Master’s Report

Just like the psalmist in Psalm 77 who declares, "I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your wonders of old," I want to take a moment to reflect on some of the wonderful things the Lord did here at St Thomas' in 2023.

Our church family continued to grow last year, as the Lord brought new people to join us in worshipping Him. The first few months of 2023 were especially remarkable, particularly when it comes to our young people. Between February and April, a beautiful increase in their spiritual hunger was evident at the 6:30pm service. Prayer and worship continued for hours on end after the service had finished! It's worth noting that this wasn't unique to St Thomas'. Many churches across the nation with young adults and students were experiencing similar things after the outpouring at Asbury University. Let's continue to pray that this translates into a generation deeply longing for the things of God. Speaking of worship, St Thomas’ Music released two new singles in 2023: Roots, written by Alicia Barwick, and a cover of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen. Look out for more releases in 2024!

St Thomas' continued to blossom as a diverse church family in 2023. We welcomed many new children and their parents, and our amazing children's team grew to 35 members! There's an African proverb that is often quoted: "It takes a village to raise a child." But the truth is, it actually takes a church! A huge thank you to everyone who pours their hearts into helping our children grow deeper in their love for Jesus. As I write this we often have over 60 children in church on a Sunday - it is a privilege and huge responsibility for us all to help disciple them well.

Every Tuesday night at church, our youth come together for Youth Night. The youth team has done a fantastic job growing this ministry, and from talking to many young people, I know the incredible difference it makes in their week, lives, and faith.

Hearing stories from the 2023 youth residential about how Jesus impacted our youth was truly inspiring. I'm excited to see how He continues to work in their lives this year. A particular highlight was one encounter an eleven year old boy had with Jesus in a dream at the residential.

Beyond being our youth minister, Joel is actively involved in local church governance. He also represents us at the Deanery Synod and is part of the Deanery's leadership team. Looking ahead, 2024 promises to be a year where Joel and the team focus on expanding youth ministry in the region and partnering with other churches. Please keep this important initiative in your prayers.

In the autumn, Josh Jee joined us as our new Student Minister. Led by God, he's brought fresh ideas and creativity to the role. Student Night now happens every Thursday, with several new Life Groups specifically for students. Student Night has provided a platform for numerous students to host, lead worship, preach, and take on leadership roles for the first time. It's been fantastic to see students stepping up, and Josh is incredibly grateful for those in the church who mentor these leaders!

During Freshers' Week, we welcomed thousands of students to the city with a slice of our renowned Tommy’s Pizza. It was amazing to see people come to faith after being invited to church!

Nathan and Alicia Hook also joined us in the autumn of 2023. Nathan started in September as our Eden Team Leader and the Eden Team is really developing and growing. Nathan has done a fantastic job building relationships in Byker and the surrounding area, particularly with other churches. There have been a whole range of exciting initiatives that have happened since Nathan started, including Lunch Clubs, Cafes, increasing detached youth work and a carol service in partnership with St Silas Church in Byker.

In 2023 we had some wonderful discipleship year students with us at St Thomas’ and it is fantastic to seem them all flourishing in various different contexts (including two who are on the grafting team at St Luke’s). 2023 also saw four new discipleship year students join us, and they are a huge gift to us.

The Creative Team at St Thomas’ continue to capture stories of what God is doing in the lives of individuals through the ministry of the church. You can check out lots of these stories here. We continue to meet people who come on Sundays after finding us online, and we’re enjoying finding ways to creatively share the gospel at events such as our Easter and Christmas Cafes. We’re thrilled that a number of people have joined the church family and been saved through these events!

As you know, one of the ways in which our vision at St Thomas' is made a reality is through playing our part in planting churches across the region, so it was a joy at the end of 2023 to commission a grafting team from St Thomas’ to go to St Luke’s with Adam and Abby Smith. Alice Wilkinson, who was the Administrator at St Thomas’, also went as the Associate Leader. Adam is doing a fantastic job leading St Luke’s and we can’t wait to see what God does through them.

Although our Generosity teaching series happened at the start of 2024, I did want to take a moment to say thank you to all of you who give financially to the work of God at St Thomas'. In January, we spent the month looking at what it means for us to be a generous church and the Church Council presented the financial need to the church family. The effects of the Generosity series are still being worked out (due to the way reporting from PGS, the platform we use for giving, works) but we have already seen a 33% increase in regular giving. 114 people filled out pledge forms to give for the first time and we are starting to see those pledges turn into reality. We also saw one-off gifts of over £100,000 during the Generosity series. Thank you so much for all you give to the life of the church!

Ben Doolan
Church Leader

Church Warden’s Report

Since our last AGM we have actually spent a whole year inside the reordered church building which has brought much joy after the extended period of time out of St Thomas’ awaiting completion of the work! What’s been happening? Well a lot! Below is just a small selection of what we have been doing and so offering our worship to God.  

