As amazing as these stats are, the wonderful joy of the ministry of SHEP is that we are able to support people in their time of need. “When I was refurbishing the chairs I actually felt useful; can we do it all again?” Member of Community of Hope Some of the stories include a gentleman who had been homeless for years, had been sofa surfing most his adult life and has spent the last few months rough sleeping. SHEP had the privilege of furnishing his first ever home. He was so thankful to have a safe and comfortable place to begin his new life. We have so much celebrate this year; individuals coming to faith, addictions broken, homeless people have been housed, those in food and fuel poverty have been supported, people have found jobs, the lonely have found community, empty homes have been furnished, many prayers have been answered, 2 baptisms in New Beginnings and a new ministry launched. Our God is good!
12 Raising Generaons Ministry (0-25’s) Ma Wild 2024 has been our first full year of Raising Generations as a ministry! God has blessed us across the 0-30’s age range and we are excited about what God is going to do in the future! 2024 saw some team changes with Alice Pinney moving on from her role as Youth worker to a wider ministry role in a church elsewhere. We are so grateful to Alice for all she did to establish faith in so many young people. With Alice moving this left an opportunity and Mark Beckett was successfully appointed to lead our youth ministry, starting his new role in the September. At the same time Jacob Kutschera started his Ridley Hall Youth Ministry placement with us. Raising Generations encompasses many groups across the week including Sunday, and we are so thankful to the 40 different volunteers who serve to make this all happen! Children’s Ministry Week by week we are ministering to many children in the church and in the community. We visit St George’s School on a weekly basis with collective worship led by Joe, Ben and Martyn as well as our after-school club ‘Cornerstone Kids’ growing to up to 15 children each week. We provide a listening ear, games and a Bible story/Christian message. In June we took part in the ‘Churches Together Schools Festival’ – providing a worship band for the start and end of the day in the Corn Exchange, and running workshops in church for schools to access on the theme of ‘run the race’. Then in December Year 4 groups from Malcolm Sargent School visited the church to hear the message of Christmas. We continue to offer a parent’s Bible study with creche (Inspire) as well as Seedlings, our drop in for parents/carers and preschoolers: tea, coffee, toast, chats, fun space for preschool children to play with a biblically themed craft each week and songs. We ran special Seedlings Easter and Christmas Celebrations in Church too! Building on the success of previous Light Parties we ran our alternative Halloween event for families in the Church for the first time, the Church filled with light and colour! We saw fami-lies come in off the street for the first time as well as those invited and from the church family. Each Sunday our Children’s Church provides a creche, a preschool group (Pebbles) a younger primary school group (Ground Breakers) and an older primary school group (Rock Solid). We teach the stories of the Bible, with linked craft to take home, with time for songs and chats around tables. Each Sunday requires a volunteer team of 10 for-whom we are so grateful for! Youth Ministry This last year within youth ministry we have seen some amazing moments. Summer 2024 we took a group of over 20 young people to New Wine where we saw the young people connect with God and grow in their faith. In both February and October 2024, we took groups of young people along to CROPS’ event at Letton Hall. During our
13 time there we saw young people praying with each other, sharing words and pictures from God and seeing Him move within our young people. In addition to running all our Sunday and midweek groups, we launched two new groups for older youth (14-18yrs) where we’d not had Sunday morning or midweek Bible study provision for them. ‘Forge’ is our new mid-week Bible study, and ‘Toast’ is the new Sunday morning group held in the hub for older youth. This now provides a rele-vant space beyond Pathfinders (our 11-14’s Sun-day morning group), and we have seen young peo-ple come back to church and many deepening their faith, growing in friendships and working out how to live for Jesus day by day. Young Adults 2024 saw young adult ministry really take off. Monthly social events began, as well as positioning the 6.30 Sunday service as a gathering point with a bi-weekly meet up in the local Wetherspoons af-ter the service. This began to galvanise the group but it was the Young Adults weekend away at Let-ton Hall in May (a first!) that saw a real deepening of relationships and desire to grow together in faith. By September we had launched a midweek young adult Bible study and by the end of 2024 we were regularly seeing 20 young adults at our 6.30pm service. We’ve prayed much for new young adults to join us and over 2024 God has sent young adults to the area who were looking for a church – and they are becoming part of St George’s!
