Those nine years almost exactly coincided with David Jenkins’ tenure as Bishop of Durham. It was a novelty being able to keep up with the Boss’s antics by watching the latest episode of Spitting Image. Nevertheless, it was David Jenkins who supported Kerry through the (sometimes controversial) changes at St.George’s. He then sponsored Kerry’s participation in the pilot Common Purpose programmes, both for Wearside and later for the North-East region, in the early nineties.

It was from Holy Trinity, Margate, that HARVEST was planted. Kerry had moved there in 1993, with responsibility for the Parish Church and a new plant at St. Philip’s, Northdown Park. It was from here that Kerry wrote “Doing things differently- Changing the heart of the church” published by Grove in the Evangelism Series, No.40 in 1997. As the title suggests, it was a heart-felt cry for a radical approach to new forms of mission, borne out of frustration, and exhaustion, with the multi-demands of the traditional Parish system.

The story of the HARVEST set-up is told by George Lings in his “Encounters on the Edge” Series, edition 7, “New Canterbury Tales”.

The planting of HARVEST, without the demands of Parish based ministry, gave scope to develop several areas of wider work. Kerry was the inaugural Chairman of the Margate Sure Start Programme, a multi agency approach to combating child poverty. He Chaired the Board of “On the Move” and was involved in taking Mission Teams all over the country and overseas, with the Barbecue based, City Centre mission which had first come to birth on the streets of Canterbury in 1997. For ten years Kerry and Eunice oversaw the Kent County ALPHA Advisor team.

Eunice has shared in the leadership of HARVEST from the start. She has had a particular role in overseeing the children’s, youth and young adult aspects of HARVEST’s life. Eunice also administers all the practical aspects of the day to day running of a church family. Kerry and Eunice are the proud parents of three Twentysomethings, Hannah, Adam and Ben.

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