Ian Maynard, a churchwarden at St John and St Stephen’s Church in Reading, describes faith as his driving force, and it’s taken him into some challenging situations.
For over 20 years Ian has been a civil servant. Currently he’s taking a sabbatical to follow his passions for volunteering, heavy metal music and cricket.
You’ll regularly find Ian volunteering at a safe space for children and their parents – parents they don’t live with. “We try to engage and make a difficult situation work as well as possible,” Ian explains, “by making it possible for children to see and have a relationship with their non-resident parent.”
In a situation that feels like “organised chaos” as up to 15 children arrive, Ian deals with tricky issues such as a child playing with someone from another family rather than bonding with their own parent. Once he has offered help, Ian aims to step into the background so that there can be maximum contact between parent and child.
In a pragmatic but gentle way, Ian works to improve other relationships, too. He was born in Reading, but his family roots are in Barbados. He recognises that historically the Church has not always treated people from other countries well. During lockdown, he gave an online talk on the issue of race and his own experiences.
“You don’t want to make people feel they have to carry a guilt about the historic injustices,” he says. But his talk got people thinking. “You need to acknowledge racism and discrimination and deal with it. If you don’t, there’s a danger that the past can catch up with the present and determine some people’s reactions. We all need to ensure that it doesn’t creep back in.”
Attitudes change, and that extends to attitudes about Christianity. Ian reflects, “I am old enough to remember a time when if anyone spoke anything about faith people thought ‘Who is this weirdo?’” He sees that now people might state that they don’t have a religious belief but what you say is not written off.
Ian has lived out his faith from childhood, but his level of motivation has varied over the years. The life of the missionary Hudson Taylor has been an inspiration since Ian was as young as seven. Hudson Taylor put his trust in God in difficult situations. Following that example, Ian knows it’s time to take a step of faith when he senses that there’s something God wants him to do. Yet his common-sense approach helps him to look at the options open to him, and what is possible given the commitments he has already made.
In adult life there were years when, looking back, Ian sees he was “coasting along”. That changed when other people saw his potential and encouraged him to stand as a churchwarden. He discovered that church is:
“like a TV programme – you think it just happens but there’s a lot of work that goes into it beforehand.”
Words: Nick Clarke and Ruth Hamilton-Jones
Photo: Ed Nix