This week sees the end of the notice period given by our beloved Assistant Pastor Elaine Webster- her employment with us ends on 30th September.
She joined us in 2015, overseeing Birmingham Vineyard’s Kids and Compassion ministries. While she hasn’t been in Birmingham for the last two years, she has been on the payroll and looked after as she recovered from a serious illness and made other exciting changes in her life too.
Below is a letter from her, to update you on how she is and what’s been happening over this time. We are really excited for Elaine as God leads her into her next stage of life with him! If you would like to send her a message but don’t have contact details, please let the church office now (info@birminghamvineyard.com) and we can pass those on for you.
“Gosh this is a daunting task…how to update you all on my life being transformed and turned upside down. I’ve gone from an Assistant Pastor, enjoying seeing God at work in all our lives and in the community of Birmingham to a stay at home mum, living in Kent. So, maybe it’s best to back track a little to explain the journey for those who may not have known how that happened.
In August 2019 my dad was dying and I left suddenly to nurse him in London. While in London, nursing dad, I was hospitalised. I’d lost the ability to write, type and to walk any distance and there was a risk of paralysis so the doctors had asked me to stay in London and wait for surgery on my spine. While that was going on an old friend who was visiting Kent invited me to join her at a healing conference. Obviously, I jumped at that the state I was in hoping Jesus would sort out my issues before surgery. That didn’t happen but my friend did introduce me to a wonderful guy called Joel. Joel and I started meeting for coffee and then after a few meet ups decided to date.
My surgery happened in February 2020 but recovery from spinal trauma can take 18 months to 2 years and it has so I’ve been off work living in London for much of that time. Birmingham Vineyard provided incredible support during this time ensuring it was worry free and I could focus on getting better. In the meantime, in July 2020 Joel proposed. It was very romantic he surprised me after a swim in the sea at the coast. He managed to smuggle iced champagne and chocolate in his ruck sack. We then married in December 2020.
I moved to our new home in Kent after our honeymoon in Cornwall. I’m now home schooling our 13 year old daughter, Jemima and helping Joel with his tree surgery business. We also have a 15 year old son, Sam who has Cerebral Palsy and he’s with us two nights a week. I’m about to start attending a school of Supernatural Ministry at our church in Kent, one day a week (it’s the Bethel model for anyone who knows that church in the US). I’m really looking forward to it as becoming a mum and taking care of our home has left my God connection has been in a very different place. I’d say more gentle contentment rather than on fire. I’m very happy, very much in love and very, very, blessed. Joel’s an evangelist at heart so shares God wherever we go, we spoke to strangers on the day we got engaged and they decided to go to Alpha. They had no church contact before that conversation. We are currently running an Alpha course in our home with people we’ve come into contact with locally. We are also reaching to our neighbours, we delivered cupcakes at Easter and are having them round for meals. We pray for strangers that we meet all the time for healing or whatever their needs are. It’s become so easy stood alongside someone who loves God as much as I do (maybe even more LOL). So God is at work.
I’m praying for you all. It’s been an upside down COVID for us because we’ve been so blessed in the midst of such a terrible time for the rest of the world. It was like God created a huge bubble around us to establish us as a family. I look forward to coming back to visit Brum with my family in tow. My love, prayers and blessings all!”
Love, Elaine
At Birmingham Vineyard, our Kids and Families ministry will continue to be run by Becky Stamps and Lauren Morris, and Compassion ministries will be run and overseen by Jess Munson. We pray for God’s blessing on Elaine and her family, her home and all God has for her!