Introducing our new intern - Jack Dunne

Earlier this year, in April, Jack Dunne started working part-time for The King's Church Mid-Sussex as an intern. He spends his time supporting and developing our youth programme. It's fantastic having Jack as a member of the TKC team. We thought it would be good, for those of you don't know Jack that well, to discover a little bit more about him.  

1. Tell us a little bit about yourself, family and interests

When I’m not at King’s I spend my time Cycling, binge watching Netflix and reading anything by C.S Lewis. Also I am not related to Kieran if anyone asks (I’m fooling nobody am I?)


2. How long have you been part of TKC?

I joined TKC 2 years 9 months and 19 days ago when we as a family moved back to Sussex having lived in Scotland for 10 years.

3. What are you excited about as you embark on this new adventure of being in intern at TKC?

Doing anything with God is always exciting, now that it’s my job I feel especially privileged. I’m looking forward to seeing what God has for me, and the church as a whole over the next year.

4. How can people pray for you as you do this role? 

Please pray that God will use me in my role at TKC and give me everything I need to complete the tasks that he has for me. After all everything we do is done in his strength.

5. Who is fastest on a bike - you or your Dad

Sadly my Dad. But he is riding on more than bread and water.

Please pray for Jack in this key role. In September we also have Joel Marson joining the staff team as a part-time intern. More information coming about that very soon. 

Do we get a second chance after we die?

Guest blogger Jamie McAdams seeks to answer one of the big questions related to our 'What happens when I die?' series. Do we get a second chance after we die?





Throughout the Bible, when it talks about how God will deal with our sins, there are two big ideas that crop up: the first is that God is incredibly gracious, merciful and forgiving. The second is that He is absolutely holy and just. Exodus 34:6-7 puts them in the same sentence:

“The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty...”

After reading a passage like that, it's tremendously difficult to see how those ideas fit together. If He forgives iniquity, transgression and sin, how has He not cleared the guilty? This has given Christians a lot of headaches through the centuries, and resulted in a few different opinions.

In this blog, we're going to look at two views that have been popular in the church throughout history, then turn to what the Bible has to say.

Universalism: everyone will be saved, no matter what they believe now

Universalism is the name given to the idea that God's plan of redemption will eventually apply to everybody in the same way - it is universal.

There are different versions of universalism, but by far the most popular idea is one that we've received from a theologian named Origen (c. 184-253AD).

Origen believed that Hell would exist, but that it would be a place of temporary discipline and correction, and eventually all souls would return to God.

There are several variations of universalism but by definition they must assert that either Hell cannot last forever or that it will be empty. So what does the Bible say? 

Universalists will generally argue for their view based firstly on the nature of 
God as loving and merciful and secondly by looking at passages like:

• 1 Corinthians 15:28: "When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all."
• 2 Corinthians 5:19: "in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them."
• Colossians 1:19-20: "For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross."

So how do we understand these passages? Firstly we need to read them in context and pay attention to what the surrounding verses tell us.

• 1 Corinthians 15:28 is in between verse 25 where all of Jesus' enemies will put under his feet, and verse 34 where Paul rebukes the Corinthians for not telling people about Jesus, to their shame.
• In the verse after 2 Corinthians 5:19, Paul says "We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God."
• Colossians 1:22-23 says we are reconciled "if indeed [we] continue in the faith". The Bible is clear on this: it is vital that we have a living, persevering faith in order to be reconciled to God.

That might explain why we think the arguments made by universalists don't stack up, but what do we believe?

Before I go any further, if you haven't already heard it, I would strongly recommend that you listen to this sermon as this is a weighty issue and you need to understand God's heart behind the warnings we're given. This short blog post can't hope to convey that, but we can at least lay out some of the arguments.

Firstly, we are never given any impression in scripture that we can repent after we die (nor is it clear that we would want to). Hebrews 9:27 says "it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment". In Luke 16:19-31, Jesus gives a parable about two men who die: a rich man and a man named Lazarus who begged for money outside the rich man's gates. Lazarus goes to be with Abraham in Paradise, but the rich man goes to Hades, and from there he has this conversation with Abraham.

