New church chief oversees change

Revd Paul Whittle will lead the United Reformed Church in the East

The new leader of the United Reformed Church in East Anglia plans to bring in alternative services for 7,000 members.

Reverend Paul Whittle, 52, takes over as moderator of the church's eastern synod on 1 July.

He will lead 140 churches in a region that spans Cambridgeshire, Essex, Norfolk, Suffolk, and Hertfordshire.

One of his priorities as moderator will be to experiment with new and different forms of church services while still maintaining traditional ways.

Scottish boyhood

Mr Whittle will be formally welcomed at Christ Church, New London Road, Chelmsford on Saturday 6 September.

He said: "I am looking forward eagerly to working in this diverse region.

"I am particularly concerned that our Church should be in at the beginning where major housing developments are planned, so that we can help build new communities and give people the opportunity to have their own local church."

Mr Whittle was born in Nottingham but spent most of his boyhood in the west of Scotland.

He was ordained as a Congregational Church minister in 1979 and served in London, in Panama (Central America), and since 1994, in the Birmingham area.