Social media gets youngest Synod member's
vote
"I caught a glimpse of Her Majesty's hat floating past
then we kicked off with the service of communion. I think the thing
I enjoyed most about it was the beautiful music," blogged Sam Follett the
youngest General Synod member (21 this year) after the Westminster
Abbey service in November as the Queen opened the church's
parliament.
Sam who is studying Physics at Nottingham University said he was
persuaded to stand for General Synod after working for the Church
Army for two years following his A-Levels. During that period
he met Desmond Tutu, trained for 12 weeks in Liverpool and worked
with a church in an Australian suburb "home to a community of
people struggling with poverty, violence, drug and alcohol abuse
and a host of other issues".
As a vicarage child, Sam says he always had the Christian faith
'around' him, but said he was grateful to his parents for being
careful to give him space to work things out for himself. " We all
went to church as a family, and I knew I was expected to go, but it
was good to hang out with friends so I didn't mind. It was when I
was 12 that I remember first hearing God speak to me and I realised
that actually all this stuff was real!"
He then become more involved in the youth work at his church and
led the Christian Union at his school, St George's in
Harpenden.
Being away from home in Australia Sam describes as a tough time.
"Other than the difficulties of being away from my family and
girlfriend for so long, I had to serve people who were in very
difficult circumstances and know things I did not really want to.
This whole time taught me to depend on God and trust Him, even when
I could not see what His plan was."