Two things will become clear very quickly about me when I become part of Heald Green URC in September: I love riding bikes and drink a lot of tea (milk with 1 sugar...). There will also be other things about me that will take some time to uncover, like my favourite biscuit (you'll need to work hard on that one... keep trying and you'll get it in the end!!!). I hope that this can be the start of the conversation between us as we all journey together, figuring out each other and, more importantly, what Christ has in store for us.


At the moment I live in Gorton and have for the last two years been working with a couple of fairly local but very different inner city churches. I am married to Michelle and we have two-year-old daughter Emily and a lorge dog called Tiny. I was born in Hythe, a little town on the edge of the New Forest, where my family went to the local URC, now called Cornerstone URC, Hythe, and it is this same church that sent me to train to be a minister. Before I began the process of application, I had studied, spent a year with Southampton City Mission, gone to University and studied some more, worked for a Methodist church and lastly worked for the University of Bath's Stroke Project, which was doing research into better ways to help stroke survivors recover.

Alongside all that I was greatly challenged and supported by a youth organisation called Crossfire. I went to one of their events and met some people with such a passion for Christ, for worship and for the Bible that I had to find out more. I've since become the chair of the group that organises this event and we continue to offer young people a place to meet with God and each other to support them on their journeys.

The combination of a very supportive home church and a constantly challenging youth team led me to start asking questions about ministry in the URC. I'm now half way through my official training and I'm really looking forward to getting involved with life in Heald Green, working with every one to be an ever-growing Christian presence in the area.

There's certainly enough to ask a lot of questions if nothing else!

God Bless,

Andy