The jovial smile is beginning to return, you will be pleased to hear! The General Committee in June accepted the audited Fellowship accounts for 2003, which showed a surplus of £58,000 on income of £920,000 – a cause for very great gratitude to the Lord for his gracious provision, during a time of significant growth, change and development in CMF’s ministry.

However, the upgrade to the membership database continues to give all of us in the office major grief. We expect to catch up on all subscription reminders and thank you letters over the summer – please accept our continuing apologies for this inadequate service.

Once we have caught up, the next step forward will be to ask the membership to move their financial support of the Fellowship onto the Direct debit system; this will enable us to automate further the receipt of funds, updating our membership records, and reclaiming over £100,000 of Gift Aid tax per annum.

The budget for 2004 predicts a significant deficit for the year, making use of the historic surpluses of the last few years, and the conscious decisions of the Executive to occupy the whole of the 5th floor of Partnership House for the next three and a half years, the appointment of Kevin Vaughan as Associate General Secretary, and using the very significant assets of MMA to continue to employ the previous MMA staff, Steve Fouch, and Laura Risdale. This presents us with a good challenge to be wise stewards of all that has been entrusted to us.

Thank you very much for your partnership in the Gospel.

Giles Rawlinson