Baptist church welcomes new pastor (From Gazette Series)

Morton Baptist Church in Thornbury welcomes new pastor

8:30am Wednesday 25th January 2012 in Thornbury news By Marion Sauvebois

AFTER almost six years without a preacher, Morton Baptist Church has welcomed the arrival of a young pastor to its congregation.

Pastor Jonathan Hunt, 34, was a volunteer preaching elder at Cheltenham Evangelical Free Church when he was invited to take on a more permanent role at Morton Baptist in Thornbury.

He jumped at the opportunity to become fully ordained and has now been assuming his new duties for almost two weeks.

Mr Hunt, who is married and has a 14-year-old stepson, told the Gazette: "I preached at the Morton Convention in 2010 and again in 2011 and that's when the church secretary approached me and asked me if I would like to become their pastor.

"The church is very happy and very enthusiastic. It has been difficult for them. They had been without a preacher for nearly six years."

More than 130 friends, relatives, congregation members and fellow preachers attended the anticipated ordination service on January 14.

The chapel was so crowded that some of them had to watch the ceremony on a screen from the Sunday schoolroom.

Although a Christian for most of his life, Mr Hunt never imagined he would ever take on the habit.

Originally from London, he has been a civil servant at the MoD and also worked in insurance.

When his wife Claire was diagnosed with MS, he became her full-time carer and had been for three years when he joined Morton Baptist.

"I was very involved with my church in London and I have always been a Baptist but I would never have thought I would be a pastor," he added. "It’s certainly never something I thought I would do as a child.

"I studied English Literature at the Open University and thought I would end up being a teacher.

"It’s only in the last five years that I started thinking about it."

The position’s flexible hours were an incentive for Mr Hunt and his work schedule gives him ample time to both care for his wife, whom he married after a whirlwind romance back in 2002, and fulfil his church duties.

He currently commutes from Cheltenham but is planning to move to Thornbury next year.

"Our son John is doing his GCSEs at the moment so we want to wait until he is finished. We are hoping to find somewhere to live in Thornbury in the summer of 2013."