MEET THE LEADERSHIP TEAM

Back in 2000 Clive went to a meeting for clergy held in St Erkenwald's Church. This was the first time he had set foot in the church and we had only been in Barking for about a year. As he walked through the door he felt God say to him: " This is where I want you to be" He, of course, was taken aback by these words and immediately thought that he'd not long been a curate so was not thinking about the future and there was already a vicar in the Church who probably had not thought of moving so perhaps he he was not really hearing from God.

A year later another church in the Barking Team where Clive was a curate wanted us to lead them but our Rector didn't feel that this was the right move and it would also be too early in Clive's curacy for us to move. A Churchwarden in the team on hearing of this, said to Clive: "I don't see you at the team church." and Clive flippantly replied: "So where do you see me then?" To which the Warden said: 'I see you at St. Erkenwald's." Clive quickly retorted: " Then God will have to do a mighty big work in Catherine because she wants to get out of Barking as quickly as possible because she can't bare the smells from the sewage station, Thames Estuary and factories - she is not a town person!" and we thought that was the end of that!

We met many years back at the local ‘Palais', married and had our family who are now grown. Over this time, our Lord has shown us many times that He has a purpose for our lives. In all the situations we have found ourselves in, He has revealed His love, grace and mercy. We have had things to overcome and these have brought us to a place where the only answer is to surrender it to Jesus, where His beauty and majesty has been revealed. He has given us His strength to deal with difficulties and actually used them to help us grow into the people He wants us to be.

We have matured, with His help, to take on roles within our church that we would never have thought possible. It's really breathtaking. To serve Him in these ways continues to amaze us both, individually and together, and brings us to our knees in thankfulness and gives us complete joy and peace as we are aware of His greatness and power over our lives. When we stand back and gaze on Him, we see that nothing is impossible. We also know that the best is still to come.