Pastor - Ian Hilder

Ian took up the call to be our pastor on 1st September 2003, having previously served the church as an elder for a number of years.  Born in 1952 in London, Ian studied for his degree in biochemistry at Bristol University from 1971 to 1974, and a PGCE at Bath University in 1975. 

He was brought up to go to church, but rebelled against Christian teaching. As a teenager, he was converted to Christianity when he became convinced that the Bible must be the Word of God. 

Ian taught chemistry at Richard Aldworth Comprehensive School, Basingstoke for 2 years, before returning to the West Country in 1977, where he taught at Churchill Community School until 2003. During this time he completed the Evangelical Movement of Wales training course at Bryntirion. 

Ian is married to Hilary and together they have 6 children: Peter (1978), Abigail (1980), Paul (1981), Daniel (1984), Jonathan (1987) and Rebekah (1993). They also have six grandchildren.