London Church development

Rev. Sue Fauchon-Jones - Burrswood Chaplain and Burrswood Partnership Chaplain.

My Role
Burrswood would love to offer opportunities to church groups and individuals to come and see.  To explore some of those pressing questions about life.  To nurture new ways to move forward.  To be allowed time and space to engage with the God of hope.  To find refreshment for body, mind and spirit away from a busy world.  As part of my role as Burrswood Partnership Chaplain, I am able to come to church congregations within Greater London for seminars, workshops and preaching and I look forward to building Burrswood bridges with a number of congregations this year.  Do email me to explore this possibility. 

I am being supported in this role by the London Church Committee consisting of Mrs Julie Sheldon, The Venerable Peter Delaney MBE, Mr Robin Hepburn, Dr Gareth Tuckwell and Rev'd Christine Garrard.  Please see the document attached at the bottom of this page for their full details.

My Background
I live in a quiet village near Sevenoaks and have been married to my husband Dudley for 26 years. He has been my strength throughout my working life.  After getting married I continued to work in retail for 6 years as a Personnel Officer before the arrival of our beautiful twin sons Edward and William. It hardly seems possible, but they will shortly be celebrating their 20th Birthdays!

Motherhood brought great joy as well as inner frustration, so when the boys started at Pre-School I trained as a teacher and subsequently began working in the local Pre-School. I worked there for 8 years and for the last 3 years I was made a Director. This was and still is a business at the heart of a thriving village community with close links to the very popular local Primary School.

During my period of Directorship I also started training within the Church of England and in 1999 was commissioned as an evangelist in the diocese of Rochester. At this time I was still teaching but became more and more involved in the broad area of mission and evangelism within the diocese; running Alpha and Emmaus groups, Holiday clubs and youth work. I also spent time teaching and training new evangelists, running quiet days and also getting involved in major events in the diocese such as the Detling Conference. Following on from this period I was selected for ordination and during my training I started working at Maidstone NHS Hospital as a lay chaplain. In 2006 I was ordained as a Self Supporting Minister (SSM Curate) and in my final year at Maidstone hospital I was promoted to senior chaplain.

My four year curacy consisted of working with churches reflecting different theology and practices, where my passion continued through outreach with schools and the wider community. In the last two years of my curacy I commenced working at Burrswood as a chaplain and have also taken on the role Burrswood partnership chaplain. God was calling me out of parish ministry and with my total focus now on the two roles I hold at Burrswood I have a unique opportunity; firstly as a Chaplain to offer spiritual care to patients, guests, staff and visitors, as well as being the Burrswood partnership chaplain, where I can continue that spiritual care and teaching in outside communities.

Experience has helped me to appreciate that there are many different Christian expressions and theological views that inform individuals and communities. I believe that all this is part of God's unique plan to allow each of us to journey in the mystery of God's healing power and be surprised by our radical God who transforms people in body, mind and spirit.

Having been born into a Hindu family and brought up within a multi-cultural environment, I believe that I have also come to appreciate some of the complexities of life, and that listening and allowing open dialogue with sensitivity to each others' humanity is vital. The message I experience at Burrswood through the person of Jesus Christ is that he has reconciled all humanity to himself and reveals his divinity in each person and through the world he has created.

Burrswood offers a holistic approach which meets these complex issues head on. Burrswood encourages and enables people by supporting them through medical and Christian care; each person met at their point of need by a Christian community without any hidden agendas.

I am constantly amazed by God; His power and His intimacy, discovered and revealed through the ministry offered at Burrswood through a group of professionals who live out their Christian faith within their own disciplines. Burrswood works as a team of people for one purpose; to serve Christ and to serve their brothers and sisters.

Sue Fauchon-Jones
Burrswood Partnership Chaplain
Burrswood Christian Hospital
Groombridge
Kent
TN3 2UA

Click here to watch a video of Sue being interviewed at Christian Resources Exhibition 2011