14 Worship Team Jess Hacke Overview In 2024 the worship team wants to give full glory to God for the blessing of His grace and Spirit work-ing within us. With many things to celebrate, it has been especially encouraging to see the continued growth and flourishing of the worship and media team ministry. We have a dedicated group of 8 worship leaders, around 20 musicians and 19 tech volunteers. Community Over this last year, under the leadership of our worship and media team leader, Jess Hackett, we have seen a growing sense of community within the team. This includes monthly worship leaders and worship team meetings, where we worship, pray for, encourage and equip one another to lead sung worship well. This includes team socials and space to connect with one another. Even though there is a continued struggle to fill the rota, especially for tech roles, drums and bass players, we are continuing to see a heart of service in the church, with new people stepping forward to learn and volunteer. Young people We continue to see the young people flourishing and growing in their musical gifts, with a couple of young people playing in the main service for the first time this year. The worship leaders, along with the Raising Generations team, are constantly looking to raise up and equip the next generation of worship leaders. Tech updates Jess has been working alongside other members of the church staff team to update our sound and visuals systems, which is an ongoing project into 2025. However last year’s small updates to the font size and plain black and white text on the main screens in church, have received positive feed-back. Personally Personally, Jess completed the training at the school of worship at Trinity Church in Nottingham last year, and was greatly blessed, equipped and encouraged by the course. This year Jess will be attending the New Wine Worship Leaders retreat. Please continue to pray for the growth of the team, practically and Spiritually, and for protection as we step into more of what God has for us this year. Jess and the worship team are praying this year for unrestrained and deeper times of communion with God. We seek to give full glory and honour to God for his goodness and grace, and the wonder-ful work He is complet-ing in this His Church.
15 • how Church was responding to changing social needs. It was reported that the deficit had been reduced to £2.5m in 2023 (£2.9m in 2022). Teams were visiting parishes to promote giving generously - vital as the Diocese remained at the bottom of the national table of giving per person. Of 39 OFSTED inspections of our church schools, 33 were found to be ’good’ or ‘outstanding’. The annual environmental report recorded progress against the 12 policy goals. It included an ambitious plan to reduce CO2 emissions by 90% by the end of 2030. Philip Dale & Stefan Rakowski Deanery and Diocese Philip Dale and Stefan Rakowski Both Synods looked at two key topics during the year: the future pattern of ministry and safeguarding. On future ministry, the Bishop of Lincoln, speaking to Diocesan Synod, expressed optimism about the progress of Time to Change Together. • The existing 22 deaneries were becoming 9 larger deaneries. • Covenanted giving was on target, expected to support 100 clergy. • In Local Mission Partnerships (LMPs) clergy and lay people would work collaboratively. Howard Jones gave an update on this to Stamford Deanery Synod. After a full discussion, we re-affirmed our previous agreement that we should become part of a deanery partnership for South Kesteven. On safeguarding, Diocesan Synod received a re-port on Safer Recruitment and people management, where the Diocese had performed poorly. The Diocesan Safeguarding Officer, Jack Redeyoff, visited us in Stamford and gave a presentation covering DBS checks, training, adults, children and parish standards. Also during the year: The Deanery elected representatives to the new Diocesan Synod; we returned Stefan Rakowski for a second term, together with Martyn and Ben. Bishop Stephen asked Diocesan Synod to consider: • Church responsibility to advocate peace and justice in times of global conflicts and tensions; • how to support those affected by climate change, especially agricultural communities; and
