Grace Church Family News 19th November 2025

Notes from the Grace Church Family Meeting

This is a summary of what we discussed at the family meeting on 19th November for those that missed it.

Welcome to New Members 

Simon Sleight welcomed into membership the following people. not all were present.

·        Azzy Quasid

·        Vickie Quasid

·        Sabina Wright

·        Katie Mann

·        Marcel Corson

·        Nicole Corson

·        Disie (Diana) Rushforth

Leadership and Staff Changes

Dave McNee reiterated that David Maskell is stepping down from his staff position and Eldership role at the end of January.  David and Tina are still exploring what they will do next and will let us know in due course when it becomes clearer to them.  David will continue to be active as an elder until then.

David Hazelton, Boni Hima and Joe Deal have all been proposed as elders and there have been no Biblical objections to their appointment.  The plan is for them to be set in as Elders on 18th  January.  David and the three new elders were prayed for.

Joe Deal will join the staff team in a part time role while continuing to work part time for Rise61.

Finance Update – Megan Greenstock

Megan gave an overview of the Church’s finance on behalf of Steve Matthews. All monies received are used to support the work of the church in reaching the world and building the church.

The financial year running, from September 2024 to August 2025, saw an income into the general funds of £258,274, an increase in core income from the previous year of approximately £40,000, including Gift Aid and interest.

There have been 15 new givers since September 2024, 4 have stopped giving and 6 increased their giving resulting in a £2,267 per month increase.

Megan showed the broad categories for spending for last year and highlighted a couple of areas where there had been a difference between the planned budget and actual spending. This included changes in planned spending for events in Bemerton Heath and Alpha, reduced costs for Commission, as the annual festival did not take place, plus the inclusion of a contingency fund in the budget to cover unexpected/unplanned expenses.

The total expenditure for 2024/2025 was £293,748, £260,496 coming from the general budget with the rest coming from monies held in separate funds including for the Parish Nurse plus money for Ghana as a special offering.

The general budget for this financial year has been set at £289,428 plus around £50,000, which is already held in restricted and designated funds for the Parish Nurse, Ghana and Intern costs.

There was a reminder to all to consider their giving in light of ‘inflationary giving lag’ where the delay in the impact of inflation on Grace Church’s income causes a decline in the real value of donations. Unchanged donation amounts lose their purchasing power over time, so we were encouraged, when reviewing our giving, that we bear in mind the impact of inflation on our giving.

With regards to other funds: the Building Fund currently has £198,835.

The Parish Nursing fund holds £31,000 and there are ongoing discussions with St Francis Church PCC exploring how to fund a second Parish Nurse in a sustainable way between the two churches.

As of today the restricted Mercy Fund holds £20,450 as we have given £6750 in loans this year, it will be used to offer wider support for those in need. As an aside, we have spent over £4,000 from the general Mercy Fund since August of this financial year.

We keep a £70,000 in ‘sustainability reserves’ to cover unknows and emergencies which equates to about 3 months’ worth of our running costs and have just over £92,000 in general funds to be used when it has been decided when is best to do so. Grace Church, currently holds £460,126 in general and deposit accounts, as at the time of the family meeting.

Again, as of today, the Gift Day in the summer of 2025: £31953 has been received to date, plus £6980 added from gift aid. There are £800.50 in pledges not yet received. £14,300 will be going to Ghana and the remainder of £24,633 will go to our current and future intern costs.

The overall message is that Grace Church has no concerns about meeting its current financial commitments and your generosity enables us to build the church and reach into our community and the world for Jesus.

If you have wish for more detail on the accounts, please do contact us.

Youth update Rosie Donohue

Evie has made quite a difference since starting as Intern as she helped whilst Rosie Donohue was off after surgery and subsequent recovery.

Looking back over the last year, Newday had additional youth join them from New Life Community Church in the New Forest, something they will repeat again.

Youth work is going very well and the Older youth years 11,12,13 meet at the Deal’s house. There will be a Youth Weekend away in Aldershot at some point as well as Newday 2026

Please pray for more leaders and building a strong community with the Youth.

