Gavin’s Testimony

Richard’s Testimony

I have been living and working in Maidstone for nearly 34 years; I was a teacher for more than half of that time. I left the Cornwallis school where I worked in 1989 and got a job at another school – I thought I had it all worked out – then I became a Christian, and for a while it all went pear shaped!  The other school didn’t work out and I left after a very short time. I spent a couple of years doing bits of teaching and tuition and not having any sense of direction. I was thoroughly depressed and driving everyone mad! What was this Christianity about and where was God?!? I soon learned that he had a different plan for me!

My children were going to Brunswick House School and I had the opportunity to do Kingsquad there with Annabelle. I really enjoyed that and soon after got involved with Chequer Tree Camp which was fantastic! After this I started doing assemblies with the Family Trust, and began full time with them in 1994. I’m still there and I haven’t looked back! God has brought me on an exciting journey, and I’m looking forward to the next phase. Watch this space!

Sandra’s Testimony

My name is Sandra and I joined the Family Trust in November 2000 as their Administrator. Little did I know then that God had other plans for me within the Family Trust. That I should now be standing up in front of a school full of children telling a story about Jesus or leading a song is a miracle in itself! I can honestly say that in my own strength that would have been impossible. But God has been with me all the way helping me and giving me the strength to serve Him in this new way. Since September 2006, I have been going out with the team to do assemblies and run Kingsquads, it’s been fantastic. I am having a great time and to be able to share with the children something of what God means to me is a wonderful opportunity.

Annabelle’s Testimony

How did I end up working for the Family Trust?
It’s really exciting to look back and see God’s hand on my life!
I was adopted into a Christian family and grew up believing in God and spending Sundays at church and Sunday School, pretty dresses and hats were the order of the day!  However at the age of 15, I began to lose interest and drifted away from God.
Looking back I can see the bigger picture and am so grateful to the Lord for His love and patience!
I did my own thing for many years, making wrong choices and walking a precarious path! When working in Switzerland I encountered some American evangelists who challenged me and I saw something in them which I had never encountered before! The love of Jesus! This was the beginning of my steps towards the Father. The rest is history and my passion is to tell children the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth! My childhood experience of the faith was severely lacking, fluffy stories of Jesus did not hit the spot. The Holy Spirit? What was that? I had been cheated, religion had blinded and disabled the church I grew up in. Children need to know there is a God who loves them, a Saviour who died for them and who promises the gift of His Holy Spirit.
My mission is to do just that!!!

Grace’s Testimony

I was brought up in a Christian family and made a commitment to Christ when I was 7 years old. From an early age I have always wanted to work with children but not known in what capacity. Since studying Child Care at college I have worked in a Nursery and been a private nanny, but never felt I was fulfilling God’s purpose for my life. So I decided to take a break to discover where He wanted me. And here I am! A miracle in itself! I love my job. It is such a privilege working within schools and being able to share my faith everyday. I’ve become so much more receptive to God and have been able to see Him at work in others and in myself. I love working with the team and I feel very blessed to be in this organisation.
Jesus always made the point that children were very special and that our faith should be as a child’s. The work I do has helped me fully understand now what He meant. I can’t wait to see what he does next!

Angel’s Testimony

Four years ago God sent me and my daughter to Gillingham. I joined the local Church (G.M.C), where I felt so much at home and ended up working for them as their cleaner and got involved in various children’s work.  I had helped to lead a Christingle Service at the church and whilst I was cleaning in the Family Trust office I was talking to the team about how much I had enjoyed the service.  I told them that doing action songs and being a child-like Christian was what I enjoyed doing.
The next thing I knew I was helping at Kingsquads, doing assemblies and even helped lead a Sunday service at another church. Well who would have thought it?
God clearly knew that working for the Family Trust would be ideal for me.
Things seem to be a lot smoother for me now and I have found a purpose in life – to share the love of God with children

Dean’s Testimony

In September 1999 I began my career as a full-time teacher and thought I had reached the target of God’s plans for me.  God obviously had other ideas.
In my third year of teaching I began to realise that God was calling me to do more in my service for Him.  It seemed that every message in the Sunday service was aimed at bringing me to realise this.  Sunday School, holiday clubs and youth club were not enough – God wanted me in full-time children’s work. 
After much soul-searching, deliberation and worrying about finances I eventually left my full-time position and began to supply teach in 2002.
It wasn’t until January 2003 that a chance conversation between my minister and members of the Family Trust at the wedding of our church children’s worker led to me answering their call for a full-time worker in the Medway area.
This was the perfect opportunity for me and obviously what God had planned all along.  Three years later and I have been part of the Medway team, working to build up the numbers of children reached and the profile of the Family Trust amongst local churches.
I thank God for the opportunity.

