
Michael Johnston
Children's, Youth and Families' Lay Worker
Email: michael.christchurchilkley@gmail.com
Phone: 07312 098299
About
Hi. I’m Michael, and I am the Children’s, Youth and Families' Lay worker at Christchurch! I am originally from Northern Ireland having lived and studied there, with most of my life living in and around Belfast. I actually studied Criminology and Criminal Justice at the Ulster University. Following the completion of my degree I spent three months in South Africa volunteering on the International Citizen Service scheme with Tearfund. On my return, I felt called to serve the forgotten people of society. I moved to England in September 2017 and started a 'Time for Jesus' gap year at Caring for Life in Leeds, my first experience of working on a farm! I then stayed in Leeds for another year and completed a 'New Wine Discipleship Year' at St George’s Church in Leeds where I was the Children and Music Intern. While studying Criminology my particular focus was on helping ex-offenders as I believed they were a forgotten group of our society. Over my years in Leeds I’ve had the privilege of working and meeting other people from other groups of society who I believe often get looked down on or ignored: the elderly, refugees, those who are physically or mentally disabled, those who are homeless and roofless, and finally children and youth.
I feel it is an honour to be advancing God’s Kingdom amongst children and youth and helping them to mature and become disciples of Christ. It is also a privilege to be given the opportunity of working within this great forward-thinking church to unite people from many different ages and background, and help them come together as Christchurch, a church that has Christ at the centre and is at the centre of the town.
If anyone would like to find out more about anything to do with children and youth within Christchurch then you can contact me via email or give me a call using the contact info above.