Staff Team

 Vicar

The staff team at Nativity Church is headed up by Vicar Peter Minson.
Peter was appointed Vicar of Nativity Church in 2008, after 16 years in ordained ministry.

Peter is responsible for the direction of the church community, and works with the staff team, the Wardens and Vestry  (selected leaders) to steer this big ship.

Peter and his wife Mary's families are Canterbury people. Peter is a former journalist and radio station manager. Mary is a speech and drama teacher. They have three adult children.

Vicar's PA

Jude Dell, has been at Nativity since 1995. She is married to Tony, and has three grown up children and two beautiful grandchildren. 

Jude enjoys meeting new people and helping them settle into the Nativity Church Family. She came to Nativity with a background in accountancy and administration. 

Assistant Priests

Rev Michael Treston took up duties in February 2009  Michael is the sole member of the Middlesbrough FC Supporters' Club - Blenheim branch! He got into youth work quite by accident in the early 90s while working in a Scottish pub where he was responsible for making sure the holidaying uni students made it to work in the hotel on time. From there he went on to start a youth group with at-risk kids in the Coromandel, church planting (Graceway, Auckland) and Baptist Ministerial training at Carey Baptist College. Here God convicted him that Cross Cultural Missions, rather than pastoral work, was what he was being called to. As a result, Michael accepted a call to full time cross-cultural work in the form of pastoring a very middle class youth group. For almost five years Michael helped these young people reach out to their peers and the wider commmunity.

Michael began work as Youth Co-Ordinator for the Nelson Anglican Diocese in 2003, and wants nothing more than to see Middlesbrough to win the FA Cup and see young people in the Top of the South learning to serve Jesus - the latter seems more likely than the former!

Michael is married to Maureen and they have two children.

Rev Derek Harding and his wife Denise returned to us from the UK in February 2009. As Associate Priest, he is responsible for general Pastroral Care and particularly Care Cell ministries.

He was trained and ordained in the Diocese of Southwark. He served in a rural parish of three churches, Godstone, South Godstone and Blindley Heath in South East England as non-stipendiary priest.

Derek is a retired British Police Officer and has teaching and IT qualifications and a firm advocate of open-source software and systems. Denise and Derek have two daughters with families of their own, one in the English Lake District and one here in Marlborough.

Pastoral Assistant

Susan Howarth was appointed in September 2008 as a full time Pastoral Assistant in the Children and Families Ministry. Susan has had a long history of such work in North Canterbury, Bucklands Beach in Auckland and Atawhai, Nelson.

Susan arrived in October 2008 and is joined in Blenheim by her husband Graeme and their daughter.

Youth Ministry Interns

Glenn and Grace van Asperen have joined Nativity as Youth Ministry interns.

Glenn and Grace: "We are from the beautiful wet West Coast and have been married four years. God has brought us to Nativity to run along side the youth and help encourage and build them up. We love worship and seeing lives transformed by God’s love."

Receptionist

Jan Burrough is the fulltime front office person who mans the phones and reception.

Jan is an able first port of call to various comings and goings. Jan and her husband Paul have been with the church for many years.