Our ministry team

Transition Minister: Reverend Gayle J A Taylor.

Gayle became the Transition Minister in September 2019 and has come to lead our team of staff and volunteers for 5 years. Glasgow born and bred, she did her Arts and Divinity degrees there before being ordained as Parish Minister of Bishopton where she served for 10 years; taking them through a major building change with “The Cornerstone” project. Gayle then moved to Edinburgh for the next 10 years to become the Associate Minister for Children and Youth in Colinton where she specialised in Chaplaincy, community development and all age partnership events involving the army, 4 schools, Camphill – Tiphereth and Waverley Care. Gayle has skills in integrating music and well being into worship, assemblies and group work. Qualifying with a Diploma in Counselling and Psychotherapy from Edinburgh University in 2014, she has worked extensively with times of change in peoples lives and the trauma and loss associated with these. This has involved work with the army, the PF counselling service, Place2Be and a part time post for 2 years as a Bereavement Support Practitioner with Child Bereavement UK in The Royal Hospital for Children in Glasgow. Gayle is part of a Church of Scotland national team of Interim and Transition Ministers who are deployed for a fixed period of time to congregations who have applied for a different type of ministry and have identified themselves as requiring a process of radical change.

Congregational Finance Assistant – Ian Purves

Ian began working with us for 4 hours a week at the end of 2019 to support our Finance Working Group. As well as producing our monthly accounts and invoices, Ian is invaluable at keeping us compliant with OSCR the charities regulator.

Congregational Support Worker – Jennifer Stark

Hello to you all.  My name is Jennifer Stark, and I’ve just recently started working with you in Newbattle Parish as the Congregational Support Worker. I came here at the end of October, but I already feel it’s been longer – in a good way!

I grew up near Stirling (just over the wall from the Bannockburn Monument) but most of my family come from north of Glasgow.  In my ‘previous life’, I worked mostly in adult education.  I spent some years overseas, teaching English to adults and in project work with the British Council, and then had 14 years teaching in York University.  Since 2010, I’ve been working for the Church of Scotland, first for 5 years in an ecumenical post in Leith (where I now live), with a group of churches in Glenrothes, and more recently for Morningside Parish Church and Richmond Craigmillar Church in Niddrie.  They’ve all been interesting and enjoyable in different ways, and have involved lots of different activities – outreach and community work, foodshare organisation, workplace and school chaplaincy, toddler groups and Holiday Clubs, pastoral work, and leading study groups and worship. 

I work part-time (which I am greatly enjoying!) and so far, I’ve been involved with, for example, the Tuesday prayer group, the Men’s Group and Friendship Lunches, worship and the Remembrance Services, the JAM Club, the new Advent Group, and the Switch-On events in Newtongrange and Mayfield. 

It has been very good to spend time with you and get to know the community here, and I’m looking forward to sharing 2023/24 with you.