Today Captain Nick Lebey, hot from paternity leave following the birth of his second son, was our guest speaker at, first, St Anne's, and then by bit of quick footwork, at St James, too.
Nick works on the Thamesmead estate in south-east London and is a pioneer youth evangelist. He is also standing for General Synod (hope you get elected, Nick).
It was the kind of sermon you did not want to end as Nick enthralled us with his passion for the Gospel and reaching those on the edge of the church and right outside the church.
He reminded me of all that I love about the Church Army.
As a young vicar on the St Helier estate in south London I had only been dimly aware of CA but there I served alongside a succession of excellent Church Army evanglists, first David, then Pete, then Paul ....and then in the goodness of God the last of these, Paul, after a spell in the Midlands, came to join us on the team here in Bermondsey.
Like the beer in the advert, Church Army reaches the parts the rest of the Church doesn't meet. Its officers are official Church of England evangelists, commissioned by the Archbishop of Canterbury.
They are 'Good news people', dedicated to sharing the good news about Christ.
So thank you Nick, thank you David, Pete and Paul, and thank you God for your excellent and indispensable Church Army.
From Nick's own youth club, you can hear Jack's story here:
Hi Gary, thanks for this. Just to let you know that I was baptised at St Anne's, Bermondsey and have been a CA officer for over 27 years! So glad you have strong CA links :)
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