About Stephen
Stephen and his wife Linda live in Kirkham and for 13 years Stephen managed the Face To Face Homelessness Charity merging it into Fylde Coast YMCA some ten years ago. As Housing Director at the YMCA, Stephen was responsible for developing various community projects including The Credit Union and Fylde Counselling Service.
Reflecting on his former appointments in East London and Newcastle-on-Tyne of working as Methodist Minister, Hospital Chaplain and part time tutor with the Urban Theology Unit in Sheffield, Stephen is clearly committed to encouraging individuals and communities to be honest about their hopes and needs and finding how faith in God can help them be met in Body, Mind and Spirit.
| Stephen is our Minister but is already known to us and well known on the Fylde Coast having lived and worked in Fylde for 18 years and prior to that he was a Minister in Blackpool. |
Stephen's Message
Working to a deadline is always a challenge. I’m someone who tends to be last minute on the day rather than days before.
In my early twenties I was often accused of missing family birthdays but my response was “I didn’t forget their birthday, the card was written and the envelope stamped I just forgot to post it!” But dates matter and a birthday card, even in mature years, arriving late can diminish the greeting.
Uncertainty of dates throughout the process of our withdrawal from the European Union and the start of the vaccination programme may be ‘the beginning of the end’ but no one has clarity about the actual end date. Dates matter for they are part of the framework of life.
Christmas celebrations are thin this year but that helps us focus on the main event Christmas Day, the birth of a baby in Bethlehem. Generations had waited long but still missed it when it came because it wasn’t what they expected.
It is after all an event in history, linked to a national census, a named location and with the clarity of hindsight foretold and confirmed, hence we speak of before Christ (BC) and after Christ (AD). It shaped history.
2020 years on we celebrate differently but the message is just as relevant as ever. Things people had hoped for are possible because Christ coming to earth made a difference then. The Good News is that God is with us every day, the hard thing is remembering.
In my early twenties I was often accused of missing family birthdays but my response was “I didn’t forget their birthday, the card was written and the envelope stamped I just forgot to post it!” But dates matter and a birthday card, even in mature years, arriving late can diminish the greeting.
Uncertainty of dates throughout the process of our withdrawal from the European Union and the start of the vaccination programme may be ‘the beginning of the end’ but no one has clarity about the actual end date. Dates matter for they are part of the framework of life.
Christmas celebrations are thin this year but that helps us focus on the main event Christmas Day, the birth of a baby in Bethlehem. Generations had waited long but still missed it when it came because it wasn’t what they expected.
It is after all an event in history, linked to a national census, a named location and with the clarity of hindsight foretold and confirmed, hence we speak of before Christ (BC) and after Christ (AD). It shaped history.
2020 years on we celebrate differently but the message is just as relevant as ever. Things people had hoped for are possible because Christ coming to earth made a difference then. The Good News is that God is with us every day, the hard thing is remembering.
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