Sunday Club Update – Jane Deeley  

·        Miriam McNee leads the Pre-school group,

·        Katherine Elford leads SC1 (Reception and Year 1)

·        Jane Deely leads SC2 Years 2-3

·        Jess Socorro leads SC3 which is years 4-6

·        Evie Owen is also part of the team helping to look at curriculum

The team have worked well together and have worked on the DBS process, running induction meetings with new volunteers, following up on references and have worked hard on the rotas for the team.

The way registration happens has been improved with the majority of parents registering their children before the service starts, reducing the queues for registration when the children leave the main meeting to go to Sunday Club.  There are currently 25 volunteers for this, but they would always welcome more.

They are continuing to make this process more efficient and looking at using WiFi technology and new I-pads to make this whole process quicker.

Social Action Update  - David Maskell

Prison

David has now got security clearance to go in to prison and has taken a team in to lead one Sunday Service.  He has some dates for the New Year, but because David is not sure what he will be doing in the future he may not be able to continue with this.  To be able to preach in the prison you need a high level of security clearance and they will only permit the equivalent of ordained ministers to preach. There is a need for Bereavement support in the prison and David has been accepted on the Cruse Bereavement Support training course which he will complete in December and January.

Community Meal

We had hoped to start a community meal on Bemerton Heath from September.  The start of this has been delayed for various reasons, but we do still hope to start this from the New Year.

Inwood Care Home Team  - Lynne Mathews

Lynne shared how the team have been going in to the Inwood Care home and sharing faith activities with the residents.  Lynne could do with some additions to the team.  If this is something you think you could get involved with, please speak to Lynne.

New Mothers’ & Toddlers’ Group – Sabina Wright

Sabina with a number of other mums from church is looking to start a baby and toddler and mums group for mums from Grace Church that would also be open to contacts of these mums from the community.  Sabina is just looking at venues and hopes to be able to launch this group from January.

Belong Ladies update – Emily Haslam & Rosie Gillard

We heard about the events that have happened in the last few months, and the things planned for the months ahead.  The Belong Bible Studies have been successful and it is planned to run another one next Autumn.  There will be another breakfast next year with a guest speaker.  An event for the ladies at church but also an easy invite to bring along your friends.

Being Brothers – Dave Dean

Dave told us about the events that have taken place and let us know that in January there will be a Mexican Meal in Tinga.  There is also a Quiz night planned for next year, and another Men’s Bible Study.  

Alpha update –Joe Deal & Dave Hazelton

We are planning our next Alpha Course from the end of January in the Cricket Club.  Invitations will be available soon for this. David Hazelton and Joe Deal will lead this course.

Ghana update – David Maskell

Let us know that Eustace and Theresa are doing well.  Emmanuel has started a new school to give him access to GCSEs with a view to being able to attend a UK university in due course.  We have continued to support Eustace and Theresa and we have added some support to cover the school fees for Emmanuel.  The pig farm is now doing better with less piglet mortality.  They have opened a restaurant called “Everything Pork” to help generate some income for them.  They are also in the process of opening a second restaurant to increase there income.

Kev Bartlett and Segun from Epsom are visiting  from 26 November.  They will first visit Lagos in Nigeria to meet contacts of Segun.  Kev as a vision for churches along the coast line with churches in Ghana, Togo, Benin and Nigeria.

Growth/Buildings update – Dave McNee

Dave McNee said that as a Church we are at least 20% larger than last year and this will bring limitations as the auditorium and car parks are busy. So, get there early!

Whilst we have not come up with a solution to this, we have looked at a number of options through this last year, buildings that have become available for both 6 days a week use and 7 days a week.  We have also looked at a Sunday’s only venue.  There is nothing yet available that we could proceed with.

We currently hold just under £200,000 to go towards a building deposit, but we will need to raise considerably more funds to be able to go ahead with a building project.

Prayer meetings update – Dave McNee

We plan to have a week of prayer in January 11th to 15th and we will continue our Sunday evening prayer meetings through the year together with our Tuesday morning Zoom meeting.  There had been a prophetic word about Twins meaning that one twin is the Word and the other twin is the Spirit and that we need both.

Closing Remarks and Responses to Questions

Life Groups. No official notice about groups but Esther brought up what will happen in the plan for growth as we have a lot more that will need a group. Dave doesn’t have all the answers as things need to change with Leadership structure and I guess responsibilities and for knitting people in, so something will happen in this area at some point.

  Dave McNee closed the meeting in prayer.

DJM 26/11/25