To the Annual General Meeting of Members, to be held at the DC Building, 31 Springfield Lakes Boulevard, Springfield Lakes, on Monday, 25th March 2024, starting at 7:30pm.

Disciples Church Springfield is a public, not-for-profit company limited by guarantee and registered as a religious institution.

It was officially incorporated on 17 December 2010.

ACN: 147 916 818

Disciples Church Springfield is a member of the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches.
www.fiec.org.au

Neumann & Turnour Lawyers
Level 2, 345 Anne Street
Brisbane QLD 4000
www.ntlawyers.com.au

KBP Audit Services
Suite G.8
1 Westlink Court
DARRA QLD 4076
www.kbpaudit.com.au

Welcome to the 13th Annual Report of Disciples Church Springfield.

Once again we can report on a year where our great God has blessed us with growth, with provision, with answered prayers, and with the ongoing assurance of His grace and mercy.

Throughout the year, we saw people added to the Kingdom, people added to our membership, growth in the number of Missional Community Groups, more people serving on ministry rosters than ever before, and even an increase in the number of Elders.

Operating expenses went to an all-time high in 2023 as post-COVID inflation took its course, but by God's grace we also recorded the highest ever level of tithes & offerings, as Gospel generosity was practiced with faithfulness by our members.

We hope you enjoy reading through our reports from 2023. It was an exciting year in the life of our church. We pray that you will be moved to offer thanks and praise to our Heavenly Father, and to be in prayer for the days and years ahead.

In Christ,

The DC Elders

That's a fancy word for "system of government." While our Constitution requires the activities of the church to be reported to the members of the Church, it is the Elders who have the responsibility and authority to make decisions for the good of the whole Church. You can read how this is spelt out in our Constitution.

Greg Gardiner has served as the founding and Lead Pastor of Disciples Church Springfield since 2012.

When it comes to the subject of growth, there's an element of it which just seems to happen naturally. As I often say, if you keep feeding your kids, they will grow!

When it comes to church growth, there are any number of books and theories about what should and shouldn't be done in order to achieve it. They often give the impression it's all up to us. Usually the growth they are focussing on is either attendance on Sunday, or the weekly offering. But there are other important (some would say more important) areas of church life where you also want to see growth.

Interestingly, the Apostle Paul wrote that growth is actually due to the grace of God...

When it comes to Christian ministry, the focus should not be on who does what. Sure, there are tasks that should and need to be done, and we can all play a part in doing them. But ultimately, the results of that work are up to God, and that means, He deserves all the praise.

In 2023, we recorded growth across many areas of church life. Yes our general stats were all up across the Board, but I also noticed that there were also signs of solid spiritual growth across the congregation. For all of these results, we praise God for His faithfulness.

For His glory,

We have five Elders, four of whom serve on the Board of Directors of Disciples Church Springfield. This is their report on the activities of the church in 2023.

In 2023 the Elder Board was made up of the Chairman, Pastor Greg Gardiner (BMin), Pastor Anthony Sligar (BTh), David Machin (BSc) and Nathan Rule (BRTP). Our Company Secretary is Hannah Simpson. In November, Callum Mansfield (BTh) was ordained as an Elder of the Church, and has been observing at Elder Board meetings since then.

2023 was an encouraging year for us, on several fronts. There was solid statistical growth for all the areas where we count things - people, attendance, baptisms, giving, members, groups etc. There was also a strengthening in both our leadership development pathway, and the process of newcomers becoming better integrated into the life of the church. The effects of this being noticeably obvious in the life of our Missional Community Groups.

Financially, we effectively broke even in 2023, with a small surplus of just $65. Given how we started the year, this was a very good result. In April, we had to make a significant course correction. At that point in the year, our expenses were  running at higher than our income, and we had just been advised that the group renting our space on Friday mornings was moving on, which would widen the gap by a further $2,000 a month. To right the ship, staff expenses had to be lowered (which effected the Sligar's and the Mansfield's) and external support (for Acts 29 and church planting) was suspended.

 An individual donation of $5,000, and a donation of $7,000 from Restoration Church Toowoomba - each given for the support of DC Staff - helped to get our staff through a tough season.

By year's end, our regular Tithes & Offerings totalled a record $427,521 which was a not insignificant rise of 16% over the previous year. This increased giving was God's generous provision for us. Even after reducing staff expenses in April, overall expenses were still up by 15% year on year. The main cause of this was the rise in interest rates, which had a flow-on effect for the building loan and also the housing allowances paid to staff.

