who's who - our ministry team

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Priest-in-Charge 

  Jane is married to David and they have three children, Oli, Hannah and Jacob. Before training for the ministry, Jane wanted to be involved with the community, so she chose nursing as a profession. She has worked with people who have Mental Health problems and Learning Disabilities. Social Work then became her delight.  Over the years Jane realised that Christ was calling her to ordination and she trained for five years at the Aston and the Federation of Colleges, Cambridge. After ordination in 2000 at Bury St. Edmunds she served a curacy at Hadleigh until 2003 before entering the Prison Service as Chaplain to HM Prison Bullwood Hall (2003-2006) and then HM Prison Cookham Wood (2006-2009). She then became Rector of the United Benefice of Hever, Four Elms and Markbeech (2010-2015) and finally joined the Elham Valley as priest-in charge of Elham, Denton with Wootton and Acrise (2016-2018) joined by Lyminge with Paddlesworth, Postling with Saint Radigund and Stanford.

Jane loves to dance, to sing and swim, to ride upon the waves. She loves to cook, to laugh and to entertain. She loves the young and more mature alike, and a social challenge. She loves to teach, to work in teams, to encourage and enable. She also adds, Jesus says; ‘Put out into deep water and let down your nets for a catch.’ This community is the deep water Jesus has called me to and is this the deep water Jesus is calling you to? 

Curate

  I’m here as the Benefice’s curate under Rev’d Jane’s watchful eye. It’s a training post as I continue on the path to ordination and beyond. Although I’m housed in Lyminge Rectory, I am privileged to be working across the villages and communities that make up our Benefice, and I’m thrilled by the diversity that this allows. I’m currently studying for my Theology degree, having already completed the qualifications necessary for ordination, and I continue to find the process invigorating and stimulating. Learning about God, and about myself in His eyes – what could be better?!

Apart from a few years living in Wales and Germany when I was studying to teach languages in secondary schools, I’ve been a Kent lass all my life. I retrained as a primary school teacher when my own gorgeous children were infants, only leaving the profession the weekend before I was licensed here in Lyminge!

I have served on PCC and was a member of the Churchwarden team, before beginning to explore my own discipleship and ministry. It was only relatively recently though, in October 2015, that I had a profound and deeply personal experience of Christ working in my own life – it caused me to completely re-evaluate the direction I was headed in, and ultimately saw me beginning to explore a call to ordained ministry. 

In my spare time (?!) I enjoy walking and cycling (how blest we are here!) and reading, and being creative (singing, art, poetry). I like exploring different ways to connect with God, and have recently taken up art journaling. Fulfilling the role of the benefice's curate whilst not yet being ordained is a complicated task, but one I'm enjoying immensely!

Worship leader & Churchwarden at Postling.  I was confirmed when a newly qualified doctor in 1981. I help to lead family services in Lympne church from 1988-1993 and then went to be a CMS mission partner in North Africa for 4 years, having had a term of theological and missionary training. Once back in the UK, I helped to lead monthly WoW services in St Leonards Church in Hythe before moving to Postling in 2005. From then until now, I have been involved in Postling Church and its life. 

Also a Worship leader at Postling, and married to Peter! I grew up in Ashford, where my father was a GP, steeped in the Anglican tradition. From the age of three I regularly attended 7.00am 1662 Communion Services and Matins in the Parish Church. As a very young child I absorbed the poetry of the liturgy while being vaguely aware that I understood very little of what the words meant. I was confirmed as a young teenager but my faith was never seriously tested until I went to University and was confronted by the passionate ‘Born Again’ students of the Christian Union, which was an alienating experience because in their view I was not a ‘real’ Christian. However when my father became terminally ill  at the age of 50, it was my faith that sustained me, and it has continued to do so ever since. I began to help to lead services while living in Lympne in the 1980s, then trained as a Mission Partner with the Church Mission Society (CMS) and lived and worked in a Muslim context for four years. Returning from there to Hythe in the 1990s, I helped to lead all-age services in St Leonard’s Church. We moved to Postling 15 years ago and quickly became involved in the life of the church here, which is the heart and soul of our beautiful village and its strong community spirit.

Licensed Lay Minister

I spent most of my working life in the civil service, which sounds pretty boring, but took me into some weird and wonderful environments over the years. Having taken early retirement in 2014. I had been confirmed in 1998 and felt I wanted to explore my faith further now that freedom from full time work had been achieved. Eventually this led to my applying to be trained as an LLM (Reader) in 2018. Studying for this has been amazing, and added so much to my life of faith. I was licenced last September and will be looking to greater practical involvement within the benefice, perhaps in more pastoral areas.

At home I live with my husband, Carr, three dogs and a stroppy cat. I am an avid reader, and when circumstances are more normal I compete somewhat unsuccessfully in obedience trialling with the dogs.

Authorised Lay Minister  

I was born in Sheffield and went as a family to Kenya when I was 10. Four years there with African Christians and CMS members showed me a wealth of love and joy that influenced my decision to want to follow Jesus. Back in Staffordshire it was great to be with friends in a very large and active Crusader Group. I studied Maths, Computing and Biblical Studies at St Andrews University, trained as a teacher and taught in Edinburgh and Staffordshire before meeting Norbert. We married in Conway in 1986, then had 26 years in southern Germany, where I taught some English then worked in IT, lent out to various firms. 

On my Fridays off I helped with morning services at a residential home so it was great to be able to continue with that in Hawkinge, and I’m now enjoying taking part in a variety of services in the benefice. Having worshipped in Church of Scotland, Methodist churches and Lutheran I like the variety of styles, but learned more of the CofE at the Authorised Lay Ministry course for Worship Leaders in 2016. Now studying Theology at St Augustine’s College in West Malling for 2 years dv.

  Worship Leader & PCC Secretary at Lyminge

 From a non-church family background, I became a Christian at a Billy Graham crusade in 1965. 33 years as an engineer officer in the RAF were followed by 17 years working as IT Manager for Mission Aviation Fellowship in Ashford, travelling to several African countries as part of the job. Moved to Lyminge in 2006, rapidly became PCC secretary and have been leading worship and Bible studies most of my life!  I’m a Christian who worships where I live rather than a lifelong Anglican and it has been a privilege and joy to spend time with so many Christians of different nations and denominations – all one in Christ Jesus! 

Married to Norah since 1972 with 3 sons and 6 grandchildren – all too far away from Kent.  Lifelong cricketer and still playing squash (and hopefully!) cricket at the exalted age of 70!

Really enjoy cooking, music, quizzing, watching Test cricket and soaking up Bible knowledge. Booked  to join a trip to Israel during my 71st year.

Worship Leader at Lyminge & Stanford

 I became a Christian after I attended a Gospel meeting and for the first time heard about God answering prayer. It was a life changing event as I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Saviour when I was 17. After working for the Ford Motor Company as a Development Engineer for 7 years, I had a clear calling to serve as a missionary. So I spent 2 years at All Nations Christian College and then assisted a Baptist Minister for a year in Weston Super Mare. I was single when I went to Pakistan with SIM (Serving In Mission) but kept in touch with Jenny who I had met on a mission in Bradford.  I returned to the UK after 9 months and we got married. As a couple we served in Pakistan for 10 years and were involved in supporting pastors, youth work, medical assistance and leading Bible Training projects in the villages. We planned to return to Pakistan, with our 2 children, but our visas were refused. I then worked for Tearfund for 16 years as Head of International HR. In 2009 we moved to Lyminge where I worked as Head of HR for MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship) in Folkestone up to 2017. I now mentor a number of Christian leaders, and conduct occasional training events. I enjoy walking, squash, photography, and the theatre.