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Church Leader to do Double Stint
Moderator of the General Assembly of the United Reformed Church
Posted on Jul 3, 2008
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Date 1st July 2008
Release Immediate
Church leader to do a double stint
The Revd John Marsh becomes Moderator of the General Assembly of the United Reformed Church, knowing he will be the only person to serve alone in the role for two years. He takes on this challenge in Edinburgh on July 11.
From this year, members of the United Reformed Church will meet in Assembly in alternate years. From 2010, two moderators will serve together for two years. However, during the changeover period there will be only John Marsh.
He is an unassuming man, who is still getting used to being in the public eye. He says ‘After four decades of ministry with local churches, and no eye-catching headlines, I now find myself thrust into the spotlight. I bring whatever I am; humour, a long-sustained personal faith, lots of mistakes and more than my fair share of fun and joy from life.
‘I hear all sorts of voices claiming to speak for Christians or Muslims. Very often they don’t speak for me. Shocking statements are more likely to attract attention than good honest sense. But at least that means that good honest sense can get on with its work without being mugged. Better to be unremarkably committed to peacemaking and community building than to be heard everywhere for being weird and cruel’.
John Marsh was ordained at what was then Knowle Park Congregational Church in Keighley, West Yorkshire in 1967. That was before Congregationalists and Presbyterians came together to form the United Reformed Church in 1972. Further unions followed and nearly one hundred thousand adults and children now make up 1600 congregations, served by more than 700 ministers across England, Scotland and Wales.
As a United Reformed Church minister, John Marsh went on to serve churches at Washington new town, Sunderland, Worcester, Stourport-on-Severn, Leek and Norwich. He and his wife Jackie moved to Redditch in Worcestershire in 2005. They have two sons who both live in London, and one grandchild born in 2006.
Some of John’s retirement plans have gone on hold while he devotes himself to the task of being Moderator. He says, with his usual humour, ‘I anticipate with delight the prospect of visiting local churches across Scotland, Wales and England. But not all of them, of course!’
The Revd John Marsh can be contacted by telephone on 01527 547113.
The United Reformed Church
Through a series of unions over the past 35 years, the United Reformed Church has brought together English Presbyterians, English, Welsh and Scottish Congregationalists and members of the Churches of Christ. Nearly one hundred thousand people make up 1600 congregations, with more than 700 ministers, paid and unpaid.
Although one of the smaller mainstream denominations in Britain, the United Reformed Church plays a dynamic and challenging part in the country’s Christian life. It seeks to work with Christians of all traditions, believing that all God’s people should be one. It is committed to theological and
cultural diversity.
Worldwide, more than 70 million Christians are members of the Reformed family of churches, the largest Protestant tradition. We call ourselves Reformed because our churches began to emerge with reform movements in the sixteenth century.
