New vicar for St Andrews Church Luton

A new vicar is now in place at St Andrews Church in Luton.

A congregation of over 120 witnessed the licencing of the new vicar by the Bishop of Bedford, the Rt Reverend Richard Atkinson OBE, followed by he Installation by the Archdeacon of Bedford, The Venerable Dave Middlebrook. The Area Dean for Luton, the reverend David Kesterton led the service.

The new Vicar of St Andrews is the Reverend Luke Larner who takes up the post after an interregnum of over 15 months. Fr Luke was previously the assistant curate at St Pauls Bedford and comes with an enthusiastic mission to help the church evolve.

Clergies from the Luton deanery as well as VIPs from the area attended the service, including the deputy Lieutenant of Bedfordshire, the Reverand Lloyd Denny; the lay chair of the Luton Deanery Synod, Canon Peter Adams; Mr David Sansom the headteacher of River Bank Primary school; David Jonathan from Grassroots; Dr Tahir Mehmood partner to the Blenheim Medical Centre; and Pastor Ezwani of the Family Covenant Church.

Many friends of Fr Luke were invited and came including a large contingent from St Pauls in Bedford headed by the Reverend Canon Kevin Goss who formally presented him to the Bishop as part of the service. There were also many from St Andrews congregation both past and present as well as members from the various organisations that come and use the church and hall for their activities.

During the service the Bishop presented Fr Luke with the licence certificate which formally allowed him become Priest in Charge of St Andrews. Symbols of Christian faith were brought to him by members of St Andrews congregation, a jug of water as a sign of baptism, a bible as a sign of scripture and teaching, and bread and wine for the offering of the eucharist.

The service concluded with a blessing upon the parish and the new vicar from the bishop.

After the service there were celebratory refreshments including a cake to mark this happy and joyous occasion.