Gareth's on the move!

Gareth arrived at High Kirk three years also along with his wife, Michelle and daughter, Chantelle.

His role at Thomas Street was to ‘develop and encourage discipleship within the congregation along with assisting in pastoring and preaching.’

He added: “much of my work focussed on small groups and on classes for adults, trying to help people to grow in their spiritual lives.”

“I have appreciated High Kirk as a congregation because there is genuinely a large number of people who really want to move on with Jesus.

Seeing people ‘saved’ was also a highlight.

Gareth says: “In these past couple of months I was so thrilled when a man in the Church came to faith and he is so excited about knowing Jesus and about trying to move his life forward. This is what it is all about for me.”

According to Gareth, working in a congregation numbering 750 families was ‘both a wonderful opportunity and very complicated.’

Explaining why, he said: “We have a lot of people involved in youth ministry, more than some other congregations have in total membership. I’m not being boastful here, I am humbled by the level of service shown by some. The number of volunteers does make it hard to know, how are those leaders getting on? Are they doing well at what they are doing? Are they equipped properly?”

“A related challenge when ministering in such a large church is that it is very hard to be able to know everybody. It is hard to notice if somebody isn’t feeling well or is struggling. You’ve got to keep looking and being very careful”, adds Gareth.

Supportive colleagues are very important in a situation like that and Gareth is very quick to pay tribute to the hard working staff team at High Kirk, of whom he says: “They so much want to bring glory to God and to serve the people there.”

And whilst urging the body of believers at High Kirk to ‘nurture a response of gratefulness to God for the enormous blessings He has brought upon them’, Gareth is also excited about his new ministry in County Down.

Drumlough and Anahilt are two country churches with a combined membership of around 220 families.

“It’s going to be very different from High Kirk”, admits Gareth.

“I think one of the things I am looking forward to is being able to get to know everybody, to meeting people in their homes and their lives so that we can walk together and work together.”

He concludes: “I have great hope for these two congregations to be able to reach out to some of the new housing areas that have gone up nearby to them and to be communities of faith where people who maybe don’t have roots in the area can find a home and a welcome.”

Gareth will be installed at Drumlough Presbyterian Church on 23rd September.