Rachel Mortishire-Smith

Rachel is one our Kids' Ministers and has been with us since September 2021.

When were you born?
16 August 1966. Not a great month for planning a party when everyone's on holiday, but then again, I can make my birthday last all summer ...
  
Significant others?
I've been married to Russell since 1989. We met at our student homegroup, and our first date was youth hostelling on his college’s tandem. By the end of the second day, we’d got engaged. We have two sons in their 20s: Ben, who's into science, natural history, music and gaming, and Tom, who's into media production, magic tricks, comedy and ... gaming.
 
Where have you lived before you came to Macclesfield?
I grew up in Lymm and we've lived in Cambridge, Harlow, Southern California, Stansted Mountfitchet (Essex) and Belgium before coming back to Cheshire, which I never imagined would happen, but am so glad it did. That's fourteen addresses, just to mess up everyone's address books.

What were you doing before you were one of our kid's ministers?
Until 2018, I was teaching the whole-KS2 class at tiny Bosley Primary School and then leading workshops with school groups visiting Macclesfield's Silk Museum. I also recently started growing flowers for cutting and, before I knew it, a small business to sell locally and sustainably-grown seasonal flowers also grew before my eyes.
 
If you could go anywhere on holiday, where would it be?
Incredibly hard to choose … Sri Lanka or Jordan, please.
 
What's your favourite part of the Bible?
The resurrection of Jesus and the following days give me goosebumps … the reactions and emotions of people as they realised he was alive and met with him. It must have been - it IS - mind blowing!
 
What do you enjoy most about your role?
I absolutely love talking with the kids, especially having discussions around their amazing questions about big things. Their insights are often so unexpected and profound. I love doing creative activities with them and helping them to learn through games and experiences. I love leading them in singing and seeing them worship God so naturally.