Getting to know the new Vicar: A brief life history

I was born in the early seventies in Tunbridge Wells and grew up in Paddock Wood with my parents (a teacher and publisher) and my younger sister. I attended Mascalls Comprehensive School where I did both GCSE’s and A Levels. It was while I was in the sixth form that I first began to explore the Christian faith for myself. My parents did not go to church, so I had no real experience of the church or what it meant to be a Christian.

As a young teenager, I remember attending Boys Brigade once (and causing trouble) and promptly giving up because I realised I was supposed to attend church as part of the deal. I remember going to Sunday School once in that same period and causing trouble there too (hmm, a theme is emerging). However, deep inside, I felt God must exist because I looked around the world and saw such beauty and order in the natural world that it didn’t seem conceivable to me that all this just happened. A friend of mine from school remembers how, on a school trip to St Paul’s Cathedral in London, I sat with him under the vast dome and said in deep teenage contemplation ‘I’m sure there must be a God’.

However, what finally did it for me was a friend. When I was 17 and something of a tearaway, a good friend of mine with whom I played football returned to the Christian faith he had as a child. I noticed such a change in him that I began to ask questions. We would get together each week and sit and chat. Sometimes he would introduce me to a fellow teenager who had faith in God and they would tell me their story. Sometimes he would give me a book to read or something to help me find out more. Eventually, I decided that not only did I believe in God but that I wanted to be a follower. I made a decision to become a committed Christian myself.

I attended the University of Sheffield, and with my new-found faith I read Biblical Studies. I ended up spending five years in South Yorkshire and was very happy there. Sheffield is a great city in which to be a young man. Eventually I moved back down to Kent; partly because of a job and partly because of a girl! Kerry and I had been part of that same church youth group in Paddock Wood but we only started a relationship in our mid-twenties. We were married in 1999 in her home village of Yalding.

Prior to ordination, I followed my father into publishing. While he was very much a print man, I became embroiled in the growing world of new media. I spent seven years turning books into DVDs and websites before I sensed a growing call to ordination. Now with a home in Tunbridge Wells and our first child, Bethya, we had to up sticks and move to Cambridge where I studied for two years at Ridley Hall theological college. Our second son, Nathanael, followed soon after and our third child, Josiah, was born just before we left college and moved to Walderslade.

I was ordained deacon in 2008 in Rochester Cathedral and priested the following year. For the last three years, I have served as the Curate at St Philip & St James in Walderslade. ‘Pip & Jims’ (as it is known) has been a lovely home for us and a great training ground - not least when my Vicar left to take on a new role and, for over a year, I was left minding the fort!

I’ve always been a huge fan of team games. Growing up, I was a keen footballer and I also got into American sports. In my teens, for a while, I was the youngest qualified American football coach in the UK and worked with several teams including the Great Britain under 18 squad! These days there is little chance for such competition but I still keep a keen eye on my beloved Tottenham Hotspur and, late on a Sunday evening, I’m usually glued to Sky’s coverage of the American Football! When the sport isn’t on telly, you can guarantee that a movie probably will be. I love the silver screen and, while young children make it harder to take my good lady out on a date these days, I’m always keen to see a good film where opportunity allows.

Taking on the role as Priest-in-Charge of West Malling and Offham (including Kings Hill) feels both incredibly daunting and exciting. I know that Brian has left me some very large shoes to fill after 29 years of ministry here but, at the same time, this is very obviously going to be a very good place to be and I look forward to getting to know you all and praying with you for the coming of God’s kingdom among us. David Green

Vicar

The Rev;d David Green

Church Wardens  

Isobel Macdonald
Becky Clifford

Treasurer  

Andrew Meek

Church Organist  

Audrey Attree