He doesn't apologise for the sins he committed that put him in Hades. He suggests that his family wouldn't fail as he did if God performed a miracle for them (i.e. it's not really his fault), but Abraham explains that this simply isn't true. He begs for Abraham to send Lazarus to give him a drink, without a hint that he felt he had wronged Lazarus.

Abraham tells Lazarus "between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us" (verse 26).

Secondly, the Bible consistently describes Hell as eternal (see Isaiah 33:14, 66:24, Matthew 3:12, 18:8, 25:41-46, Mark 9:48, Luke 3:17, Luke 16:24, Revelation 14:11, 20:10). There are many different aspects of hell being communicated through these passages, but one point is unavoidable: Hell is eternal.

These are terrifying images, and they're meant to be. God wants us to know that He is absolutely good. A good judge is not one that ignores sins or plays them down but one that deals with them appropriately.

When God made us as his image-bearers, He made us to show creation what He is like. When we sin, we are renouncing the purpose for which we have been made and we're forsaking God for the sake of our temporary pleasure or convenience. God will not tolerate this.

In our culture, we find this aspect of God's nature hard to deal with, but that is largely a cultural coincidence. We happen to exist at a place and time where we think that hell is almost by definition primitive and evil, but that really is just cultural snobbery. Most people now and throughout history have taken for granted that our sins are serious and must be punished.

That, in fact, is vital for understanding the other view that we'll be looking at.

Purgatory: even if you are saved, you might still have to pay...

Purgatory is, according to the Roman Catholic tradition, a state where people are purified of their sins after they die. This view doesn't deny an eternal hell for those who have died without faith in Jesus. Rather, it's part of the believer's 'journey' towards heaven.

The amount of time spent in purgatory is based on the severity of the sins committed, whether they were confessed and whether indulgences had been issued - an indulgence being a gift that the church can offer to reduce someone's time in purgatory. 

Historically, there were several periods when indulgences were sold by travelling fund-raisers working for the church, and this grieved many Christians as it was seen as a form of exploitation. A particularly keen seller named Johann Tetzel even coined advertising jingles for it:

"As soon as the coin in the coffer rings,
the soul from purgatory springs"

Ultimately, this was what spurred Martin Luther to write the 95 theses and (somewhat unwittingly at first) launch the Protestant Reformation. Luther's teaching prompted the Council of Trent (1545-1563AD), at which the Catholic Church prohibited the selling of indulgences, though they are still offered for good works and at various celebrations. It was also at this Council that the doctrine of purgatory became official church doctrine - before this time it was disputed within the church, though broadly accepted.

Where does this idea come from?

We've already established that the Bible views our sins as severe and that God's justice requires that they be dealt with, but the doctrine of purgatory is quite specific.

The argument mostly arose from the Catholic Church's evolving view of the importance of confession. James 5:16 says "confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed." The word translated 'healed' can be translated as 'made whole' or 'saved', and it came to be seen as a part of salvation, to be taken by a member of the clergy. That in turn led many theologians to ponder over what would happen regarding a genuine believer's sins that hadn't been confessed before death, and ultimately led to conclusions that they must be dealt with in the afterlife.

We would certainly agree with James that it is good and wise to "confess [our] sins in order to be healed". This is one of the key components in our mutual discipleship, and it's one of the main ways that we fight sin, by bringing it to light with friends who can pray for us, challenge us and encourage us but confession is not, in itself, part of our justification.

But it's important to recognise that James says that we should confess in order to be healed because we already know we will be forgiven when we sin (vv 15-16: "...if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him. Therefore, confess your sins to one another..."). The point isn't that the confession causes our forgiveness, but that our forgiveness grounds our confession. Jesus has forgiven us and we are free of our sin, therefore we can seek healing and freedom through confession to "one another" (verse 16).

The one key text used to defend purgatory specifically (rather than confession, as above) is 1 Corinthians 3:15: "If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire." They say that this experience of suffering loss, of being saved as through fire, is describing a time when we will have to make up for shortcomings in purgatory, but still be saved.

