Ministers' Conference

After adventures as a primary school teacher of children with special needs and in the mainstream, and as a teacher of teachers, Shayla tried to avoid following her father, uncle and grandfather into Baptist ministry … and failed.  She has a Welsh degree, tries not to speak French and does speak a rural version of a sub-dialect of Arabic that is only spoken in one country in the world.  She lived and worked in the Occupied Territories of Israel and then Jerusalem for half a decade, followed by five years in France and North Africa with BMS World Mission.
Having been in pastorate in a small Baptist fellowship in a small Somerset town for five and a half years (during which time she had the privilege of being the Chair of the Resolutions Committee of the European Baptist Federation) she and others decided it would be a great idea to embark on a practical theology PhD. The “others” still think it is a great idea but she’s not so sure as she juggles family commitments, working in a school for children with autism as a teaching assistant and trying to complete the study!
Shayla is a Companion of the Northumbria Community and passionate about healthy, active, spiritual formation, for herself and others.  She has a desire for a fullness of life, lived fully, at home and in relationship with others – in the Baptist family, the wider Christian family, and the human family - wherever connections can be made and nurtured.  She is resolutely Baptist and yet resolutely convinced that we have much to learn from other members of our Christian family.