Europe
- United Reformed Church
- Union of Welsh Independents
- Presbyterian Church of Wales
- Protestantse Kerk in Nederland
- Congregational Federation
John Ellis
I am John Ellis from the United Reformed Church in Britain, which combines the Congregational and Presbyterian traditions. I was the longest serving Moderator of the General Assembly of the URC and also its longest serving Treasurer. My first career was with the Bank of England and for my second I worked for the British Methodist Church, including leading their national staff team. Nowadays I enjoy a portfolio of unpaid Directorships with Christian charities, alongside being part of the leadership team of a local ecumenical church.
My principal engagement with CWM has been as its Treasurer since 2016. In that period we have revived the Finance Committee to support the management with expert advice and critique and free the Board to deal with financial strategy without needing to immerse itself in detail. I have chaired the Board when the Moderator has been absent. I believe CWM is most effective as an instrument of God’s mission when it is behaving as a respectful partnership of Churches, welcoming our diversity in theology and culture, and with everyone confident enough to contribute and humble enough to learn. I see the role of central structures and the staff team as supporting the mission of the member Churches not devising separate agendas.
When I am weary of meetings, you will bring me back to life if you talk about cricket, music, travel or the latest attempts by my bevy of nieces and nephews to work out how to serve the Lord in their generation.
Maria J.Y. Lee
I am Maria J.Y. Lee and I am a Church Related Community Worker in the URC. I have two projects in Chelmsford, which is east of the UK. Church Related Community Work is a distinctive and recognised ministry within the URC. My main role is to identify local needs, confront injustice, organise community actions, and support initiatives that will improve the lives of the local people. My husband, Barnabas, is an ordained minister in the URC and Nat, my son is a medical student at Cardiff University.
Although it is my first time joining the CWM, I have had some experience of the ministry. I have been involved with the world church programme for the overseas placement hosted by the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan in 2017. Recently, I also visited Palatinate in Germany for the Fall of the Wall Conference in Nov. 2019.
I am the first CRCW in the URC as a Korean who lives in the UK. With my unique cultural background, I am able to contribute my professional experiences and use them to connect those who live in different cultures and recognise any conflicts that have arisen due to cultural barriers in the CWM.
My main passion is music as I have grown up playing in a worship band both in Korea and the UK. Also, I love to watch films and discuss it with a small group, or my family as we have many film nights together. There are many films created by international countries that have inspired me.
Lindsey Brown
My name is Lindsey Brown, and I belong to the United Reformed Church, Europe Region. I have been the Mission and Training Officer for the Eastern Synod of the URC since April 2018.
My first direct involvement with CWM was as a delegate to the Europe Region Members’ Mission Forum in March 2019. I was then the URC’s delegate to the Annual Members’ Meeting, hosted by EFKS’ Malua Theological College in Samoa, in June that year.
Before taking on my current role in the Church I was a secondary school teacher for 20+ years. My voluntary work has included destitution support for asylum seekers in the UK and advocacy for human rights lawyers. I was brought up in the URC and have continued to play an active part in local church, becoming an Elder in 2007. Locally I have been involved in organising ecumenical worship and outreach events for many years, and have brought much of that experience, as well as my heart for the marginalised, to my current role. It has also been my joy to have coordinated the Partnership between the Synod and the Presbytery of Zimbabwe since 2015.
I treasure my relationships: with God, with family and with friends. Paul and I have been together for 30 years, and we have three adult children and two grandchildren. I love the outdoors, and am privileged to live among fields and forests where I can walk, cycle and run. but I also love getting further afield and climbing mountains or being by the sea, rejoicing in God’s creation.
Robin Samuel
I’m Robin Samuel, an ordained minister with the UWI (Union of Welsh Independents) in Wales. I have been working for the denomination as a Resources and Support Officer since September 2016, and I lead on the UWI’s pioneering churches initiative.
I spent 25 years as a Church Minister, before joining the Wales team of Christian Aid, the UK based International Aid and Development Organisation in 2003. There I worked with churches, community groups and individuals to encourage fundraising, advocacy work and campaigning, I was also responsible for preparing, adapting and translating Cristian Aid resources, for the audiences in Wales.
I have attended CWM regional assemblies, conferences and workshops and represented the UWI in the consultation on Partners in Mission in Hong Kong in 2015. I was part of the ‘Hearing God’s Cry’ group in Wales.
I am the Secretary of the UWI’s Citizenship Department which looks at social issues. I also oversee ‘Y Ffordd’ (The Way) a video based 4 year course for UWI churches, which receives funding from CWM. I also led on the UWI Denominational Appeal to raise funds for social projects associated with FJKM and visited the island in 2017.
This will be my second AMM as I represented UWI in the meetings in Samoa in 2019.
I enjoy walking, reading, listening to music (mainly from the 60s and early 70s). I follow the Welsh Rugby team and support my local team. I trained as a chef, and love cooking and learning about food culture globally.
Dylan Rhys Parry
My name is “Rev Dylan Rhys Parry”, of the Union of Welsh Independents in Wales. Local Congregational Minister, Chair of the UWI Mission and World-Wide Church Department and a UWI Trustee.
