A MAN who has had the church in his heart since his childhood is taking over as the new team rector in Great Yarmouth.The institution and induction of the Reverend Chris Terry, 58, is at St Nicholas' Church next Friday, November 20.

A MAN who has had the church in his heart since his childhood is taking over as the new team rector in Great Yarmouth.

The institution and induction of the Reverend Chris Terry, 58, is at St Nicholas' Church next Friday, November 20.

An active member of the church since early childhood, Mr Terry, initially resisted the pull of the cloth and followed his father's footsteps into the world of accountancy.

It came as a surprise to him then that, upon making the decision to join the St Albans ministerial training scheme, the man he had been emulating wondered what he had been waiting for.

Mr Terry revealed: “My father said he never understood why I didn't become a reverend in the first place because it's always been an important part of my life. I was involved as a lay person in the church through my younger years and I think he was quite clear in his mind that that was where I was called.

“It just took some time for me to realise it perhaps.”

Having grown up in a Church of England family in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Mr Terry, found faith to be a hugely important from a young age and into his early career.

He said: “When I was a teenager, half a dozen of us met regularly to pray and study the Bible together, and by the time I was ordained I was working as chief accountant for a Methodists' children's charity. My business and spiritual life have always been together.”

The classical music fan, father-of-three and grandfather of two was ordained in 1983 in the St Albans diocese before moving into the Chichester diocese and the Southwick parish. Now, having spent much his time with the Archbishop's Council in London in the last six years helping fundraise, he is excited about living in a place with which he has fond memories.

He said: “I have family connections with Norfolk stretching back 25 years. I used to visit my late mother in Cromer and when I went to the coast I used to love the big skies, the openness of the seas and just the sheer beauty of it - not that I braved the water often.

“I'm very much looking forward to taking up my post and I hope to be able to bring it to bring the role of team leader alongside that of the meeting of individual people.

“I will bring enthusiasm for my faith and for the church with me and very much believe in encouraging people to do more than they thought possible, in terms of faith and in supporting other members of the community.”

Mr Terry has recently completed a Masters degree at Heythrop College in London on Pastoral Theology.

He will be moving with his wife Jane, 62, who, until the move, had been working at a pre-school. The couple, married five and a half years, will be living on South Beach Parade in anticipation of the building of a new rectory.

The institution and induction of Reverend Terry is at 7.30pm at St Nicholas' Church.