The Reverend Corin Child - Vicar of St John's
The Vicar of St John’s is Rev Corin Child. He is married to Nichola, and they have three children.
Corin has been the Vicar of St John’s since February 2007. Before that, he worked in a team of four churches in South Croydon. Before being ordained as a Church of England minister, he worked variously as a primary schools visitor, a language teacher and a window cleaner!
Corin’s Christian faith came into focus at secondary school. His early and occasional thoughts about ‘being right with God’ came under the microscope when he attended his school’s Christian Union, where the significance of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ were explained. His coming to faith was cautious and thoughtful, but he had experiences of church and of Christian projects after school which showed Christian living and thinking to be purposeful and positive, and which have left him with a desire to share with other people the strength for living that he has found through praying, reading the Bible and meeting with other Christians.
The idea of the church behaving as a family is important for Corin. He has worked with asylum seekers and refugees, with schoolchildren and the elderly, with professional people and with people suffering from mental health problems. He hopes that the church can be a place where all these people are welcome, just as Jesus Christ welcomed people from all backgrounds.
In church life, Corin especially enjoys the ‘up-front’ part of his job, whether this is opening up the Bible in a Sunday service, taking a school assembly, or teaching at the College of West Anglia (where he is the chaplain). He is most encouraged when church members find the energy and the inspiration to take on an activity and make it work well. He is pleased to be part of a church which is outward-looking and has good links with neighbours and the community.
Corin also enjoys the creative side of church life, and considers it a real achievement whenever people join together to produce music, art or poetry, especially to be creative in the name of the Creator. He is a musician himself and has written a Grove booklet on the subject of creative writing in the church (see http://www.grovebooks.co.uk/cart.php?target=product&product_id=17324&category_id=288).
Corin is also a committee member of the Association of Christian Writers. You can find out more about ACW at www.christianwriters.org.uk.
Corin plays various sports, especially football, running and tennis. He used to play rugby, but found that after the age of 30 his body didn’t seem to be coping with it as well! He also dabbles in gardening and carpentry, more out of curiosity than expertise.
Elizabeth Pitcher - Churchwarden
Since arriving in King’s Lynn in 1978, newly married to David, I have been a fully involved member of St John’s, a place in which I feel I belong. We continued to worship here as a couple and then as a family. Our two sons were welcomed as babies, and as they grew up they became actively involved themselves in the life of the church, until leaving for university. So we continue!
Prayer, planning, partnership, people, practicalities and pondering! These words seem to capture the essence of my role here at St John’s, where I have served as warden for about nine years. I am a member of the deanery synod, the music group, a range of committees, lay chair of the PCC and one of the worship leaders. Yes, I do feel I belong!
A little bit more about myself. As an independent education consultant, I am concerned with priorities within the education sector. I undertake a range of consultancy in England and elsewhere and much enjoying liaising with other professionals in this field. I am interested in the arts, and enjoy singing the King’s Lynn Festival Chorus and being involved in the educational aspects of the King’s Lynn Arts Centre. I like to take time to write poetry and enjoy the relaxation of gardening and travel.
Hallo folks. I’m Nessie Rosier, churchwarden at St. John’s, just beginning my second year so still quite new to the job. In the picture I’m the one with grey hair – you can see who’s boss in my house!
I have a background of working in the health services and came from Essex to live in King’s Lynn about 15 years ago when I married my husband John. We had met on holiday in Israel 2 years previously. Sadly John died 4 years ago. I have family, but no one who lives really close, so it’s good to have a caring church family to relate to.
I am surprised to find myself a churchwarden! Having been brought up in a United Reformed church I didn’t really know what a churchwarden was or did. In the course of my career I moved around quite a bit, worshipping with whichever local church I felt at home. I eventually joined an Anglican church, was confirmed, took an active part in church life, but managed to avoid things like PCC. So the invitation to stand for churchwarden at St. John’s came as a bit of a shock, and I did not feel informed or prepared sufficiently to make a decision. The book I read about the role and responsibilities of a churchwarden caused me to lie awake at night worrying about legal and financial penalties I might bring upon myself due to mistakes made! However eventually, after praying about it for some time, I agreed.
I am finding it quite rewarding to be more deeply involved; at the same time being conscious of how much I don’t know and glad that there are others around, particularly the vicar and my co-warden, who know the ropes. Each brings his/her own knowledge, experience and values to their job. I care about God, and about people and their needs, and encouraging people in prayer and bible reading – both individually and in groups. These things help us to live as Jesus’ disciples day by day and that for me is what it’s all about.
Eleta Swales - Office Administrator
Hi my name is Eleta Swales and I’m the office administrator for St John’s. I began working in the church office in May 2005 as a volunteer, filling in whilst the administrator was away – somehow, I ended up staying!
My first contact with St John’s began in 1998 when the then vicar of St John’s, the Reverend Canon Simon Stokes was Chaplin at the College of West Anglia, King’s Lynn, where I was working. Simon had a secret weapon, as a near sighted person he had a guide dog called Jamie! As a person who loves dogs – I myself, have a Dalmatian called Molly, who sometimes acts as ‘official welcomer’ to the church office, I was a captive audience!
Simon use to visit each admin centre and I soon realised he was a kind, generous, supportive person and very easy to talk to. At Christmas time I attend the Guide Dogs Carol Service (which is always held at St John’s) then St John’s Carol Service and the Christmas Day Service. I loved it! The warmth and friendliness of church members was instantly noticeable as I was made to feel very welcome. I later decided, I would attend St John’s and explore my faith, which eventually led me to being employed as Office Administrator.
The warmth and friendliness is still there and as an employee I feel supported and cared for. This caring extends to my family, my two daughters, sister and brothers. All of whom have had problems. Members do ask after them, offer to help in any way and prays for them.
Monday mornings at St John’s always start with a bible reading, prayers and most importantly, a cup of tea and a piece of cake! We discuss and plan the week ahead, voice our concerns and just generally update each other on what’s been happening. It’s an excellent way to start the week!
Leslie Judd - Church Treasurer
What is it like being the Church Treasurer, and what does it involve?
I suppose I became Treasurer almost be accident - however the PCC (the church council) would say that it was God-given! Having moved back to King’s Lynn in December 2006, after 19 years in Essex, I immediately returned to St John’s the following spring. Attending the annual meeting, I offered my services, saying that I had, in Essex, been Churchwarden, led prayers, preached and been treasurer of a drama group.
That was it - the Church had been praying for a new treasurer as they knew that my predecessor was hoping to ‘retire’ once his daughter was ordained (he travelled up from south of Bishop’s Stortford). I said that I would consider the role - I met with Peter a few times that autumn and it was agreed that I would take over for the financial year starting 1st January 2008.
What qualifications did I have? None especially, apart from a healthy knowledge of budgets and financial reporting through my work, common sense, an interest in financial affairs, good general knowledge, oh, and of course useful experience of Excel spreadsheets - all good accounts are computerised these days!!
So I worked my way through the spreadsheets, and the various funds. I eventually got to grips with the payroll and HMRC. The biggest problem was that our income was continuing to decline, whilst our expenditure was continuing to rise – this was a problem that had to be resolved by the Vicar, myself and the PCC. It can be a challenge keeping church costs covered (and we haven’t replaced the roof yet…)
Being Treasurer, I set the budgets for the coming year, as well as asking people to come up with fundraising suggestions and ideas, I’ve got a few, but they all need man power and volunteers to run them. If anyone can or wants to help, then let me know!