In July, we listed our building at Spring Lake Village for lease through McGee's Property. Our preference was to retain the use of Lot 1 (DC Kids space) and lease out Lots 2 & 3 and relocate Sunday services to a new bigger venue. Interest in the property was strong. In the end, just prior to Christmas, we reached a heads of agreement with another church to take on the whole property. At year end, lawyers were still in the process of finalising contracts. The agreement would see us leasing the whole property to the other church, and include an option for them to purchase the property at various stages during the lease.

This will mean having to relocate our entire ministry operation in the first half of 2024. We will need to find a new venue for our Sunday morning service, a church office, and spaces for other ministries such as DC Youth.

The rationale for making this move was to be able to devote more funds into pastoral staff, and to provide for greater capacity on Sunday mornings in a combined service. We believe the deal negotiated at the end of the year will allow us to achieve these goals.

We are conscious of the great responsibility we have to shepherd the church in a way that prioritises the spiritual care of everyone in the congregation, and sees the mission of the Gospel going forward, all to the glory of God.

We covet your prayers that together we might all work in unity, love and zeal for the Kingdom of God.

The Elder Board

The Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is the heart of all ministry at Disciples Church Springfield. Here is our report on ministry in 2023.

2023 was a fantastic year of multiplication for our Missional Community Groups! In the middle of the year, the Mansfield's multiplied out of the Rule's group along with a few others. Then in the second half of the year, the Hunsperger's/Logan's group prepared to head toward multiplication. They finished with the combined co-leader format at the end of 2023 and the two new groups, led by each of those couples, began afresh in early 2024. This is the first time we've seen multiplications so close together! In the big picture, we want to see even more groups forming so that outreach, care and discipleship can happen more efficiently and more effectively. Lord willing, this will lead to more people growing to be like Jesus, and people coming to know Him for the first time.

2023 also brought a steady stream of newcomers into DC. After a term in the Newcomers Group, led by Greg & Fiona Gardiner, we saw a solid number of households integrate into MCGs. It is exciting to see more fresh faces connecting into our communities, and those people beginning formal discipleship, which means lots of "How People Change" sessions to begin with. It's encouraging to know that so many people are thinking deeply about Gospel application in ordinary, everyday life.

Our MCGs continue to live out outreach, care and discipleship in unique ways and rhythms. It was incredible to see a significant increase in the number of not-yet-believers being prayed for. Across the board, we also saw the familiarity with the DNA (Discover/Nurture/Act) framework increase, which helped to facilitate Gospel growth in many individuals throughout the year.

We are praying that this growth continues in 2024, particularly seeing more potential MCG leaders emerge and be equipped. Through our current and future MCGs, we long to see a greater Kingdom impact in God's people, and the people living in the city of Springfield who don't yet know Jesus.

Reflecting on the past year of Sunday Services at Disciples Church, we are grateful for the many moments of growth, creativity, and community. While challenges have presented themselves, the collective efforts of our dedicated teams to display the greatness of Christ has shone through and allowed Sunday Services to be a highlight of the week.

We introduced nine new songs to our repertoire in 2023, each carrying a unique message of Christ-centred worship. These include "Yahweh," "Divine Exchange," "Promises," "Greatest Love I've Ever Known," "This is Our God," "Great Are You Lord,"  "You've Already Won," "Long Live The King," and "Hymn of Heaven."

We welcomed two new production team members, Siobhan O'Brien and Brodie Freemantle. Additionally, we gladly trained and integrated two new band members, Kate Davis and Bree Collins, further enhancing the capacity of the Worship Collective.

Additionally, we have had dozens of volunteers lead us in corporate prayer and Scripture readings, as well as those who clean before the service and welcome new guests. Thank you to all of those who have served tirelessly in your unwavering support and dedication to see the Gospel shared at our Sunday Services. 

We delight to sit under the preaching of God's Word every Sunday at our weekly services. We want to grow in our understanding of the Word together, and value the expository preaching style that brings the whole counsel of God into focus for us.

Pastor Greg Gardiner serves as our primary preacher, with contributions made throughout the year by Pastor Anthony Sligar, Callum Mansfield, Nathan Rule and Callum Trevorrow.

There were five main sermon series preached in 2023:

• Living In Light, Love & Truth - 1, 2 & 3 John  (Term 1)
• The Gospel In A Woke World  (Term 2)
• The Presence of God  (Term 3)
• Saved By Grace For Living In The Spirit's Power - Ephesians  (Term 4)
• The Book Of Psalms (School Holidays)

Our theme for Easter was Divine Exchange and we started our series in Luke's Gospel in December as an Advent/Christmas Series.

In 2023 we had 90 children in our Creche and DC Kids ministries. These operated during the sermon time at both the 8:30am and 10:30am service each Sunday throughout the year.  