We should note, this fire is burning up work, not people, and the fire is applied equally to everyone's works, whether they suffer loss or not. Paul is addressing the church being divided by "jealousy and strife" (verse 3), where people are forming factions and some of the motivation for the works being performed is for that cause, rather than in faith to Jesus. Paul tells them that their works will be judged and uses the image of fire to explain it. The fire clears all the rubbish away to reveal what will last forever. The ones who suffer loss here are the ones who realise how much they wasted their efforts on works like straw instead of gold and jewels.

Jesus can say to the thief on the cross "today you will be with me in paradise." (Luke 23:43), Paul could say "to live is Christ and to die is gain" (Philippians 1:21). Whenever Jesus talks of our death, the separation is always between judgment or celebration. There is not a single text in the Bible that would lead me to believe in a third state. 

Conclusion

I mentioned at the start the difficulty of balancing out the mercy of God and the goodness of God, and how difficult it can be to see how they fit together, but the place where it becomes clearest is at the cross.

When Paul was writing his letter to the Romans, one of the big problems he had to deal with in expressing the goodness of God is that He keeps saving people! God had been saving people long before Jesus came, and people were struggling to understand how He could do so and remain good and just, but Jesus died on the cross "to show his righteousness, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus" Romans 3:26

Going back to Exodus 34:6-7, we see how gloriously it's been fulfilled. When Jesus died, He took the punishment for our sins. When God sees his children in Christ by faith, He is "abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness" towards them, "forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin", but "by no means [will He simply] clear the guilty".

Universalism cannot cope with God's sheer goodness, righteousness and justice and Purgatory cannot cope with God's sheer grace, forgiveness and love, but the cross is where we can see all of God's perfections come together.

In what way will Christians have to give an account of their lives?

Last Sunday at The King’s Church Mid-Sussex I preached about the judgement and holiness of God. This message was the latest in our current series ‘What happens when I die?’ and if you missed it you can download it here. 

Some of the biggest questions that people have about belief in God surround this issue. How can you believe in a God that is full of love and full of wrath? Isn’t that a contradiction? Do you really believe in a God who will judge everyone?

Later that day somebody asked me a question.

If God no longer remembers our sins (Hebrews 8:12), why do Christians still have to give an account for all that we have done on Judgement Day?

It’s a great question and important to consider. If our sins have already been forgiven what will be judged? 

When we think about such things a fear may arise that on that day we will feel guilty or condemned for our failings as we stand before Jesus as judge. But Romans 8 v 1 says there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ, so how exactly will we be judged?

The Bible is clear; Christians will face some form of judgement (John Hosier prefers to use the word assessment) when Jesus returns. 

Matthew 16 v 27 says “For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done.”

Revelation 22 v 12 says “Behold I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done.”

And in 2 Corinthians 5 v 10, a letter written to a church community, Paul writes:

“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due to us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.”

Firstly, we must be clear that the judgement Christians face does not call into question God’s forgiveness of sins. We believe in a gospel that emphasizes grace not works. Ephesians 2 v 8-9 leaves no room for doubt:

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.”

Our salvation is not earned or deserved, it is a gift from God. No amount of good works can ever get us right with God; we are saved by grace and grace alone. In Jesus, God has removed our sin as far as the east is from the west and our salvation in Jesus is secure – amazing! 

So certainly, on that day of judgement, we do not need to fear that our sins will be remembered in the sense that we will feel guilt or condemnation or stand trial for them. 

Wayne Grudem writes this: “…it should not cause terror or alarm on the part of believers, because even sins that are made public on that day will be made public as sins that have been forgiven, and thereby they will be the occasion for giving glory to God for the richness of his grace.”

For the Christian, judgement day will be an opportunity to celebrate the incredible, all encompassing grace of God in his forgiveness of our sins through his son Jesus. 

However, the Bible does state that Christians will have to give an account of our works. Ephesians 2 v 10, says: 

“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

We are saved by grace – Yes! 

We are saved and adopted into the family of God – Yes! 

We are saved and forgiven from our sin – Yes!

But we are also saved to do good works – we are here for purpose!

