A History of St. Mark’s (Part 2) from 1990 to the present day


The Reverend Alister Mort became vicar of St Mark’s in September 1990, bringing his wife Christine and children Jonathan, Andrew and Jennifer from Swindon where Alister was Team Vicar.


In 1994, after much prayer and discussion, it was decided that St Mark’s should hold two Sunday morning services. The 9.30am service was intended as the more informal service, with the 11.10am being more formal. Both continue to thrive, with about 240 attending the earlier and 60 at the later one (1994 figures).


In 1995, a prayer area was created in the space left when the organ console had been moved. This quiet area, which won an Architectural award, is used for prayer ministry between the two morning services. New sound equipment was installed in 1997, which has enabled preachers to be heard more clearly. It also helped with drama during Family Services.


Another advance in technology was the introduction of a projector which enabled brighter and clearer screen displays from a laptop computer using Powerpoint presentations.


In 1997, for the first time, a trip to the Holy Land was arranged, and 60 adults enjoyed the experience of a lifetime. It had been intended to repeat the holiday in 2001, but the political situation in the Region meant the trip was cancelled.


In 1998, small groups were introduced, replacing the home groups which had existed since Brian Ruff’s day.


In 1999 a Leadership Team was formed, and in 2003 the Bishop of Coventry commissioned a Ministry Leadership Team (MLT) consisting of the same team (the Vicar, Andrea Kane, Marie Calvert, Steve Hood and Paul Mileham) which in 2004 was enhanced by the addition of Becky Welch, Alan Faulkner and Beryl Chisholm.


Nat Reuss joined St Mark’s as Youth Pastor in 2005.


In 2005 Alister and Christine moved from St Mark’s to a new full-time ministry with Intimate Life ministries based at Warwick Gates.


In 2007 Revd Paul Manuel joined us as Priest-in-Charge, together with his wife Helen. Paul was licensed at St Mark’s on March 11th 2007. Nat Reuss left St Mark’s for ordination training at St John’s Nottingham, and Claire Farley became Youth Pastor in January 2008. Ellie Clack was ordained deacon at St Mark’s in June 2008, and is now curate here.


Paul Mileham


last updated 23 March 2009