“Jesus came to comfort the disturbed, and to disturb the comfortable.”
Is a quote that I have ever known the origin of but that has become somewhat of a mantra for my ministry, and I have known both times of great disturbance and comfort. This summer I am experiencing both as I have been disturbed by the Spirit of God to move to East Grinstead, but comfort as I finally marry.
Singleness was a struggle for me, particularly as I passed 30 years old but thankfully, just before my 31st birthday I met (or re-met – we’d actually met before) a wonderful woman called Charlotte. Charlotte and I quickly became friends enjoying board games and random adventures together as we realised that this was something more than friendship. Now, at 33 I am celebrating the faithfulness and goodness of a God who walked with me through over a decade of desire for a family of my own. God had not forgotten me, as I had feared but was preparing something new, and something even better than I could ever have imagined! And you’re all going to be a part of this new life that God has called us to.
God’s calling is often a funny one. I remember one Sunday when I was a teenager, I was asked to play the role of an ordained minister in a sketch at church. When the visiting Minister from India told me that the bit of paper then stuck in my collar was to be a real one, I laughed at him and said there was no way I would ever do that! I was going to be a doctor or forensic scientist, and I did indeed study a degree in Forensic Biology. Little did I know that whilst I was at university, I would be sucked into the fabulous world of working with young people in church. This led me to employment as a youth and community worker, local preaching and in the end, I could ignore the Spirit’s prompting not longer – the Methodist ministry.
My first appointment was in Barnsley, where I shared pastoral responsibility for 8 chapels under a multi-site church model. Throughout covid, and especially after we saw how beneficial working together as one chapel teamed up with a pub across the road to keep worshipping when they couldn’t do the necessary cleaning. As we started a circuit youth group for the ones and twos of young people in each of the churches and as we ran a church outing to the Epworth Old Rectory.
I am now very much looking forward to working with all of you on the new life that God is still creating and hope we will all share our varied skills and gifts to build the church of tomorrow! If you want in or have any ideas about what that looks like – let’s grab a cuppa! Together we can profess that God isn’t finished with us yet, together we can proclaim the Lord’s death and resurrection until he comes. I hope that together we will join brothers and sisters around the globe in the constant work of discerning God’s call and joining in.
God Bless, Ben