After a long wait, a new vicar is set to arrive at St Mary’s Church in Luton.
The Rev Mike Jones will take over at the beginning of July, moving from his current post in Shropshire, where he looks after two parishes.
The father-of-two was appointed vicar in September, but decided to wait until daughter Alex, 15, had completed her GCSEs before making the move to Luton.
The last vicar at the 850-year-old church was Rev Canon Nick Bell, who retired at the end of 2011 after 20 years at St Mary’s. Since then the congregation has been led by the church wardens, ordained members and local clergy involved with the church’s oversight group.
Mr Jones, 45, said: “We are really excited to be coming to Luton and I’m looking forward to meeting everyone in due course.
“Luton is a very vibrant place and the church is at the centre of the town. My work will be to love God and to love Luton. The church seeks to be a part of the town, to be a blessing to Luton and follow Christ.”
Originally from Bracknell in Berkshire, Mr Jones trained in Portsmouth and worked with his wife, Ruth, in Greece before taking up his current role of vicar for the parishes of of St John’s, Muxton and St Michael’s, Lilleshall in Telford.
Asked what he would be doing to help Luton’s troubled image, he said: “Cohesion is something that churches can help with, and I am trained in awareness of other cultures and religions.
“I was at the conference where Justin Welby gave his first sermon as Archbishop of Canterbury and it was on facing conflict.”