Ruth’s Testimony

I first came across The Family Trust about seven years ago when my son started playing football on a Saturday morning with ‘Saints’ FC run by Family Trust staff and volunteers at St John’s School, Grove Green.  I became more involved with The Family Trust when I became a ‘Friend’, which in those days was a prayer partner.  As a ‘Friend’ I was invited to observe an assembly with Steve and Fiona.  After the assembly I asked if leaders were still needed at Chequer Tree Camp for that year.  The rest as they say is history!  In the autumn (2001) an advert went out in the FT Index for an Associate to be based mainly in Medway.  Steve had mentioned the need to me briefly but when I read the advert I knew it was the right thing for me.  I spoke to him and he said he had wanted to ask me for a year to be an Associate!
During the following three years, a Medway team became more established and in September 2004 Debra and Dean moved into the office.  I knew that administrative support would be needed and, as the timing coincided with my son starting secondary school, I offered my services as an administrator on a part-time basis.  So my role is a mixture – mainly office based but also out on the road.

Debra’s Testimony

I was pretty miserable, working at a Primary school where I felt very under-valued. I’d asked God to show me what He wanted me to do. I enjoyed leading St Augustine’s Sunday school and working on presentations with the youth but I still felt I had more to give. Then I saw the advertisement: “Children’s Worker for a Christian Charity.” It was a full-time position and I only worked part-time, as I had a nine-year old daughter. It would mean lots of driving and I didn’t feel confident on the roads. Plus, it would entail standing in front of many strangers and declaring my faith, which scared me. But I felt that God wanted me to do this job.
I rang my vicar immediately and he was so encouraging. My husband thought it would be a great opportunity for me to praise God whilst using the gifts I’d been given. My only worry was my daughter but we found a great after-school club for her to attend, which she loved and Rebecca soon got used to not seeing her Mum at school every day. So, after three interviews, I got the job!
I thank God for giving me so much! It’s great working for The Family Trust – my colleagues are brilliant and I’m constantly amazed by the way God is working in the lives of the children and adults I meet. I’m so glad that I responded to that advert!

Karen’s Testimony

I had heard of Family Trust but wasn’t sure what they did. Then they moved to the office at my church. I had seen Debra and Dean in the office and just said hi, and then they were going to take a service the next Sunday. I chatted with Debra to see what they were going to do, it sounded good. I prayed about what they were doing and I had once thought a long time ago that I might quite like to do assemblies but I had no idea how to do that. I prayed if God wanted me to do that they would ask me.
It was a great service and I really enjoyed it.  After it Debra asked if I would like to work with them. I said “I’d love to” and Debra said she would ring me. A week went by and nothing. I thought oh, well that was that.  Then the next Monday the phone rang, it was Debra, she had had a cold and been off sick for that week, that’s why I’d not heard.   So then in the next week I had seen an assembly, been to a Kingsquad.  I did a couple of assemblies and started at a Kingsquad and soon became an associate.
When I got to the first assembly Debra asked me if i knew anyone who made banners. This is my thing, this is what I love to do. I said “yes I do” it seemed to me confirmation that this was what God wanted me to do and I love doing it.

Nikkii’s Testimony

Although my Mum was a Christian and I was dragged along to church as children, I didn’t have a personal relationship with Jesus. In fact, I was dead set against being a Christian! My mum became ill when I was 10 and I blamed God for years. It wasn’t until I was in my mid 20s with lots of tough times behind me, that I met my husband. His faith shone from him and I wanted to know more.
I became a Christian and since then God has been central in my life. One day, I was laying newspapers on the floor before we laid a new carpet when I saw an advert in a newspaper promoting children waiting to be adopted. A little lad on a trike smiled out at me and I knew that God was going to help us adopt him. He did! That marked what I felt was a calling to work with children.
I trained as a lay preacher and was licenced as a teacher. After several years of teaching and supporting children with special educational needs, I saw the advert for a full time worker with the Family Trust. Here was the opportunity to be evangelising and sharing the love of Jesus with children full time. I was delighted to be offered the job. Every day is different - puppets, drama, arts and craft, singing, story telling, teaching Bible verses, writing material to use, sharing the gospel and making Jesus real and relevant to the lives of the hundreds of children I meet every day. What an opportunity and a privilege! My colleagues are great fun to work with and we grow in faith together every day! I don’t think I have ever had a job when I look forward to every day and where the fruits of God’s blessing are there to see. Who could ask for more