The building is used well during the week. We continue to be open Monday – Thursday lunchtimes for people to drop in and leave the busyness of the city behind. Folk come in for a variety of reasons – just feeling drawn to walk through the doors, visit while on holiday in the area, had worked/studied in Newcastle and attended St Thomas’ and wanted to revisit for old times, or perhaps knew that we had been closed and wanted to see the new look. Wednesdays bring in people for a morning of Tiny T’s and an NHS clinic and then Holy Communion at 12.30pm. What a privilege it is to be able to serve the City Centre and provide those in the workplace, students, those who know St Thomas’ as ‘home’ or passers-by with an opportunity to meet with God through this weekly service of worship. Additionally, the evenings bring a whole range of uses for all ages including monthly Equip meetings and weekly Youth Night.

At the beginning of 2024 a team, led by the Revd Adam Smith, moved on from St Thomas’ as part of the ‘St Luke’s graft’. This was very much a bittersweet time as we said farewell to, and prayed for, both members of the congregation and staff team but rejoiced with them as each recognised God’s call for them to step out and be part of the worshipping congregation and outreach at St Luke’s.

Thinking of ‘what’s new’, the Young Adults group has been establish and grown across the last year. If you are a young adult and have not yet been to one of these events, do check them out - it’s a great way of getting to know more folk who are part of St Thomas’ and having fun with them!

Finally, cafés are becoming a regular occurrence at St Thomas’. We’ve had fantastic Christmas and Easter cafés! Lots of you have come along to set up and decorate the premises, bake cakes, make pizzas, serve candy floss, help with the face painting and not least of all pray with people in the prayer tent or chat with folk who wander by or come into the building. Many thanks to those who masterminded the cafés and helped in any way. Our Newcastle community have had fun, enjoyed an hour or more with us and some have come to know Jesus!!

We give thanks and glory to God for all that 2023 has held and look forward with expectation as to what He will do and has in store for us as 2024 progresses.

Margaret Proud and Ian Dobson
Churchwardens

Deanery Synod Report

The Deanery Synod has seen some significant changes. Reverend Pauline Pearson has retired from her position as Area Dean, and Reverend Paul Baker from St Nicholas Gosforth has taken up the role, and was commissioned on April 24th 2024.

Joel Barwick has been actively collaborating with the Deanery to launch and run a new youth event called NCD Youth. This initiative aims to engage and inspire young people in our community. We plan to hold four more NCD Youth events, with one of them taking place in the Cathedral. This aligns with the Diocese's goal of growing younger and ensuring that the church remains relevant and vibrant for future generations.

We pray that these efforts will not only strengthen our Deanery but also provide opportunities for young people to encounter God and deepen their faith.

Dom Llewellyn and Joel Barwick
Deanery Synod Representatives

Finance Report

Highlights

• Over the last 12 months, the unrestricted reserves have increased by £82k to £265k as a result of the generosity of our church family - thank you!

• Overall expense in 2023 was £404k of which St Thomas contributed £88k (from giving). A further £189k came from the National Church and £127k from the DBF - we acknowledge and thank them for their continued support to the work of the diocesan Resource Church here at St Thomas'.

• After five years of support, funding from the National Church ends October 2024 and DBF funding will reduce to cover stipendiary posts only. We are therefore working to be financially sustainable by the start of 2025. The generous giving campaign in February 2024 has made a start to address the funding gap.

Fabric Report

The church building is in a good state of repair. However, being 193 years old, it requires, and receives, continual maintenance to keep it in the condition it both deserves and is required to fulfil the mission of the Resource Church. 

Following completion of the internal reordering in August 2022, throughout 2023 we have now grown into the space. Snagging issues have been largely addressed by our main contractor and are expected to complete mid 2024. 

The organ console was retrieved from storage and reinstalled on the south gallery. However, due to lack of maintenance over many years, the main organ itself cannot sound without significant remedial work at a not insignificant cost. Whilst this does not impact worship, it is hoped that a plan to bring it back into use can be formulated in 2024, albeit in the long term, such that the financial burden or repair does not fall on the worshipping community. 

A new digital, contactless giving device was installed. 

A new acoustic drum kit was bought to replace the electronic kit damaged by a water leak in one of the stained glass east windows. No further water leaks have occurred, and following expert advice the window continues to be closely monitored. 

The statutory and annual checks were completed successfully with minor remediations completed as advised. 

The quinquennial (a detailed survey of the building fabric completed every five years) is due in 2024 and is expected to show that the roof will require some short term remedial works and in the medium/long term will need replacing. We should start to think of a funding strategy.

Chris Elder
Operations Director

Safeguarding Report

In 2023 the safeguarding team at St Thomas’ was Margaret Proud, Lee Kirkby and Ben Doolan. Adam Smith joined the team as he began to take on more responsibility for St Luke’s. As well as having a safeguarding team, we would love to have a dedicated Safeguarding Officer, so please do pray for that person to emerge.

The church safeguarding policies were approved by the church council in November 2023 and there is a safeguarding report at every church council meeting. The basis of this report is usually generated by the Safeguarding Dashboard, which is a fantastic new tool that the Church of England has launched.

In 2024, we are working towards getting every single volunteer on the new Safeguarding Hub that has been launched by the Church of England - another fantastic new resource and I am very thankful for all the work Zara Tipples has done to help get us going on this new system. There will be well over 100+ volunteers in the church that need to be on the Safeguarding Hub as it helps us track safe recruitment, training and it also generates volunteer working agreements.

Ben Doolan
Church Leader