Well, ultimately we believe that God is in charge as we try to make Him the centre of all our decisions!
The Church leadership consists of our Minister (Val), one Elder (Nigel) and four Deacons (Chris, Jill, Sandra & Jon).
Val graduated from Spurgeon’s College with a B.Th (Bachelor of Theology) and was ordained as a Baptist Minister in 2008. She is married to Jon with two grown-up children.
Both Val and Jon did not become Christians until 1990, seven years after they were married through attending ‘Adeyfield Free Church’, a United Reformed Church in Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire.
Val originally trained as a hairdresser and Jon often quips that nothing has really changed as she still believes in the ‘hair and the hair-after’.
Feeling God's call on their lives, the family moved to Cambridgeshire and attended Westward Bible College in 1995. At the same time, they started attending ‘Somersham Baptist Church’ and both Val and Jon served on the leadership team. In 2005 Val applied to Spurgeon’s College and was accepted to join its ‘Church based’ programme.
She became the Minister of ‘Little Kimble Free Church’ later that same year. She then served as the Minister of Quaystone Church from Sept 2016 before moving to Harefield in February 2021.
Val is passionate to develop friendships wherever she is and would love all those she meets to realise the importance of finding Jesus for themselves. Val's hobbies include cross-stitch, gardening, reading and did we mention meeting people?
Nigel is the Church leader and Elder responsible for oversight of the church. He enjoys supporting people and encouraging faith in action. He has lived in Harefield since 1977 and joined the church the same year. He is a retired town planner and helped design the new church hall with the flat above to accommodate the Minister.
He enjoys preaching and plays guitar in worship with his other church duties being pastoral, church maintenance and teaching kids. He is happy to put his hand to pretty much anything.
He also loves creating and designing things, which includes DIY projects or visual aids for talks at church.
Nigel has written a number of inspiring worship songs which are received enthusiastically by the Church when played.
He describes his relationship with Jesus as meaning absolutely everything to him!
Nigel is a keen gardener and likes seeing things grow but isn't so keen on garden pests.
His other hobbies (Editors note: How does he squeeze anything more in?) includes exercise, reading science fiction and cooking.
He has a keen sense of humour (church groan here) and admits to having an odd sense of humour.
Nigel sums up his life as a Christian by saying 'I like adventures'.
Chris is married to Jill and they have two daughters.
They started attending Harefield Baptist Church in 1994.
He now serves the church faithfully having recently retired from the printing industry.
He has always had an awareness of God and his faith has grown over the years. He emphasises that his belief in God had helped him through many hard times and Jesus has always been there as a comforter throughout.
Chris is a keen musician and plays bass guitar in the church worship band.
He works with the church's PA system and is always busy either dealing with technical problems or involved with church maintenance issues.
He enjoys working on cars, is a keen gardener and meets regularly with other members of the congregation for walks.
Jill moved into the village in 1993 with Chris and started coming to Harefield Baptist Church in 1994. She works in an opticians and is the Church Secretary.
She has felt God's presence from an early age. Jill knows that God has placed some wonderful people along her journey to help answer her questions. People are always in the right place at the right time.
She admits she is still growing in her faith every day (Editors note: We all are!)
Jill particularly felt Jesus' love when she was treated with breast cancer. She describes Jesus leading her away from the rocks and darkness of deep intimidating water to the more welcoming shallows and then onto a sunny beach.
She knows Jesus is always there when she needs Him.
Sandra has lived in Harefield since 1955, joined the church in 1976 and got baptised the same year. She is married to Nigel and they have two children and two grandchildren.
She is a qualified industrial chemist and finds herself even busier now she has retired.
Being the Church Treasurer, she has responsibility for finances.
She describes Jesus as her Rock, her Sustainer and her Hope.
Sandra enjoys preaching and running services yet also enjoys informal times with people.
She loves anything that involves puzzle solving, reading 'Who Dunnits', jigsaws, sudoku and even admits to liking following the instructions on flat pack furniture.
She likes to relax by going for walks, swimming, meeting friends for coffee and watching football. Although watching football is not always as relaxing as she would like.
Jon became a Christian when he was 31 and loves to talk about God to anyone he meets.
He is an avid comic collector and grew up loving the Marvel universe and Spider Man in particular. He has been known to use the films when he preaches with his favourite message being 'with great power comes great responsibility'. He believes the church has a great responsibility to share the good news of Jesus with all, regardless of race or gender.
Jon is recently retired and uses his IT skills to manage the website and create publicity. He is also responsible for creating our Christmas nativity play with a difference. He also loves running 'Alpha' with Val and preaching at 'Xplained'
He has been writing a book (for many years) and hopes that he will actually finish it one day.
His greatest hope is that people actually look into who Jesus is for themselves. He believes that finding out who Jesus is can dramatically change lives for the good.
