People

Jen joined Crosslands after more than 25 years working in organisational leadership and management consulting for government and private sector clients. Originally from South Africa, she lives in Newcastle where her husband Hugo is pastor of Christ Church Newcastle. She is a trustee of Stewardship, and teaches on Christian leadership, organisational health and governance.

Tim is a founding faculty member of Crosslands and is based in Derbyshire where he is involved in Peak Trinity Church. He is author of over 30 books and commentaries including You Can Change, A Meal with Jesus, and Enjoying God. He leads on Doctrine and Pastoral Studies for Crosslands Seminary, and oversees the Crosslands Foundation, Basecamp and Lifelong curricula.

Before joining Crosslands full time, Dan was College Director for Oak Hill Theological College. A former UCCF worker with a PhD in Theology and Religious Studies, Dan lives in Gateshead with his wife Elly and most of their seven children, where they are part of Hope Community Church. He is author of several books, co-founder of The Southgate Fellowship, a trustee of Tyndale House and contributing editor for Themelios.

Catherine qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 2010 and worked in audit for PwC before joining Crosslands. Originally from Northern Ireland, Catherine now lives in the west of Newcastle with her husband and three children. They are part of a team that has started a new church in West Denton. Catherine also serves as a school governor at a local primary school.

Tim is a founding faculty member of Crosslands and is based in Derbyshire where he is involved in Peak Trinity Church. He is author of over 30 books and commentaries including You Can Change, A Meal with Jesus, and Enjoying God. He leads on Doctrine and Pastoral Studies for Crosslands Seminary, and oversees the Crosslands Foundation, Basecamp and Lifelong curricula.

Before joining Crosslands full time, Dan was College Director for Oak Hill Theological College. A former UCCF worker with a PhD in Theology and Religious Studies, Dan lives in Gateshead with his wife Elly and most of their seven children, where they are part of Hope Community Church. He is author of several books, co-founder of The Southgate Fellowship, a trustee of Tyndale House and contributing editor for Themelios.

Nathan is married to Sian and they have three children: Ben, Isaac, and Hannah. From 2013-2024 he was Associate Pastor of Moorlands Church Lancaster, where he is still an elder; before then he trained at Oak Hill Theological College. He is studying for a PhD in the book of Proverbs, and teaches Biblical Studies at Crosslands.

Jonathan is a member of the Faculty of Crosslands and Cross-Cultural Lead Tutor. Prior to his involvement with Crosslands, he worked in Cambodia with OMF in rural church planting. Alongside his work with Crosslands he is Resources and Materials Developer for 2.19 Teach to Reach, a ministry which supports churches to use English teaching as a means of cross-cultural outreach. He is part of Christ Church Fulwood in Sheffield and has previously worked in international student ministry.

Jen joined Crosslands after more than 25 years working in organisational leadership and management consulting for government and private sector clients. Originally from South Africa, she lives in Newcastle where her husband Hugo is pastor of Christ Church Newcastle. She is a trustee of Stewardship, and teaches on Christian leadership, organisational health and governance.

Mel is a leading specialist in Children’s and Youth Ministry. She is now executive director of Growing Young Disciples, with that includes leading the Children’s and Youth programmes for Keswick Ministries and Word Alive. Mel also developed the resources and teaching curriculum for the Gospel Coalition’s New City Catechism for Kids.

Colin is the pastor of Carrickmacross Baptist Church in the Republic of Ireland. Following an early career as a Maths teacher, Colin completed studies at Oak Hill Theological College before moving into paid ministry, and has also studied at the Irish Baptist College. He is married to Tanya and has three daughters.

Helen is the Director of Training and Resources at Biblical Counselling UK and attends Dundonald Church, Raynes Park where she is involved in international work and pastoral care. She is also a writer and speaker whose publications include: Purity is Possible, Walking with Domestic Abuse Sufferers, Five Things to Pray for your City, and Hope in an Anxious World.

Matthew is based in Salisbury. For 12 years, he served as a pastor in the UK and USA. Alongside his role with Crosslands, he serves as Assistant Director of the Pastors’ Academy. He has written on various cultural, theological and ethical issues, is the English voice on the Church Podmatics podcast, and is endlessly fascinated by the intersection of doctrine and ethics as related aspects of the ministry of God’s Word to God’s world.

Stephen is the pastor of Calvary Church Castlebar in the West of Ireland. He studied and worked in Computer Science before training for ministry at Oak Hill College. He is a mission partner with UFM Worldwide and has been a tutor with Crosslands since 2017. He is married to Nikki and has four children.

Toby is a pastor at Grace Church, in Boroughbridge, a small market town in North Yorkshire. He did his theological training through the Crosslands MA programme. He and his wife, Beth, have been in Boroughbridge since 2018. Prior to that, Toby worked for a church in Berkshire, and did a part-time ministry training course in London.

