Rich, Ruth and James

After years of saying “I’ll go into the ministry when I am older”, something terrible happened –  I turned thirty. When you are in your twenties you can get away with saying stuff like that. Saying that in your thirties though…

The real motivation was my growing desire to see people’s hearts won by the wonderful love of God. Jesus says in John 15:9 “As the Father has loved me, so I loved you” The word that stands out for me there is “AS”.  The Father has loved the Son for all eternity and chose to give everything to him. This is the very same love which Jesus has for me. I want to pass that good news on. 

I didn’t want to go to bible college though. The idea of removing myself from ministry and life in the local church for three years in order to learn how to minister to a local church seemed wrong. That and the advice of some close friends convinced me to pursue a more hands on approach. So I did what I could in a number of local churches to test out whether or not full time ministry was right and backed that up with some distance learning courses and private study. It was a thrilling six years or so until the advert for the Assistant Pastor training scheme was put my way. I jumped – it was exactly the next step I needed.

Ruth and I met at University in Leicester. I was studying physics, Ruth was studying medicine. It was your classic case of geek meets quack at CU, geek helps quack win at Monopoly (some cheating may have taken place) and they fall in love. We got married in 2001 and stayed in the same part of Leicester until we moved to Leeds.

Ruth is a compassionate person and knows how to be Christ to people in a way which is a constant source of encouragement to me – she thrives where she can serve. She loves textiles, shapes and colours - she is creative. Sometimes a little too creative though - in a bid to get me to actually eat some Marmite, she once spread the dreadful slime onto some smoked salmon, carefully rolled it and offered it to me. Not recommended. 

James was born in 2008 and has been a constant source of joy for us both. He is a very smiley and talkative little boy and is always into something. He was born with a dislocated hip though and had to be operated on when only 5 months old. The three months after that when he was in a plaster cast (pretty much full body) were really tough for Ruth and I. This time helped us to learn greater patience and deepened our trust that we have a heavenly Father who knows what is best for his children. 

We all enjoy the great outdoors, beaches, animals, strong cheese, powerkites and live traditional Jazz (not necessarily all at the same time).

Favourite books? “Here I Stand” by Roland Bainton– the classic biography of Martin Luther, “The Bruised Reed” by Richard Sibbes – a book which never fails to move my heart to love Jesus more and “Experiencing the Trinity” by Darrell W. Johnson which is simply the best book ever written on the Trinity – partly because it is easy to read, but again because it won’t fail to move your heart.

We would also like to use this article to say a big thank you to everyone at City for making us so welcome.

In Jesus,
Rich, Ruth & James.