written by Kathy de Smidt
On the 5th November, Rev Jeremy Jobling was instituted as our Minister in Charge of St John’s Church, Wynberg by Archbishop Thabo in a moving service.
What could we tell you about our Associate Rector and his family?
Jeremy and Brenda have two daughters, Ruth and Nici and they live in Claremont. Brenda has been a great support to Jeremy in his ministry, loves being out on the mountain, walking, running, baking and reading. She works at Hexagon J5, an IT software development company. (Cricket fans would be interested to know the office overlooks the Newlands Cricket grounds.)
Ruth has just completed matric and loves books and all things creative. She is planning on au pairing in Austria in 2024 - the family will surely miss her and we wish her well. Nici has just finished Grade 10 at Westerford and loves games and being outdoors. As a family, they enjoy watching TV, movies and, if they get the opportunity, to go camping together. Jeremy’s favourite pursuit outside of the church is trail running. He also loves cooking for friends and time in the garage working on carpentry projects. During lockdown he joined the girls in becoming a crochet expert. The family is pictured with best friends Dash and Becky!
Jeremy’s journey to this point included being an ‘Anglican Minister’s kid’ under the influence and example of wonderful Christian parents. He trained and worked as a high school Maths and Science teacher in KZN before moving to London.
When he was there, he responded to God’s prompting towards full time ministry and began working with prisoner and ex-prisoner ministries, whilst also exploring the ordination discernment process in the Diocese of London.
After selection he underwent ordination training in Oxford and his three year curacy was at a town centre church in Watford. He and Brenda then returned to South Africa where he served as associate minister at Christ Church Kenilworth for five years. In both Watford and Christ Church, Jeremy ended up being the acting Minister in Charge for a couple of years when the incumbent left.
He was invited to lead the ministry of Alpha in South Africa. This work with Alpha ended abruptly in November 2019 following a restructure of Alpha’s Africa team. This took place shortly before Covid-19 impacted our world.
In 2020 and 2021 he found himself on a soul-searching journey, whilst home-schooling Ruth, running their Air B&B, helping a friend with research for his business, and volunteering at a local church in Harfield Village. Since October 2021, he has been interim part-time Minister of St John’s Church in Wynberg. Following the Search and Selection Team process, he was appointed full time Associate Rector and we wholeheartedly welcome the Joblings to our St John’s family. We look forward to growing together.