James is an Assistant Pastor at Kensington Baptist Church in Bristol. Having first worked as a solicitor, James left the law in 2019 to train for pastoral ministry. He has completed the Crosslands MA and is currently studying for a PhD with Union Theological College in Belfast. James is married to Helena and they have two young children.

Graeme, his wife Bequi and their three children live in Moldova, where they serve as Crosslinks Mission Partners. Graeme co-pastors a local evangelical church in the capital Chisinau, and is also involved in a number of evangelistic and discipleship-focused ministries. Graeme tutors students who are on the cross-cultural track.

I was the minister of East London Tabernacle Baptist Church for 36 years until my retirement 3 years ago. During my time at ELT I taught contemporary church history at the London Seminary. I went some 17 times to Myanmar (Burma) teaching expository preaching seminars and more recently to Madagascar where I helped in the training programme of the Bible Baptist churches in a remote town called Mandritsara. In my retirement my main focus is working with Christian Heritage London where I specialise in leading tours of the National Gallery and the Victoria and Albert Museum. I have recently published my third book entitled The Titus Revolution (Grace Publications). I am married to Alison and we have two children and four grandchildren. W|e live in Hackney in London.

Ján is the president of The Gospel Coalition in Slovakia. He studied at London School of Theology and Charles University in Prague. Before retirement he served as pastor of Evangelical Free Church and then its president. He was also senior lecturer in Systematic Theology at Matej Bel University in Banská Bystrica.

Jon is the associate pastor with responsibility for small groups and pastoral care at Grace Community Church, Bedford. After four years at Oak Hill, he initially joined the church in 2013 for two years in a training role, but ended up staying on, initially as the church’s CAP centre manager and associate pastor with responsibility for mission. Jon is married to Lois, has two sons, and together they have one dog and varying numbers of other small pets.

Following an early career in Education, Neil became a church pastor. He is currently senior pastor at Headley Park Church, a church revitalisation in Bristol which aims to reach two predominately white, working class, communities with the gospel. Neil’s first wife, Elaine, died in 2015. He married Susan in 2018 and together they are raising two teenage sons.

Peter serves on the staff of Hill Street Presbyterian church in Lurgan, Northern Ireland. He is passionate about helping young people engage with the Bible and also keen to see youth ministry practitioners trained to teach the Bible faithfully and creatively. His teaching experience includes the PCI Youth Ministry Course with Union Theological College, Belfast, where he also took his undergrad and MTh degrees. He is married to Linda with a son Tobias.

Duncan is the pastor of Trinity Church Sunderland – a church revitalisation in the middle of the city centre affiliated to the FIEC. Duncan is married to Laura and they have four sons. Duncan was a history teacher before church ministry. He went on to train at Moore Theological College in Sydney and Oak Hill College, London. Duncan is a fan of almost any sport and a cricket tragic in particular.

Scott is married to Alison and they have 4 teenage children (Matthew, Katie, Hannah and Ben). He serves as Lead Pastor at Harvest Glasgow a church he led in planting in 2009. He is also part of the Rooted church planting lead team. He enjoys playing and watching football, reading and caravan holidays.

Felix is part of the Training & Mentoring team at London City Mission, equipping churches and gospel workers for inner-city evangelism and cross-cultural disciple-making. He has a BA in Theological & Pastoral Studies and is currently studying for a Masters in African Diaspora Christianity.

Kristi is a Research Fellow at Oak Hill Theological College where she lectures in Philosophy, Ethics, and Apologetics. She is a PhD candidate in philosophical theology at the University of Birmingham. Originally from Hungary, she has previously worked UCCF for eight years, first as a Staff Worker and then as Midlands Assistant Team Leader. She is a writer and speaker who also co-hosts the ‘PEP Talk’ podcast.

After studying at Oak Hill, Alex lived in Novosibirsk, Russia, for thirteen years, serving in Baptist churches and teaching at the local seminary.  He recently returned to the UK with his wife, Nadia, and two sons.  He is currently learning a Caucasian language for a Bible translation project, tutoring at Crosslands and looking for a full-time job.

John was pastor of Lancing Tabernacle in West Sussex until 2020. Since then he has been the Training Director for the School of Preachers Trust, which trains preachers in the UK but mainly in Latvia. He is the Reviews Editor of Evangelicals Now and the author of a book on preaching entitled God is in the House. John is married to Anne, they have three grown up children and four grandchildren.

Andy Weatherley is lead pastor of Grace Church Stirchley, where they planted from City Church Birmingham. Andy has a specific focus on training and coaching church planters and works closely with the Birmingham Collective. He is married to Jo and they have 2 teenage children.

