Core Team
The Community Church is led by Dawn Charles and Scott Pettingale who carry the oversight and vision for the church. Team is at the very core of The Community Church’s values, so all areas of what we do have passionate, equipped teams leading the areas that God has called them to.
We want our lives as Christ followers to demonstrate the love of God in a real and relevant way both individually and as a church. We believe we are all called to play our part in God’s story and one of our purposes, as a core team, is to help anyone who is part our church community to find their part too. We are passionate about everyone finding freedom, acceptance, security and significance in Jesus. He is and always will be the Vision.
We have a small number of paid staff. Our staff are all continuing to work throughout the Covid-19 Pandemic, with all work, where possible, being done from home.
Administrator
Sarah Ballard works from our church office and manages all the administrative aspects of church life. She has served The Community Church faithfully in this role for many years and we’re so grateful for her knowledge and experience. She is available if you need to know anything and works in the office 4 mornings a week: Tuesday – Friday 9-12.30.
CAP Centre Manager
In 2020 Tony Gratton took over the role of CAP Centre manager from Sue Pickering who had served for 5 years in the role and in fact established the CAP Centre in Burton. Tony brings years of experience working within the charity sector having worked for both Burton and Bedford YMCA.
Caretaker
Chris Shorthouse works tirelessly to make sure all the practical stuff of church life is maintained. Along with Carole, his wife, they invest so mich time and energy keeping up with all that needs doing in both our Main Street building and also our community facility, Number 63.
Safeguarding Lead
Recognising the importance of this area in church life, five years ago we decided that the role of Safeguarding Lead should be a paid role. Emily Vinall has now taken over this post and is employed on a part time basis to oversee all aspects of our Safeguarding Policy, activities and training.
Worship Team
We are blessed with great musicians and worship leaders who love God, love worship and love TCC!
The worship leaders and musicians all work together but don’t all play every week – we’re fortunate to be able to have a rota of worship leaders and musicians.
Trustees
We have a great bunch of Trustees who love God and love The Community Church.
Chair of Trustees, Kirsty Brown trained as a Solicitor and now works in a school as Head of English. She’s our Safeguarding Trustee and our go-to person for all things legal!
Lindsay Corten is from an IT background and now works as a freelance proof-reader. We are constantly grateful for her eye for detail.
Tony Gratton has spent many years working for the YMCA in both Bedford and Burton. His vast experience in the Charity Sector is invaluable to us in all that we do.
Laurie Charles’ background is working in the finance and the automotive industry, so he’s a good one for keeping an eye on the figures, and also oversees all things Health and Safety.
Dawn Bircher has been a long-time member of TCC and has a Local Government background. She serves as a Trustee with a general interest in the many aspects of Church life.
Kids Team
We have a great team of enthusiastic volunteers who run our Kids Church on a Sunday. Headed up by Sue, who in her day job runs Burton Youth For Christ, the Kids Team enjoy teaching the 4-11 years old about God’s love, The Bible and the life of Jesus in incredibly creative and exciting ways.
Our Kids Team volunteers have all been recruited in accordance with our Safer Recruitment Policy as outlined in our Safeguarding Policy and all are DBS Checked.
During the Covid-19 Pandemic, our Kid’s team have been working hard to keep all our kids connected by contributing to our online Sunday services, delivering activities and goodies and holding a weekly Kid’s Church Zoom!