Staff

  • John Percival

    John Percival

    Senior Pastor

    Send John an email

    John arrived at Eden to become pastor in January 2024, having previously served for over 13 years as pastor of Ambassador International Church in Hong Kong. Prior to this, he served in churches in London and Edinburgh and holds a Master of Divinity degree from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in the USA. He is married to Rachel and they have three children, Amelia, Joshua and Lucy, all of whom were born in Hong Kong. John was also a ministry apprentice at Eden from 1998-2000 and so is excited to serve back where it all started! When he is not working, John enjoys history, hiking, all kinds of nature, and walks with his family.

  • Graham Higson

    Graham Higson

    Associate Pastor

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    Graham joined Eden as assistant pastor in 2021. After graduating from the University of Nottingham, he taught English as a Second Language in South Korea for a few years, before returning to the UK to train for pastoral ministry. After gaining experience in a church in Kidsgrove, Stoke-on-Trent, he studied at Union School of Theology in Wales, where he met his wife, Jihye. Before coming to Cambridge, Graham had spent several years pastoring a multi-national English language congregation in Cheongju, South Korea, while also being involved in online teaching and evangelism work with Ligonier Ministries.

    Graham is originally from Bury, Lancashire, though it’s hard to tell from his accent, which is a strange mix of all the places he’s lived in. When not at work, he’s often to be found walking, reading, or making and drawing things.

  • Steve Wright

    Steve Wright

    Operations Manager and Elder

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    Steve and his family moved to Cambridge in 2018 to take up the role of Operations Manager at Eden.  Since early 2021 he has also served as an Elder.  Previously, the Wrights lived in Switzerland where Steve was an Elder at an international church near Geneva.

    Steve is originally from ‘up north’ and studied law at Oxford. After university, he moved to London to work for a City law firm and then for the John Lewis Partnership, latterly as Head of Legal (Property and Planning).  He enjoys playing guitar, reading Wendell Berry and tinkering with cars.

  • genevieve jennings

    Genevieve Jennings

    Pastoral worker

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    Genevieve comes from London and studied English Literature and Italian at Leeds University. After graduating, she worked as a Technical Author for five years at a computer company in Dunstable. It was there that she heard the gospel for the first time, becoming a Christian in 1984. She subsequently joined a local church, West Street Baptist Church, and attended the Bible College attached to it.

    She went to Japan in 1991 with Worldwide Evangelisation for Christ (WEC International) and, after studying Japanese for two years, worked in evangelism and pastoral care. She lived in Hikone and in the university city of Kyoto, which is the cultural capital of Japan. When back in the UK, she was on the staff team at West Street.

    Genevieve likes art exhibitions, reading, swimming and coffee-shops and, above all, knowing Jesus!

  • andrew harland

    Andrew Harland

    Student Worker

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    Andrew spent most of his childhood in India and Bangladesh and came to Cambridge to study Biological Natural Sciences at Gonville and Caius college. After graduating, he stayed on at Eden and worked as a Church Apprentice before moving to London to work with a church there. He then moved back to Cambridge and worked in Hearing research for a few years before starting in his role as student worker.

    He likes to think of himself as a gamer, but probably spends more time reading about new computer games than actually playing any.

  • Ali Campbell Smith 2

    Ali Campbell Smith

    Youth Worker

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    Ali was born in Surrey and lived there for most of her childhood apart from 2 years in San Francisco. She first came to Cambridge as an undergraduate in 2003 and has been at Eden ever since. In 2007 Ali joined the staff at Eden as a Church Assistant for a year, before returning to postgraduate study in Chemistry. Having continued throughout this time to be involved with the young people’s ministry at Eden, she then spent 3 years working part-time in Cambridge while also training part-time to do youth work at Oak Hill College in London. She was delighted to return to the staff team at Eden in September 2014 as Eden’s Youth Worker. 

    When not working, Ali enjoys making music, exploring the local countryside by bike and spending time with friends. Secretly she’s still a bit of a chemistry geek and would be delighted to help you with your science homework. 

  • sara reid

    Sara Reid

    Children’s Worker

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    Sara was born in Nigeria and brought up in Northamptonshire before coming to Cambridge as a student and new Christian in 1983. She studied Spanish and French at Gonville & Caius College before completing a PGCE and working as a primary school teacher locally.

    She married Doug (an electronic design engineer) in 1989 and they have three children - Alice, Phil and Matthew. Since having children, she has worked as a supply teacher, registered childminder and in a pre-school.

    Sara enjoys walking, gardening, reading and wild open spaces.

  • Mike Hood

    Mike Hood

    Evangelist

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    Mike grew up in the Midlands not far from Shakespeare’s birthplace, and spent much of his teenage years acting and performing in a youth circus! After a year doing youth work in Devon and teaching in Malawi, he ended up coming to Cambridge to study English Literature, hoping to become a writer, but found that he loved having deep conversations about life, the universe and Jesus with friends who weren’t Christians so much that he spent the next five years working with the Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship, getting alongside students at (mostly) Cambridge and Bedford universities and encouraging them to love their mates and help them get to know God.

    Having been part of Eden as a student, and then for four years with his wife Rachael, he was delighted to join the team in September 2021, and his role is to help everyone in the church give those around them the opportunity to discover the reality and love of Jesus.

  • Hazel Church

    Hazel Church

    Administrator

    Send Hazel an email

    Hazel was born in Coventry but brought up in sunny north-eastern England. She studied languages at Bradford University before ending up in Cambridge. She has previously worked as Administrator at Eden for a couple of years, before her oldest daughter was born in 2004. Four children later she is pleased to be back, although part time. Her hours at Eden are 9.30-5.00 on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Outside work she enjoys walking her dog, knitting and baking, among other things!

  • Oliver Brown

    Oliver Brown

    Church Apprentice

  • Alice Rivers

    Alice Rivers

    Church Apprentice

Elders

The role of elders at Eden is explained here.

Deacons

The role of deacons at Eden is explained here.

  • Shirley Ellerton

    Shirley Ellerton

    Catering, Manse

  • Dave Hooper

    Dave Hooper

  • Manny Kemp

    Manny Kemp

    Treasurer

    Send Manny an email

  • Antony Senner

    Antony Senner

    Secretary

  • Tom Sparrow

    Tom Sparrow

    External giving

  • Rachel Watson

    Rachel Watson

    Duty rota

  • Nick Widdowson

    Nick Widdowson

    Chair