Our Present Diaconate
Elisabeth
(2021 - )
I grew up in Paignton Devon where my parents were members of the Exclusive Brethren and so my early teaching was with them. At the age of twelve I confessed Jesus as my Saviour but had little understanding of what it meant for Him to be my Lord. By the year 1970 my husband and I felt that we should leave the Exclusive Brethren and eventually we started attending an Evangelical Church in Maidstone (where we had lived since we married in 1959) and I realised what real Christianity was about.
Although having been baptised as a baby, the Lord indicated clearly that I should be baptised as a believer, which is then what happened. We attended this fellowship for 33 years during which time I was a Sunday School teacher and also on the Leadership Team.
My husband, Arthur, and I have four adult married children, twelve grandchildren and, currently, seven great grandchildren who are all such a blessing to us.
Having been a ‘stay at home mother’ for many years, I felt the Lord was asking me to set up a Christian Counselling Service. This eventually took off in January 1991 and is still in operation today. After a lot of training, I became an accredited counsellor and managed the running and organising of this Service for 23 years when I finally felt it was time to retire and move to Whitstable to be near most of our family.
We have attended Whitstable Baptist Church for the past seven and half years and have experienced a real welcome and love together with biblical teaching.
To be have been nominated to be a deacon came as a great shock – but I am putting my trust in God to equip me for whatever He wants me to do for Him and his people.
Elisabeth