Make a point of visiting us weekly!
Churches
Ashingdon Elim Church
Ashingdon Elim Church
Ashingdon Elim Church
535 Ashingdon Road, Ashingdon, SS5 3HE
535 Ashingdon Road, Ashingdon, SS5 3HE
You will see on other pages of Ashingdon Elim Church, that we are interviewing their various ministers. This is the interview we carried out with Simon Law. As with all the ‘stories’ from church leaders, it is fascinating to see their walk of faith through the years. Simon’s is no less so.
Interview with Simon Law of Ashingdon Elim Church (8th December 2010)
Rochford Life: Simon, what is your role in Ashingdon Elim Church?
Simon: I’m Associate Minister at Ashingdon Elim Church so my role is to support the senior minister, Dave Redbond. I have particular responsibilities for service leading and leading the music group. I tend to lead virtually every service that I am at, but we go round the three churches, so I also lead at Rayleigh and Southend, but I’m mainly based at Ashingdon.
RL: How long have you been doing that now?
Simon: Well I started out at the sister church in Hockley in 2002. I went there and then moved to Ashingdon
RL: What was your church background?
Simon: I had been to church most of my life and became a Christian in my teens. I was very active in Golden Cross Community Church with Stuart Kimber. I was a house group leader and a worship leader and preached, but fell away shortly after my daughter was born and spent two years not going to church very much, probably a bit depressed in I’m honest.
I went through a bad time when I wasn’t getting any sleep and I think I got very low. In that state I began to question everything including my faith which shocked me a bit, and so I pulled right back from leadership and then from church. I was still going occasionally. Golden Cross had shut down by then, which wasn’t helpful from my perspective. We went to Emmanuel Church very briefly.
One day we ended up at the church in the community centre in Hockley, which was the Hockley church plant for the Elim and it was like coming home. It was very odd. They were all fifty plus and at the time we were mid thirties, so they were a good generation older than us but we just felt absolutely at home. We went back the next week and there was a prophetic word that spoke to us ever so clearly and that was it, and we’ve been with the Elim ever since. It was a gradual process of restoration coming back gradually into leadership but building up from nothing, but it’s been really very good. Dave is a really, really good guy and he’s very wise and helpful.
RL: Was this rebuilding intellectual, emotional, relational or what?
Simon: It wasn’t intellectual. I had previously been to Bible College where I’d had the intellectual side. I mean, going right back, I had started out working in a bank for six months as a cashier at eighteen. That didn’t work out. Then I went to work for an Insurance company for a couple of years. Then I decided I wanted to go into IT because that was all very new then, in the mid eighties, so joined a couple of IT companies.
All the time I had felt the call of God to go into the ministry, so I then went to London Bible College. It didn’t turn out as I expected. I was really involved in Golden Cross church and that was brilliant but then when I left, it felt like I was so isolated. In the end I ended up leaving LBC after the Diploma rather than going on for the Degree. I later did a conversion degree at London University in IT, not in theology. I just didn’t feel it was the right time to go into ministry so I went back into IT and worked in IT for a number of years, then had children, went away from God, came back and that’s where this story sort of picks up again.
I was working – and still am – for Ford Motor Company. There came a point where I felt God was calling me into supporting David to be his apprentice – and that’s all I felt, and I told David that. Now I hadn’t known this but the leaders of the Hockley Church had just said to David that they felt it right to step down from leadership and they would be moving on. So there we were the next day, me speaking to him about this. He saw God’s timing in that, and he said, OK, I’d like you to be part of the ministry team.
Now in my old church, ministry team was what we used to call House Groups and so I thought he was asking me to go into a House Group with him and so I said, right, fine. I had no idea that he was inviting me to be a leader in the church, so I was co-opted onto the Church Board and then I applied for ministerial training. There are two main parts to ministerial training. One is called a Licence to Minister in the Elim Church, which is basically a recognition of a local ministry under a senior minister, and the other is Ordination. So I applied for this Licence to Minister but when I rang head office to check one or two things on the form, they said, ‘Oh you don’t want to apply for a Licence to Minister, you might as well apply for Ordination. So, I applied for ordination training and to cut a long story short it all went through.
