Meet the Congregation
Ron and Chris Carter
We were each brought up in Christian homes, where it was normal to attend Church at least twice on Sundays; however, gradually over time, we drifted away from regular worship. Fortunately, God had his hand on each of us and our faith was reawakened: Chris in the 1970s and Ron just a little later (although we had not met by that time!). We were each widowed in the 1980s and we married in 1991, attending Church together locally. During the early years of our married life we felt drawn into the life of Christ Church and believe that is where God wants us to be to serve and worship Him. Although we are part of the older generation we are still able to take an active part in Church life: we can no longer run around with the children, but Chris is able to help with crèche and to deal with the administrative side of Child Protection issues. Chris is also a member of the Parochial Church Council. Due to our personal experience of bereavement we are available to be bereavement visitors when the need arises, and to help run the church’s daytime bereavement self-help group ‘Oasis’. We are no longer able to climb ladders to clean gutters or to do other heavy work to keep the church and grounds looking neat, but we are able to clean the church and to make bacon butties to fortify the younger workers! We believe that as time goes by and we are less able to be active within the life of the church, we shall still be able to pray. It is good to know that God has a place for everyone, and we are delighted to be part of the life of Christ Church, Flackwell Heath and trust that we are fulfilling His will for us.
Bob and Lynda Tibbles
We retired from work in 2006, Bob was an engineering Project Manager in Manufacturing and Construction and Lynda a book keeper. We originally came from Manchester which we left in 1976, moved to Warwick were we spent almost 10 years. We came to Flackwell Heath in 1985 and have lived here ever since. We now regularly play bowls at Loudwater and Handy Cross, are members of Northants County Cricket Club and regularly visit our family in and around Manchester and Warwick. As children we attended church then gave up in our teens, that is, apart from the obligatory weddings, funerals and christenings. Life has been busy in the last 40 years or so mostly with work and we didn't have any inclination for religion or for the church. It was in response to a conversation at the bowls club, that we found and then went along to Christ Church's Alpha course in Autumn 2009. Amazingly, during the course we found Jesus once again, we rekindled our faith in GOD and the Holy Spirit and so we are now regular worshippers at Christ Church. Since November 2009 our lives have changed significantly, we have become members of the Church and fully joined in the religious, spiritual and social activities. Joining Christ Church is like taking on a new family and we have made new friends both young and old, everyone has been very helpful in bringing us into the Church and accepting us into the community. Lynda has joined Coffee Stop, Bob is to be a helper on the next Alpha Course and goes along to the “Fellaship” meetings, and we both have been adopted by an existing home group. We are keen to join in the caring activities of the Church so it looks like we're to be very busy again, but for now we will build on our new found faith and enjoy worshipping with our friends and church family.