Christine was born in Johannesburg, South Africa. After a dramatic conversion experience in October 1987, followed by a call to preach at a wake, in Soweto, in April 1988, she felt a call to ordained ministry in about October that same year. At that time she got involved in the youth work of the district, being nominated to sit on the District Youth Committee in 1988/1989. Being just sixteen years of age, she was the youngest person on the committee by at least ten years.

When she finished school in December 1991, she worked in a Christian bookshop and studied for a BA in Psychology and Education at South Africa’s equivalent of the Open University. About a year after Christine and Shaun were married, she felt a renewing of her call to the ordained ministry. With the help and encouragement of their local minister, she decided to sign up for local preacher training.

Within her call to ordination, she has always felt a very strong call to healing ministry. She joined the district focus group on healing and she sat on that committee for about two years as they worked towards building up and encouraging healing ministry throughout the district. She also sat on the Local Counselling Arrangements Committee, when the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, decided in conjunction with churches throughout Johannesburg, to run a mission with Franklin Graham. She worked as Co-ordinator for Children’s Counselling for the entire mission. Again she was the youngest, this time by at least 25 years and the only woman on the committee that was mainly made up of senior male ministers.

She then worked as a youth worker at the Methodist church in Scottburgh and then with the Peace and Development Initiative of the Central Methodist Mission in Johannesburg, whilst studying as a student at the John Wesley College in Soweto. She also completed a component of hospital chaplaincy training at the Johannesburg General Hospital.

She was accepted as a probationer minister by the Methodist Church of Southern Africa in October 1999. She was stationed to Soweto in January the next year. In March 2001 she transferred to the British Conference and was appointed to the Sutton circuit to a very ecumenically focussed appointment based in Banstead. She was ordained at Coventry Central Hall in June 2002. In September 2003, she and her family moved here to Horley and she says that although there have been all the challenges involved in balancing three very important roles – that of mother, wife and minister – that this has been the most fulfilling and the happiest appointment of her ministry thus far and in those immortal words of John Wesley – “The best of all is, God is with us!”

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Rev Christine Keyte