Ministry Accountability Team
We serve under the guidance of a spiritual oversight and accountability team, with whom we keep in regular contact.
The Ministry Accountability Team (MAT) is made up of trusted, spiritually mature leaders with whom we have strong relationships. They offer counsel, prayer and oversight in both ministry and personal matters, helping to safeguard the integrity of the ministry and keep us grounded in biblical truth.
We share this publicly to show that our marriage ministry is under spiritual accountability, as part of our commitment to humility and integrity. We keep in regular contact with seven couples; two have asked not to appear on the website.
Jacob and Marga have been happily married since 2006 and have been followers of Jesus Christ since 2002 and 1995 respectively. Jon and Jude are part of the Phoenix House Church network; Jacob and Marga serve as leaders of Oasis House Church in the West Valley, where the Lord sovereignly crossed their paths in May 2023.
Over the months and years since, their Christ-centred friendship has grown stronger in fellowship, trust, love and accountability.
“We have been married since May 2012, both coming from previous marriages — with over 50 years of first marriage between us. We have faced many challenges in growing together, and met Jon and Jude in 2019 at one of their marriage weekends. We were hugely blessed by their ministry and have remained connected as friends ever since.
We meet regularly, in person and via Zoom, to help keep each other accountable in our relationships and lives. We are honoured to have been invited onto their ministry accountability team.”
Phil is Jon's older brother, so he has known Jon all his life. They married in the same year as Jon and Jude, and the brothers were best men to each other.
“We have walked together through the challenges of married life, bringing up children and then grandchildren, supported by our love for each other and for Jesus. We are now blessed to have Jon and Jude living in part of our home for some of the year, sharing life in the kitchen and on building sites. We run a family business designing and building new homes, and enjoy offering hospitality to our extended family, friends and church.”
“We have been married for eighteen years, having met in our local church in Bagshot. Both of us took early retirement and dedicated our lives to serving the Lord — in various roles in our church, and with ministries that take us to places such as Turkey, Armenia, Africa, India and the Middle East.
We did the marriage enrichment course with Jon and Jude and were pleasantly surprised by how much we enjoyed it, and by how much God is involved in our lives daily. We thoroughly recommend it, especially to those who think they have the perfect marriage and don't need any help.”
Doug and Shirley became Christians in 1971 and 1981 respectively. “We met at Harborne Baptist Church in 1983, when Doug came over from Zimbabwe to study for an MSc. That same year we married and returned to Zimbabwe, where we became part of a large Pentecostal church.
In 1990 we moved back to the UK and eventually joined our local Elim church, where we served on the leadership team — Shirley as church secretary and Doug as an elder — until 2019, when we moved from Princes Risborough to Devon. It was in Devon that we met Jon and Jude, became close friends, and have supported their ministry ever since.”
