Over the years Eden has seen a number of people go on from their involvement with us into church ministries of different kinds. Many (too many to number) become elders or house group leaders or youth leaders in other churches (as well of course as serving Christ faithfully in offices, schools, hospitals and homes). Others are called to paid Christian ministry. In a remarkable period of a few weeks this April and May, a number of these were called to new ministries.
Tom Chapman was called to be Pastor of Surrey Chapel in Norwich. Surrey Chapel is a city-centre church whose ministers tend to serve it for a very long time. Tom will be only the fourth pastor, even though the church was founded considerably over a hundred years ago! More recently the church has been without a pastor since 1995. During that time, many people round the country have been praying that the right man would be found for the situation. Tom's Norfolk background as well as his gifts and godliness seem to suit him particularly well for Surrey Chapel. It is a church with great opportunities for ministry both in Norwich and more widely. We at Eden are going to miss him - and Suzanne and the boys too of course. They have contributed so much to our life as a church. Tom has been a student, a trainee and a staff member at Eden. Yet we recognise God's call and so send the Chapman's off with our blessing. There will be a farewell event of some kind for them on August Bank Holiday Monday.
Graham Beynon was Associate Pastor of Eden from 1997 to 2000 (and a member of the church for some years before that). Most of his work concentrated on the Morley congregation as it was then, which he led into independence as Rock Baptist Church with great skill in early 2000. Since then Graham has been studying at Oak Hill Theological College in London. Through his last year, Graham has been in contact with a number of churches. In late May, Graham was called to be Associate Pastor of Knighton Evangelical Church in Leicester. Knighton began life as a church plant some years ago but has subsequently planted a new church - Meadows Community Church. The hope is that Graham will be able to lead a further plant in another part of Leicester.
Mike Gilbart-Smith was an Eden student and then a trainee between 1997 and 1999. During that time he met and married Hannah at Eden. Since then he too has been studying at Oak Hill. During April, Mike was called to be Assistant Pastor at Farnham Baptist Church, to work with John Ross, who has recently moved there from Cranleigh. With another new staff member also joining the team, it feels like a new beginning for the church there - and an exciting one.
John Hebblethwaite was an Eden trainee from 1996-8, though we saw less of him than the other trainees because his ministry was based at Over Baptist Church. In 1999 John was called to be pastor of Sutton Bonnington Baptist Church, near Nottingham. It is a village church with a particular opportunity for ministry to international students on the nearby campus for the Nottingham University Agriculture department. John's contract was up for renewal in May - and we are delighted that he has now been appointed permanently.
This gives us a flavour for the folk that God has brought to us in Cambridge and then sent out to different places. If we widened the scope there are no doubt many other names that could be added, serving Christ in all sorts of capacities around the world. Just last week I was hearing about former students now in positions of influence in Singapore. What a privilege to have had a part in shaping these lives: what a responsibility as we think of the future.
And so I come, last and least, to my own call to be Pastor of Eden, at the church meeting on 9 May. I am sure that God's timing was precise and perfect: he had so much to do in my life before (pruning and disciplining me - John 15:2 , Hebrews 12: 5 - 11) that it could not have happened any earlier. I am thrilled, humbled and honoured by this call from the members of Eden. It is a huge privilege and a considerable responsibility to be entrusted by God to lead and serve the church. After seeing so much of God's hand in rebuilding Eden after some years of intense difficulty, I am excited at what the Lord has in store for us.
I am taking some weeks of study leave in July for prayer, reading and reflection. I will particularly be seeking the Lord's face for my own spiritual renewal, and seeking him for his will for our priorities and needs over the next year. I also hope to do some advance work on sermon series for the next year. So please pray for me!