Matt Clark – our new youth leader at All Saints Marlow

I grew up in Holtspur, Buckinghamshire and am the eldest brother to two younger sisters, Sarah and Rachel. My Christian life started thanks to my step-mum, Zoe, who introduced the family to Holy Trinity, Penn when I was a young teenager. I got involved in the youth group and later helped run and lead sessions there. I was also involved in bell-ringing with my Dad, Gary. G3, Penn’s Christian youth group, was where I first started praying and met with God and it was on a summer trip to New Wine United that I gave my life to God (for the first time).

When I left school, I moved to London and worked in management of cocktail bars and clubs in Soho and Shoreditch and unfortunately drifted away from my faith. At age 21, I moved back to Bucks and was working in bar management projects at large events, Royal Ascot and The Royal Chelsea Flower Show, to name a few. It was at this time I became involved in volunteer youth work, attended Lighthouse and New Wine again and started to rediscover a relationship with God. Keen to grow this relationship, I joined the New Wine Discipleship Year programme which encouraged and enabled me to give a year to God by volunteering with All Saints, Marlow and The Lantern, Marlow Bottom. The Discipleship Year has brought me right back to God. God has humbled and is still humbling me and has given me new purpose for a life with Him – to love and minister the next generation of faith. This has led to me applying, and now taking up, the post of Children and Youth Leader at All Saints, Marlow.

My outlook on the year ahead is one of opportunity. There is so much opportunity in Marlow to connect with our children and youth! We have amazing volunteers who consistently go above and beyond to do awesome things for God and our young people, and I’m delighted that I’m able to continue working with them. I want to uniteall this fantastic work being done under one banner and with one purpose – for our young people to know that God made them, loves them and wants a relationship with them!

How are we are going to do this? I don’t have all the answers yet, and I would welcome ideas, feedback and prayer from everyone. What I do know is that God has a plan and my plan is to follow Him to the best of my ability in whatever way He leads me and those I have the joy of ministering to. If you feel called to help, please talk to me – I’d love to invest time, coffee and cake in anyone willing to help.

This article featured in the Autumn 2019 edition of The Bridge – the magazine for All Saints’ Church in Marlow. Pick up your free copy in church or download it here.