Nick is to be ordained as a deacon on Sunday 2 July and will serve his curacy in the parish of Penn Fields, Wolverhampton
Nick is from Tamworth and will be moving across the Midlands to Wolverhampton for his curacy at Penn Fields. Nick is married to Helen, and they have two children Joel (aged 6) and Martha (aged 3). Prior to training Nick was a development planner for 17 years, specialising in transport planning and highway design.
Nick came to faith aged 24 whilst attending St Paul’s, Fazeley on the run up to his and Helen’s wedding: because of how Nick’s journey started he has a heart for the occasional offices within the Church of England.
Nick also ran the youth group within the Peel Parishes and loves to see young people get excited by the good news of the Gospel. Nick feels God used his time as the youth leader to deepen his new faith before prompting him to consider ordination training. He believes discipleship is integral to our Christian journey, coming alongside one another helps us all learn more about God’s love for us and helps us love each other more.
Nick began ordination training at Trinity College, Bristol with a fear of the academic side more than anything else, but quickly found that he was not the only one with this fear. During his two years at Trinity as a dispersed learner he has seen God’s love through his cohort who have been there to encourage him, have fun, pray with and for him, and occasionally cry with.
Nick believes the dispersed learning tract has been brilliant as this has allowed him to continue to live close to friends and family during this stage of training but also allowed him to experience a slightly different style of church, having spent the two years at Christ Church, Lichfield and St James the Great, Longdon putting into practice what he has learnt in the lecture room.
For anyone currently exploring their calling, Nick would advise you to pray, and pray hard. Speak to those who know you best in Church and ask them to pray with and for you. Also, be willing to hear what it is that God is calling you to, it might not be what you were expecting, but remember God knows you better than you know yourself. One passage from scripture that helped Nick through the whole process was ‘For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future’. (Jeremiah 29:11).