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Annual Report Summary 2022-2023

Covering the period 01 August 2022 to 31 July 2023

A message from David Stroud, Senior Leader

During the last year there has been a real sense of momentum and vitality across the church. We are, yet again, overwhelmed with God’s goodness towards us.

I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude for the incredible generosity of the staff, volunteers, trustees, and every member of Christ Church London, who have contributed their time and resources to the life of the church over the past year. None of this could have been done without them, and their love for God and desire to serve His church is an ongoing source of inspiration.

 

 

Our Services

In Numbers:

  • 6 services, 4 locations
  • 28 community groups
  • 25 local volunteer preachers
  • 222 volunteers serving on our hospitality, kids, prayer, production/tech, welcome and worship teams
  • 1 new album – Live at Coborn St with 5 original songs written by members of the CCL worship team
  • 600+ mince pies consumed after 760 people (including 160 children and youth) attended one of our Carol, Christingle, and Nativity services across the city
  • 535 people gathered on any given Sunday – with averages of 67 in the Mile End AM, 53 in the Mile End PM, 81 in Central, 65 in Stockwell, and 255 in our two Sutton services (of which 82 are children and youth!)

Good News Stories

There have been many highlights this year! But here a handful of particular note:

  • Gathering the church together for another brilliant church retreat at Ashburnham Place in August  – we had a total of 309 people attend, and were joined by guest speakers John and Ele Mumford. Five people were baptised in the lake too!
  • Starting two mid-week events for families – a Women’s Coffee Morning in Sutton and a Toddler and Baby group in Mile End. Both have welcomed parents, carers, and children from the local community who have not yet come to faith, as well as those who already attend our services.
  • Commissioning Helen and Shaninga Marasha as the new Stockwell service leaders in January and seeing that service grow and flourish as they lead it into a new chapter.
  • Listening to Jackie Pullinger speak at an event we ran in Sutton in January – the room was packed to the rafters with more than 600 people booking a ticket, and we saw a number of people come to faith.
  • Guiding church members through both joyous and challenging times through our pastoral courses – this year we ran two pre-marriage courses, two CAP courses, and developed two new courses focused on disordered eating and anxiety.
  • Hosting The Last Supper Club at Coborn Street in April – we had over 90 guests sit down over a three-course meal to explore the story of Easter through a mixture of short talks, spoken word, live music, and good conversation.
  • Running Alpha courses linked to our Central and Mile End services in May. We had 26 guests across the two courses, plus 16 leaders – and at least one of the guests had decided to make a commitment to Jesus by the end of the course.

Local Social Action and Mission

Vauxhall Foodbank
GrowTH
Sutton Community Project
Other organisations

Vauxhall Foodbank

Over the COVID-19 pandemic, several Foodbanks in south London grouped together and started operating as one to pool their resources and serve their communities more efficiently. This proved so effective, it became clear that we should handover the operations of the Vauxhall Foodbank to officially become part of the Brixton & Norwood group of Foodbanks. We are so grateful for how God used the Vauxhall Foodbank while under Christ Church London’s care. What began with a few people from our Stockwell service and a simple desire to feed their community has now grown into a fully-fledged project that can respond quickly to a huge number of people in need across the borough.

GrowTH

Our Mile End services continue to partner with GrowTH, a charity in Tower Hamlets that works with local churches to provide overnight shelter for 10-20 homeless guests over the winter months, while also help them find permanent accommodation. This year, the night shelter ran for 10 weeks from the start of Nov 2022 and Christ Church London provided volunteers for Monday nights – including shifts for dinner, breakfast and overnight. In 2022-23, GrowTH hosted over 130 guests, with more than 55 of those finding new, permanent homes. Every guest has had an opportunity to hear the gospel of Jesus, with many engaging, and attending regular church services.