Looking back I had no idea I would end up leading in the Elim church. While I was with the Anglicans at Emmanuel in Hockley, someone prophesied over me and the person said he could see us in leadership but in a nonconformist church. I had no knowledge or experience of the Elim church and now here I was applying and being accepted for ordination in the Elim Church. After four years I was ordained and that was June this year. At the ordination service I recounted what had happened and realised it had been about twenty seven years since I felt the original call as a teenager. As we drove out of our road to go to that service, there was a rainbow over the end of the road. Now a rainbow in the Bible is a sign of God’s promise or faithfulness, and it’s been a long time for us, these twenty seven years, and I’ve had to walk some difficult paths, some of them of my own making, but God is faithful, and this was really good. So that is how I ended up in ministry in the Elim church working with David.
RL: Such less-than-perfect life stories are very encouraging to the rest of us who often feel less than perfect.
Simon: Yes, when I preach now, I’m very honest. I’ve gone past trying to pretend. We have regular Alpha Courses in the Church which are good opportunities to explore the Christian faith, and honesty is a key part of that. People ask you very honest questions. Last night on the Alpha Course we had the question, ‘If God is so good why is there suffering in the world?’ and these are tough questions and you can give an answer in part but you also recognise that you are part of this journey of understanding yourself. It’s not as if we have an answer book with guaranteed answers for every situation. There is an element of mystery to some of this.
RL: So you are an IT manager for Ford and you are also a Minister in the Elim Church. That sound like a heavy load?
Simon: Yes, well there’s more. Until this last July I was full-time with Ford – and I’m also a foster carer. I’d better explain this. We have two foster children. We were at a Christian Conference and Karen and I had been praying and wondering about fostering. We had a son (11) and daughter (13) already. It just felt like something we should be looking into and we prayed about it while out walking on this day, and felt God was saying yes to this. So we thought we’d try the next step and apply for this.
Now that evening in the meeting there was a speaker and he preached on Christians becoming foster carers and gave the example of him and his wife becoming foster carers and spoke about how Christians get involved with this. It was one of those thunderbolt moments; it was shivers all the way down, it was awesome really. We needed that, looking back, because it is a bit of a commitment, but it’s been very good and we’re now actually the guardians for both the boys and they are with us long-term. It’s been very rewarding but very tough.
After I got ordained earlier this year I went to Ford and asked whether I could go part time and they said yes. So I’m now three days a week, I do a job-share. Local Ford were really a very good employer, so it’s really been very good.
RL: What are your hopes and ambitions for the future now?
Simon: Well for Ford I want to do as good a job for them as I possibly can. I want to be good. I am an IT manager at Fords and I want to contribute to the state of the company there. For ministry, my ambition right now is to be a very active support for David in his ministry.
I also want to have more of an impact on the community of which we’re a part. We’re looking at ways to so if we can open the church, or have some premises where we can actually connect with the community more, whether it be coffee bar, or an area where mums can have a drink and have play areas with the kids, maybe some therapy services. We want to connect more and serve the community. That is definitely my vision. We don’t want to be just meeting on a Sunday. We do a lot in the community anyway but we want to increase that. Recently we’ve been having curry nights which have been very successful. We are opening up the Church for Christmas Day for a meal for anyone who is on their own at Christmas. There are lots of opportunities coming up which we want to take up. It feels like we’ve got exciting times ahead. God is blessing us; we’re growing as a church and it’s quite exciting but we want to connect with the community more.
RL: A final closing sentence: “I love doing my job because...”
Simon: Because it makes a difference!
RL: Well, thank you Simon, for giving us your time and for sharing so honestly about your walk of faith and your hopes for the future. I hope it will be an encouragement to many others.
Interview with Simon Law of Ashingdon Elim Church (8th December 2010)
Rochford Life: Simon, what is your role in Ashingdon Elim Church?
Simon: I’m Associate Minister at Ashingdon Elim Church so my role is to support the senior minister, Dave Redbond. I have particular responsibilities for service leading and leading the music group. I tend to lead virtually every service that I am at, but we go round the three churches, so I also lead at Rayleigh and Southend, but I’m mainly based at Ashingdon.
RL: How long have you been doing that now?
Simon: Well I started out at the sister church in Hockley in 2002. I went there and then moved to Ashingdon
RL: What was your church background?
