Sharing the good news

When we travelled to Sheffield in 1999 to see our new Church Army evangelist commissioned by the Archbishop of Canterbury to serve on the St Helier estate in south London where I was the vicar, I never dreamed that twenty years later we would be sharing a meal, together with our wives, in the shadow of Tower Bridge, celebrating a partnership in the Gospel that began in St Helier and, wonderfully in the plan of God, has continued in Bermondsey.

It's amazing to think twenty years have gone so quickly but its been good to thank God for those years, to thank God for Paul and Mandy and to thank God for Church Army, that amazing Good News organisation in our Church that does so much to bring the Gospel to the people of Britain.

What I particularly remember from the two services we attended in Sheffield was at the second one at the Church Army College, the candidates knelt to sign their contract.

At a time when clergy were becoming a bit choosy and picky about where they served, it seemed to me that the Church Army were standing for something more - sacrifice, commitment, laying your life before the Lord.

I have noticed that quality in a lot of CA staff, alongside a great passion for the lost and for the outsider (and those who live in the tougher, less glamorous places), and that's why I love the CA so much.