Who's Who at Eltham Park Methodist Church

Rev'd Stephen Maunder
The Minister at Eltham Park

Stephen is the minister for Eltham Park Methodist Church, and for the Methodist Church in Lewisham.  He also has a wider role in supporting the other Methodist Churches in the area.   He joined Eltham Park in September 2011.

“For most of my working life so far, I worked for Education Departments offering a service for children with special needs.   The move into ministry took place in 1999, and although it was a significant change both for me and for our family, it was also a reasonably natural progression as I had been preaching and taking services since my early twenties.

I believe that our churches need to be places of welcome where through our worship and fellowship, we come closer to knowing the presence of God more deeply in our everyday lives.   In matters of faith we can come up against some difficult questions and experiences, and churches should be places where such questions can be asked - even when the answers are not easy to find.

I was born in Oxfordshire, but we have moved around the country quite a bit, with homes in places as diverse as Dundee, Newcastle, Peterborough and Guernsey.    It is now good to be here with all that London has to offer on the doorstep.

Garry Young
Local Preacher

Garry Young regularly leads services in this and other Methodist churches in the area. He has been a local preacher since 1998, but this is not his job.

“I do it because I believe I have a very important role to play in proclaiming the Christian message of God’s love for all. In a practical sense, the Methodist church relies heavily on its local preachers as they lead about four out of every five church services. But their importance is much larger than this.

I believe that it is essential that ordinary men and women can stand up and talk about their faith and relate it to the world around them. A crucial aspect of this we come from all walks of life and often have very different perspectives.

My own background is that I am a Londoner and I work as a professional economist giving advice on setting interest rates. Other local preachers have different backgrounds and so are able to talk about their faith from different angles and apply it to different situations.

 We are not saints, although we try to live good lives, and we are not experts on the Bible, although we are fairly well versed in it, but together we are able to present a faith that connects with the experiences of the people who come into the church.

Faith is mysterious. I believe, many don’t. Why is this?
I think it’s deliberate. God reveals just enough of himself that there is room for both faith and doubt. This gives us a choice of whether to follow him or not and it is in the following that we find him.

For all his words, John Wesley’s testimony to God is that he found his ‘heart strangely warmed’. I think I know what he means”.

Marion Thompson
Brownies Leader and Church member

Eltham Park Methodist has been my family’s Church since the 1920s. Now I lead the Brownies pack and am involved in a several groups within the church which aim to encourage the involvement of the local community, particularly young families, in worship and activities at Eltham Park.

My Christian faith is important to me and I try to demonstrate the meaning of my Christian faith in the way I live my life.  I have recently retired but my working life centred on working with young families and providing  health and social care services to support them in the difficult job if raising  children in the inner city.

Megan Roberts

I have been going to Eltham Park Methodist Church for about 45 years and was once a Sunday School teacher here.

I am currently a church steward and Missions Secretary. I am involved in a number of voluntary projects in the local community, especially those which work with people with learning difficulties.

 

Anita McKenzie - Church Development Worker

Anita is employed by the Blackheath and Lewisham circuit to manage premises bookings at Eltham Park and Sunfields Methodist Churches. You can email her to make booking inquiries.