It is clear from what the Bible teaches that, when Jesus returns, Christians will face a judgement (or assessment) to evaluate and bestow various degrees of eternal reward based on how we have lived our lives; our words, deeds and actions. 

Now this is a huge subject because the Bible suggests there are degrees of rewards and we are going to spend a morning exploring this whole subject on Sunday 14 June!

However, for the sake of this blog, the key points are that the New Testament speaks about living in such a way that it impacts eternity and it regularly uses words such as ‘rewards’, ‘crowns’, ‘goal’ and ‘prize’. For example, see 1 Corinthians 9 v 24-27, Philippians 3 v 14, 2 Timothy 4 v 8 and Luke 6 v 35, 

1 Corinthians 3 is probably the most explicit passage to help us understand this. Here Paul writes that our works will be tested by fire and that, as a result of that ‘test’, some people will suffer loss and others reward. 

“If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved – even though only as one escaping through the flames.” 1 Corinthians 3 v 12-15

Clearly, from these verses, we can see that the quality of each person’s works will come under assessment and there are degrees of loss and reward that are linked to our works in this life. 

But it is important to avoid misunderstanding here and to state that no one will be left feeling disgruntled, envious or short-changed in heaven. We will all find our fulfilment, happiness and joy in God and so there will be no room for comparison and envy; only celebration in what God has done. 

So the headline is this. For those who are in Christ, there is no condemnation, our salvation is by grace alone and Jesus has fully paid the price for all our sin.

However, we will still have to give an account of our life with regards to our works, deeds, actions and choices – that is the judgement (or assessment) that Christians will face when Jesus returns. Based on this judgement there will be various degrees of rewards in eternity – come along to TKC on 14 June to hear more. 

5 Questions about Life on the new earth

What will life be like on the new earth?

In our current teaching series, we're looking at the question: What happens when I die? It's such a huge topic that we can really only scratch the surface, but we want to take some time on the blog to go through some of the more popular questions.


Some questions are so important that we'll be devoting entire posts to a single answer, but in this post, guest blogger Jamie McAdams answers a few questions about what it will be like when we're raised back to life, when heaven takes over earth.



Will we know people from this life?

We have good reason to say a clear 'yes' to this one. In the resurrection, we will be like Jesus (1 John 3:2). Jesus talked about preparing a place for us, and He won't forget us when we get there!

One of the most important ways that humans reflect and glorify God is in our relationships with each other. The Bible is clear that loving our neighbours reflects the way that we love God. Our relationships will matter forever, so it makes sense that they'll continue. There are ways that our relationships will change in the future (always for the better!), but one thing that we can count on is that we'll be together with people we know and love, and we'll recognise each other.

It's true that Jesus' friends didn't recognise Him straight away (John 20:14, Luke 24:16), until He revealed Himself to them (John 20:16, Luke 24:30-31). But He revealed Himself in ways that His friends would recognise - calling Mary by name, breaking bread with His friends. There was something new and different about Him, but as soon as He made it clear who He was, they had no doubt who they were with. 

We honestly don't know if it will be like that when we're all raised, we might pick up on subtleties straight away that the disciples missed, or it may well be a journey of discovery. But we do know that in the Bible people expected to see their families and people they'd heard of.

When a King died in the Old Testament, the Bible would say that he "slept with his fathers" (that image is used a lot: see e.g. 1 Kings 2:10, 11:43, 14:20, 14:31). They went to join their fathers who died in the faith, and so will we.

When David's son died, David said that he will "go to him" (2 Samuel 12:23). He wouldn't simply go to the same place, he would go to be with his son.

So we know that we will be changed, and that our family in the faith will be changed, but that we will know and recognise them and enjoy their company in the presence of God.

Will we be able to eat and drink?

Yes! Feasting is one of the most popular pictures that the Bible gives us for what heaven is like. Jesus said "many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 8:11 - "reclining at table" describes how they ate at the time, lying down by a low table surface). In Luke 14:15, one of the guests at a meal said “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!” and Jesus responded with a parable about heaven where God invited many to join Him in "a great banquet".