16 2024 saw a new CEO being installed, Stewart McCulloch, whom I was able to meet in Ipswich and share in a Q&A with as he toured the country. We were blessed by seeing 17 clients go debt free in 2024 and our centre has now achieved the amazing figure of over £2.5 million of debt being paid back or written off since our start in 2011. We have helped 675 clients in that time. One client made a commitment to Christ, and we continued to see people attending church across the South Lincs area. Our influence continued to be seen in the region with fortnightly sessions at the Spalding DWP Job centre referring people for guidance. Highlights included the usual regional meet ups with other CAP staff being held in Lincoln and Kings Lynn and the annual ‘United’ conference in Birmingham that most of the team were able to attend. A trip to Bradford head office for a ‘Sustaining’ training day was also well received. Tim Daniels joined the team dealing with publicity and Ian Collis continued to deliver the CAP Life Skills course to the community. A fully revamped CAP money coaching course was delivered from Cheyne Lane by Geoff Woodcock with a further course in the village of Carlby. A massive thank you to Geoff, Ian and Tim for all they did delivering and advertising CAP’s programmes. On a sadder note, my debt coach colleague Merv Bamber who covered Rutland and Stamford, stepped back from the role after Christmas. The Lord touched many lives through Merv’s professional and gentle approach, and we will miss him. A few new befrienders were added to the team as some decided it was time to step back after many years of service. A big thank you to you all. CAP clients were joined by some of the Fresh Hope community on a couple of occasions. Firstly, Chrisans Against Poverty Simon Jary as two of the ‘Betel’ drug rehab team from Derby gave their testimonies of God’s transforming work amongst addicts and then as Christian Comedian Joy Carter shared her comedy show and powerful testimony of being abandoned as a baby. Our annual CAP Sunday services were another highlight with client Stevie sharing how he came to know Jesus at a Chris Tomlin concert. Alongside the CAP debt process, additionally we have helped many people with PIP benefit appeals, supported at court tribunals and with a few practical jobs like wallpapering. Looking into the new year, I am excited to be on the verge of another debt coach joining me for the Spalding and Holbeach area. A new IT system is also being piloted which will bring a number of systems under one platform and streamline the process. But above all is the greatest pleasure of all, meeting people and sharing the life changing news of Jesus and how he can transform their lives. We exalt and honour our God who alone by his equipping makes this ministry so powerful.
17 joy to be able to minister to members of the con-gregation week on week. Pastoral Prayer Debs Jones leads our Pastoral Prayer team. When church family members are dealing with issues which run deep, have spiritual strongholds or need ongoing prayer support, Debs and her team meet with people over a number of prayer appointments to listen, pray, and minister to the person who is in need. Often we see significant Spiritual break-through during these times of prayer. Anyone can make an appointment by speaking to Debs. 24/7 Prayer We continue to have a 24/7 prayer space in Cheyne Lane both in September and Holy Week. Whenever we commit to praying 24/7, the atmos-phere of the whole church changes as we seek God’s face together. I’m very grateful to the team who spends time creatively putting the prayer room together, and for the church family who rise to the challenge to pray without ceasing during those weeks. Our hope is to have a dedicated 24/7 prayer room which can be used by any Christian across all the churches, 24/7/365. Prayer—Debs Jones/Ben Topham Over 2024, we have been aware of a deepening to our prayer life as a church, and a desire to be more committed to prayer as the people of God in this place. This report brings together 5 areas of the prayer life of the church, but most of the prayer of the church will be offered in daily quiet times, rather than public settings. Intercessions Our weekly corporate time of prayer is led by members of the congregation who offer prayers to God on behalf of the people week on week. We are grateful to the team of 31 people who lead our intercessions, and to Sarah Crudge who organises the rota for our weekly services. Prayer groups We have a weekly intercessions group which prays each Tuesday at 1pm for 45 mins. This group is led by the Spirit, and prays for the life of the church, the diocese, the needs of the world and individuals who have requested prayer. We also have other prayer groups meeting for specif-ic purposes, for example our contemplative pray-er time, our Alpha prayer group, and others. It’s healthy to have a mix of different ways to pray across the church family. Prayer Central One of our most important meetings of the month is our central prayer meeting where news breaks first, where the whole church gathers and where we pray for the needs of the church for the weeks to come. We meet on the Wednesday following the first Sunday of the month, and about 100 people gather in church (and on Zoom) to pray. It’s always a tremendous blessing to gather to pray. Prayer ministry Debs Jones leads our prayer ministry team which offers to pray after the service for anyone attending church. This group of people have been carefully selected and trained for this role. We are seeing an increase in those who come forward for prayer ministry, particularly at the 6.30 service. Answers to prayer are frequent, and it’s a
