About

Our leadership team

Priest in Charge
Rev'd Nathan Dean

The Rev'd Carol Ford

the Rev'd Kassimiro Yanga

Rev'd Nathan joined the parish in February 2023. Nathan is married to Anita and they have 2 children, one at university in Sydney and the other in Year 12.

Nathan oversees the ministries of the parish and enjoys spending time with its people.

In his spare time, he enjoys music, sport, trivia and playing board games.

Our Vocational Deacon is The Rev’d Carol Ford. Carol is married to David – they have two adult children and five grandchildren.

Carol’s ministry is mainly concerned with Pastoral Care, both in the parish and in aged care facilities.

She is particularly passionate about keeping people connected to their faith as they age, and are unable to attend church services regularly.
Spending time visiting people at home, and especially residents in aged care, is a high priority.

If there is an occasion to cook for, Carol loves to make cheesecakes and create novelty birthday cakes.

Rev'd Kassimiro serves the parish in an honorary capacity.

Kassimiro is passionate about cross cultural ministry and encouraging youth.

Lay Ministry

Coffs Harbour Anglican is served by a team of 9 Lay ministers who are licensed to carry out various roles across the faith community, leading services, preaching, caring for the sick and infirm.

History

St John the Evangelist Anglican Parish in Coffs Harbour celebrated its centenary in April 1999. This building is in fact the third St John’s church in Coffs, and the second to be built on our present site. It was built in 1972, on the same site as the second St John’s church. The second St John’s had stood from 1911 until 1972 when Bishop Robert Gordon, Bishop of Grafton, revoked the licence the old church, allowing it to be demolished and our current church to be built in its place.

The trowel used to lay the foundation stone of the third St John’s was the same trowel used to lay the foundation stone of the second St John’s, sixty two years before, on October 7th, 1910.

There was sadness, dislocation and pain involved for some in the decision to build the third St John’s. The diocese made the decision that St Aidan’s Anglican church which had served the Anglican community in the Jetty area for sixty years, would be amalgamated with the new, bigger St John’s, and the old St Aidan’s was demolished in January 1973. During the time of our parish centenary, one of our parishioners, Bill Phillips, wrote a history of the first one hundred years, and gifted his research and publication to the parish. It is a wonderful archival record, and is available to be borrowed from the Parish Office if anyone would like to know more about our Parish history.