List of Contributors
The Rev’d Alison Boulton (Ali)
has led this project exploring the theology and practice of missionally engaging in new housing areas and was commissioned to create these How to guides by The Archbishop of Canterbury’s Commission on Housing, Church and Community. She is passionate about mission both as a practitioner and consultant, seeking to inspire and equip others to engage incarnationally in local communities with those beyond the established church. She specialises in developing mission within new housing areas and has lived on a new housing estate for over a decade, blessing residents, sharing faith and birthing a community relevant church, The Stowe, which she now co-Ministers with Rev Owen Green. Along with Rev Penny Marsh she has co-founded the national ecumenical New Housing Hub where she and Penny are co-directors. She is a Baptist minister and Pioneer Ambassador for the Baptist Union of Great Britain, is part of the national Fresh Expressions core team and is currently undertaking Doctoral research into missional engagement in new housing. Ali is hugely grateful to all those who have shared their wisdom and stories and supported the project in a variety of ways.
Pete Atkins
is part of the Fresh Expressions leadership community with a particular interest and involvement in rural communities. He leads Threshold – a Church in Lincolnshire which is active in a number of villages including several with new housing estates. He and his wife, Kath, lead the Lincolnshire Pioneer Community and Pete chairs the Lincolnshire Fresh Expressions Area Strategy Team under the auspices of Churches Together in All Lincolnshire. These bring involvement with other leaders in the county who encourage new Christian communities to develop including in the many new housing areas now being built or planned. He works closely with John Rose.
The Rev’d Helen Baker
I work out of Orchard Baptist Church in Bicester, Oxfordshire, where I am co-minister. Unlike most ministers, my responsibilities are not within the church, but within the community of Graven Hill housing development where I live and minister. I have been the community minister for 2 years listening and building relationships in order to join in with God’s plans here and serve our residents as I am called. The Mission statement for this community ministry is ‘building kingdom values into the foundations of this community’.
The Rev’d Steve Barber
I am co-minister at Orchard Baptist Church in Bicester, where I have served for 10 years. My gifting and calling are as a traditional pastor-teacher. I have the heart of an evangelist, but am not skilled in this area, and so am delighted to work alongside others who have such passion and gifting. For ten years I regularly visited China and saw how the church thrived even when it was impossible to meet in traditional ways. I feel the UK church today needs both traditional and new forms, with the traditional enabling and supporting the founding of these new expressions.
Captain John Bentley
My journey with God began as an emergency engineer at British Gas. After a dramatic conversion, I joined Church Army, a ‘home mission’ organisation linked to the Anglican church. I was commissioned in 1994 as a Church Army Evangelist. My ministry within the Anglican structure has included being Youth Pastor, Prison Chaplain and now the Community Minister. All have involved working inside and out of the established church as a Pioneer, which reflects the vision of Wilson Carlile when he created Church Army to serve those sat outside on the steps of the church. The past 26 years of ministry have taught me that the ‘church needs to change for the Gospel to remain the same’.
Mandy Bentley (Children and Family Mission Lead)
I was aware of God from childhood, even though I wouldn’t have had the language to express this. As a dyslexic, I struggled with the education system and left school with few qualifications and low self-esteem. I found the courage to attend ‘church’ when I was pregnant with my first daughter. My first vicar was significant on my faith journey saying I was ‘wasted and should be a teacher!’ Two degrees later plus my teaching qualification my life is unrecognisable to my early years. The past 30 years have been an incredible faith journey, I have had the privilege of working with and discipling people within schools, colleges, prisons, the established church and church as a missional community.
The Rev’d Betsy Blatchley
is currently Pioneer Minister in the Arts working in Nine Elms on London’s South Bank, one of the largest redevelopment areas in Europe with a potential population increase of 25,000. She has ministered in several urban parishes across London and Southwark Diocese. Before ordination Betsy had a long career in professional theatre, initially as an actor/singer, then as a producer, culminating in several years working at the National Theatre. Much of her work in theatre was aimed at creating accessible work for new audiences from classics to new works and from serious drama to musical theatre. Her current role, establishing a new community in Nine Elms around arts spirituality and social justice, brings together her two vocations.
