After five years at Lindfield United Reformed Church (URC) Rev Charles Martin has retired from the ministry and will move to Essex this month.

Charles first had an association with the church ten years ago when he was appointed as Interim Moderator to the congregation in the period after Rev Norman Smith moved on and they didn’t have a minister of their own. However that was a ‘caretaker’ role and it wasn’t until Charles was 60 – and minister in Beaconsfield – that he was asked to consider taking the job at Lindfield. He agreed on the proviso that the church seek to appoint a Youth Pastor. “I was very aware of my age and knew I couldn’t accept the position without that kind of staff support,” Charles explained.

Charles Martin was born in Lambeth and so confesses to be a ‘cockney’ at heart! But he knew he was to work for God from a very early age. “The thought really crystallised while I was at boarding school when I was 13 as I led the Christian Union with my friend (David Hayden, former Archdeacon of Norfolk). Although my mother had ‘struck a deal with God’ when she prayed earnestly for a son following the untimely death of my brother a year before I was born.”

Full story is printed on p. 12 August's magazine...