An exciting new era has dawned for Ballymena Elim Church with the appointment of Philip (Pip) Kerr.
52-year-old Pip is married to Rachel and the couple have three children, Grace, (18), Reuben, (15) and Matthew, who has just turned 11.
Pip Kerr and his family join the Castle Street fellowship from Dundonald Elim where he served as Associate Pastor for a number of years.
Interestingly, Pip spent the first five years of his life in Nigeria where his parents were missionaries with the Qua Iboe Fellowship, (now Mission Africa.) On their return to Northern Ireland, the Kerrs settled in Orangefield Presbyterian Church which remained Pip’s home congregation until work took him to Dundonald Elim as Pastoral Assistant.
He remembers: “I first made a commitment to the Lord when I was five, but it wasn’t until my teenage years that I started to put all the pieces together in terms of what it meant to live a Christian lifestyle. I am grateful for Christian parents and the heritage they gave me.”
After receiving his compulsory education at Orangefield Primary School and Boys’ Secondary, Pip worked for a number of years before enrolling at Belfast Bible College to study Theology. It was there that he, with his friends, Keith ‘Mitch’ Mitchell and Stephen Thompson, (another future Elim Pastor), formed the bones of what would grow into Crown Jesus Ministries.
Pip remembers: “We started off with a mobile phone, a few business cards and a dream in our hearts.
The dream has now grown into an organisation which reaches tens of thousands of people across the island of Ireland each year. It is such a real blessing to see the work go from strength to strength and I look back on those years with great memories.”
By his own admission, Pip expected to be with Crown Jesus for the rest of his ministry. However, the Lord began to unsettle him nearly eight years ago, which led to the move into pastoral work and Dundonald Elim. Following a period as a Minister-in-Training, Pip was ordained as the Associate Pastor at Dundonald; this is a role he and his family thoroughly enjoyed.
Their move to Ballymena represents a venture onto familiar ground as Pip is well-known as a regular speaker at Spark, SMMR FEST and other Christian events in the town.
He remarks: “Ballymena has always been a very fruitful place to work and I have been aware of the Elim fellowship in the town for a long time. It is a brilliant church with people of great warmth who are very open to the gospel. Remarkably, it is also the oldest Church in the Elim Movement, so I feel quite a sense of honour and responsibility as I enter this new season” adds Pip.
Already, Pip has been delighted to see people respond to the Gospel. Now, his focus is on building internal connections within the Church.
In time, he and the team on Castle Street are looking to develop a strategy for spiritual and numerical growth as the Church looks to reach out into the community which surrounds it.
Beyond his new calling, Pip will continue to follow the fortunes of Arsenal FC as well as helping to coach his son’s football team.
You can keep up-to-date with Ballymena Elim Pentecostal Church events and online services on their Facebook page.
