Reverend Luke Whiteman has been appointed to be our new Vicar at St Swithun's with St Luke's and we look forward to welcoming him and his family to the Parish. His induction when he will be licensed by The Bishop will be on Monday 9th September and in the meantime please read his message to us all:

“Hello, my name is Luke! I am so excited to serve as your vicar, as you enter the next chapter of your amazing history. I thought you might want to know a little about me.

I am married to Emma, who is a civil servant. We have two young sons, who will be hard to miss on Sunday mornings as they’re both very chatty and active! Emma and I are really looking forward to putting down roots in East Grinstead and raising our boys here.

I grew up in Eastbourne, studied in Norwich and worked as a chartered accountant for 10 years before training for ministry in South London. I led a small church in Clapham alongside my ordination training at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford and then joined Christ Church Gipsy Hill, where I worked as curate and then led the church through their vacancy. As a church leader my passions are speaking about God’s Word, mission and building communities of joy.

Psalm 16 talks about how in God’s presence we find the fullness of joy, and to me the bedrock of a good church is joy. Church should be a place where you come as you are to relieve burdens or to celebrate good times, and where you come into the presence of God through meeting the person in the pew next to you. I will be praying that you know the joy of Jesus in your midst over these coming months.”

I am so looking forward to getting to know you all, and serving as your vicar will be an honour and a privilege.

Rev Luke Whiteman