Serving a growing church in a growing village

Welcome to Theale! My name is Alex Richardson, I’m married to Nadia and we have two sons, Andrei (14) and Denys (11). Until summer 2024 we were living in Western Siberia, serving with evangelical churches in the city of Novosibirsk. We have now returned to the UK and recently joined the church family at Holy Trinity, Theale, where I serve as the Associate Lay Minister.

Theale sits on the outskirts of Reading, just next to Junction 12 of the M4. It’s a thriving village and boasts a Church of England primary school, a maintained secondary school, a business park, a large recreational sports ground and a variety of shops and restaurants. Right now, it’s home to nearly 3000 people but that’s set to change dramatically, with 500 new homes currently under construction on the village’s western edge.

Theale’s parish church, Holy Trinity, stands at the heart of the village. There has been a clearly evangelical ministry since 2019, when Martin Davy arrived as Rector, and the church has grown significantly in these six years, with Sunday morning attendance now as much as 90 people, including nearly 20 children. Of those who have joined in the last few years, some are returning to church after many years away, some are teens exposed to gospel-centred assemblies at the primary school, while others have no Christian background at all.

The combination of a growing congregation and a growing village means growing demands on the church’s ministry team, particularly in the areas of evangelism, discipleship and pastoral care. In God’s good providence, Holy Trinity’s need for a second minister coincided with our search for a new home and ministry. To cut a long story short, God made it possible for me to join Holy Trinity as Associate Lay Minister in February 2025 through the generosity of various partners, including St Mary’s Maidenhead.

The role I’ve stepped into is brand new and therefore still evolving. Overall, I will be helping Martin with preaching and leading services, along with teaching and pastoral care in a range of contexts. I also currently have two specific areas of responsibility.

First, I have taken on the home groups ministry. Midweek bible-study groups play a crucial role in growing disciples in any church; here we engage with God in his word and we engage with each other around his word in each other’s lives. For Holy Trinity, having lots of new people and young Christians means it’s particularly important and so we want to relaunch this ministry in the autumn, drawing in a much wider spectrum of the church membership.

Secondly, I’ve begun leading the mission committee. With so much to do in our own church and village, mission further afield could seem a distraction. Even so, we’re also convinced that, quite apart from any help we can offer, being involved in God’s work UK-wide and world-wide is crucial for our own church’s health and growth. We’ve also been inspired by St Mary’s, who viewed even my appointment as a mission-partnering opportunity and are excited to develop our own vision in this area.

There have been lots of encouragements over the last few months. Among the best has been the extremely warm welcome we’ve received from the church family. But it was also a particular joy to see four new Christians baptised on Easter Day and five (including two teens) confirmed just at the end of June, each with their own unique testimony to Jesus’ work in their life.

So we’d love you to pray for Holy Trinity, Theale. It seems to us that there’s so much potential in this village and we see ways in which God is encouraging us to pray big and serve accordingly, so do ask Jesus to build his church among us.