Cath Candish grew up on a small hill farm on the southern edge of the Exmoor National Park. Cath says she grew up with ‘a strong faith and a prayer life, but no understanding of Jesus, or what it meant to be part of the church family’. She became a Christian at 17 and reached a point where she knew she just wanted to follow Jesus wherever he led. So, before university she joined YWAM Zimbabwe.
“It was quite full on coming from rural Devon to Zimbabwe. My first weekend was a regional YWAM conference for southern Africa. It was culturally, and in terms of worship, like nothing I'd ever experienced before. I was then invited to go to Mozambique, to serve those who were uprooted and traumatised as a result of the civil war that was raging at the time. I said yes, and wrote to my parents to explain... It was a risky situation - the mission had been attacked the previous year and the missionaries there had been taken captive. To keep safe, we had to spend each night in the relative safety of the local pastor's house in town. And the road to the farm where our mission was based was checked for landmines each day.
“ I really learned to depend on God for my life. Every morning we would sing and pray together at the pastor's house before we went anywhere. I came home with a much deeper faith and deeply moved by the effects of poverty and of war and seeing the needs of refugees. It shaped me significantly - in fact it scarred me for life, but in a good way. I’d love to say that ever since then I’ve been radical and living a simple lifestyle, but that’s not true. However, I did keep that sense of privilege and calling, often to people who might be on the margins of society wherever they live.”
Cath later worked in homeless hostels in Nottingham, and after a Masters degree in international development, in Tanzania with Congolese refugees, and for Tearfund managing local church partnerships in DRC and elsewhere, returning after having children as interim country rep for Mali. Before beginning her ordination training, Cath was involved in Messy Church and was the Chair of the housing charity Churches Housing Action Team.
Cath is serving her curacy at Bath Abbey. “I’m really excited about the fact that it’s a house of prayer for all nations that welcomes people from all over the world, even now, even in Covid times, queuing to come in. We pray that they will encounter God here and we do our best on the Abbey floor to minister to the visitors, to point people to Jesus, to bless them and to be with anyone who needs to talk. I’m also looking forward to learning from the Chaplaincy team. I’m looking forward to so many things, including gaining more understanding of the parish here in the very centre of Bath. The Abbey is recognised by many, churchgoers or otherwise, as the spiritual heart of our city and I think that’s a very exciting and privileged place to be training in ministry.”