The children’s ministry was supported by 38 rostered volunteers, 11 of which joined the Children’s ministry team in 2023, as well as a number of additional people who volunteered as needed throughout the year.

In the first half of 2023 we completed  the Gospel Story Book  Curriculum working through the New Testament letters and Revelation.

In May we launched a new curriculum, The Gospel Project for Kids Curriculum. We began in Genesis, learning about creation, the fall, God’s rescue plan, Moses and God’s people in the wilderness through to Joshua and God’s people in the promise land.

During December the Children participated in a special Christmas Promise advent series and the children prepared and performed an item at the Christmas Eve service.

CLUB had a slightly shaky start to the year in 2023, which meant we lost a little momentum from the previous year and the successful summer camp in January. We managed a couple of CLUB events in Term 1, with a more regular rhythm starting again in Term 2. In the second half of the year, CLUB was once again running each Friday night during school terms, mostly at the DC Building. CLUB is for any High Schoolers who want to attend, and aims to provide a fun, friendly, safe environment where the Gospel can be heard and mentoring relationships established.

4Real is the discipleship program for our youth. In 2023 it transitioned from Zoom meet ups (which began during Covid) to in person. 4Real is for those high schoolers who are keen about following Jesus and wanting to study and learn from His Word more.

Camps - our youth Summer Camp ran in January at the Luther Heights campsite on the beautiful Sunshine Coast. Once again a bunch of fun activities were enjoyed by everyone. Callum Mansfield was the keynote speaker. The mid-year Winter Camp at Mount Tamborine did not proceed due to a lack of numbers. 

Our rhythm of four annual conferences continued in 2023. We started in February with Biblical Marriage and were blessed by video teaching from pastor and author Paul Tripp.

Our Biblical Womanhood Conference was held in May and featured video teaching from The Gospel Coalition's Women's Conference in the USA.

Biblical Manhood 2023 was held in September and once again used video teaching content from Paul Tripp.

In November we ran our Biblical Parenting Conference featuring video teaching from Australian author Dr Patricia Weerakoon on the subject of Talking About Sex With Your Children, and American author Andy Crouch on Becoming a Tech Wise family.

These conferences are aimed primarily at our own congregation and are regarded as “pastoral care maintenance” to help our people bring the Gospel to bear on their key relationships, roles and responsibilities. 

Occasionally, people experience issues that need a little more intense follow-up than what is offered in our Missional Community Groups. This is when our pastors and their wives offer Biblical counselling. At the heart of Biblical counselling is the task of helping people to apply the truths of the Gospel to their specific circumstances.

Biblical Counselling happens on an ad hoc basis as required by members of the congregation. The intention is that this counselling occur for only as long as it takes to see growth and transformation in the area of challenge.

Our annual Leaders Retreat was held from August 16 - 19 at the beautiful Mt Alford Lodge Christian Retreat. Once again we ran an ascending attendance format starting with Elders & Wives on day one, joined by Missional Community Group leaders on day two, and then Staff, Team Leaders and Emerging Leaders on day three. It was a valuable time of policy discussion, leader development, prayer and planning for the following year.

It was estimated that more than 8,000 people packed into The Circle at Robelle Domain for the annual Springfield Carols on the second Saturday in December. Our involvement in the Carols continues to be quite significant with Callum Mansfield (Creative Director), James Simpson (Technical Director), Greg Gardiner (Organising Committee), and others serving in various production roles on the night. Other Springfield churches, especially Springfield Christian Family and C3 Springfield, help to make it happen, while sponsorship from local businesses and a grant from the Ipswich City Council cover the expenses.

Disciples Church Springfield was planted in 2012 with a desire to become a church planting church. We want to see the Gospel go out beyond Springfield and to be active participants in God's redemptive mission.

Our policy is to devote 10% of our Tithes & Offerings income to external Gospel ministry endeavours - primarily church planting. 2% goes toward the Acts 29 Church Planting Network for its administrative costs, 1.5% to our denomination (Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches), and the balance directly to church planting endeavours.

Part way through 2023, when our rising expenses were exceeding our income (see Directors' Report above), this commitment had to be suspended for a time.

By the year's end, as our giving was being sustained at an increased level, we were once again setting aside 10% of our Tithes & Offerings income into our church planting account.

The suspension affected the level of support we were able to give to Matt & Tiff Price (planting out of Nations Church) and also to the Acts 29 central administration fund. Our plan is to resume our support for both in 2024.

Disciples Church Springfield runs a January to December financial year. Our Auditor is Raj Prahbu from KBP Auditors. Here is his report on our finances from 2023.