I have been involved with CWM for almost 10 years. I participated in CWM Europe’s youth programme, called ‘Mission Impossible?’, in Hungary in 2009, and in 2011 was a Training in Mission student. Twelve of us were engaged in various mission fields in South Africa and Southern India for a period of 10 months. It was an experience I very much enjoyed.
In 2015, I was part of a team that was visiting Member Churches. I visited the United Church of Papua New Guinea and met the local congregations in their missional outreach activities. I have also been a member of a Youth Planning Group with CWM Europe. In 2018 I was a delegate for the AMM in Kolkata, India.
As an active minister and trustee within UWI, and as the current Chair of the ‘Mission and World-Wide Church Department’, I believe that I have a clear understanding of the UWI’s engagement with the World-wide church and with CWM. I also have been helping to do some filming and editing for Welsh Independents’ Television, a CWM MSP3/MSP4 digital outreach project undertaken by UWI.
Jill-Hailey Harries
I am Jill-Hailey Harries, and I am an ordained minister of Religion with the Union of Welsh Independents (UWI). I have been serving as the President of our denomination for the past two years.
I was first involved with CWM back in the mid 1980’s when I was the Youth officer for our denomination. More recently I was on the Europe board and I am currently a UWI representative for the AMM. In 2013, I attended a Leaders Training course, followed by a Team Visit Programme to Malaysia. I also attended the Assembly in 2016, an experience that will last a life time; the theme of “Healing” opened up my mind to a greater understanding of our partner Churches around the world, and how to better serve the local Church and the community.
I am passionate about the work of CWM, I am open minded yet I have my own opinion, at the same time being mindful of others especially when gathering with people from diverse backgrounds.
In my spare time I am a Street Pastor; a Sports Chaplain for a woman’s rugby team; I sit on the board of directors for a small domestic abuse charity and I am currently the Chair.
In my little spare time, I like to be creative by doing paper craft and making my own greeting cards.
Corey Hampton
I am Corey Hampton. I am married to Catrin, and our first child will be with us in October! I work with a small number of Welsh language (Cymraeg) churches with the Presbyterian Church of Wales (PCW), alongside being tasked by our Presbytery to plant a new church in our home village. I recently finished my M.A. in Biblical interpretation with London School of theology, where I focused on the ways that different cultures and communities interpret Scripture and apply it to their own contexts.
When I’m not at work, I enjoy cooking, reading, and listening to music, especially when it comes from my birth home of Tennessee, U.S.A!
I haven’t been fortunate enough to have been involved with CWM before now, but I’m very excited to play my role as the youth delegate for the PCW this year! I’m particularly interested in interpreting and applying Scripture together with a culturally and linguistically diverse group of people from all around the world in ways that are transformative for all.
Catrin Hampton
Greetings, I’m Catrin Hampton, and I belong to the Presbyterian Church in the beautiful Cymru (Wales). I am married to Corey and we are expecting our first child this Autumn!
My role is to work with children, young people and families in our Presbytery area of around 50 churches, all through my heart language of Welsh.
Outside of work, I love walking our new puppy, Nash, reading all sorts of books, and enjoying the beaches, mountains and countryside around us.
This is my first step into the world of CWM, after hearing its history and heart from Nan Powell-Davies’s experiences, and becoming excited by the beauty and possibility of a worldwide partnership.
I believe some of what qualifies me as a new delegate is my heart to see the church of Jesus, worldwide, shine His glory and justice, mercy and love. I am blessed to serve the communities of Welsh-speaking Wales and look forward to being deeply enriched by the experiences of others worldwide of this glorious gospel.
Rozemarijn van 't Einde
My name is Rozemarijn van 't Einde, I am a member of the Protestant Church in the Netherlands and I work as a chaplain in psychiatry.
Two years ago I participated in the Face to Face programme in Palestine, in which theologians from fifteen different countries witnessed what is happening. Being present, listening to the stories I learned a lot about justice, and, even more so, about the debilitating injustice people/societies/systems do to others. I have written blogs about the trips (found on www.storiesofbethlehem.wordpress.com) in the hope to spread awareness. Being a part of such an international group made me aware of some racial/cultural biases I have. I used to consider myself 'woke', but know now that it is a lifelong task to challenge unconscious beliefs.
For the board I think I would contribute passion, communication skills, out of the box thinking and a certain playfulness.
When I'm not at work I read, play musical instruments, sing, write poetry and short stories. I also like to do volunteer work and to learn more about societal issues.
Theo-Pieter de Jong
Hi, my name is Theo-Pieter de Jong, born in 1977 on a farm in the northern parts of the Netherlands.
I’ve studied Theology in Utrecht, with a focus on Missiology. I’ve had two practical periods in Peru, Latin America. I wrote my academic thesis on mutual relations between Reformed local parishes in the Netherlands and Hungary. After university, I wasn’t ordained immediately but worked as a family counsellor. But after a year and a half, I came in contact with a congregation in the northern parts of the Netherlands. And there I was called and ordained. After five years I married my husband, Maarten Diepenbroek, who is a Lutheran pastor (working in for 50%). Together we live now in Ede in the middle parts of the Netherlands, where I became a fulltime pastor in a Presbyterian Church. The prayer of Paul for the Ephesians is one of the most speaking prayers in the Bible to me (Eph.3:14-19). It’s also one of the reasons why I am deeply convinced that in everything that is worldwide so quickly changing we need each other as different parts of Christ’ body, culturally so different – but united in Him. Called to worship God and serve our neighbours.
