My name is Tony Fowler and I am the rector of Combs. I am the leader of the church and take the Sunday church services. What question would you like to ask me?   What do you do during the week? What is special about your church building? Why did you become a church minister?

What do you do during the week?

Some people think that rectors only work one day a week! However, there are a range of other activities that I do:

weddings

funerals

marriage preparation

baptismal preparation for both the parents and adults being baptised

lead other groups that are part of the work of the church, such as SMUFs, or the Alpha course

working in local schools, taking assemblies and RE lessons

parish visiting, such as the elderly, or those who are ill

What is special about your church building?

The most special thing is not the architecture, or that it's a lovely building. It's special because it's one of the few very old buildings that are still used to worship God.

Why did you become a church minister?

It's because I believe it was what God was telling me to do. For sometime, my wife and I felt that that we were being asked by God to do more with our time. We spent a long time preparing to become vicars by reading the bible and praying.

Do you have communion?

We do have communion, and it is the most important part of Christian worship here. Celebrating communion is a tradition in the Anglican Church, and we have to offer communion by law. However, the most important reason is because Jesus commanded us to do it. In the bible he asked his disciples to take the bread and the wine, and we want to do the same, in memory of what Jesus did for us on the cross.

Do you have baptism?

Baptism is important because one of Jesus' final words of instruction at the Ascension was that we should go out into the world and make disciples, baptising them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Like communion, it is something that Jesus commanded us to do. However, it is also a legal requirement. Anyone who is born in this country has the right to be baptised in their own parish church.

Why do you want people to come to this church?

The main reason is because I want people to discover God's love for them. But also because I love meeting people. What excites me most is when God uses me to help people grow spiritually, or to discover God for the first time. I explain the cross to them, and say that, through Jesus' death and resurrection, they can receive, not just forgiveness, but new life.

What is the most important part of the service?

The answer to that will be different for different people. For many, it would be simply worshipping God together. As Christians we want to worship God because of our special relationship with Him, and what He has done for us.

However, people will feel God 'touching' them at different times during the worship depending on when the Holy Spirit (God) is speaking to them: perhaps during a sermon, or reading the bible, or during a time of prayer, or even just singing hymns when a phrase may speak to them.

How would you explain what a Christian is?

A Christian is someone who has responded to God's love. They understand that Jesus is God's son, that he has died for them, and that they have been forgiven for the things they have done wrong. As a Christian, they will receive the Holy Spirit into their own lives, and then begin a new life.

It has been said that,

" God loves us so much, that he accepts us as we are,

but loves us too much to leave us as we are."

What is the most important thing a Christian believes?

The most important thing a Christian believes is that God loves them, despite their sins. God's love can be seen by what he did on the cross, which takes away our guilt and the things we have done wrong.