By Hayley Beckett on 24th July 2023
The name of the Rev David Mayne, Lead Pastor at Shoeburyness & Thorpe Bay Baptist Church (STBBC) in Essex, was brought to a General Meeting of the Eastern Baptist Association (EBA) on 16th July 2023 and the meeting voted to call him to serve as the new Regional Minister Team Leader for the Association.
David will join the EBA team in November, and will serve alongside current Regional Ministers Rev Claire Blatchford, Rev Gale Richards and Association Secretary Hayley Beckett.
At the General Meeting, all those involved in the appointment process, from the EBA and the wider Baptist Union, were thanks for their contributions, and the wider Association community were thanked for their prayers. The meeting heard how the appointment panel and then the EBA trustees unanimously decided to propose David for the role.
David has been at STBBC for twelve years, and before this he served for six years at Selsdon Baptist Church in Croydon.
Throughout his ministry David has always been engaged with wider Baptist life, including serving as Moderator of Baptist Union Council from 2015-2021, and being part of teams working across the European Baptist Federation from to 2018-2022. From 2012-2016 he served as Moderator of the EBA and during that time was able to get a good appreciation of the way the EBA works and some of the challenges the EBA faces.
Throughout their appointment process the Association emphasised their need for someone to help the EBA navigate through a period of significant change with creativity and a heart for building relationships. Reflecting on the appointment, EBA Moderator Rev Fiona Heddle said, ‘Our search for an RMTL has at time felt a long one but God has been at work, and we are delighted to welcome David to the EBA team. We look forward to his collaborative leadership and will be praying for the whole team as they get to know one another and work out what the team might look like in this new phase of our journey together. We face some big challenges as an Association, David is a creative, strategic thinker with a generous, kind heart who seeks to follow where the Holy Spirit leads.’
Reflecting on his appointment, David said, ‘I will miss my ministry at STBBC very much, but the call to this new role has grown and been made clear in lots of ways over recent weeks. I’m excited about getting started and encouraging and supporting all our EBA ministers and churches. God is at work doing new things inside and outside the Church, and so our mission and ministry must always be looking for signs of the Spirit, trusting that the future is bigger than the past. I’m pleased to be part of leading the EBA into that future.’
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