Archbishop of York sends out New Church Army Evangelists

When the Archbishop of York last week (9th - 10th July) admitted seven Church Army men and women to the Office of Evangelist in the Church, the preacher was the Bishop of Sherborne, the Rt. Rev'd Tim Thornton, himself the son of two Church Army Evangelists who were active in this country and Canada more than 50 years ago.

In his charge to the new Evangelists, Bishop Tim, also thought to be one of the youngest Bishops in the Church of England, warned of the two particular challenges of making right judgements and being too independent. The only way to combat both dangers was to "attain to the unity inherent in our faith and in our knowledge of the Son of God - to maturity measured by nothing less than the full stature of Christ." That had to be their prime concern.

He went on: "Through God's grace, we are all called to maturity in Christ. There is a real danger that we leave people with milk and do not lead them on to real meat. The Church seems sometimes to want people to remain broken and sick and does not place before them a vision of what can be……. In accepting people where they are, the Church has to have a vision of bringing people to where they might be and it needs a style of life that will match that vision. If the broken are to be made whole and the inadequate to be brought face to face with the God who summons us to stand up and set our faces into the wind that blows from his presence, then we must set ourselves norms of wholeness and maturity."

The previous day (Tuesday), the seven were Commissioned into Church Army by Chief Secretary Philip Johanson, having completed their initial training with the Wilson Carlile College of Evangelism in Cavendish Street, Sheffield.

They are:

• Ian Biscoe as Area Evangelist/Church Planter working in the Heyfords with Rousham and Somerton, and Fritwell in the Diocese of Oxford.
• Christopher Brann as Community Centre Manager in the parish of St. Michael, Twerton, in the Diocese of Bath and Wells.
• Elizabeth Bussmann as Parish Evangelist/Church Planter, All Saints with St. Philip with St. Stephen Tovil, Maidstone, in the Diocese of Canterbury.
• Christopher Harrington as Associate Minister and Community Evangelist in the benefice of St. John the Baptist, Spalding and St. Nicholas in Deeping St Nicholas in the Diocese of Lincoln.
• David Clune, as Evangelist and Senior Project Worker in the Cathedral Breakfast and Archer Projects at the Cathedral Church of St. Peter and St. Paul, Sheffield in the Diocese of Sheffield.
• Jackie Recchia as Youth and Community Evangelist for the parish church of St. Elphin with St. John's Mission, Warrington, in the Diocese of Liverpool.
• Timothy Stanford as Evangelist/Church Planter in the parish of St Mary the Virgin with St John the Baptist, Old Harlow, in the Diocese of Chelmsford.