18 2. Reviewing Support Structures: We carefully review each person we care for to ensure they receive the appropriate level of support. 3. Ongoing Training: We engage in training sessions on various topics to enhance our ministry skills. The team comprises pastoral-focused staff members, dedicated volunteers, and profession-als who provide advisory support to ensure we offer the best possible care and guidance. We uphold a responsible and sensitive approach to confidentiality, and every team member has been DBS checked and recruited in alignment with the Lincoln Diocese Safeguarding policy. We are aware of a gender imbalance within the team (far more women than men) so are committed to safely recruiting more men to the team in 2025. Pastoral Report—Ben Topham We are immensely blessed by the abundant and often unseen pastoral care that flows within our church family, especially through our Small Groups, which remain the cornerstone of pastoral care at St George’s. These groups of 10-12 individuals meet regularly to share life’s journey together. They foster community and provide a space for members to explore what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. When members of our church family face challeng-es and are not part of a small group, or when a pastoral need extends beyond what a small group can reasonably offer, our dedicated pastoral care team is ready to offer prayerful support, a compassionate ear, and the love of Christ. This year, the Pastoral Care Team has been meet-ing regularly to accomplish three key objectives: 1. Peer-led Supervision: We pray for and support one another through peer-led supervision. Safeguarding is at the centre of everything we do here at St George’s. We are always striving to make sure we are a safe place in all we do including our services, when we meet together, in the activities we organise, in our groups and in our social outreach. We recognise that everyone has a right to be kept safe at St George’s. We also recognise that everyone has a role in ensuring we are a safe place, from all on the staff team, all our volunteers, to all those who are part of the church. At the end of the last reporting period I took over as the Parish Safeguarding Officer (PSO) from Helen Leach. Helen left a really well established system with clear policies and procedures in place and a great working relationship between all at St George’s and the diocese safeguarding team for which I am extremely grateful. These good working relationships have continued with good support with the diocese team a good source of guidance when needed. We have continued to review and update our policies and procedures recognising that is what is required to be a safe place for all. We continue to safely recruit both staff and volunteers and keep our training and DBS checks up to date. As a busy and large church with such a broad range of activities and outreach, we have regular reports of concerns that vary in their severity and complexity. This year has been no exception. Issues raised have included relationship and financial abuse, assaults and the threat or at-tempts of suicide. As our Fresh Hope ministry continues to grow and support some of our most vulnerable people with complex needs, a signifi-cant proportion of reported concerns are within this work. The whole staff team respond well to the concerns and are at the forefront of liaising with statutory services and other support agencies. Safeguarding at church, our acvies and groups or social outreach is rmly embed-ded in everything that we do here at St George’s. It involves the whole sta team, all our volunteers and indeed everyone who is part of the church. Safeguarding Report Liz Fell Safeguarding is at the centre of everything we do here at St George’s. We are always striving to make sure we are a safe place in all we do including our services, when we meet together, in the activities we organise, in our groups and in our social outreach.