The Rev’d Owen Green
I co-minister at The Stowe Church alongside Ali Boulton. The Stowe is based in an area of new housing in Swindon and focusses on joining in with the mission of God in this specific geographical context. I am called to live into the DNA of The Stowe which includes unconditional blessing and laying down my life. Ministry has seen me take on paid roles at the local pub and Church of England Secondary school where I act as board member, badminton coach, mini-bus driver and chaplain. I also help lead the local community running club. All of this is part of what ministry looks like for me, and I love it.
The Rev’d Tina Hodgett
is Evangelism and Pioneer Team Leader at the Diocese of Bath and Wells where she helps foster a holy rumpus at the grassroots of church life. In 2011 Tina was recruited as pioneer team vicar in Portishead, a target town for new housing developments, and her ministry involved (among other things) engaging with communities in the areas of new housing area. Tina studied Russian and German language and literature as an undergraduate and learned the skills of cross-cultural engagement in Soviet Russia. She taught languages for 12 years in Hertfordshire and before ordination was a senior leader and consultant in education.
Chris Hunt
is an ordinand, training for pioneer ministry in the Church of England. He lives in Bicester with his wife Autumn whom he met in Memphis TN playing blues and folk music – along with 3 children and a lively cockapoo named Snowball. Chris is currently church planting; Hope Church Bicester on an Eco town in rural Oxfordshire, seeking to reach residents and modern eco-warriors with the gospel through creative means and a shared passion in creation care and one planet principles. Chris believes in the centrality of incarnational ministry and runs a pop-up cafe for residents as well as various community and church initiatives that aim to engage people in thought, creativity and intentional spiritual conversation.
The Rev’d David Johnson
David was ordained in 2013 before which he provided business and enterprise support through his own business and other private and public-funded agencies. This entrepreneurial spirit is now being put to use as a pioneer 20s-40s minister in Northallerton as part of the Diocese of York’s Multiply programme. Based on one of the new housing estates in this vibrant market town, David is working with others to build a community to which people feel a sense of belonging in which they feel safe to ask questions and hear the gospel of Jesus.
The Rev’d Hasna Khatun
a Pioneer Minister who thinks that the ills of Barbie and Ken can be redeemed. Hasna came to follow Christ in 1995 after the witness of her Jewish best friend. Pioneer Ministry started for her in the night-time economy of Birmingham in 2001. She raised several teams of volunteers to work alongside her in various establishments in the night-time economy. Then in 2011, she went to Ordination Training College where she was the only BAME Ordinand. She has an MA in Theology from Queens Foundation and is passionate about God’s Mission. She has a particular interest in Liberation Theology, Pioneer Missiology and the Discipleship of ex-Muslims.
The Rev’d Dr. Jill Marsh
is a Methodist minister currently working as Mission Enabler for the Northampton Methodist District. She has been involved in beginning and supporting work on new housing estates across the district, in an enabling role, particularly using a Community Chaplaincy model. She is especially interested in the diversity of human life and how to help existing and new churches witness to the Christian conviction that absolutely everybody is made in the image of God.
The Rev’d Penny Marsh
along with her family, has been pioneering in new housing areas since her ordination as a Baptist Minister 22 years ago. Penny’s primary focus as a mission enabler for the South Eastern Baptist Association, is pioneering in the new Ebbsfleet Garden City in Kent. Penny has experienced both incarnational living and ‘being a guest’. Being involved in this area prior to the first home being built means Penny has worked with other denominations, council, developers, and planners. She also chairs the Churches Together in England New Housing Areas group. Penny loves the opportunities and challenges that new housing developments present and is keen to see missional communities emerge that witness to the love and transformational power of Christ.