“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”
Bianca Groen-Gallant
My name is Bianca Groen-Gallant. I am a coach and student care counselor.
I belong to the PKN (Protestants Church Netherlands) and my church is the Lutheran Church in Amsterdam. Since 2018, I’ve been involved in the legacies of slavery group and in the preparatory workgroup for an apologies statement on this theme.
I’m the chairman of the Lutheran Diaconia in Amsterdam and am actively involved with the Dutch churches in a program called ‘the beneficially processing of the slavery past.
’My hobbies include cooking, reading books, listen to music. I am a grandmother of 5 grandchildren where I enjoy doing fun things.
Mark Tucker
I’m Mark Tucker and I represent The Congregational Federation (CF) - a voluntary association of independent Congregational Churches throughout the UK.
I joined in 2007, initially as Company Secretary for the trustee body –The Congregational Federation Ltd (CFL) formed for the purposes of being trustee of the CF and many Churches affiliated to it. In recent years my role has expanded, and in addition to looking after the trustee side of business, I am also the ‘Operations Manager’ working alongside our General Secretary.
The CF continues to face challenges in re-examining its role and purpose and the part it plays in growing the Kingdom, as do our member Churches. Current world events present many challenges for all Churches worldwide, but also significant opportunities to redefine their true purpose. It is good to be challenged. I have frequent engagement with many of our Churches who come for advice and guidance, this gives me immense satisfaction.
My background is in ‘General Management’ and I have a broad base of experience. Academically I studied at Nottingham Trent University and have an Honours degree in Law. I have an interest in Charity governance.
I was born in Wales and return ‘home’ frequently, and have a Methodist chapel background. I am a passionate rugby supporter and take my seat at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff for most of Wales home matches.
I have participated at a number of CWM meetings and I hope to make a positive contribution to the life and future work of CWM.
Barbara Bridges
I am Rev Barbara Bridges, married with 3 adult children and 5 grandchildren at the last count. Although retired from active Pastoral Ministry in the Congregational Federation I continue to preach in a number of churches and am involved with the CF both at Area and National level.
For the past 4 years I have been a member of the Board of CWM. In addition to attending all Board Meetings I serve as a member of the Programme Reference Group, as a Trustee of CWM Africa NPC and on the Search Committee for the next General Secretary. My involvement with CWM goes back further and I have been involved with a number of programmes at Regional level as well as farther afield. As part of the 40th Anniversary I preached in Jamaica and have taken part in one of the Legacies of Slavery meetings.
Should I be appointed to the next Board I would offer continuity with the current Board. In addition I bring a wealth of experience as a Board Member of a number of Trusts and as Chair of the Board of School Governors of a large Secondary School and Treasurer to a couple of church groupings.
I enjoy sewing, knitting and spending time with my extended family. Since retiring I have joined the local U3A, making new friends while I walk or play the recorder.
Keith Bradley
I am Keith Bradley, married to Sally, a Professor in Higher Education. We have with two grown up boys and four grandchildren and we all live in Sheffield, Yorkshire, England. I have been attending a Congregational church in Sheffield all my life where I have performed most roles from Church Secretary to gardener and I am currently Treasurer and a Deacon.
I am the Chair of the Congregational Federation North East Area and sit on the Federation’s Church Support Committee, Accreditation and Pastoral Care Coordination Group and until last year when my term of office finished, I was a Trustee on the Investment Trust and Trading Board.
I attended the 2014 CWM European Regional Assembly ‘Living in Hope’ in Sheffield and the 2018 European Regional Assembly, ‘Healing for the Broken Body’ in Swanwick, UK. I have a real interest in the work of CWM and it’s involvement in mission worldwide.
I am a retired Emergency Planning Officer, considering the impact and response to disasters. E.g, Natural phenomena, terrorist incidents and transport emergencies amongst others.
My pastimes outside church include supporting Sheffield United in the Football Premier League, walking, playing table tennis and gardening.
Sonya Boyd
I am Sonya Boyd. I am currently at Highbury Congregational Church in Cheltenham. I am a student at the University of Dundee, studying International Relations and Politics and about to enter my 3rd year. Therefore, I end up being quite busy with essays and studying!
My role in CWM will really be starting with this Assembly, and I am excited to share this experience with all of you. I’ve been involved with the church my whole life as my father is a Congregational minister. I’m eager to use this opportunity to branch out into an international context of the church.
I am direct, determined and hard-working, as well as friendly, compassionate and social. I love being around people and listening to and challenging their ideas.
When I’m not producing essays or taking a break from my studies, I love to sing. I am part of an operatic choir in Dundee where we produce annual operas. In the summer of 2019, we produced Giuseppe Verdi’s Macbeth. I also enjoy reading and expanding the genres that I explore.