As well as reading these notes, please don’t forget to look at the Next Steps at the end.
Cafe Church, Sunday 17th May, 2026
We met as usual for Cafe Church, led by Richard and Jo. During the second half of the meeting Rob Fisk brought us up to date with the pastoral vacancy, and introduced us to the candidate, as follows.
The candidate is called Martha Jackson, and she resides in Louisville, Kentucky, in the US. She couldn’t be with us in person but she recorded this introductory video.
Rob explained that following a slow start, the PV search had eventually brought forward 13 applications by the closing date of 15th February.
Immediately following the application deadline, the combined Search Team and the Hub Leadership Team met to think and pray about the applications received. They split into two separate groups to do this. They reconvened that evening to see what each group thought, and remarkably both groups identified that Martha’s application was the clear favourite, and that we should invite her forward to the next stage. This involved a few meetings….
The Search Team and leaders had an initial meeting (online) with Martha on 26th February where she answered questions about the requirements outlined in our Profile. On 23rd March we met again to ask some specific questions about her faith journey and her experience. And then on 25th March we met to discuss practical matters, such as visas and moving to the UK.
It was clear from her application and then the meetings that Martha has a heart for church that is engaged in the community. This is what she refers to as Divergent Church in her video (Divergent Church is a book about community-engaged churches like The Hub. Read an extract here).
During the Cafe Church the Search Team and leaders shared their thoughts on Martha, which were all positive and highlighted areas such as her commitment to community, her broader experience beyond the church ministry (she attended business school and has led a nonprofit organisation) and her alignment to the requirements of our Profile. One person quoted from her application:
“I am not looking or seeking just a job. I am looking for a community who desires to move together to love Jesus, and love like Jesus. I am not looking for things, but rather a shared commitment to belonging and serving others. I desire to follow Him closely and be part of the growth that is blowing through the UK with the quiet awakening of people longing for community and who we know, are longing for God.”
We asked Martha to record a short reflection on something that was currently on her heart. Here it is:
Next Steps
We want to give the majority of the next Church Meeting over to discussing Martha and her application to become our next minister. The next meeting was due to be 19th May but we have put it back to the 26th May so that we all have time to reflect and pray about it. Apologies to anyone who can’t be there. It will be recorded.
In order to help us prepare for the evening it would be very useful if you could submit questions ahead of the church meeting by email to leaders@thehubbeeding.org This will help us identify the main areas that we will need to address. Naturally questions can be asked at the meeting too.
This CM is not when we vote on whether to call Martha to The Hub. It is primarily a Q&A session and an opportunity to get a sense of whether there is any reason we should not move to the next stage, which would likely be to invite Martha to spend some time with us here in the UK.