My favourite passage, though, is in Matthew 26:29. At the last supper, Jesus says "I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom.” - we will get to join Jesus in drinking wine when the Kingdom is brought fully to Earth - and (according to John 2:10) we know He had great taste in wine!

Will we be able to remember things from this life?

Isaiah 65:17 says that when God creates new heavens and a new earth, "the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind." Now, on a literal face-value interpretation of that verse, it certainly sounds like the answer is a resounding "NO!" but it's more likely that it's expressing the idea of God dealing with the miseries and suffering of His people so completely that they won't cross their minds. It won't be a pain that they keep living with. I don't think God is saying that we'll forget what He has rescued us from, or how He has worked in our lives.

Indeed, one of the pictures we're given of heaven is that it's a city with twelve foundations, inscribed with the names of the Apostles so that we can remember what God has done through them.

We're also promised rewards in heaven based on our faithfulness - we'll touch on this later in the teaching series, but it is important here in conveying that what we do now really will matter throughout eternity. We will see the fruit of our work and rejoice over it (without pridefulness), and it will have a profound effect on our life in future.

So what about the moments we want to forget?

I think that when we are brought to perfection - that is, when we become like Jesus is now - that we will see the moments we dislike and understand them more fully. If it's our sin that we wish to forget, I think we will see it as something that we have been rescued from perfectly, and how He delights in us completely. It has been dealt with and taken from us. We understand that in part now, but we will feel it in a way that we can only glimpse at now. When we're unrelentingly certain of God's joy over us, when there is no risk of falling into sin again, and when we know complete release from guilt and shame, we will be able to see our salvation from darkness as glorious.

If it is what has been done to us, we will know how fully God has restored us and washed us from all of it, and that the sin that harmed us has been thoroughly and entirely paid for.

When Jesus saw Thomas in John 20:26-29, Jesus showed him the marks of the nails in His hands and the scar on His side. That is, He showed Thomas the scars from the darkest moment of His life. If it's good to forget pain & suffering ever existed, Jesus scars seem odd. As it stands, His sufferings are a source of glory and redemption. He can see the scars without the pain & shame coming to mind, because that won't be what matters.

I think that the passage we saw from Isaiah tells us this: if a memory does not glorify God and cause us to delight in Him - if all it causes is pain - then it will be remembered no more. One way or another, by cleansing and renewing our minds, we will be free, in a way that we really can know here and now, but that will be fulfilled in the world to come.

We will finally be past all of the memories that come to haunt us now, and the memories we cherish will become all the brighter when we see just how much more God was doing than we ever hoped or imagined,

Will there be sports and entertainment there?

When God created us in His image, He created us to be culture makers. God is a story-teller, so we tell stories. God is an artist, so we create art. God sings over us, so we should sing. God laughs, and so should we. God became flesh and made the best wine, so we should appreciate His gifts. James 1:17 says that "every good gift and every perfect gift is from above" so it is totally fitting that they will continue on wherever God is.

It's incredible to reflect on what our hearts and minds will be able to express when we see Jesus and become like Him, when we see clearly and not through a glass darkly. How much more delight we'll capture through songs and art - and then to be in the presence of every tribe, and nation and people and tongue, all with their own unique histories and cultures, all redeemed and sharing their stories, their laughter and their music.

For me, Sports are particularly fascinating to think about (which is absolutely not how I feel about sports in this world), because they are, at their best, a celebration of what our God-given bodies can do when guided towards a given task - which is a beautiful idea - yet the way we watch and participate in sports now causes pride, despair - even violence.

Imagine, though, what it would be like to want to win, not for your own name, but to glorify the one who made you. Imagine that when you lose you are not wounded or offended, but overjoyed for your opponent and ready to start again so that he can celebrate with you next time around. Imagine competing with a restored, healthy, pain-free body where you have an eternity to discover your strength, where you can compete with friends and watch them discover their strengths, all without weariness or boredom.

In short, I'm pretty sure that not only will sports exist, but that even I will like them.

Will there be pets?

This is surprisingly tricky! The Bible doesn't address the question of pets directly (animals were kept almost exclusively for farming and sacrifices in Israel when the Bible was written), so we'll look at some of the things that it does tell us about animals and then I'll tell you what it leads me to think about.

