End of a season

In my last few weeks’ postings I have been sharing lessons about the seasons of life and ministry preparation tests. This has all been extremely relevant to my own life and season in ministry.


I am looking forward now to beginning my three-month sabbatical - an important time of rest and an opportunity to reflect on 15 years leading the church here at Kings. Deb and I arrived here in Sept 1995 - I was only 32, and now at 47 I believe we have reached ‘half-time’ in our call to lead this great local church. During that time the church has flourished - God willing we are only half way along the journey together! I am praying that by the time I reach the age of 62 we will have fulfilled our dream of building a 1000 member church. The season following that will be about leadership succession (amongst other things!) but I will worry about that in 15 years time...

The sabbatical means that for the coming months I will also take break from blogging. The postings will be reduced to one a week, written before I go away. I am also delighted that after that David Devenish has agreed to be guest blogger across the summer. His rich experience and the wisdom he has acquired, especially in cross-cultural situations, will no doubt be a part of what he posts!

During my three months out of pastoral ministry I plan to write a book on leadership in the church and look forward to returning in September refreshed and re-envisioned – ready to lead into the ‘second half’ at Kings! This will include leading the church through the transition to becoming a fully-fledged multi-site church, having 5 meetings on 3 sites. I am trusting that God has prepared me – and the church - for this next phase.