CASTLEFIELDS CHURCH

Castlefields Church
Traffic Street
Derby
DE1 2NL

© 2008

"We preach Christ crucified"
1 Corinthians 1:23

An independent evangelical church in Derby city centre

Pastor

David and Anne were both born and grew up in Leicester. As they both attended the same Sunday School at Melbourne Hall Evangelical Free Church, they must have met each other at about 5 years of age!

It was through attending the Boys Brigade at Melbourne Hall that David was drawn under the sound of the gospel and into the life of the church. He was converted at the age of 17 through the ministry of Dr Eric Gurr, who was the minister at that time. Anne came to faith in Christ as her Saviour as the age of 12 at a Billy Graham Rally which was relayed from London to a large meeting hall in Leicester.

David joined the Insurance industry straight from school and qualified as a Fellow of the Chartered Insurance Institute. Over the last 35 years he has worked for a number of Insurers and will become full time Pastor at Castlefields Church in March 2008 when he leaves his current post as Regional Manager of NIG Commercial (part of Royal Bank of Scotland).

Although David and Anne have lived in Droitwich Spa for the last 21 years, they have had a long association with Castlefields Church, having been members 30 years ago when they both worked for a time in Derby. During the intervening years Castlefields has run an annual Houseparty holiday and David has been a helper and speaker at every one of the 27 holidays that have taken place. Link to Castlefields Houseparty.

David began preaching at the age of 21 after he and two close friends felt the call of God to engage in this work. With the backing of Melbourne Hall, the three of them began to attend The Metropolitan Tabernacle Seminary in London and preach in local chapels & churches wherever they were invited. David's two friends were both called into the full time ministry some years ago but David has continued in secular employment whilst serving as an Elder in Witton Chapel in Droitwich.

David and Anne have four grown up children and have recently moved with two of them from Droitwich to Littleover.

As well as regularly preaching in the church, David will be seeking to engage in gospel ministry in the City, including school assemblies, open air work and evangelism.

David said, "It was a big change for us to leave Droitwich as we were very happy there but the turning point in my life in recent years was a heart attack in 2005. At that time, God brought me to realise that I could no longer continue in a stressful job and be as heavily involved in Christian work as I was. At the same time, the church here in Derby were actively considering calling someone to work full time with them and it is amazing how God has brought us here in such circumstances. We are thankful to Him for this new and exciting opportunity for service in His kingdom."