We have audited the financial report of Disciples Church Springfield, which comprises the Balance Sheet as at 31 December 2023, Income and Expenditure Report, for the year ended, and notes to the financial statements, including a summary of significant accounting policies.

In our opinion the financial report of Disciples Church Springfield, is in accordance with Division 60 of the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission Act 2012, including:

• giving a true and fair view of the registered entity’s financial position as at 31 December 2023 and of its financial performance for the year ended; and
• complying with Australian Accounting Standards to the extent described in Note 1 to the financial statement, and Division 60 the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission Regulation 2013.

We conducted our audit in accordance with Australian Auditing Standards. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor’s Responsibilities for the Audit of the Financial Report section of our report. We are independent of the registered entity in accordance with the ethical requirements of the Accounting Professional and Ethical Standards Board’s APES 110 Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants (the Code) that are relevant to our audit of the financial report in Australia. We have also fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with the Code. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

We draw attention to Note 1 to the financial report, which describes the basis of accounting. The financial report has been prepared for the purpose of fulfilling the responsible entities’ financial reporting responsibilities under the ACNC Act. As a result, the financial report may not be suitable for another purpose. Our opinion is not modified in respect of this matter.

The management committee have determined that it is impracticable to establish control over the collection of fundraising and donation revenue prior to entry into its financial records. Accordingly, our audit procedures with respect to these sources of revenue had to be restricted to the amounts recorded in the financial records.

The members of the committee of the Disciples Church Springfield are responsible for the preparation of the financial report that gives a true and fair view and have determined that the basis of preparation described in Note 1 to the financial report is appropriate to meet the requirements of the ACNC Act [and the needs of the members]. The responsible entities’ responsibility also includes such internal control as the responsible entities determine is necessary to enable the preparation of a financial report that gives a true and fair view and is free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

In preparing the financial report, the members of the committee are responsible for assessing the registered entities ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters relating to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the responsible entities either intend to liquidate the registered entity or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial report as a whole is free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor’s report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with the Australian Auditing Standards will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of the financial report.

As part of an audit in accordance with Australian Auditing Standards, we exercise professional judgement and maintain professional skepticism throughout the audit. We also:

• Identify and assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial report, whether due to fraud or error, design and perform audit procedures responsive to those risks, and obtain audit evidence that is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion. The risk of not detecting a material misstatement resulting from fraud is higher than for one resulting from error, as fraud may involve collusion, forgery, intentional omissions, misrepresentations, or the override of internal control.
• Obtain an understanding of internal control relevant to the audit in order to design audit procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances, but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the registered entity’s internal control.
• Evaluate the appropriateness of accounting policies used and the reasonableness of accounting estimates and related disclosures made by responsible entities.
• Conclude on the appropriateness of the responsible entities’ use of the going concern basis of accounting and, based on the audit evidence obtained, whether a material uncertainty exists related to events or conditions that may cast significant doubt on the registered entity’s ability to continue as a going concern. If we conclude that a material uncertainty exists, we are required to draw attention in our auditor’s report to the related disclosures in the financial report or, if such disclosures are inadequate, to modify our opinion. Our conclusions are based on the audit evidence obtained up to the date of our auditor’s report. However, future events or conditions may cause the registered entity to cease to continue as a going concern.
• Evaluate the overall presentation, structure and content of the financial report, including the disclosures, and whether the financial report represents the underlying transactions and events in a manner that achieves fair presentation.

We communicate with the responsible entities regarding, among other matters, the planned scope and timing of the audit and significant audit findings, including any significant deficiencies in internal control that we identify during our audit.

Yours sincerely

KBP Audit Services
Raj Prabhu
Director - Audit

Date:  2 March 2024

The following statements report on our Income and Expenditure during 2023, and our Balance Sheet as at 31 December 2023.

This financial report is a special purpose financial report prepared for use by the members of the committee.

The members have determined that the entity is not a reporting entity. The financial report has been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the following Australian Accounting Standards:
AASB 1031: Materiality
AASB 110: Events Occurring After Reporting Date

No other applicable Accounting Standards or mandatory professional reporting requirements have been applied.

The statements are prepared on an accrual basis. They are based on historic costs and do not take into account changing money values or, except where specifically stated, current valuations of non-current assets.

The following specific accounting policies, which are consistent with the previous period unless otherwise stated, have been adopted in the preparation of these statements:

(a) Revenue Recognition
Revenue is measured at the fair value of the consideration received or receivable. Amounts disclosed as revenue are net returns, trade allowances, rebates and amounts collected on behalf of third parties. Donations are recognised as received from the Church members. No receivable exists for donations.

