After 18 years leading Emmaus Rd, Sammy and I stepped down as Elders and Senior Pastors on Sunday September 14, 2025.

It’s been a wonderful journey from the early days in the back room of a pub to the regional resource church Emmaus has become today - with congregations in Guildford, Woking and Aldershot and a network of Lighthouse social transformation centres.

We will now be focusing more of our time on 24-7 Prayer, Waverley Abbey and Lectio 365, alongside Sammy’s counselling practice and my writing.

We couldn’t be more delighted to announce that the new Lead Pastor of Emmaus Rd is Sarah Yardley. Originally from California, Sarah is a regular host on Lectio365 and led Creation Fest for many years before joining our staff team at Emmaus at the start of this year. She’s brilliant!

Sunday was a big, emotional day for us but we know that the Lord has spoken clearly about repositioning ourselves for the next season, and we’re confident that the church is in really great hands.

Next steps

We’re excited to take a sabbatical now, before returning to Emmaus in December as ordinary members of the church. We will preach occasionally, advise informally, and serve relationally as ‘Founding Pastors'.

We have been absolutely blown away by the outpouring of love from the church at this happy-sad moment. Looking to the future we are excited, and looking back, as Marilynne Robinson says:

‘There is so much to be grateful for, words are a poor thing.’

Tribute video (made us cry!)