Simon: I had been to church most of my life and became a Christian in my teens. I was very active in Golden Cross Community Church with Stuart Kimber. I was a house group leader and a worship leader and preached, but fell away shortly after my daughter was born and spent two years not going to church very much, probably a bit depressed in I’m honest.
I went through a bad time when I wasn’t getting any sleep and I think I got very low. In that state I began to question everything including my faith which shocked me a bit, and so I pulled right back from leadership and then from church. I was still going occasionally. Golden Cross had shut down by then, which wasn’t helpful from my perspective. We went to Emmanuel Church very briefly.
One day we ended up at the church in the community centre in Hockley, which was the Hockley church plant for the Elim and it was like coming home. It was very odd. They were all fifty plus and at the time we were mid thirties, so they were a good generation older than us but we just felt absolutely at home. We went back the next week and there was a prophetic word that spoke to us ever so clearly and that was it, and we’ve been with the Elim ever since. It was a gradual process of restoration coming back gradually into leadership but building up from nothing, but it’s been really very good. Dave is a really, really good guy and he’s very wise and helpful.
RL: Was this rebuilding intellectual, emotional, relational or what?
Simon: It wasn’t intellectual. I had previously been to Bible College where I’d had the intellectual side. I mean, going right back, I had started out working in a bank for six months as a cashier at eighteen. That didn’t work out. Then I went to work for an Insurance company for a couple of years. Then I decided I wanted to go into IT because that was all very new then, in the mid eighties, so joined a couple of IT companies.
All the time I had felt the call of God to go into the ministry, so I then went to London Bible College. It didn’t turn out as I expected. I was really involved in Golden Cross church and that was brilliant but then when I left, it felt like I was so isolated. In the end I ended up leaving LBC after the Diploma rather than going on for the Degree. I later did a conversion degree at London University in IT, not in theology. I just didn’t feel it was the right time to go into ministry so I went back into IT and worked in IT for a number of years, then had children, went away from God, came back and that’s where this story sort of picks up again.
I was working – and still am – for Ford Motor Company. There came a point where I felt God was calling me into supporting David to be his apprentice – and that’s all I felt, and I told David that. Now I hadn’t known this but the leaders of the Hockley Church had just said to David that they felt it right to step down from leadership and they would be moving on. So there we were the next day, me speaking to him about this. He saw God’s timing in that, and he said, OK, I’d like you to be part of the ministry team.
Now in my old church, ministry team was what we used to call House Groups and so I thought he was asking me to go into a House Group with him and so I said, right, fine. I had no idea that he was inviting me to be a leader in the church, so I was co-
RL: Such less-
RL: So you are an IT manager for Ford and you are also a Minister in the Elim Church. That sound like a heavy load?
Simon: Yes, well there’s more. Until this last July I was full-
RL: What are your hopes and ambitions for the future now?
Simon: Well for Ford I want to do as good a job for them as I possibly can. I want to be good. I am an IT manager at Fords and I want to contribute to the state of the company there. For ministry, my ambition right now is to be a very active support for David in his ministry.
I also want to have more of an impact on the community of which we’re a part. We’re looking at ways to so if we can open the church, or have some premises where we can actually connect with the community more, whether it be coffee bar, or an area where mums can have a drink and have play areas with the kids, maybe some therapy services. We want to connect more and serve the community. That is definitely my vision. We don’t want to be just meeting on a Sunday. We do a lot in the community anyway but we want to increase that. Recently we’ve been having curry nights which have been very successful. We are opening up the Church for Christmas Day for a meal for anyone who is on their own at Christmas. There are lots of opportunities coming up which we want to take up. It feels like we’ve got exciting times ahead. God is blessing us; we’re growing as a church and it’s quite exciting but we want to connect with the community more.
RL: A final closing sentence: “I love doing my job because...”
Simon: Because it makes a difference!
RL: Well, thank you Simon, for giving us your time and for sharing so honestly about your walk of faith and your hopes for the future. I hope it will be an encouragement to many others.
Pastor David Redbond
01702 548438
dave@ashingdonelim.co.uk
Pastor Simon Law
01702 204326
simon@ashingdonelim.co.uk
Pastor TonyTween
01245 600138
tony@ashingdonelim.co.uk
Pastor Dean Courtier
01702 544179
dean@ashingdonelim.co.uk
To return to the Elim front page, please CLICK HERE
