A new appointment!

I haven't blogged for a couple of weeks because my time has been filled and my mind has been occupied with stuff that I couldn't blog about until now... I have been appointed Vicar of Holy Trinity, Redhill, and the announcement was made there and here (at St Peter's) yesterday 16th June. Phew!

We are very excited about moving back to Holy Trinity: 'back' because we went there straight from Oak Hill College in 2002 and left in 2006 to come to Woodmansterne.  It is a lively, evangelical church that has seen great change and growth in recent years, a church where the Bible is taught and taken seriously, and where there is a focus on reaching out to those who don't yet know Jesus for themselves. 

The former Vicar, Gary Jenkins, has left the church in great shape and with a vision for a large building project that will enable Holy Trinity to become a community centre for the parish.

It is a great joy and privilege to be called back to serve the Lord and his people there again, and I can't wait to start.

Making the announcement at the three services at St Peter's yesterday was hard. Mixed emotions as it became real to me that we'll soon be leaving a church where we've made friends and seen God at work among his people in remarkable ways in the past 8 years. I go back to Redhill changed in some ways because of what I've experienced here - more confident that the gospel is the power of God to transform people's lives, that God provides (materially and spiritually) when we take him at his word, and that He is still in control even when events scupper your plans and turn things upside down. There are some wonderful people at St Peter's and we will be sad to leave.

The whole process of having to keep news of the appointment quiet for 10 days has been exhausting. Out of fairness to everyone, the news has to be broken in a co-ordinated way so that it doesn't creep out, with some knowing and some not. But keeping good news to yourself isn't an easy thing to do (*bites lip to restrain an unhelpful comment about Anglicans and evangelism*) and its a great relief to be able to blog / talk / Facebook about it!

Now begins the work of finishing well at St Peter's whilst giving thought to things like where we're going to keep the goats in Redhill and wondering whether the members of HT will want the presents back that they gave us when we left...