After 18 wonderful years leading Emmaus Rd church from the back room of a pub to what it is now, Sammy and I stepped down as its Elders and Senior Pastors on Sunday September 14 2025
We will be focusing more of our time on 24-7 Prayer, Waverley Abbey, Lectio 365, Sammy’s counselling practice, and writing.
We couldn’t be more delighted to announce that the new Lead Pastor of Emmaus Rd is Sarah Yardley. Originally from California, Sarah is a regular host on Lectio365 and led Creation Fest for many years before joining our staff team at Emmaus at the start of this year. She’s brilliant!
This is a big, emotional day for us but we know that the Lord has spoken clearly about repositioning ourselves, and we’re confident that the church is in really great hands.
We’re excited to take a sabbatical now, before returning to Emmaus in December as ordinary members of the church. We will preach occasionally, advise informally, and serve relationally as ‘Founding Pastors'.
We have been absolutely blown away by the outpouring of love from the church at this happy-sad moment. Looking to the future we are excited, and looking back, as Marilynne Robinson says:
‘There is so much to be grateful for, words are a poor thing.’
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This is the video they surprised us with which moved us to tears: https://youtu.be/M7k6icM4cWI?feature=shared
