One of the great joys of being Vicar of St Mary’s is working closely with the staff team. I thank God for a team who are godly, gifted and faithful, and who love the Lord and his people. As a staff team we feel exceptionally well supported and loved by the church family, so thank you to you all. A number of staff members are taking on new roles within the team from September and some are joining or leaving the team. Please continue to pray for all the staff, and especially those whose role is changing.
At the United Church Sunday on 2nd July, Nick McDonald was commissioned as Children’s Minister after three years as Children’s Minister in Training learning the ropes from Kate Wheatley and studying on the Cornhill Training Course. It is wonderful to see how Nick has grown as a minister of God’s word in these years and we give huge thanks for God’s provision of him to lead our children’s ministry.
From September Richard Crane will go part-time on the St Mary’s staff team and begin training part-time for ordination at Wycliffe Hall in Oxford (where Will Stileman and I also trained). Richard will continue leading the 6:30pm congregation, assisted by me, but step back from leading Christianity Explored and his other ministry commitments at St Mary’s.
Ian Miller has been a wonderful colleague for four years as Curate. I’m delighted that he is continuing on the team as Associate Vicar. We commissioned Ian to that role at United Church Sunday on 2nd July. As Associate Vicar, Ian will continue as Congregation Leader for the 4pm and 8am congregations. He will also take responsibility for our Growth Group study programmes, for Christianity Explored and our evangelism strategy.
Adam Curtis will join us at the end of August, also as Associate Vicar. Adam is currently Curate at Christ Church Sidcup in London. From the start of September Adam will take on responsibility for the 9:15am congregation. At some point during his first year he will take on responsibility for the 11am congregation too. I will miss being Congregation Leader for both of those congregations, but I will still be very much around and involved. It’s good that they will have a dedicated Congregation Leader again and I can focus on overall church leadership. We won’t have a Curate for the next year at least, possibly longer, so I am very thankful that we will have both Ian and Adam as Associate Vicars to provide leadership for our congregations.
Jan Strydom will leave the staff team this December as he and Elna complete the process of moving house to Wales. Jan has been just brilliant as Facilities Manager, maintaining and running the St Mary’s site and other properties, and we will miss him hugely. Please pray for the Lord to raise up someone to take on this role.
It has been excellent having Luke Douglas as a Ministry Trainee at St Mary’s for the last two years. I’m pleased to say that from September Luke is taking up a post as Youth Worker at St James Gerrard’s Cross, which is one of our partner churches. We would love to have some new Ministry Trainees, to begin in September 2023 or after. These could be school or university leavers. Please do let us know if you know of anyone who may be interested in this role.