Fiona worked in Newcastle University for nearly ten years before taking on a part-time role in Crosslands managing the Foundation programme and communications and partnerships. Originally from Manchester, she now lives in West Newcastle with her husband and two children, and is involved in a new church in that part of the city.

Gordon was a lecturer in sport management at Northumbria University for 18 years before joining Crosslands as Programme Manager for the Basecamp and Lifelong programmes. He and his wife, Ann, attend Jesmond Parish Church in Newcastle.

Réka completed her Masters degrees in Hungary before she joined various international humanitarian organisations to work and serve around the world for almost a decade. She met her British husband while working in West Africa and now they live in Newcastle with their 2 huskies, where they attend International Harvest Church.

Before joining Crosslands, Ruth studied maths at Durham University, was a Relay worker with UCCF, and taught in North Africa for a year. Originally from the south of England, she now lives in Durham and attends Kings Church.

Jason is a gifted illustrator and educator, bringing his learning design expertise to all our programmes following more than 25 years as an secondary school teacher. Jason’s other projects include video stories, infographic design, and numerous illustration and visualisation collaborations including Joseph and the Triumph of Grace published by the Scottish Bible Society. He and his family live in Worthing where they are part of Maybridge Community Church.

Catherine qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 2010 and worked in audit for PwC before joining Crosslands. Originally from Northern Ireland, Catherine now lives in the west of Newcastle with her husband and three children. They are part of a team that has started a new church in West Denton. Catherine also serves as a school governor at a local primary school.

Jen joined Crosslands after more than 25 years working in organisational leadership and management consulting for government and private sector clients. Originally from South Africa, she lives in Newcastle where her husband Hugo is pastor of Christ Church Newcastle. She is a trustee of Stewardship, and teaches on Christian leadership, organisational health and governance.

Ian is CEO of Christianity Explored and also a member of the Oak Hill College Council. He has particular expertise in finances and operating an international ministry, and is a member of Purley Baptist Church.

Scott was born and raised in a mining village in Barnsley. At the age of 21 he started working for a Church on the Wirral, and has worked full-time in church leadership since then apart from a three-year stint studying at Oak Hill Theological College in London. Since 2008 Scott has had the joy of serving Christ and His people in the city of Hull where he is the lead pastor of Christ Church Newland. He’s married to Laura and they have three children, Benjamin, Ruth and Samuel.

Melinda is working on an MA in Spiritual Formation at Gordon-Conwell Seminary. She was previously on the senior ministry team at All Souls, Langham Place where she led the Ministry Training Scheme and where she remains a member of the congregation. She is a trustee of Living Leadership. She is married to Ross.

Claire is based in the East Midlands. She is a Human Factors consultant, working mostly in transportation – trying to make transport great for all kinds of people. She has been on the Cultivate course since Jan 2023, with a focus on artificial intelligence. So far this has involved a lot of reading, some great discussions, a bunch of writing and some podcast/presentations here and there. She is excited about the opportunities for the gospel that are presented by people’s hopes, fears and questions about artificial intelligence.

Jonny is based in Oxfordshire where he lives with his wife and two young children. He works for Christians in Sport, helping elite and amateur sportspeople connect their sport and faith, as well as co-leading a church in his town. He has been on the Cultivate programme since January 2024 with a focus on sport. With sport being one of, if not the, leading past-time in our culture as well as a vocation for many elite athletes, it is essential the church is equipped to both pastor and reach sportspeople with gospel. Jonny is excited about looking into this more in the coming months and continuing to produce training and resources to help all involved in sport connect their passion with their faith.

Beth lives in Norwich and works as the field administrator for the Centre for Bioethical Reform UK (CBR UK). Her area of study in Cultivate is around a practical theology of place, exploring how God interacts with places and how an understanding of this could help the local church.

Steve is the pastor of West Kilburn Baptist Church, a church revitalisation project in London’s most ethnically diverse borough. Having joined the Cultivate programme in 2023 he has been considering how attitudes to race and ethnicity shape our churches engagement in global and local mission.

Jim works full time as the Team Leader for UCCF in the Midlands region where he supports Christian students in living and speaking for Jesus during their time at University. He and his wife, Eve, live in Kenilworth and Jim also serves as part of the leadership team of Kenilworth Community Church. Jim’s research interest is the doctrine of common grace – especially as it is articulated and defended in the theology of Abraham Kuyper.  He enjoys drinking tea, talking theology and quoting Taylor Swift – ideally at the same time.

Ryan is based in Belfast, where he works as a Civil Servant. He joined cultivate in the inaugural 2023 cohort, with a focus on exploring questions around language and theology through the lens of poetry