"Biggest Act of Faith"
American Training Posts for Woodley Church Army Evangelists
For nine years Church Army's Richard and Mandy Priestley have faithfully established and developed the Emmanuel church plant in Woodley, Reading, but are now set to leave that challenging ministry for an even more awesome task. With their daughters Elsbeth (5) and Francesca (3), they will uproot and base their ministry and make their home in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, as Richard has been appointed Church Army National Director of Training with Mandy the National Director of Vocations.
Commented Richard (37): "It is the biggest act of faith either of us has ever undertaken. Church Army in America, though very small, has a vision to train 1,000 evangelists for the Episcopal Church. At present there are only six fulltime Church Army Evangelists and about 30 others who are either retired or ordained. Whilst not denying evangelistic gifts in these two groups of people, neither is able to concentrate fully or full time on winning others for Christ or taking up the opportunities to equip Christians for outreach. A few are now in training but have no idea when they will be commissioned for ministry."
He described how in 1927 the founder of Church Army, an unconventional Church of England clergyman called Prebendary Wilson Carlile, visited New York with 40 British Church Army Evangelists. They were asked to create an indigenous model, with the main aim being to plant churches among the poor in the cities.
Pittsburgh used to be known as "Steeltown" and boasts 47 steel bridges over its waterways. Richard has recently spent more than a fortnight in the Pittsburgh hoping to find somewhere to live. He stated: "By a miracle of God we have had an offer accepted on a house in Ambridge, Pennsylvania, 17 miles out of Pittsburgh along the Ohio river. The house is fantastic and we got it well under the appraised value, God must have wanted us there."
All the main packing has been completed and through September they will be saying local farewells. Their final church service will be on 15th October. After a short break, they will fly to America to begin their five year mission to help bring about the American Church Army's vision.
Richard added: "My salary is guaranteed for the first six months. After that, I have to raise about $50,000 in order to live and meet ministry expenses. That certainly changes the way you look at things. My first task is to understand what training has been done and then develop the most appropriate model. They are getting so many requests to provide Church Army Evangelists so we are certainly apprehensive, but really excited by the challenge God has given us. Woodley has been our home and we consider ourselves as missionaries going out from Emmanuel Church."
With a team of nine other people, Richard and Mandy started Emmanuel in 1991 in the church hall of St John's Church in Southlake Crescent. Now with an active all-member ministry, Emmanuel is to be led by Lyn Comerford who is soon to be ordained.
Said Mandy (35): "Emmanuel is the sending Church and my first role in America is to settle the children. In the State of Pennsylvania, children do not have to be registered for school until aged eight, so we are considering home schooling to begin with. Leaving Woodley will be a big wrench for them. Over there I shall have to encourage vocations and cope with the vast distances involved. The nearest candidate to Pittsburgh is 600 miles away, and I shall have to set up a process where I might not need to see the person face to face."
The Rev Fred Woods, Team Rector of the Woodley Team Ministry, commented: "Richard and Mandy are going to be greatly missed by Emmanuel Church which they started nine years ago and which has become an accepting, outward-looking and generous group of Christians. They will also be missed by colleagues, local schools and by the parent church of St John for their humour and evangelistic energy."
For a photo call, interview, or any further information please contact Les Tennant, Church Army Press and Media Officer (Tel: 01235 531623 Church Army HQ is at Marlowe House, 109 Station Road, Sidcup, Kent, DA15 7AD, UK (Tel: 020 8318 1226)
