New Baptist senior church leader for NWCT
Rev David Mayne, Regional Minister Team Leader for the Eastern Baptist Association is the new Baptist senior church leader on Churches Together in Norfolk and Waveney (NWCT), here he introduces himself and outlines his hopes for ecumenism across the area
Rev David Mayne
Regional Minister Team Leader for the Eastern Baptist Association and member of NWCT
Dear Friends
I’m pleased to have the opportunity to greet you all in this way. I’ve been so encouraged by the work of Churches Together in Norfolk and Waveney over these past few months, and I am hopeful for all that lies ahead as we seek to serve God together.
In November 2023 I took up my post as the Regional Minister Team Leader for the Eastern Baptist Association. Together with my colleagues, we serve 170ish churches across Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, and Cambridgeshire. Prior to this I served in local church ministry in Croydon and Southend.
Throughout my ministry I have also supported national Baptist life in a variety of ways, including through the work of the Joint Public Issues Team (JPIT), a joint endeavour of the Methodist Church, United Reformed Church, Baptist Union, and Church of Scotland. JPIT seeks to help churches work together for peace and justice through listening, learning, praying, and taking action on public policy issues.
It is a constant joy to see the impact churches have in working together to speak out on the environment and on poverty, pooling our ideas and resources to better become a society which welcomes the stranger and priorities the marginalised. This work, alongside our historic commitments to build friendships with one another and live well together in our local contexts, can bring energy and life to our ecumenism.
Engaging with social and political issues also provides our churches with opportunities to build links with others in our communities. Many of our Foodbanks have volunteers from beyond the churches that host them, and there are plenty of people in every village, town and city who want us to do more to tackle climate change. We will be far more effective at bringing Kingdom change about if we can develop relationships with the people of peace around us. Far from being irrelevant or hunkered down, our churches can be hubs of connection and change, bringing new life and the justice of the Kingdom of God more into view, and into the daily experiences of our communities.
As Baptist churches, we always start at the grassroots. Change starts with individuals working together and local churches partnering with one another. It is my hope that in the years ahead we can continue to play our part in those partnerships, working with sisters and brothers from other denominations to create places of sanctuary and joy for everyone. It’s not always easy work, I know, but I have been privileged to see it happen in so many places, and I hear such excellent stories from so many of our churches. I’m very much looking forward to visiting groups and projects in the years ahead, and to hearing more from across Norfolk and Waveney.
Rev David Mayne
Photo courtesy of the Eastern Baptist Association