Peter Rouch started his working life in Barclays Bank, felt God calling him to ministry, then spent 20 years as an Anglican priest, most recently as archdeacon of Bournemouth, but this year he’s become Chief Executive of the Church Army, a huge change for him, and in fact for the organisation, which has until now had mainly lay people at its head.

His first few months have been a bit of a whirl of travelling round the country, visiting some of the organisation’s huge breadth of projects, focussing on homelessness, social isolation, mental health, mentoring…all helping to empower individuals and communities. He says: ‘the pandemic has affected those on the margins disproportionately, and that’s where the Church Army is….able to live our faith, build Christian community, in highly relatable ways’.