I don’t know about you but times of change often bring out the ‘reflective’ side of me and I have been thinking back over the things I have done or have been involved with during my time here. One of the things I love about church is the fact that you meet so many people from so many different backgrounds, lifestyles, countries etc and we cover the whole age range from very young to very mature!  It is very rare to find such a wide mix of people in one place.  For me this is what makes church so special. 

In the 8 years I have worked here I have met people from all over the world and learnt from their culture and their understanding of God.  I have had the joy of sharing and meeting with people as they go through exciting and nerve-wracking times of new jobs, moves abroad, new babies and so on.  I have also had the enormous privilege of being allowed to support people as they go through difficult times of loss, illness, uncertainty and frailty.  I have met some real characters who have come in to church and have really challenged me to look beyond the outer covering and discover the person within. 

I have been a larger than life character in a pantomime (typecast maybe!), produced and performed my own rap song for a church social, eaten more desserts, sandwiches, cakes, sausages, burgers etc than I really care to remember! I have cleared and tidied numerous gardens with the youth group, watched many moving baptisms here at church and even in the sea at Sizewell Hall.  I have sewn countless knitted squares together (not as many as my Mum though!), donned an attractive pinny to serve customers in the coffee shop, worn various items of fancy dress to entertain children at Little Pebbles and sat in an unknown quantity of squished biscuit!

This is why I love church...because it is about life!  It is about God’s people coming together to worship Him, love each other and love other people.  And I want to thank you for letting me experience all of that with you.  My time working here at St A’s has been wonderful, hard work, giggle inducing, sad at times, precious, a learning curve and a real privilege.  I have been blessed by amazing relationships and support from people which has at times overwhelmed me. I am particularly thankful for the support I have been given on the journey to start training as a Baptist Minister.  At times of uncertainty when I felt I had obviously misheard God’s calling and He must have been speaking to the person next to me at the Baptist assembly, someone would say something that helped spur me on and gave me that extra bit of courage I needed...so thank you.

and God Bless, love

Ali