St Marys : Southgate, Crawley
So what is a Team Rector? The parish of Southgate covers most of south Crawley and has four Anglican churches – Holy Trinity Tilgate, Christ the Lord Broadfield, St Andrew’s Furnace Green, and St Mary’s Southgate. I look after St Mary’s, but as Team Rector I also have oversight of the other three.
Have you always been a vicar? Well, I was ordained in 1983, so that’s quite a long time! My first church was in Bradford, West Yorkshire, then I moved to Cheshire, and then I spent 18 years as vicar of All Saints’ Halifax in the Diocese of Wakefield. I came to St Mary’s in November 2007.
What about your family? I am married to Ann, who is originally from Belfast. We have two children who both live in Coventry. Our daughter is a Dietitian and our son is a Graphic Designer.
Why are you are Christian? A big question! Basically, I know deep in my heart that God made me and loves me. His love is shown above all in his becoming a human being, Jesus, and in his dying for us on the cross so that every one of us can become a close friend of God. Through the Bible, God’s Word to us, we can find out what God is like and how he wants us to live. To know God’s love and to be able to call him my friend makes such an enormous difference to how I view life – and death.
What is your vision for St Mary’s Parish? My prayer is quite simply that God will have his way among us. I know that God longs for those who don’t yet know him to discover that he is real and that he loves them. He also wants those who do know him to go deeper into that relationship. I believe, therefore, that it is God’s will that the churches of our parish should grow in numbers and in depth of relationship with him. In a sense, all we have to do is avoid getting in the way, and allow God to do his work in our midst.
