The trustees present their annual report and financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2024.
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the accounting policies set out in note 1 to the financial statements and comply with the charity's governing document, the Companies Act 2006, FRS 102 "The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland" and the Charities SORP "Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102)".
Our Vision - Revive the Church and Rewire the Culture through non-stop night and day prayer.
Our Mission Statement
As part of the 24-7 global movement of non-stop prayer, 24-7 Prayer Ireland's heart is to see the
transformation of Ireland by serving and equipping the local church across the whole of Ireland to create and cultivate cultures of prayer, mission and justice that impact their communities, towns and cities.
Our Values - We pursue the presence of Jesus through prayer, We are Spirit-led, We are creative and innovative, We are missional, We are relational, We are generous, We are passionate about fighting injustice, We celebrate diversity, We empower one another.
Our Strategic Priorities
Between 2023-2025 our four strategic priorities will be:
Inspire, equip and resource the Church in Ireland to engage with prayer personally, corporately and nationally; establishing cultures of prayer that naturally leads to expressions of mission and justice in every aspect of society.
To equip and resource the Church in Ireland to serve the life of their schools and communities through Prayer Spaces in Schools.
Develop an effective resourcing model that ignites and sustains 24-7 communities and houses of prayer across Ireland.
Grow and strengthen organisational resources, skills and capacity to build for the future of 24-7 Prayer in Ireland.
As a way of seeking to achieve these goals each department uses a work plan to assist them in moving toward seeing our vision becoming a reality. These work plans are reviewed on an annual basis and adjusted accordingly.
2024 has continued to be a year of growth and development.
In setting our objectives and planning our activities for the year, the directors have given careful consideration to the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland’s statutory guidance on public benefit to ensure that the activities have helped achieve the charity purpose and provide a benefit to the beneficiaries.
Prayer Spaces in Schools
Our vision is that every young person would have the opportunity to encounter God in a prayer space. The majority of these were in school settings but around a quarter were set up with youth groups, at youth festivals or events. We can conservatively estimate that 8000- 10000 children and young people have been to a prayer space in their school or community in the last year. Each one of those individuals has had an opportunity to learn new ways to pray and process their lives with God.
Key Highlights
2024 saw a continued increase in the number of registered prayer spaces in schools with over 40 prayer spaces registered.
We have developed a strong team of 8 networkers across every province in Ireland who champion prayer spaces locally and provide many different opportunities for young people to pray. This is not only having a positive impact on the young people but also on the wider church community.
Our ongoing partnership with Scripture Union Northern Ireland continues to help us grow Prayer Spaces in schools as well as provide training for those in youth work - we trained all their volunteers for summer camps prayer spaces at all their summer camps in 2024.
The development of key training materials and education documents to support peer led prayer spaces in secondary schools we are now ready to roll out in 2025.
24-7 Prayer
In 2024 we more successfully tracked and supported prayer rooms/spaces in churches across the country. We've been so encouraged at the growing number of prayer rooms happening across Ireland. Over 20 years later people are still discovering prayer rooms as an incredible resource to establish prayer at the heart of our churches, communities and organisations.
Key Highlights
As 24-7 Prayer turned 25, in 2024, we called the church to a year of non-stop prayer. As a result we had more prayer than ever across 7 different denominations. The number of prayer rooms grew significantly in 2024 -through the Year of Prayer Initiative we had over 200 prayer rooms registered either via international website or directly.
In addition to this over a dozen Prayer nights took place in locations across Ireland and 7 pray for justice nights in partnership with IJM.
Signal Fires, nights of prayer and worship for young people in partnership with other youth organisations, continued to grow. We strengthened our partnership with CIY Europe and together we hosted events in Dublin and Lurgan in 2024 with over 300 young people and plans for other locations in 2025 include Cork and Derry.
We provided training online and in person across different churches, denominations and networks on a variety of prayer related topics.
The suite of resources continue to be widely accessed by churches - The Prayer Course is frequently used and our daily devotion apps Lectio 365 and Lectio for families is used by people across Ireland.
We supported a growing network of regional representatives who are leading and developing prayer locally with an emphasis on church unity and praying together across denominations.
We gathered over 80 key leaders across different partnerships and networks at 2 roundtable events to share stories, resource and encourage.
