Induction Service Saturday 23rd July 2.30 pm at Wembley Park URC, HA9 7NN

Welcome Service Sunday 31st July 10.30 am at St. Andrew’s Ealing

Born in Sheffield, I studied Architecture at Cambridge but decided I was not cut out for professional practice. I took a number of short-term but interesting jobs including designing diagrams to illustrate a DIY magazine in London, and cataloguing the costume collection in the Usher Gallery in Lincoln. In 1980 I did a Foundation Course in Art and Design in Sheffield and then moved to Leeds where I accidentally got a proper job with ICL and trained as a computer programmer.

In Leeds I met Jamie, and when he got a place at the National Film School we moved to Slough, where we lived until I was called to ministry. I worked for ICL in Bracknell as a software designer and customer requirements analyst.

I was brought up in the Church of England but lost my faith towards the end of my time at university. I spent some years exploring Eastern spirituality and, briefly, the Quakers, until work and mortgage took over and I had nothing to do with faith for years. Then in 2001, in a difficult situation, I turned to prayer and woke up with a call to come back to God. A local URC congregation invited me to their home group and dealt graciously with all my questions, until I felt strong enough to go to church. They sponsored me to do the TLS course (Training for Learning and Serving), which led to Lay Preaching, and from there to a call to full-time ministry. I trained at Westminster College, Cambridge and was ordained in July 2010 at Wylde Green URC in Sutton Coldfield.

In my spare time I enjoy painting and walking and have recently got back into amateur dramatics.

Rev Sue McCoan