To start with, animals were part of God's good creation, and His intention was for us to lovingly rule over nature with Him, and the pictures we have of the new earth in Revelation 21-22 lead me to believe that will be His intent in the New Earth - that it will be like Eden, free of sin, futility and frustration and that we can embark in the work we were created for. There are numerous references to animals to help us picture what a restored creation will be like, so I'm certain that there will be animals in the new earth.

The Bible has many passages about caring for animals as well - we shouldn't muzzle an ox while it treads grain (Deuteronomy 25:4). Proverbs 12:10 says that "whoever is righteous has regard for the life of his beast."We should love and care for animals - it is a reflection of God's care for nature, so I think the feelings we have for our pets will be fulfilled spectacularly when we rule with God as he intended.My imagination flares when I try to imagine how that works. I have no experience of living in a perfect world, and while we have a lot of 'big picture' truths, a lot of the details remain to be discovered.

At this point, I concede that there is so much we simply don't know, but I cannot wait to find out! Whatever the answer is after we've gone through the information we do have available, it will be better than I can ever imagine.

What would it be like to steward animals like God does without any fear of harm to us or them? Where there is no distinction between tame and wild that holds us back? Would we want to domesticate them and keep them as pets, or would we find our relationship with animals more enjoyable as we walk together freely? I think there will be more variety in the animal world than we can imagine (there's already more than I can imagine in this world!), and in a world where there is no death, sickness or pain, where nothing can harm us, even the animals that make me wince now will be innocent there. I won't have to fear tarantulas, sharks, scorpions or tigers. I won't have to worry about disease from insects, mice, and rats. Every creature we see will do us good. I will be able to see things that David Attenborough could only dream of, and so much more.

Introducing our new TKC Kids Coordinator

As many of you are aware we announced at the start of the year that we were recruiting for a new staff role at The King's Church Mid-Sussex. Our TKC Kids programme continues to grow and we now have approximately 100 Under 11's attending every Sunday. This hugely important area of church life needed additional resource so we have been recruiting for a TKC Kids Coordinator.

At the recent TKC members evening on 19 April we announced, with great excitement, that we have appointed Angie Bee as our new TKC Kids Coordinator. 

We recognise that Angie is well known to many people in the church. However, for those that don't know Angie well, we thought it would be good to introduce her by asking her a few questions as she begins this new role. 

Angie, tell us a little bit about your family and where you live.

Adrian and I have been blessed with three, fantastic children all of primary school age. They love coming along to church and are growing their own relationships with God. Between them, our children have a range of interests, from piano to guitar and chess to dancing. Since marrying 15 years ago, Adrian and I have lived in Burgess Hill and we absolutely love it!

How long have you been part of TKC?

I started coming to the church over twenty years ago, when it was called Burgess Hill Community Church. I love its vibrancy and also the authentic friendships we have within our church family. The vision of 'Loving God and Loving People' always gets me excited, especially as we practically demonstrate this to one another within the church and in our out-reach to the community.

What areas of church life have you been involved in?

As a teenager, one of the first areas I served in was Sunday morning crèche and from there I moved into helping with the primary-aged children. Adrian and I have been involved in Sunday Children's work throughout our marriage, taking small breaks when our own children were babies. In addition to TKC Kids, I have been running Noah's Ark Parent and Toddler Group and co-running Happy Faces Childminder and Toddler Group. 

Where have you been working before this position?

Much of my time over the past few years has been spent raising our children, while volunteering at TKC. I have a primary school teaching background which took a pause during this time. In September 2014, I took on a cover-teaching role at a local primary school. Teaching most age groups throughout the school has been a great experience and a lot of fun.

What are your hopes and dreams for TKC Kids as you begin this new role?

My hope is that we will see children engaging with God as they take personal steps of faith and begin to grasp the hope and exciting future they can have in Him! I also hope the children will be able to develop their relationships with each other in the context of the church family. I am looking forward to getting alongside the amazing teams that serve our children and helping them to shape the fantastic work they are already doing!

Please pray for Angie and Adrian and the family as Angie begins this new role on Tuesday 5 May.