Significant partnerships continue to be at the centre of our work including - Scripture Union Northern Ireland and Alpha Ireland and YFC, Church Army and Tobar. Wider youth engagement - CIY Europe , NUA Festival and Summer Madness.
Communities
The 24-7 Prayer Communities Network in Ireland is mainly built through the Tobar Network established out of Emmanuel Church. As a 24-7 Prayer Resource Church in Ireland for many years, Emmanuel's Church-Planting strategy and network is aligned with the vision and values of 24-7 Prayer - Prayer, Mission and Justice and serves to support any communities aligned with such throughout Ireland.
Key highlights
The development of the Tobar network as churches are added into the wider family of churches and others commence this process.
Continuing to support churches through new initiatives and new church buildings.
The Tobar Conference in September 2024 where approx 400 people came together over the weekend from approx 15 partner churches to grow in one-minded purpose and mission together.
Support and development for leaders at various retreats and events.
The NUA festival in June 2024 where Tobar Churches played a key role in creating an environment for key partner churches across Ireland, across all ages, for worship, teaching and celebration. 1,200 attended over the weekend.
The impact of all of the above is:
Spiritual openness: Creating space for people to process their inner world in a spiritual environment. It empowers churches, schools and community spaces to care for the needs of people: for example in a school setting key emotional/relational needs of pupils have been highlighted to schools allowing them to address these further.
Addressing Spiritual needs - Prayer Spaces can and do serve the spiritual life of our communities in church, schools and youth settings- reports of significant comfort/ support/encouragement and challenge these spaces have been to individuals, children and young people across Ireland.
Empowered churches: Prayer Spaces is providing the local churches with a resource to serve their local communities and build relationships that has led to longer term engagement and in some cases the establishment of permanent prayer spaces in schools or in churches that the community can access.
Invitation: Create a welcoming environment for faith exploration. This year at both our youth events and prayer spaces hosted by youth groups we have received feedback of young people committing their lives to follow Jesus.
The statement of financial activities which shows the results of the company is set out on page 6. the reported surplus for the year is £3,233. The directors continually review all funding opportunities to maximise the income resources for the charity.
The company’s policy is to achieve a level of free reserves which matches the needs of the company both at the current time and the foreseeable future. Free reserves are those unrestricted reserves which are available for general use.
24-7 Prayer Ireland is a company limited by guarantee. It is governed by Memorandum and Articles of Association and the liability of each member is limited to an amount not exceeding £1. It is recognised as a charity by the Charity Commission of Northern Ireland under the reference NIC107104.
The trustees, who are also the directors for the purpose of company law, and who served during the year and up to the date of signature of the financial statements were:
The trustees' report was approved by the Board of Trustees.
I report on the financial statements of the charity for the year ended 31 December 2024, which are set out on pages 6 to 13.
Having satisfied myself that the financial statements of the charity are not required to be audited under Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006 and are eligible for independent examination, it is my responsibility to:
examine the financial statements under section 65 of the Charities Act (Northern Ireland) 2008;
follow the procedures laid down in the general Directions given by the Commission under section 65(9)(b) of the Charities Act (Northern Ireland) 2008; and
state whether particular matters have come to my attention.
I have examined your charity financial statements as required under section 65 of the Charities Act (Northern Ireland) 2008 and my examination was carried out in accordance with the general Directions given by the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland under section 65(9)(b) of the Charities Act. The examination included a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the financial statements presented with those records. It also included consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the financial statements, and seeking explanations from you as charity trustees concerning any such matters.
My role is to state whether any material matters have come to my attention giving me cause to believe that:
1. Accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 386 of the Companies Act 2006; or
2. The financial statements do not accord with those accounting records; or
3. The financial statements do not comply with the accounting requirements of section 396 of the Companies Act 2006 and with the methods and principles of the Charities Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their financial statements in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102); or
4. There is further information needed for a proper understanding of the financial statements to be reached.
I have completed my examination and I have no concerns in respect of the matters (1) to (4) listed above and, in connection with following the Directions of the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland, I have found no matters that require drawing to your attention.
The statement of financial activities includes all gains and losses recognised in the year. All income and expenditure derive from continuing activities.
24/7 Prayer Ireland is a private company limited by guarantee incorporated in Northern Ireland. The registered office is 23a Castle Lane, Lurgan, Craigavon, BT67 9BD.