19 Our mission partners included: • The Wilsons in Sheffield with an online ministry to the Muslim world. • The Bretts in Turkey leading a discipleship multiplication movement through Discovery Bible Studies. They currently have over 30 groups and are growing. • Archbishop Abraham with Hope India Mission in Bihar. Our partner organisations included: • Tearfund • Middle East Media • Kisiizi Hospital: Sponsor a Nurse GIG also gave Christmas grants to Tearfund, the Bretts, the Wilsons, Kumbaya school in Zambia, and supported Howard and Janet to attend a mission’s conference. Global Impact Group—Martyn Taylor In 2024 GiG supported three mission partners, four partner organisations across Africa, Turkey, the Middle East and Asia and one short term gap year mission trip for Charlie Franklin with Latin Link. St George’s gave 10% of its unrestricted 2023 in-come to support our mission partners around the world. GIG is made up of Ian Bell (treasurer), Ade-le Fender (Tearfund rep), Howard Jones, Lesley Sweeting (secretary), Abigail Woodcock (Wilson’s rep) and Martyn Taylor. We operate as a sub-group of the PCC with a view to informing the church about the prayer needs of our mission partners as well as keeping them in view of the whole church. In June we held a missions weekend to celebrate 25 years of ministry in Turkey for the Bretts. The event also included an MEM film night and a Tearfund afternoon tea. We also hosted a Tearfund Big Quiz night in November as part of our Season of Invitation. Path & Handrail - Early in 2024 the PCC asked the Building Committee to look at what needs to be done to make the main entrance into church safer, reducing the risk of slips and falls. This has been a complicated process involving liaison with SKDC and the diocese. Although agreement was granted to install a handrail, we have been waiting for consent to undertake well needed path repairs. Whilst writing, final approval has just been granted for the path with work due to be completed before the end of March. Later in the year, once path repairs are complete, we will install the handrail. Work has been completed to significantly improve the safety when accessing the tower with a full fall arrest process now in place and old wooden ladders replaced. Our thanks go to Josh Brown for overseeing this for us. In November, the PCC commissioned a survey of the painted chancel ceiling to understand what restorative work is recommended. Work began in the Autumn of 2024 to refurbish our church chairs, and we were delighted to re-cently celebrate the completion of this project, giving thanks to all those involved to make it possi-ble. Throughout the year there is ongoing work across all our buildings, often unseen, to keep them well maintained and safe. This includes conducting an annual H&S audit, activity-based risk assessments and fire risk assessments. Thank you to those who have supported the Operations team in all the above. Fabric Report— Clare Arthey
20 Parochial Church Council (PCC) 2024 Clergy ............................................................. Martyn Taylor, Ben Topham Church Wardens .................................... Koleh Rees & Gordon McKechnie Treasurer ............................................................................. Simon Johnson General Synod Members ................................. Carl Fender, Martyn Taylor Diocesan Synod Member ......... Stefan Rakowski, Howard Jones, Martyn Taylor, Ben Topham Deanery Synod Members .......... Becky Go, Philip Dale, Caroline Avnit, Gordon McKechnie, Dan Petrie Ordinary Members Unl 2027 ................ Simon Johnson (Treasurer), Joy Harvey, Victor Goh, .................................................. Tom Blenkin, Jocelyn Rose, Helen Leech Unl 2026 .................................................. Jo Turnham, Carole Woodcock Unl 2025 ....................................................... Julia Fox, Pam Lee, Rick Lee PCC Secretary ................................................................................. Pam Lee Electoral roll compiled in April 2025— 380 Average Sunday aendance: 500 Church Sta Rector ................................................................................... Martyn Taylor Associate Rector ..................................................................... Ben Topham Associate Minister ............................................................. Lorraine Wright Curate ....................................................................................... Anna Mayo Raising Generaons Pastor ......................................................... Ma Wild Worship and Media Leader ..................................................... Jess Hacke Pastoral Worker......................................................................... Debs Jones Community Support Manager .................................................. Louise Rose Fresh Hope Caseworker ............................................................. Phil Chand Fresh Hope Caseworker ........................................................ Helen Walton Childrens & Families Worker ....................................... Joe Randall-Carrick Youth Worker ........................................................................ Mark Becke Youth Placement Student ....................................................Jacob Kutchera Ministry Assistant ................................................................ Joseph Caseley Operaons Manager ............................................................... Clare Arthey Church Administrator ................................................................. Becky Go CAP Centre Manager .................................................................. Simon Jary Church Oce: 27-29 St George’s Street, Stamford PE9 2BJ 01780 481800 oce@stgeorgeschurch.net Annual Parochial Church Meeng at 7.30pm on 19th May 2025 in St George’s Church. St George’s Church Artwork by John Nicholls