John Pressdee

John Pressdee is the Pastor of Green Street Green Baptist Church. The Green is a thriving local church situated in Green Street Green, close to Orpington in North West Kent, seeking to become a church with relevant teaching, heartfelt worship, honest friendships, constant prayer and compassionate care for those in need; reaching out into the local community and sharing God’s love with the world. The church is in membership with the Baptist Union (of Great Britain) and the Evangelical Alliance and John's wife, Yvonne serves as Associate Pastor.

John and Yvonne have been full time ministers of the church since 2002. Prior to this they were senior leaders in the Ichthus group of churches. In addition to this, they are founder members of Prayer Expeditions and have walked and prayed over many thousands of miles within this country and Europe. John and Yvonne have been married for over 40 years, have three sons, a daughter and seven grandchildren.

John's passion for walking and praying began when he was part of a group in 1986 that had the original vision for March for Jesus. Following this John developed a desire and to walk and pray throughout England and Wales.

John became notorious for his prayer walks and in 1992, he lead a team from London to Berlin. He was coming to understand how prayer walks could fit in with the need to work for reconciliation between both nations and peoples. More prayer walks followed, from Berlin to Moscow, from Berlin to Paris and during this time came a move to Germany where he and his family lived for two years.

Disaster struck in 1995 when, after walking the Isle of Arran in Scotland" John suffered a major heart attack. Ironically it was probably all the walking he had undertaken that gave him the strength to pull through. John needed to rest and the family was moved back to England"'.

Following a good recovery John was asked by Lynn Green of YWAM if he would be part of the Reconciliation Walk from Cologne to Jerusalem. Exactly one year to the day after John's illness the team left Germany following extensive preparation by John's wife, during which time John rested and prayed,

The team reached Istanbul and continued on to the Syrian border in 1998, but did not reach Jerusalem because of political upheaval.

Prayer walks during 1999 included the 1916 Western Front, with a team of British, Americans and Germans, then six 6 weeks walking around Ireland. Plans to walk from Canterbury to Rome in the year 2000 were cancelled when John fell ill again.

Unsure if he would actually do any more walks, he found himself in 2001 praying around the Norfolk WW2 airbases just at the moment the Twin Towers were attacked. One of the things that happened that week was that the team shared communion on a very wet airfield. Placing a cross down in the centre of those praying, the sun suddenly came out and a rainbow appeared right in front of them.

Following his move to Green Street Green Baptist Church in 2001, John continued walking, including Walk the Walls around London and also Walk on Chalk from Winchester to Canterbury and has been pleased to find that the whole church has been completely behind him in this.

John is also part of a chaplaincy team to Orpington Town Centre and the local police department.

John has been an integral and widely acclaimed part of the Christian scene in England and is held in high regard by many of its leaders. His pioneering prayer walks have helped to release and reconcile communities across the world, bringing healing to many areas where there has been conflict and pain (particularly between England and Germany). His work at The Green continues to encourage outreach and support in different parts of the world, working with Smile International and the Nsumbi Trust, both of which have strong links with John's church.

The Baptist Union

The Basis of the Baptist Union is:

That our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, God manifest in the flesh, is the sole and absolute authority in all matters pertaining to faith and practice, as revealed in the Holy Scriptures, and that each Church has liberty, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to interpret and administer His laws.

That Christian Baptism is the immersion in water into the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, of those who have professed repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ who 'died for our sins according to the Scriptures; was buried, and rose again the third day'.

That it is the duty of every disciple to bear personal witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and to take part in the evangelisation of the world.

ources

* http://www.prayerexpeditions.org/?About_Us:From_John_and_Yvonne
* http://www.essentialchristian.com/product_info.php?products_id=28685
* http://www.gsgbaptist.org.uk/
* http://www.boys-brigade.org.uk/
* http://www.girlsbrigade.org.uk/
* http://www.nsumbi.org/
* http://www.smileinternational.org/