Ministry Team

Rector, Revd Canon Darren Barlow

Darren was ordained in 1998 after training residentially at Ridley Hall, Cambridge. Prior to then he worked for a national training charity as a Training Consultant providing inhouse consultancy in leadership, teamworking and communication skills. He served his curacy in the Parish of Rayleigh before moving in 2001 to serve as Team Vicar in the Billericay & Little Burstead Team Ministry where he was the vicar of St John’s Outwood Common and St Mary’s Little Burstead. In 2006 Darren was appointed as Team Rector of the Grays Thurrock Ministry overseeing four, later to become, six churches, leading a large team of clergy and lay ministers. Darren’s primary focus of ministry was as vicar of Grays Parish Church, a large multicultural, mixed age and gender congregation. Whilst Darren was in post, he oversaw a project to reorder and improve the church building costing in excess of half a million pound. In 2011 he was also appointed by the Bishop of Chelmsford as Area Dean of Thurrock, a post that he continued to hold until his move to the Parish of Shenfield in January 2024. In 2015 Darren was made a Canon of Chelmsford Cathedral and continues to serve as a member of the College of Canons. He has represented the Diocese of Chelmsford at several national conferences and events addressing the topics of Occasional Offices (Baptisms, Weddings & Funerals), Vocation and Mission, all of which in his role as Rector, reflect his passion to make Christ known and see the church grow.
Darren is married to Sarah, who is a teacher, and they have three adult daughters. He is a keen runner and can often be seen running around the roads of Shenfield early in the morning. He also interested in gardening, DIY, current affairs and politics.

Darren can be contacted by clicking the Contacts page.

Lay Minister (with Permission to Officiate), Canon Paul Betts

Paul was born locally, and educated at Brentwood School and King’s College, London, where he studied Classics at both degree and postgraduate level; in addition, he took the optional A.K.C. (Associate of King’s College) course and discovered an interest in Theology. He belongs to the National Trust, English Heritage and the Royal Horticultural Society and enjoys visiting places of beauty and/or historical interest.

Paul has been part of the St Mary’s congregation since the late 1950s and was invited to join a new band of Servers in 1962. He was asked to lead the Servers in 1976. He has been a member of the Mission & Unity Committee for many years, becoming Chairman in the early 1990s. Around this time he began to represent St Mary’s on the local Ecumenical Coordinating Committee, the forerunner of Churches Together in Hutton & Shenfield, of which he was the first Chairman. He was Churchwarden from 1996 to 2002. On retiring from a career in teaching, he embarked on the diocesan Course in Christian Studies, which led to Reader training; he was licensed as a Reader in 2007. He now edits the weekly newsletter, TheLink. He is currently serving as Lay Chair of the Brentwood Deanery Synod and has been made a Lay Canon of Chelmsford Cathedral.

Paul can be contacted by clicking the Contact page.

Churchwarden, James Anderson

My wife, Julie, and I moved to Shenfield when we married in 2008, and have been worshipping at St Mary’s since 2012 – joined now by our two children.

I am originally from Scotland, and in fact a “son of the manse” (my father was a parish minister in Edinburgh) – so the church has always been an integral part of my life. Over recent years, I have been getting more involved with St Mary’s: as a regular member of the choir, and a member of the PCC. In 2024 I was elected as Churchwarden – so please forgive me, as I am pretty new to the role, and still learning the ropes.

I currently work full time in training, coaching and leadership development in the healthcare industry – on top of which I also provide extensive administrative and chauffeur services to our two children.

James can be contacted by clicking the Contact page.

Churchwarden, Debbie Catton

I moved to Shenfield in 2003 with my husband Mike and we now have two grown up ‘kids’ – Abbie and Luke – who were both baptised and confirmed at St Marys. You will likely only see us all together as a family at church a few times a year, however, I am there most weeks. I am also a trustee of foodbank.community, a local charity which organises the distribution of surplus supermarket food to local foodbanks around Essex and Havering.

Growing up from the age of 7, I was a member and then a leader of the Girls Friendly Society, which is a Church of England organisation and which really sowed the seeds of my faith. GFS gave me many so many skills and opportunities which have shaped who I am today and began my personal journey of faith.

I trained as a primary teacher and having spent my last 10 years of working in a church school, I was always inspired by the staffroom chat on a Monday morning when everyone’s talked about their church experiences at the weekend and thought ‘I want to be a bigger part of that!’
When I moved to Shenfield I started coming to St Marys and haven’t looked back since. I love the St Marys community and have been excited to be involved as it has grown and changed over the last 20 years, and for what is to come as we go forwards.

Since being at St Marys I have been very much involved with setting up and leading Foot Steps creche team, then taking on more children’s ministry, followed by First Sundays and now All Together Worship. This year I stepped up as Church Warden and will do my very best for our church and congregation, but I have a lot to learn!

My hope is that anyone who comes to St Marys is made to feel so welcome and comfortable, that they too will feel ‘I want to be a bigger part of that!’

Debbie can be contacted by clicking the Contact page.