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the charity's governing document, the Companies Act 2006, FRS 102 "The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland" and the Charities SORP "Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102)". The charity is a Public Benefit Entity as defined by FRS 102.
The charity has taken advantage of the provisions in the SORP for charities not to prepare a statement of cash flows.
The financial statements are prepared in sterling, which is the functional currency of the charity. Monetary amounts in these financial statements are rounded to the nearest £.
The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention, modified to include the revaluation of freehold properties and to include investment properties and certain financial instruments at fair value. The principal accounting policies adopted are set out below.
At the time of approving the financial statements, the trustees have a reasonable expectation that the charity has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. Thus the trustees continue to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in preparing the financial statements.
Unrestricted funds are available for use at the discretion of the trustees in furtherance of their charitable objectives.
Restricted funds are subject to specific conditions by donors or grantors as to how they may be used. The purposes and uses of the restricted funds are set out in the notes to the financial statements.
Cash donations are recognised on receipt. Other donations are recognised once the charity has been notified of the donation, unless performance conditions require deferral of the amount. Income tax recoverable in relation to donations received under Gift Aid or deeds of covenant is recognised at the time of the donation.
Expenditure is recognised once there is a legal or constructive obligation to transfer economic benefit to a third party, it is probable that a transfer of economic benefits will be required in settlement, and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably.
Expenditure is classified by activity. The costs of each activity are made up of the total of direct costs and shared costs, including support costs involved in undertaking each activity. Direct costs attributable to a single activity are allocated directly to that activity. Shared costs which contribute to more than one activity and support costs which are not attributable to a single activity are apportioned between those activities on a basis consistent with the use of resources. Central staff costs are allocated on the basis of time spent, and depreciation charges are allocated on the portion of the asset’s use.
Cash and cash equivalents include cash in hand, deposits held at call with banks, other short-term liquid investments with original maturities of three months or less, and bank overdrafts. Bank overdrafts are shown within borrowings in current liabilities.
Basic financial assets, which include debtors and cash and bank balances, are initially measured at transaction price including transaction costs and are subsequently carried at amortised cost using the effective interest method unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the transaction is measured at the present value of the future receipts discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial assets classified as receivable within one year are not amortised.
Basic financial liabilities, including creditors and bank loans are initially recognised at transaction price unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the debt instrument is measured at the present value of the future payments discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial liabilities classified as payable within one year are not amortised.
Debt instruments are subsequently carried at amortised cost, using the effective interest rate method.
Trade creditors are obligations to pay for goods or services that have been acquired in the ordinary course of operations from suppliers. Amounts payable are classified as current liabilities if payment is due within one year or less. If not, they are presented as non-current liabilities. Trade creditors are recognised initially at transaction price and subsequently measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method.
Financial liabilities are derecognised when the charity’s contractual obligations expire or are discharged or cancelled.
The cost of any unused holiday entitlement is recognised in the period in which the employee’s services are received.
Termination benefits are recognised immediately as an expense when the charity is demonstrably committed to terminate the employment of an employee or to provide termination benefits.
In the application of the charity’s accounting policies, the trustees are required to make judgements, estimates and assumptions about the carrying amount of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. The estimates and associated assumptions are based on historical experience and other factors that are considered to be relevant. Actual results may differ from these estimates.
The estimates and underlying assumptions are reviewed on an ongoing basis. Revisions to accounting estimates are recognised in the period in which the estimate is revised where the revision affects only that period, or in the period of the revision and future periods where the revision affects both current and future periods.
24-7 Prayer Ireland operates in both Northern Ireland and in the Republic of Ireland as legally registered entities in both jurisdictions. Day to day we function as one organisation in practice, serving communities and churches across the entire island. To enable this unified approach, the NI entity may transfer funds to the ROI entity to resource our shared ministry, staff, and projects. These transfers reflect the reality of our all-island operations and are fully compliant with both jurisdictions’ charity regulations, ensuring that all funds are used exclusively for our charitable aims.
The average monthly number of employees during the year was:
The charity is exempt from taxation on its activities because all its income is applied for charitable purposes.
The unrestricted funds of the charity comprise the unexpended balances of donations and grants which are not subject to specific conditions by donors and grantors as to how they may be used. These include designated funds which have been set aside out of unrestricted funds by the trustees for specific purposes.
There were no disclosable related party transactions during the year (2023 - none).