(b) Income Tax
The activities of the entity are exempt from taxation under Sec 50-5 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997.

(c) Cash and cash equivalent
Cash and cash equivalent includes deposits held at call with financial institutions, other short- term , highly liquid investments that are readily convertible to known amounts of cash and which are subject to an insignificant risk of changes in values, and bank overdrafts.

(d) Property, Plant and Equipment
Property, Plant and Equipment are stated at historical cost less depreciation. Historical cost includes expenditure that is directly attributable to the acquisition of the items. Subsequent costs are included in the asset’s carrying amount or recognised as a separate asset, as appropriate, only when it is probable that future economic benefits associated with the item will flow to the association and the cost of the item can be measured reliably.

Depreciation has been charged on the Building at 2.5% during the year.

(e) Goods and Service Tax (GST)
Revenues, expenses and assets are recognised net of the amount of associated GST, unless GST incurred is not recoverable from the taxation authority. In this case, it is recognised as part of the cost of the acquisition of the asset or as part of the expense.

Each year, so many people deserve to be thanked for their ongoing commitment to the ministry of Disciples Church, and that is the case once again for 2023. However, it has been our habit to especially recognise the efforts of a couple of people who went above and beyond during the year, and to praise God for them.

At the beginning of the year Matt Gardiner stepped up to take on the Youth Director role on very short notice. Matt served with grace and diligence across 2023, patiently allowing the youth team to re-group and beginning the process of building momentum among our youth who participate in our programs. Matt serves faithfully in a number of areas across the life of the church, and we are grateful for his commitment and competence.

James & Hannah Simpson have served voluntarily on the DC Staff team since the church was planted in 2012. James has served in the role of Facilities Manager and Hannah has served in various roles including Financial Administrator, ChildSafe Co-ordinator, Pastoral Administrator and Board Secretary. In recent times, they have also been leading one of our Missional Community Groups, and serve regularly in our Sunday morning teams. To say their commitment has been above and beyond is only just starting to acknowledge their contribution.

In the second half of 2023, Andrew Morphy took a work transfer to return to North Queensland and so we lost our ChildSafe Co-ordinator. Our thanks to Emily Oliver who, as well as handling our Financial Administration, has also stepped back into her previous role as ChildSafe Co-ordinator. We are very thankful for Emily and her significant volunteer service.

We end our Annual Report with a brief look at the things we see approaching, and the things we are praying for in the year ahead.

2024 is going to bring along some significant changes for Disciples Church. It has already been announced that from the middle of April we are going to be relocating our Sunday gathering to the Events Cinema at the Orion Shopping Centre in Springfield Central. After having our building at Spring Lake Village for the last 10 years, this is going to make things feel a little different. In our journey since planting, we have met at an unused office, a school chapel, a former hardware store, and now we go to a cinema. It is all serving to reinforce for us that a church is not a building, but rather it is the people of God who serve together for the glory of God.

One feature of Disciples Church that gives us confidence that this move will be successful, is the unity and depth of relationships experienced in our Missional Community Groups. We say these groups are the engine room of ministry at Disciples Church, and this will remain the case regardless of where we meet on Sundays.

For the last ten years, we have made our building at Spring Lake Village a financial priority. This has come at some significant cost for our staff, but it has meant that we have been able to enjoy a ministry base that has been the envy of every other church in Springfield. With the move to the cinema comes the hope that instead of working for the building, the building will, to an extent, be working for us, allowing funds to be re-directed so that we can staff the church for future growth.

Speaking of which, at the Leaders Retreat in August of 2023, the Elders spent a significant portion of their time discussing and praying through thoughts that were presented by our Lead Pastor, Greg, on the subject of succession planning. This is a subject that all good oversight boards and committees should turn their attention to at some stage, and our Elder Board is no different.

Greg & Fiona Gardiner moved to Springfield in 2009 for the express purpose of planting an evangelical, missionally-contextual church, that would reach the young families that were moving to what then was cheaper housing in order to get established. From the 13 people who attended the first gathering in their lounge room, to the over 300 people who are involved in Disciples Church today, they have, by God's grace, overseen some amazing growth.

Together with the Disciples Church Elder Board, Greg is looking to the future, and seeking to ensure that DC has the staff leadership in place to continue the growth story that has been experienced so far. We will outline what this looks like at the Annual General Meeting.

Together, we face the future with confidence, because we know God is sovereign over all things, that the gates of hell will not prevail against His church, and that He will be working all things together for the good of those who are called according to His purpose. To Him be the glory!