Fiona Mayne
leads a Church plant on a new housing estate in Weston Super Mare with an amazing team. She is a Pioneer Ordinand with the Church of England and started the outreach work in 2014. She now runs a pop-up café called Take 5 based in the school as well as Tea and Toast Church which is a monthly informal café style Church. She has also set up youth work in the area and also runs a weekly discipleship group called Rooted. She is passionate about hospitality and gathering people to form a loving community.
Nat Moody
I am a Baptist Pioneer Minister in training in Year 6 of Spurgeon’s college. I specialise in Holistic ministry. In other words, I seek to look at what it is for us to be whole emotionally, spiritually and physically, challenging people to grow and develop in emotional maturity and cognitive development – as well as being a qualified fitness instructor and exploring what it is to physically train as active worship. I also specialise in addiction recovery work, leading, training, facilitating and consultation, and developing aftercare and recovery communities that can flourish in active service in giving back. I am a happily married father of 5, from Sevenoaks in Kent
The Rev’d Lythan Nevard
official title “Minister for Cranbrook” but known as Revnev, as that is much easier than pronouncing my name! Cranbrook is a new town being built on the edge of Exeter. There are currently about 2,500 houses but it is set to grow to about 8,000 in the next few years. The demographic is young, with huge numbers of families and also a rising tide of teens as people tend to move in and stay here. Our fresh expression of Church is a project of the Church of England, Methodist and United Reformed Churches. Cornerstone does not have its own building so meets in a local school, online, anywhere we can, to share God’s love with our community.
John Rose
Pam and I have been privileged to spend almost our whole lives in evangelism and mission. For 26 years we were leaders of a large international mission organisation working in almost 60 countries. Coming after retirement to Churches Together in All Lincolnshire (CTAL), I have become passionate to see the church engage in the very many new housing developments which are transforming this primarily rural county. CTAL’s role has been to provide stimulus, information, training and encouragement. In particular, we are encouraging churches to work together to reach new communities, and to work in partnership with our (mostly very willing) local authorities to develop holistically sustainable lifestyles.
The Rev’d Richard Steel
is Mission Team Leader for the Diocese of Lincoln. Richard is the first point of contact for anything to do with the mission and outreach of the Church, including evangelism and social action. He leads the diocese New Housing Group. Along with other members of the Mission Team he also leads Leading your Church into Growth (LYCiG) within the diocese, aiming is to encourage churches to think about ‘growth’ in its widest sense – not just numbers, but also spiritual development and joyful service. Richard is a ‘critical friend’, who ‘walks alongside’ everyone involved in the life of the church listening and talking about new approaches or ideas on how to lead their mission.
The Rev’d Sue Steer
is a Baptist Minister with an ecumenical and community heart, she currently works as an ecumenical Pioneer Community Worker in New Lubbesthorpe, a new housing development. Having worked in community engagement for 15 years, her previous experience includes setting up a new community centre in refurbished church buildings. Since arriving in Lubbesthorpe in 2016 Sue has welcomed new residents and together they have created activity groups and established a Community Hub to help residents connect and make friends. Hosting large community events has also helped create a sense of ‘place’ in this new community. Supported by the developer, an ecumenical Christian Community, Heart and soul, and an outdoor family Church have been seeded along with Lubbesthorpe Alive CIC.
Jade Zerk
is a Baptist Pioneer Minister in Training at Hope Baptist Church in Highbridge. A role which allows Jade to serve both community and the local church, alongside training at Bristol Baptist College and study of a diploma in Theology, Ministry and Mission. Prior to this role, Jade served as a Community Engagement Worker on a New Housing Estate and as an administrator for the New Housing Hub, for three and a half years. Jade is a writer for the Seventy-Two Network and a FORGE Coach. Jade is passionate about journeying with people wherever they are at and doing life together.