Sutton Community Project

The Sutton Community Project gives out free fruit & vegetable boxes to those in need in the local community. They are serving 120 families per week, and providing a community cafe, as well as support and prayer for those in need. They also provide money advisors from Christians Against Poverty (CAP). As well as engaging over 60 volunteers in this project, Christ Church London has also covered the rent for the last 12 months. Several people from the Community Project are now coming to church, with one due to be baptised at the 2023 Summer Retreat.

Other organisations

Christ Church London has also contributed to and partnered with projects such as The Street Kitchen in Stockwell, Acts 435 and Sanctuary Foundation providing food, shelter, training and prayer to those most vulnerable in our London communities.

International Social Action and Mission

International Justice Mission
Refugee Education UK (REUK)
Compassion UK
Other organisations

International Justice Mission

We have continued our partnership with IJM, contributing £10,000 to their field office in the Dominican Republic. During the 10 years of IJM's presence there, the Dominican Republic experienced a staggering 78% decrease in the overall prevalence of commercial sexual exploitation of children. The number of children in the commercial sex trade decreased from 1 in 10 to 1 in 45. Child trafficking had occurred in 95% of the cities and towns investigated by IJM; however, today only 25% of those locations show any signs of child trafficking – and even these cases are very infrequent. As a result, they are closing their field office in the Dominican Republic so we are discussing how else we can work with IJM to impact other nations and end modern-day slavery for good.

Refugee Education UK (REUK)

Refugee Education UK (REUK) provides educational support to unaccompanied children and teenagers arriving in the UK. Christ Church London has continued its support of REUK by contributing £12,000 to this work.

Alongside its mentoring program, REUK has continued its advocacy work, most recently joining Together with Refugees, a coalition of organisations concerned about the proposed changes to the asylum system.

Compassion UK

We contributed £16,000 to two Child Survival Programs (CSP) in Rwanda, which seek to end child poverty by providing holistic care to mothers and their children from pregnancy until the child is old enough to enter the sponsorship program. We are also encouraging our church members to consider sponsoring a child linked to these projects – currently 74 children in Rwanda are sponsored by individuals and families in the church.

Other organisations

As part of our response to the Syria/Turkey earthquake, Christ Church London contributed £5,000 to Tearfund’s disaster relief work on the border.

Ministries

STEPS

The year in a nutshell:

  • 404 participants (of which 33 were on our church leaders course)
  • 22 churches ran STEPS in tandem with CCL or on their own
  • Reaching across the world with courses in Taiwan, South Africa, the USA, Canada and Denmark
  • The Digital Course app launched in 2023 and has 107 users

Over this last year we have clarified and developed the vision for the STEPS Ministry and have been formulating and starting to execute our Fundraising Plan for STEPS as we plan to launch STEPS as its own charity. We received our first grant of £10,000, and also launched a Club 90 campaign which to date has raised £29,000, and equally important has created a group of supporters who are committed to praying and supporting STEPS as it is birthed in its first year.

Everything Network

The 2023 Everything Conference was held in March at Westminster Chapel. David Stroud, Philippa Stroud, and Pastor Agu Irukwu (Jesus House) delivered keynote remarks, with contributions from artist Joshua Luke Smith, former Met Police superintendent Dr Leroy Logan MBE, drummer Femi Koleoso, HMP Woodhill Governor Nicola Marfleet, BigKid Foundation founder Shaninga Marasha, actor Joseph Mawle, entrepreneur Caragh Bennet, and many others. Approximately 200 people attended.

The Everything Evening Conversations events also launched this year, hosting philosopher and academic Dr James KA Smith in November 2022 and Australian pastor and author Mark Sayers in May 2023.

The Movement Leaders Everything Roundtable resumed meeting in person, hosting theologian and author Carl Trueman in November 2022 and Mark Sayers in May 2023. Both of these opportunities saw more than 20 senior church network and denomination leaders gather for the day in central London.

We also expanded our Everything Leadership Development Cohort, running a year-long program for 40 emerging leaders in their 20s and 30s, and continued our monthly gathering for senior leaders.

Finances