She’s known locally as the singing, cycling vicar (though rarely at the same time) and now Revd Charis Enga is preparing for an exciting new role.
The mother of two, who has been the vicar at St Andrew’s Church in Stamford Hill for the past eight years, is preparing to take the lead at St Mary’s Church in Stoke Newington after the retirement of Revd Dilly Baker.
With an estimated £1.2 million work required to repair the historic church’s roof and heating system, there are some challenges ahead, but Rev Charis is excited for the future.
She said: “I worshipped at St Mary’s during my maternity leave – it has always felt like home. I’ll be living in the rectory at St Mary’s and will lead the Sunday services there, but the idea is that we’ll have a stronger partnership between St Andrew’s and St Mary’s. I’ll stay Vicar of St Andrews in an oversight role, and we’ll be recruiting an Associate Vicar to live in the vicarage and work there.”
There was a grand ceremony, attended by the Bishop of Stepney, to welcome Rev Charis on March 24th.
Rev Charis, who grew up in Burnham, near Slough, felt a calling to become a vicar from a young age. She remembers the moment women were granted the right to be ordained in 1994. She was just 10 years old and, growing up in a feminist household, always assumed their female church leader was a priest.
She said: “I always felt this internal pull but thought it would be something I came to in my 40s or 50s. I wanted to have a family and, when I’d seen how others had managed it, it seemed that you gave everything as a vicar, but family miss out. I had this sense of calling – it’s the sense of the divine – there is something sacred that guides me in life. I felt I would become a vicar at some point but that it wouldn’t be until after a first career.”
Though she studied Theology at Durham University, Rev Charis went on to have a successful career in sales and then marketing for Harper Collins Publishers. She married her childhood sweetheart Andy when she was just 23 and the couple embarked on a trip around Asia. They have two children, Susanna (10) and Beatrice (7). Andy works as a lawyer.
Aged in her 20s, she was at work Googling how to get a promotion when she realized she’d searched ‘theology school.’ She explained: “My subconscious was guiding me.”
She trained as a Curate at Christ Church in Highbury, qualifying at the age of 28, before moving to St Andrews where she has thrown herself into community life. Under her watch, the church has worked with local people and transformed a patch of concrete into a community garden, launched the Stamford Hill Community Celebration in Allens Gardens (a kind of village fete for people of all faiths), set up a food distribution centre for Hackney Foodbank and campaigned for a covid testing centre on an estate to be moved to a more appropriate location. They also run ‘Crafternoons’, pancake parties and pumpkin carving events.
Speaking of her time at St Andrew’s, she said: “This building is an oasis in the middle of a chaotic world. The walls are full of art – it’s like a free museum and art gallery– a place for space and peace.
“Every Friday you hear the call for the start of Sabbath, and you know that prayer is starting. What I love about being the vicar here is that I feel like this building has a potential place and space to be a community hub. If you’re not Haredi, there aren’t many places around here to gather.
“There are a lot of low-income community people who live around here from a huge range of backgrounds. I’ve loved being a vicar at a majority black church. The congregation has taught me so much about how to live, how to love, how to be resilient, what it’s like to be a minority. I love the different foods they make me, the cultural insights. We’ve rich and poor, people who have been divorced and people from same-sex relationships. Love is love.
“I love the opportunity to get to help people to discover who they really are. I am always curious about people – I love hearing how their lives connect with one another and finding out what is the thing that enables someone to feel who they are created to be – the essence of who they are.
“I believe that every single human has an opportunity and gift and so many people don’t recognize that. There is a real opportunity for everyone to find their place and their space and their voice.”
Rev Charis is also a member of the Morris Folk Choir which meets in Dalston and runs a a free open Morris Folk Club night once a month at the Betsey Trotwood Pub in Clerkenwell.
