Simon Field is a Pastor-in-Training at Grace Church Brighton in the UK.
When did you trust Christ?
I first trusted in Christ at age 17 after reading Hebrews 11:6. Prior to this, I had been putting my faith in praying ‘the sinner’s prayer’ and attending church. I realised that I believed in God, but I didn’t believe that he would respond to my request for forgiveness. Through Hebrews 11:6, I saw that faith meant trusting that God would keep his word because of the cross.
What have been the defining moments of your Christian walk?
My mother shared Bible stories with me from an early age. I remember her becoming emotional when reading Scripture, which caused me to take the faith seriously. Early in my Christian life I was heavily influenced by John Piper. In particular, his book Desiring God changed my spiritual outlook, which had been tarnished by legalistic obedience. Tim Keller's Gospel-centered preaching also exposed my need to rely on God's grace.
What do you hope to gain from participating?
I am hoping the YRM will encourage a balanced approach to ministry that equips me to develop my leadership skills, while seeking to develop my character as a Christian first and leader second. I’m aware that Christian leadership is a unique calling and although there are transferrable skills from other roles, leading as a Christian begins with a healthy spiritual life. I also hope that the YRM will enable me to develop ministry friendships that will last the long haul.
What is your ministry?
I am a Pastor-in-Training for Grace Church Brighton, England. My overall responsibility involves leading discipleship initiatives as well as being a member of Grace’s overall leadership team. This consists of having an eye for discipleship in everything we do while creating opportunities for our people to be trained and grow closer to Christ. This has included designing study week programmes for the leadership. I lead and teach at our almost weekly adult education class, 'Sunday Extra'. This ministry aims to equip Christians to do the work of ministry themselves through training in doctrine, biblical counselling, historical theology, as well as Bible study.
What is your leadership role or what were your past leadership roles?
At a previous church, I was a regular Alpha course speaker, teaching about the death and resurrection of Jesus, as well as doing live apologetics-style Q&As. During this time, I led four small groups. Outside of church, I helped mentor trainee teachers and was on the management team for the Maths Department of a comprehensive secondary school in Brighton.
Why should someone invest in your ministry?
The city of Brighton is a large mission field where false spiritualities and secularism have a strong hold. We are keen to do authentically loving and biblically faithful ministry in the south of England, a city where many churches are denying the authority of Scripture. We look to others to continue to strengthen us for our mission.
